Chapter 5
Clarke huffed as she typed out the last words of her assignment and emailed it to her professor in the dingy back room of Grounder's Cafe. She could tell Raven was doing the same.
Tonight was not a good night. For whatever reason, when Clarke had tried to plead too many assignments and in need of WiFi to Octavia in a bid to be allowed to stay in the cafe that night, well, it hadn't worked. And it was looking increasingly dreary outside. It would probably snow next week. Right in time for Christmas.
It didn't help that every day for the last week Anya and Lexa had sauntered into the cafe and ordered at least two things each. First, their usual black coffees, and since all their drinks were on the house, they would then proceed to order the most complex drinks they could, liberally adding things and taking away things. With an evil smirk, Anya had asked for a twist of lemon in one of them. They also didn't seem to mind it was rush hour when they did.
And to make it worse, they never touched those fancy drinks. No, they always just left them on the table, sometimes with a rude image drawn in whatever cream topping they had.
It was enough to set Clarke's teeth on edge. Even worse, she and Raven didn't have a shift tomorrow which meant occupying themselves for the whole day with no money. Especially since if they hung around the cafe too much Octavia would get suspicious.
"Come on Clarkey, let's go," Raven sighed as she stretched, cracking her back.
Clarke groaned but got up, going to her locker and trading her shitty 500$ second hand laptop for an equally shitty sleeping bag. She also stuffed her toothbrush and hair brush into her backpack and put her beanie onto her head.
Raven was doing much the same and they both locked their lockers before looking out at the street.
"See you in a couple days, Boss!" Clarke cried to the upstairs area, waiting to hear the muffled goodbye from the upstairs apartment before making her way to the door.
She flicked the lights off and Raven held the door open for her. She nodded and shuffled through, instantly pulling her ratty coat closer. Raven locked the door and they made their way down the street.
"Boss lady let me take a couple of the older muffins," Raven mumbled.
"Cool. I have a couple dollars, we could probably get a loaf of bread as well," Clarke added.
"I got a couple bucks to, maybe some apples? Wouldn't want to put on to much weight," Clarke barked out a sharp laugh at that.
As if they would ever have enough money to get fat.
After twenty minutes they were armed with a meagre meal. It was purely dark out and they were using their Nokia flip phones for light. They were lucky they got away with charging everything at Grounders.
The awkwardly shuffled over the stones and found their way to the small bridge that stretched over Polis Lake. It was their spot.
It wasn't anything special, though they had a tarp stowed there for if it got windy and blowed the rain under the bridge. Clarke and Raven set up their sleeping bags in silence before splitting the muffins and the two apples. They had only managed to score a small loaf of unsliced bread at the corner store and they ripped that in half. They hadn't eaten since the previous day.
"Oh my god Clarke I beat my high score!" Ravens voice was excited.
Clarke leaned over and peaked at her small screen. She was acing snake.
"Nice! But you might want to turn it off to save battery; we won't be at grounders for a couple of days yeah?" They also had to last off of whatever cash they could find for the next couple days, since their bank cards had a permanent residency in their lockers.
The only purpose of those cards was to receive payments from Grounders and pay off their college bills.
"Yeah, yeah," Raven grumbled.
They both ignored the headlights of a car swinging around to face the lake about twenty yards from them. It was a popular spot for lovers at night and they payed no mind to the two occupants.
Meanwhile, within the car Anya looked over to Lexa. She hadn't said it out loud, but she loved Lexa like family and she knew she felt the same. Anya simply couldn't help but want to protect her.
They had had a long day and Anya knew that looking at the water would help ease a bit of her stress. She knew they would both have to go for a nature walk soon; being in the city so long, so removed from the forest, was putting both of them on edge.
It was then that a flash of light caught her attention. Not speaking, she swivelled her head around and saw a small white light under the bride. Subtly putting on her high beams, she illuminated the area enough to see what it was.
And simply couldn't fucking believe it.
The two girls they had been torturing with ridiculous drink orders all week, the two girls who had drunkenly climbed five stories and toppled on to their balcony, the two girls who had fucked over her nice coffee, were camped out under the bridge.
Lexa followed her line of sight.
"Fuck," She breathed.
The girls hadn't noticed them, and they were laughing at something.
"I thought they had jobs," Anya murmured.
"Must be a difficult situation," Lexa replied, feeling uncomfortable.
After all, they were about to go back to a high-end heated apartment with a fucking stellar view whilst these two girls that they knew were sleeping under a bridge in the fucking cold, with nothing but a sleeping bag each.
Lexa could also see the reluctant, self loathing but determined look in Anya's eyes.
"Anya no." She said.
"We can't just take in strays, especially not the drunken prankster variety," Even as she said it she knew it was a losing battle.
Telling Anya to lose her protective instincts was like telling an angry grizzly bear to fuck off, with an equally destructive result.
"You suggest we leave them there?" Anya arched an eyebrow.
She didn't quite like the idea either but her mother had always said not taking an opportunity to help someone was wasting precious moments of a happy life.
Before she had become a drug addict, that is.
Lexa sighed and thumped her head against the back of the seat, a sure enough indication for defeat.
Anya hid her smirk and got out the car, closing the door softly.
The two girls didn't even hear her approach, her footsteps quiet and trained. The blonde noticed her first, when she was about a foot behind the brunette.
Raven.
Just as the blondes mouth formed a small 'o' of surprise, Raven spun around and felt her own mouth open in shock.
"Hey cheekbones," She choked out.
"Follow me," Anya's voice was harsh.
"Excuse me?" Clarke had regained her voice.
"Follow me," Anya repeated.
"Listen, psycho, we know you want us dead but can't you just leave us in peace!" Raven snapped.
Sure, Psycho Cheekbones is hot, but this was something else.
Anya had had enough. It was hard for her to reach out and when she got shut down like this it was ten times worse.
"Follow me or I'll arrest you," She hissed.
"For what?" Clarke was defiant.
"Loitering in a suspicious manner after dark!" She snapped.
The two girls spluttered but ultimately got out of their sleeping bags and rolled them up. Anya felt a tug in her chest when she saw the threadbare clothes and skinny limbs. She hadn't noticed that before.
She turned sharply on her heel and strode towards her black SUV, Lexa no doubt sulking and playing Angry Birds in the passenger seat.
She could hear the girls shuffling behind her so she didn't look bad, traversing the rocky ground with ease. The water was only a few feet away, and she wondered how many times the tide had risen and chased the girls out of their hiding spot.
Clarke and Raven looked at each other in trepidation when they got to the big black car Anya now stood menacingly next to. But when she opened the back seat and a blast of warmth from its heater hit them, they were quite quick to crawl in. Raven had even gathered enough courage to shoot a wink at Anya, who scowled and slammed the door behind them.
Once in the car Clarke tried not to notice the stunning brunette who was playing on her phone and ignoring them completely and totally.
Lexa.
Raven sniggered next to her and Clarke immediately snapped out of her daydream and glared at her, before looking towards Anya in the driver's seat and waggling her eyebrows.
"Stop that." Anya ordered, making Clarke blush a deep red at the scolding.
Raven only just held in her laugh.
The girls sat, anxious and fidgeting as Anya started the car and kept driving without a word. When they reached a familiar apartment complex, Clarke blanched.
"Why are you taking us here?" Her voice was timid.
"Obviously so you don't freeze to death in the cold!" Lexa finally snapped.
She was tired and not in the mood to deal with any sort of ungratefulness.
"But why? You hate us," Raven rebutted.
Before Lexa could reply, Anya pulled up in the car park.
"Get out the car," She said, ending any further argument.
Clarke and Raven looked at each other before reluctantly gathering their few belongings and getting out.
"Follow," Anya's voice was flat, as per usual.
"No, you could be an axe murderer!" Raven's sass was hiding some real fear.
"I am a federal agent! And the axe murderer is far more likely to find you under that fucking bridge!" Anya felt her composure slipping.
"C'mon Ray, its cold," Clarke caved first, and Raven huffed but nodded.
Chins up, they followed the two intimidating girls into the apartment complex.
_ Cheers, Blue :)
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