Chapter Text
To say that the day was busy could have been the understatement of the year - maybe of the century. Construction was finally done and the unveiling of the brand new office building, clad with ‘13 Clans’ in huge black lettering across the front, was finally going underway. The merger was a long time coming and everyone knew it, but when it finally happened, it still took some people by surprise.
Everything was changing. Everything felt so suddenly new. People at the office thrived on change. After all, change meant “progression,” right? What was once known as “Azgeda and Skai” finally transformed into 13 Clans. The merger and acquisition of 11 other companies meant a whole new ball game for this office, for the people that had already worked there, and now the people coming in.
This meant more business, more opportunities, more chances for success. It also meant more challenges, but that was something Lexa always thrived on. She started at Azgeda as an intern fresh out of college, mostly because the whiskey was her drink of choice and she thrived on the idea of working for a company she felt some sort of attachment to. Years had gone by, and now, seven later, she managed to work her way up to be the Portfolio Brand Director of five brands within the newly formed 13 Clans. Her boss Titus had always told her that she was destined for greatness here, that this is where her career would thrive. Her coworkers always told her that she would be the one to take this place to the next level, and now she was truly getting her time to shine.
To be honest, as excited as Lexa was about this opportunity, it also tremendously scared her. Her whole career had been with Azgeda Whiskey and now suddenly she was adding more brands in different categories to her work. Skai Vodka, Trikru Brandy, Sankru Tequila, and Trishana Wines were all now looking to Lexa for guidance on consumer marketing and sales strategies. These brands, including Azgeda Whiskey were seen as the top growth drivers for the company and she was suddenly in control. As much as a go-getter as Lexa was, she was also terrified.
“Hey, boss. What do you think about this open seating plan?” Lincoln said, eyeing Lexa who was staring blankly at rows of empty desks.
Lexa smiled at the man, they’d worked side-by-side for years now on Azgeda. He was the girl’s closest friend at the office, one of the few friendships that left the four walls of the building. With her being the marketing lead and him being the sales lead, it was expected that the two would have to form a close bond to make sure the business was truly thriving.
“First of all,” Lexa started, as she turned around to make eye contact with him, “I’m not your boss. Please stop saying that. Secondly, I’m a creature of habit. You know how badly this is irking me that I don’t have my own space anymore.”
“According to the new org chart, I have a dotted line to you, so…” Lincoln trailed off.
Lexa smirked, “Still not your boss.”
“Whatever you say, Commander.” He smiled and pushed her towards a desk next to one where his things were being settled upon.
“I hate that people call me that.” She huffed as she finally took the seat next to his to settle into for the day. “And I really hate that I don’t have my own space every day. How do they expect us to work like this? We all seriously need to go to our new lockers to get our computer chargers and day-to-day shit every day? This change is madness.”
“This change is progress.” Lincoln mocked the new CEO from his earlier speech at the start of the day. “It’s funny, though. They’re treating us like this is a new tech start up. Open floor plan, no assigned seating, work from home whenever you want without having to get approval. I don’t hate it.”
“Of course you don’t. That means you don’t have to show up for work and you would never get in trouble for it.” Lexa laughed, as she opened her inbox.
She let out a big sigh.
“What’s wrong?” Lincoln asked, it was only 9:15 in the morning - too early to deal with one of Lexa’s work-related bad moods.
“Five brands means five times the emails, it seems.” She replied, scrolling through all her unread emails from just the night prior. “This is going to be an interesting transition period.”
*Ding*
A new email alert pinged throughout the entire office. The first 13 Clans company-wide email had just gone out with the subject line reading: “Happy Hour at the Office Bar to Celebrate 13 Clans.”
“You’d think they would have given more notice for this.” Lexa huffed.
Lincoln smiled and turned to his friend, taking his attention away from his laptop screen, “Lexa, you really thought this company wouldn’t be holding an office-wide happy hour on the day the implementation of the merger finally happened? Come on.” He turned his attention back to the screen, “And it looks like the new events team is running it, I’m sure it’ll be fun. You better come, you’re now the face of the company’s five biggest brands.”
She knew her friend was right, which meant her boss was also likely to put her on the spot to say a few welcoming words to all the new people now working in their office. “Of course I’m coming. But we’re not staying for long, and we’re going out for a proper drink after to celebrate our promotions.”
“There’s the Lexa I love!” Lincoln boasted.
---
The day went by more quickly than Lexa thought it would. She had back-to-back onboarding meetings with new team members for her brands, she met with her PR team, and in between were nonstop drive-bys at her desk of people singing her praise and congratulating her on the new role and new responsibilities she was given along with it.
Before she knew it, herds of people started making their way up the stairs from their floor to the main lobby which housed one of the biggest office bars anyone could dream of. Seven years ago when she first started, having a fully functioning and fully stocked bar in her place of work was the coolest thing she could have ever dreamed of. Now, even being slightly jaded having actually been with the company for seven years, she was still grateful to have this place and know there would always be a weekly happy hour for its employees.
“The renovation in here is amazing.” Lexa said to Lincoln, looking around at the new design of the space.
“You’re right, boss.” Lexa heard a voice from behind her.
“Indra, the joke’s getting old. I’m not your boss. Or his.” She said, motioning to Lincoln. “Though I do hate the fact that it’s not the three of us on one team anymore.”
“As much as I love you both, I love tequila more. I had to go with the Sankru role when Titus approached me about it, but you know Azgeda will always have my heart.” Indra smiled. “Also, I’m not sure if it’s just the renovation, but I also feel like the theme of this happy hour is much better than they used to be.”
Indra was right. The happy hours were weekly and there was always some elaborate theme, but this week’s was different. Maybe it was the fact that there were so many new faces, maybe it was the fact that the office had been renovated, maybe it was the fact that a new team stepped in to help plan the whole thing.
The three friends made their way to the bar area to see what was on the cocktail list for the afternoon. They all wanted to try some of the new brands they acquired, so they each ordered something different and passed their drinks around to compare. They didn’t realize how long they went on geeking out over the tasting notes and flavor profiles of the liquids in their glasses. They were in their own little world, seated at the bar when they heard Titus finishing up a welcome speech and introducing Lexa to come up to introduce herself.
“Shit.” Lexa mumbled, as she took a swig of her drink, “I knew he was going to do this.”
Lexa put her glass down and stood up with a smile on her face, unbeknownst to everyone in the room that it wasn’t actually a sincere one. She made her way through the crowd to the back where Titus was standing holding a microphone, faces on her that she still hadn’t met yet, some people looking around to see who Lexa Woods was.
She grabbed the mic from Titus and thanked him before addressing the bar full of people around her, “Today is a monumental day, and I am so glad to be sharing it with everyone in this room. I’ve been with this company, now called 13 Clans, for seven years now and I’ve seen many changes along the way. By far, this change has been the most inspiring and motivational one to-date. As 13 Clans, we are now the lead in the industry, bringing the thirteen strongest wine and spirits brands together under one roof. Every person in this room should be proud to be part of this team, and every person in this room has already accounted for the successes of where each brand is today. I’m happy to announce that with the growth driving brands I will be working on, I can already forecast our sales to beat the market by two times, something that has never been done in this industry before. Now, I’d kindly ask you to raise your glasses for the future successes to come. Cheers!”
She gave Titus a smirk as she handed the microphone back to him, a smirk that basically told him how much she hated when he put her on the spot for things like this.
He knew the girl well and replied, “I know you hate speaking to crowds, Lexa, but you sure do it in a fine way. I assumed you would have known I was going to do this.”
“I knew it as soon as the happy hour invite hit my inbox.” She smirked again, this time cheersing the man.
She started to make her way back to her seat at the bar, trying to locate where Lincoln and Indra were. It was more crowded than it was before she got up for her speech, but that was to be expected with the type of celebration they were having. So many people, new faces and old, pulled Lexa aside to tell her she did a great job up there. So many people telling her that they couldn’t wait to see the transformation she was about to make with her new brands. She smiled and thanked them all, but all she really wanted was to reclaim her seat.
When she found her friends, she found that her seat was taken. Lincoln was chatting up a mysterious brunette, and by the look on his face, it seemed he was interested in more than just finding out what her role at the company was.
Lexa cleared her throat as she approached the group, causing Lincoln to look up and the brunette to turn around to face her.
“Commander! Great speech as always. Let me introduce you to Octavia Blake, she’s on the new events team here, she came from Trishana Wines office. She was just telling me how her team actually put this happy hour together, and I was saying how it’s one of the nicest ones we’ve had.” He smiled, bigger than usual.
“Commander?” Octavia asked, holding out her hand to shake Lexa’s.
“Linc, we’ve got to stop that nickname. Too many new people, it’s embarrassing at this point.” she directed her attention at her friend, then smiled and looked to the girl who’s hand she was shaking, “Please call me Lexa, and only that.”
“How about you tell me the story of the nickname, and then I promise I’ll never call you it? Otherwise, I might have to start…” the girl said, smiling at Lexa.
“She’s a feisty one, huh?” Lexa turned to Lincoln, laughing.
“I guess what they say about wine girls is true.” Lincoln shrugged.
Octavia was now looking between the two, “And what is it they say about girls that work in wine?”
“They’ve got all the sass.” Lexa smiled, “Lincoln, feel free to tell her why you feel it necessary to keep this stupid nickname alive. I’m going to get another drink.” Lexa motioned to the other end of the bar where it didn’t look as crowded, “I’ll be back in a minute.”
As Lexa walked away, she saw a very animated Lincoln telling the story to the new girl sitting beside him. She saw the laughter coming from Octavia and couldn’t imagine what the girl would think of Lexa after hearing it all. It was three years into her tenure with Azgeda and Lexa was leading a meeting with their sales distributor for New York right before the holidays. Lexa had visited four liquor stores to buy a bottle of Azgeda before a friend’s holiday party and none of the stores had good visibility of the product. As soon as she walked into each and every store, their number one competitor was showcased with a huge floor space with signage about how that whiskey made for the perfect holiday gift. Lexa ended up ripping into their sales distributor, and may have accidentally threatened to stab him once for each store in his district that didn’t have Azgeda showcased on the floor instead of their competitors.
After that meeting, and after everyone in the room spreading the word of what she had said, the nickname “Commander” stuck.
Lexa found Indra at the quieter end of the bar as she was ordering her own drink, “Why’d you leave Linc?”
“I wanted to give him space to hit on that girl.” Indra shrugged, taking a sip of her drink.
“He called me ‘Commander’ in front of her and is now telling her why the nickname came about, I’m not sure that’s the rep I need with all these new people, thought.” Lexa sighed.
Indra smiled at her, she knew that it sometimes made her feel self-conscious, but it was indeed something that earned her a lot of trust and respect with some executive members of the team, “With all due respect, a lot of your success has been because of things like that. Own it.”
“You always know what to say.” Lexa smiled back.
Indra chuckled, “I’m only nice because I don’t want you to go Commander-crazy on me next.”
The pair made their way back to where Lincoln and his new friend were seated, each holding two drinks in their hands.
“I know you’re a wine girl, but have you tried the Azgeda 25 Year Old yet?” Lexa asked, handing Octavia the drink, served neat.
“I have not, thank you!” Octavia smiled, “Are we cheersing to the fact that Lincoln just told me the most terrifying story of you?”
“We’re cheersing to new friendships and continued success.” Lexa smirked.
As the group took their drinks in the air for a cheers, they heard a voice approaching them from behind, “Making new friends without me, O?”
Lexa had her back to whoever was talking, drink still mid air. She turned around to introduce herself, and was pleasantly surprised at what her eyes laid upon.
Before Lexa could open her mouth to say something, Octavia started, “Guys, this is Clarke Griffin. She’s the new events lead for Lexa’s portfolio. She’s also my boss, so feel free to let her know I’ve been fabulous thus far.”
Lexa reached her hand out to the girl, “Lexa Woods.”
“Lovely to finally meet you, Lexa. Clarke Griffin. I’ve heard a lot about you, I’m excited we’ll be working together.”
Lexa nodded, “You came over at the right time. We were just about to make a toast. To new friends and continued success. I would gladly get you a drink if you wanted to join the celebration.”
Clarke smiled, “How could I resist? I’ll have what you’re having.”
Lexa pursed her lips and didn’t break eye contact with Clarke for even a millisecond, “Perfect.”
---
“I can’t believe Indra snuck out like that.” Lincoln said to Lexa. The pair now walking towards their normal haunt.
Lexa chuckled, her cheeks with a slight touch of pink due to the drinks she had consumed, “I find it fascinating that after all this time, you always act surprised when she exits that way. She’s a stealthy one, you should know that by now.”
The man smiled, “You’re right, you’re right. Is An meeting us? I haven’t seen her in a minute.”
“She just texted me that she’s already there and holding down two seats for us.”
Lexa wasn’t close to many people. Of course there was Lincoln and Indra, both friendships formed at work, but had become more than just work friends. Then there was Anya, Lexa’s cousin. The girls both moved to New York right after Lexa graduated from college. With Anya being two years her senior, she always acted as the other girl’s older sister - that’s just how close they were.
Lincoln and Lexa spotted Anya almost immediately when they walked in. The girl nearly jumped to her feet, it had been two weeks since she had last seen Lexa, probably the longest time they’ve spent apart since they moved to the city. “Well, well, well, look who I finally got to meet me out.”
Lexa frowned, “An, you know it’s been busy, I’m sorry.”
“I’m just giving you a hard time, I know you’re been busy practically taking over the company.” Anya rolled her eyes, then turned to Lincoln enveloping the man in an embrace, “And you, sir. It’s been far too long.”
“I was just telling Lexa how much I missed you, it really has been too long. And you’re right, she has been busy trying to take shit over. That doesn’t mean that me, you, and Indra have to wait for her to hang out though.”
“Enough, both of you.” Though Lexa rolled her eyes as the words came out of her mouth, there was a part of her that was actually glad she could merge the two biggest parts of her life. She knew she didn’t have many people to lean on, but the fact that the few she had actually enjoyed being around each other made it all the better.
The group settled at their normal seats at the bar. Their bartender sent the normal drinks down to them all. It felt like time hadn’t passed and that the last few weeks of finalizing the merger totally consumed all of Lexa’s time.
“Alright, so tell me everything. How was the first day of the big changes? How are all the new people? Does the office remodel look good? Did Titus make you do an impromptu speech again?”
Lexa smiled and took a sip of her drink, “Good. Fine. Yes. Obviously.”
“A woman of many words.” Anya smirked, then turned to Lincoln, “How about you, Linc? How was the day from your perspective?”
Lincoln smiled, he was definitely still riding the good mood he got during their work happy hour, “It was awesome, the office looks so much cooler. They’ve implemented some awesome changes that I’m definitely going to be benefitting from. Lex as well. Her speech today was actually great, but I guess that comes at no surprise.”
“He is regretfully forgetting to mention that he also has a new work crush.” Lexa slipped in.
The girls didn’t know he was capable of this, but the man actually blushed, “I do not have a crush.”
Lexa couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh, please. The way you were looking at her. Have no fear, friend, she was giving you googly eyes right back.”
“That’s not true.” Lincoln said, sipping his beer, “But if it was, that would mean a certain someone was giving Octavia’s boss a pair of googly eyes.”
Lexa pretended to be taken aback, “Lincoln, throwing me under the bus, I see?”
“Who was Lexa making googly eyes at?!” Anya exclaimed at the same exact moment the bar’s doors opened up.
Lincoln looked over, as the opened door shone a bright light in the extremely dimly lit setting, “Actually, the blonde that’s walking in.”
“Oh, shit. She’s gorgeous.” Anya said, with her mouth slightly agape.
Lexa raised a brow and sighed at the same time, “This is going to be an interesting situation, isn’t it?”
Lexa raised from her barstool and made her way towards the entrance where Clarke, Octavia, and a familiar face from the earlier office happy hour were standing.
“What a pleasant surprise.” Clarke said in Lexa’s direction, snapping the brunette out of her gaze. “I see we didn’t quite make it on the invite list for your little after party, though.” Clarke continued, with her eyes gazing over to where Lincoln and Anya were sitting.
Lexa smiled at the blonde, then turned her attention to the other girl she wasn’t quite familiar with yet, “Lexa Woods. I saw you at the office today, I hope you had an enjoyable time at the happy hour.”
“Sorry, that was rude of me.” Clarke interjected, “Lexa, please meet Raven Reyes. She’s on my team with Octavia. Also another implant from Trishana Wines! Raven handles the engineering behind all the sets we produce for our events and activations. Need anything specific built out, Raven is your girl.”
“Nice to finally meet you, Woods. Heard a lot about you, looking forward to working together.” Raven smiled.
Lexa raised her brow, “Woods? I didn’t realize we were already on a last name basis.”
“It’s kind of my thing.” Raven shrugged, her eyes now wandering to the bar menu.
Lexa turned her attention to Octavia, who was shamelessly sharing in Lincoln’s direction, “I guess I was right. You wine girls have got all the sass.”
Octavia laughed and Clarke looked between the two, slightly confused, “And how did we jump to that conclusion?”
“When you’re in the business long enough, it’s easy to typecast the kind of people that work on certain brands. Wine equals sass.” Lexa said, bearing a smug smile on her face.
Clarke raised her brow, now fully invested in the conversation, “And what would you say about people that work in whiskey, then?”
“Smooth. Just like the product.” Lexa winked, taking a sip from what Clarke assumed to be a higher end expression of Azgeda.
Clarke smirked, “Alright, Commander. I commend you for your wit, I didn’t realize there was more to you than sales scare tactics.”
Lexa feigned insult as soon as the nickname slipped out of Clarke’s mouth, “Ouch. I’ll have you know, though, my bark is worse than my bite.”
With the smirk still plastered on Clarke’s face, she retorted, “Well that doesn’t sound like any fun, then, does it?”
Before Lexa could even respond, Clarke was already walking past her to a booth in the back that Raven and Octavia made their way to, “Are you joining us or are you just going to stare?”
Lexa rolled her eyes, “You’re back is to me, I’m not staring.”
“Sure you aren’t.” Clarke shouted back, still not having turned around.
Lexa looked to where Anya and Lincoln were at the bar and made their way back to them. Anya was trying her very hardest to suppress the laugh that was trying to escape her mouth, Lincoln nearly doing the same.
As Lexa put her hand on the back of the barstool she was sitting at, ready to take place back into her seat, Anya put her hand on hers to stop her, “If you think for any reason we’re not joining them, you’re out of your mind. There’s nothing good on TV tonight, this is now officially my entertainment for the evening.”
With a smiling nod, Lincoln eagerly hopped out of his seat, making his way to the booth to grab the open seat next to Octavia, Anya following suit.
“I knew this was going to be an interesting situation.” Lexa mumbled to herself, practically dragging her feet to the booth to sit with everyone else.