AN: Thank you for the feedback and likes! Here is the next chapter.

High from all the energy she had gathered over the past few hours during the welcome back event, Clarke asked herself, What better time to throw in a quick load of laundry (which mainly consisted of her clothes from the past few days) than 11:30 at night?

Clarke grinned when she saw one of Raven's red tank tops hiding in her own dirty laundry bag. She threw the shirt in the washing machine with her load of colors and sifted through the rest of the clothes, letting her mind wander. Her mom was probably watching some sappy movie right now, pretending not to cry over college beginning up again for the year.

Clarke's mom had insisted on bringing her down to school, reasoning that even if this was her sophomore year, she was moving into a freshmen building. Clarke vividly remembered rolling her eyes and remarking that she was moving in as an upperclassman RA, not as a freshman again. Nonetheless, Abby Griffin didn't relent. Clarke realized that her mom probably wanted to spend at least a few hours with her niece and nephew and have time for a proper goodbye with both Clarke and Raven. So the trio had slowly made their way down the east coast, stopping at stupid attractions and taking their time to enjoy the past few days.

Raven and Clarke had practically grown up together, along with the Blake siblings. While Raven wasn't her biological sister, Abby and Jake had taken one look at the feisty four-year-old back in Pre-K and immediately decided to make sure she was cared for, clothed, fed, housed, and loved. Two years later, Raven moved in with them, after her then foster family decided to move cross-country. By age eleven, Raven was officially a member of the Griffin household. The girl chose to keep her own last name though, which Clarke definitely understood.

It wasn't that Raven hated her birth parents. They just weren't set out to be great parents. In fact, Clarke was surprised to find that once Raven had moved in with them and the Griffins took legal responsibility for her, Mr. and Mrs. Reyes actually became better parents in some strange, warped way. Her best friend received yearly birthday and holiday cards and presents, monthly (although brief) phone calls, and random emails or text messages that meant a lot more to Raven than she cared to admit. Of course, Clarke (and everyone else) knew their relationship wasn't all sunshine and butterflies. Nothing in Raven's life really was. Clarke was just happy to see her best friend receive a tiny bit of happiness from the twisted, fucked up situation she was in, one that Clarke wouldn't wish on anyone in a million years.

Clarke shook her head at the thoughts and reminded herself not to go down a negative road tonight, especially when she was feeling this good. Twisting to slam one of the washing machines shut and begin loading the other with detergent and fresh rainwater scent beads, her body and mind immediately perked up as Classic by MKTO began playing out of her left ear bud. After a quick glance around, she remembered that no one was actually in the building, besides four other RAs on separate floors. She slipped the right earphone in, not worried right now about being unsafe or missing someone creep up behind her and like, knock her out or something. Damn Octavia for ever putting that idea in her head in the first place. Her cousin was an idiot. "Clarke, be careful in that big, spooky building all alooooooone," Clarke mocked from memory.

She jumped around and let her ponytail swish from side to side as she finished putting her two loads in (suspiciously more full of Raven's clothes than her own). Clarke laughed quietly to herself when her sock clad feet slid across the linoleum, her body stopping only when it collided with a dryer. Being on campus, basically alone, was actually turning out to be really fun, although she was sure she'd soon be begging her mom to let Raven stay with her in the dorm instead of her hotel room.

The chorus of her song began and Clarke, feeling free and relaxed, started singing along. Whether it was the song blaring into her ears, her own obnoxious voice, or some combination of the two, Clarke entirely missed Lexa entering the laundry room, noisily dropping her own laundry basket on the ground (to try and avoid sneaking up on or startling Clarke), crossing her arms, and leaning against the door jam in quiet amusement.

A minute and a half later and Clarke had basically gotten through the entire song. She was no longer on a mission to get back to her room, but rather enjoying herself and lost in the moment. Throwing her arms up and spinning, she came face to face with a smirking Lexa and nearly jumped out of her skin. She ripped her earbuds out and fumbled to push the pause button on her iPhone, dropping the device in the process. Clarke groaned when her basically brand new, cloud and sky-decorated case busted, a chunk flying under the dryer closest to her.

"Shit," she mumbled, quickly kneeling down, grabbing her phone, and flipping it upright to survey the screen's damage.

Lexa cringed too, and the smirk slipped off her face almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Sighing in relief and popping up from her spot on the ground, Clarke set her eyes on the other girl and smiled. "It's fine! Just my case, but whatever. Got that online for like a dollar and eleven cents or something. Anyways. Um, hey."

"One dollar and eleven cents?" Lexa deadpanned, trying to remain composed, which was proving difficult given the blonde's buzzing energy and increasingly charismatic and fascinating nature.

Clarke shrugged. "Uh, it was probably thirteen cents, maybe."

Lexa tried not to laugh. "Right." At Clarke's grin, the brunette continued, "Well, hello."

Clarke waved goofily and began packing her things back up, throwing her scent beads into her now empty basket and stuffing her detergent into the side pocket. "What're you doing down here? If my memory's correct, you've got a washer and dryer in your freaking room! I'm not jealous though. You're jealous."

Forehead knitting together in confusion, Lexa tilted her head slightly to the right. "Pardon?"

Chuckling, Clarke shook her head. "I'm sorry. Ignore me. There's something wrong with me today, I swear." Shrugging, Clarke picked up her bag so she wouldn't nervously fumble with her fingers. "I think I'm just in a really good mood."

"You aren't normally this weird?" Lexa asked and it took a long minute for Clarke to realize that the taller girl was teasing her. As her brain caught up, she also realized Lexa was currently emptying a sheet set and towels into one of the last two free washing machines.

"Wait, seriously, is your washer broken or something?"

After choosing her settings and before beginning her cycle, the head RA turned to picked up her own empty bag. "Oh sorry, did you need this machine? I'll wait, then."

Before Lexa could make a move to take her belongings back out of the washer, Clarke's free hand shot out and landed on her wrist. "No, I'm sorry. I only needed the two and, well, even if I did need more, you're definitely allowed to do your laundry. I was just asking, because, I mean, I'm super jealous that you get your own washer and dryer and bathroom and who knows what else. If I were you, I'd never leave my room."

Lexa took a moment to form an appropriate response, making no move to pull her wrist away from Clarke's hand. The blonde seemed to be unaware of her heart's loud thumping, though Lexa wasn't sure that was possible. It felt like her heart was three seconds away from beating right out of her chest. Lexa couldn't remember the last time someone physically touched her and this was Clarke - the pretty, delightful, blonde sophomore who Lexa totally didn't have a slight crush on last year (nor subsequently and maybe creepily stalked when she glimpsed her eating in the cafeteria with Bellamy or goofing off around campus with her friends).

"I'd like to finish two loads this evening, and I'm rather tired."

Filling in the missing pieces, Clarke nodded. "Oh. Right." Reaching over, she switched the washer on and internally grimaced after she did so. Seriously, who turns on someone's freaking washer, especially when that someone is Lexa Perfect Woods, and especially after she just basically interrogated her. So much for great first impressions, Clarke thought, lifting a shoulder awkwardly. "Sorry. I don't really have a filter or boundaries and it's late so um, yeah, just sorry." Exhaling, Clarke felt relieved when she witnessed Lexa's trademark right-side-of-her-mouth half-smile appear.

The brunette finally allowed herself to pull away from the other girl's hold on her wrist. She had to plaster her lips together so she wouldn't laugh out loud at Clarke's widened eyes when she realized she had still been clutching Lexa's ponytail holder-covered wrist. "Clarke, breathe."

Clarke threw her head back, somewhat dramatically, and groaned. When she stood upright again, she was blushing. Lexa sucked in a quick breath. She had seen the blonde blush before - during dinner, when Bellamy had originally called out to her - but they had been tables away then. Now, Lexa predicted, they were standing less than a foot away. If she thought Clarke was gorgeous before, she had been sadly mistaken as she now realized Clarke was absolutely the most aesthetically pleasing person in the entire universe.

"Sorry," the blonde apologized again. She followed up the phrase with a goofy, scrunched up face and an actual face palm. "Okay, really, I'm not sure what's wrong with me today. I'm glad you decided to do your laundry on my floor, though. Earlier, I tried to catch you, ya know, after we were finishing up and everything, but Bell and you had, uh, I guess, like, head RA stuff to finish, so I didn't get the chance."

"Was there something you required?"

Clarke, in those few seconds, had gotten lost in Lexa's pretty and uncharacteristically make-up free eyes, but was brought back to the present when the other girl stopped talking. "Huh?"

"You said you had been hoping to find me after our event earlier."

"Oh!" Clarke's waved her left pointer finger in the air and nodded, causing Lexa to chuckle, actually chuckle, and then Clarke almost melted away on the laundry room floor because, Oh my god her laugh, momentarily forgetting she was making a complete fool of herself. Raven and Octavia were never going to let her live this down. "I wanted to thank you."

"You are welcome, although I am not sure wh-"

Waving her entire left hand this time and effectively interrupting the girl in front of her, Clarke smiled. "Thank you. For hiring me and for starting the year off as a really cool head RA. And for, well, for how you handled my unnecessary and kinda inappropriate but totally controlled almost-breakdown during Two Truths and a Lie."

Lexa remembered the way Clarke's eyes had misted over and appraised her decision not to push the girl at that moment to definitely have been the correct one. Keeping a neutral face, Lexa tried to comfort the girl with her eyes. "I don't recall the situation you are referring to, although I did enjoy our short encounter during Two Truths and a Lie."

"Right and I don't recall that your favorite tv show is Teen Mom."

"Clarke!" Lexa hissed, rolling her eyes and huffing when the blonde began cackling.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Clarke barely managed to get the words out before busting out laughing again. "I swear, your secret's safe with me."

Lexa noticed that Clarke was trying extremely hard to refrain from laughing, but without much success. "Remember that I have a key to your room," she threatened, a relaxed tone to her voice and a grin in her eyes. If she hadn't already fancied the girl in front of her, she definitely would have by now.

Gathering her composure, eyes still shining, Clarke glanced to their side and noticed her washers only had about ten minutes left to run. She threw her bag back down and shrugged, reminding herself that no one was here so she could pretty much take over her whole floor for the time being. "Since I've been a total pain in the ass for the past twenty minutes, can I make it up to you by offering you a freeze pop a la room 315 until your sheets are done?"

"You aren't a…" Lexa started to trail off at the phrase but decided to continue anyway, despite how strange the words felt on her tongue. "A pain in the ass, but," glancing at her watch, Lexa nodded to herself, "let me run upstairs and switch my other load to the dryer, and I will be back to accompany you to your room while we wait on our dryers. Do you mind switching mine over while I am gone? I'll leave a dryer sheet on top of the machine."

"Sure," Clarke agreed, smiling shyly. "Just let yourself in when you get back."

Approximately ten minutes later, after Clarke had switched all three loads of laundry and slid down the hallway back to her room, ever thankful for her fuzzy socks, she realized how fast her pulse was racing. Whatever possessed her to invite Lexa back to her room when she was barely unpacked and definitely not prepared to make even more of an ass of herself, she hadn't a clue. She quickly tried to tidy up what she could, but gave up after only half a minute. There was no hope. Shrugging, she began giving herself a mental pep talk and started to put away clothes from the stack that she and Raven had previously been working on before she rushed off to the student center. That had been hours ago.

A shuffling and quiet rap of knuckles against wood halted Clarke's thoughts. Glancing over, she nonverbally welcomed Lexa in with a hand signal and continued folding the pair of shorts in her hands. "Nice outfit," she commented, noticing Lexa had changed from black skinny jeans and form fitting forest green t-shirt to faded navy blue and grey star-covered pajama shorts and a dark grey sleep tank. Gulping, she allowed herself a few extra seconds to appreciate the outfit switch. Clarke wasn't even going to get started on the tattoos she now noticed peaking out on various parts of the head RA's body, because enough was enough for one night. Also, Jesus Christ.

"Thank you," Lexa replied, not picking up on Clarke's obvious once-over. She moved to stand against the bed where piles and piles of clothes were stacked, waiting to be put away. "Would you care for some help?"

"That'd be great, actually. Thanks, Lexa."

The two worked silently for a few minutes, Clarke taking full advantage of the mirror in front of her that allowed for quick, sneaking glances at the seriously perfect creature next to her.

Clarke started thinking she should break the silence sometime soon if she wanted to get to know anything else about the girl she was quickly becoming infatuated with, but her plan was halted by Lexa's quiet voice.

"What exactly is a freeze pop?" she asked, with a slight blush and shy look on her face.

Grinning at the out of character behavior, Clarke brightened. "Oh my god, Lexa! You've never had a freeze pop?"

"I, um, I do not believe I have."

Flinging the shirt in her hands back onto the bed, Clarke skated, again on her socks, to her mini fridge-freezer, opened the top compartment, and pulled out an assortment of multi-colored sticks. "First pinky promises and now freeze pops! If you love Rita's as much as you said earlier, you're going to love these! What's your favorite flavor?"

Lexa gently set the shirt she had in her own hands down onto the bed. Leaning against the mattress, she smiled at the blonde's excitement. "Is there strawberry?" she asked, earning herself an enthusiastic nod and another bright smile.

Her hands eased against the bedframe, where they had been gripping white-knuckled onto the wood uncomfortably. Letting herself relax, she watched as Clarke sifted through the sticks to find her a strawberry one. The nineteen-year-old, bright, blonde ball of energy was definitely throwing her for a loop. But right now, at midnight on a Thursday evening, surrounded by an entire building of mostly empty rooms and quiet creaks, Lexa couldn't bring herself to care.