Chapter Text
Clarke pounced on her from behind while she was still digging through her suitcase for her remaining socks.
“I haven't seen you in forever!” Clarke's voice was deafeningly loud, but Lexa pushed aside her usual concern for such trivialities because she was actually genuinely happy to see her best friend, even if she wasn't willing to express it.
“All right, all right. Get off of me.” Lexa turned around to get a good look at Clarke, who she hadn't seen for most of the summer. The blonde practically glowed with excitement, and Lexa could tell she was holding herself back from giving her another crushing hug.
Lexa pushed back a strand of Clarke's hair from her face, soaking in the changes in her friend's appearance. Her skin was tanned, her cheeks slightly sunburnt, her body seemed a bit leaner, and her muscles more toned. She had spent most of her summer in Haiti building houses.
“How was Haiti?” Lexa lead off, knowing Clarke was going to have a lot to say after the time they had spent apart during the summer.
“Oh my god! It was such a great experience! I'm glad I went. I met this guy named Finn...”
Clarke collapsed onto Lexa's already made bed to recount her tales about her summer fling with a guy she had met on the trip. They fell into their usual comfortable routine, with Lexa unpacking Clarke's things and setting up her side of the room for her while Clarke talked.
When Lexa was done, Clarke jumped onto her bed. “I'm so glad we're roommates! We're going to have so much fun together!”
Lexa attempted to sit on her bed next to her, but Clarke pulled her down into a hug. Lexa couldn't help grinning into friend's shoulder, she was definitely looking forward to Netflix marathons and ordering a lot of food with Clarke again.
“How was your summer?” Clarke whispered into her ear.
“You know, lacrosse practice...” Lexa was feeling a bit flustered at their close contact.
A boy walked into their room. “Hello ladies-” he paused, taking in their positions, “Am I interrupting something?”
“No,” Lexa sat up quickly, smoothing over her clothes.
“Ok... The name's Jasper Jordan! I'm second door on the left, just give me a holler if you need me!” he added a wink at the end of his introduction.
Clarke stifled a giggle and Lexa just felt oddly embarrassed. The two of them introduced themselves to Jasper before Clarke dragged Lexa off to introduce themselves to the rest of the dorm.
Meeting new people was always awkward for Lexa. She was out of her comfort zone for the rest of move-in day. It was a wonder that she had managed to become best friends with someone as extroverted as Clarke, but they complemented each other well. Clarke made friends fast, and she had already managed to score invites to a frat party on campus by dinner.
Lexa had hoped to spend a quiet evening in their dorm room watching a war movie, but Clarke was having none of it. As soon as they got back their room, she was picking out outfits and doing her hair and makeup. She responded to Lexa's protests by doing her hair and makeup as well.
“Come on, Lexa. Loosen up. It's our first day at college. We should go out and have some fun, meet some new people,” she chided her friend as she put the finishing touches on straightening Lexa's hair.
“How do I look?” Clarke's meticulously curled hair bounced on her head as she spun in a circle in front of her friend. She had done her eye shadow to match her form-fitting, metallic blue dress which showed off her legs and a lot of cleavage. Lexa had settled for more subtle skinny jeans and a black tank top. Clarke had applied heavy eyeliner to her eyes to complete the look.
“Like you're trying to get laid,” Lexa cocked an eyebrow at her friend.
“I'm trying to make an impression,” Clarke defended herself.
“Don't tell me it's your form of 'artistic expression' again,” Lexa almost rolled her eyes.
Clarke walked up to her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder, her stilettos clicking steadily across the floor. “Come on, I know you like my outfit.”
Lexa took her friend's hand and simply gave it squeeze, acknowledging the truth. She lead her out of their dorm room, and the two of them went off to the party.
Lexa didn't drink in high school and she wasn't about to start in college. She stood in the corner of the room by the beer keg like she was guarding it, arms crossed and face set into a frown. She hadn't been at the party for even an hour yet and there were already people dancing on tables.
Lexa kept a close eye on Clarke to make sure she didn't get too drunk and attempt to dance on tables as well. She made a mental note to remind her friend that the last time Clarke had tried dancing on tables, she had fallen off and broken her arm.
“Can I get you a drink?” a slightly buzzed guy in a polo shirt offered her. He must have been the fifth guy that night who attempted to talk to her. Lexa found that she was very effective at shutting such advances down with a fierce glare. Guy number 5 left her alone after not even a minute.
Clarke sauntered over Lexa's corner and wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulder, resting their heads together. Lexa realized it was so that she could more easily talk to her over the loud music.
“Maybe you should lay off the drinks for the rest of tonight,” Lexa suggested.
“Thank you, but it's not that. I think I just spotted Finn!”
“Finn as in the guy you met in Haiti?”
“Yes, that Finn! What is the likelihood that he goes to our college?! What's worse, I think he spotted me too!”
“How do you know it's him?”
As if to answer Lexa's question, a guy with wavy brown hair approached the two of them in the corner.
“Clarke?”
“Uh, hi Finn.”
“Who'd believe it? We go to the same college. What's the likelihood?”
“Yeah, what a coincidence,” Clarke laughed uncomfortably.
“It must be like fate or something that let us meet again. It probably means that we're meant to be together.”
Lexa could tell he had definitely had a little too much to drink based off the mumbo jumbo he was spouting. He was saying the sort of embarrassing kind of lines that guys didn't want to admit when they were sober that they've used before.
“Uh, sorry, but I'm actually with someone right now.”
Clarke was lying, and Lexa knew it was because she had no interest in having anything more than a summer fling with Finn.
“Oh really?! Someone beat me to punch. Who is it?”
“Well... we're actually together.”
Lexa looked to see who Clarke was gesturing at, and she realized it was herself.
“What do you mean we're togeth-” she started, but Clarke cut her off with a kiss.
Lexa was seeing stars and felt her heart rate increase rapidly at the contact. She wanted to break away because it seemed like the right thing to do, but she felt like time had stopped and she was frozen in place.
After what seemed like an eternity, Clarke broke away, flashing Finn a self-satisfied smirk.
Lexa felt light-headed and dizzy. Clarke dragged her to the center of the room where people were dancing before she could process what was going on. Lexa tried to replace the sensation of Clarke's lips against her's with the hazy image of Finn with raised eyebrows and his mouth formed into an “o” that still lingered in her mind.
Clarke wrapped her arms around Lexa's neck as the DJ changed the next song to a slow dance. Lexa wrapped her arms around Clarke's waist instinctively as her mind slowly returned to the present.
“What the hell was that?!”
“Just play along. Finn won't bother me as long as we're together.”
“You're drunk!” there were very few things that could ruffle Lexa's feathers, but she realized that the two of them faking a relationship was one of them.
“Look, we'll just play pretend until he thinks he doesn't have a chance anymore,” Clarke nuzzled Lexa's nose as if to finalize her statement.
Lexa suddenly found it hard to counter her friend's suggestion and simply sighed in defeat. She decided that they would talk about it the following day when Clarke was sober and she herself had had time to think it all over.
Lexa woke up to the tickling sensation of breath against her neck and the heaviness of another body against her own.
It was a familiar body and scent, and she knew who it was without looking. The two of them had fallen asleep together like this countless times before. Lexa stroked Clarke's hair and enjoyed the peace of the moment before she knew she would have to get out of bed and get ready for the rest of the day.
Clarke was mumbling in her sleep. Lexa wanted the savor the moment of cuteness, but she knew she had to wake up her friend, so she shook her lightly.
“Mmm Lexa, five more minutes...” Clarke buried her face further into the crook of her neck.
Lexa couldn't help grinning, feeling warmth spread through her. Like her, Clarke knew who she had fallen asleep with without having to open her eyes. It was one of the things about their many of years of friendship that Lexa actually took some pride in.
“Come on sleepyhead, I told you not to drink so much. You're going to be late for classes.”
At the mention of being late for classes, Clarke jerked upright. Lexa couldn't help flashing back to elementary school, when Clarke had been late once and their teacher had lied to scare her and said she wouldn't be allowed to attend art class anymore if she was late again. Clarke had been so upset that she had cried about it for an hour and was sent home. Lexa knew that memory was buried in Clarke's subconscious and affected her fear of being late.
“Let's hit the showers,” Clarke's voice broke her reminiscing and she was surprised to find that her friend had already gathered all their bathing supplies and clothes before she had even gotten out of bed.
“All right, let's go,” she padded after her friend in rubber slippers.
Since it was morning, most the showers were already in use by the time they got there.
“Damn, we're lucky! There's one left!” Clarke pulled aside the curtain for the last stall.
“You go first,” Lexa offered.
“Why don't we share?”
Lexa gave her friend an incredulous look.
“Come on Lexa, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before. We used to do it all the time.”
“Those were baths, and we were seven.”
“Well, I want to see your smokin' lacrosse bod now,” Clarke teased, poking her in the ribs. “Besides, aren't you supposed to be my girlfriend?”
Lexa groaned internally. She had hoped that Clarke had forgotten about that. The blonde winked at her before blowing her a kiss.
“Come on, lovebirds. Just get it over with. There are people in line here,” the girl behind them complained, “And hurry up. No one wants to be late for freshman orientation.”
Clarke gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before dragging her into the shower. She started stripping off her clothes.
Lexa felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. She finally gave in and turned away from Clarke to take off her own clothes.
“Get in here, you. The water is perfect,” Clarke pulled her into the stream of water by her wrist before she could protest.
Lexa was momentarily distracted by Clarke's body. Although she had seen her in various states of undress over the years at their numerous sleepovers, the last time Lexa had seen Clarke fully naked was when they were children. Puberty had been kind to her, and the blonde sported some impressive curves.
Lexa looked up to notice that Clarke was checking her out as well. She reached out a hand to touch her stomach.
“Damn, your lacrosse workouts must be something. Your abs are rock hard.”
Lexa turned away in embarrassment, deciding that she was going to keep her eyes closed for the rest of their shower together.
“Oh Lexa, why so shy? You of all people should be proud of your body!” Clarke wrapped her arms around her from behind in a reassuring hug. Feeling Clarke's bare breasts against her back made her catch her breath. It was sensory overload.
The contact proved too overwhelming for her, “I need my space, Clarke.”
Clarke let go apologetically. Lexa had discussed her need for personal space with her before. Clarke was sometimes overzealous with her physical affection, crossing Lexa's personal boundaries, but she knew how to scale back and Lexa was forgiving.
The talk about their bodies prompted a rant from Clarke about the media and how it affected body image. Lexa was glad for the subject change and kept her eyes closed for the remainder of their shower.
She could hardly focus for the rest of the day, not during freshman orientation or even the rest of her classes. She couldn't stop thinking about that kiss and what it meant. She felt like she was searching for some hidden meaning behind it besides Clarke simply wanting to keep Finn at bay.
The two of them didn't share any classes together, so she only saw Clarke during freshman orientation. She spent the entirety of it winking at Lexa, making kissy faces, and trying to hold her hand. She knew she was only doing it to annoy her, but Lexa really wanted to talk to her friend about the state of their fake relationship. They still hadn't gotten a chance to talk about it properly yet.
She didn't see Clarke at lunch. The outgoing girl was probably off joining club activities and making new friends. She ate with some lacrosse team members, but she was hardly present in their conversations. Her fork kept missing her mouth as she mulled over her feelings.
She tried to justify how she had felt the previous night. Her body must have reacted the way it did because she had been surprised and embarrassed. She probably felt faint from the lack of oxygen. She was a private person, so she had to be upset about the whole fake dating situation because she didn't like public displays of affection.
What she couldn't explain however, was why she couldn't break away from that kiss. She wouldn't have minded if Clarke hadn't stopped kissing her, and she wouldn't mind kissing her again. It wasn't the sort of thing she wanted to admit to herself or anyone else for that matter.
She had dinner with Clarke, who introduced her to her new friends. Clarke introduced her as her longtime best friend and girlfriend, accompanied with a kiss on the cheek. Lexa would have protested, but she knew her friend wanted her to play along.
She was incredibly distracted during dinner and hardly remembered the names of Clarke's new friends. She only recalled a Bellamy something and Raven, who Clarke explained was Finn's ex-girlfriend. It turned out that Raven and Finn had still been together when he met Clarke, so technically he had been cheating on her. After Raven found out about the summer situation from Clarke, she broke up with Finn and the two became fast friends.
Lexa wondered how there was already so much drama when they hadn't even been at college for a week yet.
Raven asked how long Clarke and Lexa had been together. The thought of people asking questions about their fake relationship made Lexa panic internally. She was going to have a long talk with Clarke once they got back to their room.
“Just since college started,” Clarke answered smoothly, winking at Lexa.
“Oh, such a fresh relationship.”
“But we've known each other since forever.”
Lexa was unnerved with how comfortable Clarke was with their fake relationship. She was relieved when dinner was over and they could finally make their way back to their dorm.
“I don't want to lie to your friends,” Lexa said as soon as they shut the door their room.
“Fine, we'll come out to them then.”
“And I'm not comfortable with all the... PDA.”
Clarke plopped down next to her on her bed before stroking Lexa's arm.
“I'll try to scale it back, but you know I can hardly keep my hands off of you even when we're not dating,” she said with a wink.
“We're not dating, and stop winking at me!”
Clarke giggled before making a kissy face.
“And stop that too!”
“Aww, but it's so fun teasing you,” Clarke gave her a kiss. “I joined the art club today and they're looking for nude models. I'm sure you'd make a great candidate.”
“We are never taking a shower together again.”
Clarke pouted, “Am I not hot enough to be your girlfriend?”
Lexa rolled her eyes before bringing her pillow down on Clarke's face.
“Oh, you're going to get it!” The two of them chased each other around the room, whacking each other with their pillows until they both keeled over onto their beds, out of breath of from laughing.
The watched a few TV shows together, snuggled underneath one blanket, before they went to bed. Lexa fell asleep happy, but still somewhat frustrated and confused.