CLEXA - Revelations

Chapter 15: Safe Haven Part III

The next morning, I woke up before Raven. I slid out of bed, quietly dressed in some sweats, warm socks, and a hoodie, and crept downstairs. When I entered the kitchen, I saw Octavia was the only one awake besides me and Jasper and Bellamy were still passed out on the sofa. Octavia was typing something on her laptop when I first came in. When she noticed me, she stopped and greeted me in the kitchen area. 

"Thank God, you're up," she sighed, collapsing on a stool. "Coffee just wasn't doing it for me. I need human contact."

I chuckled nasally and poured some of the coffee Octavia had already made into a porcelain mug. "I got enough of that last night." I thought of Raven and cringed internally. No regrets, just worries about how everything looked in the light of day. How our friendship looked. "Don't tell me you've been working?" I moaned, gesturing toward the stacks of papers and notebooks strewn across the coffee table in the living room.

"Do I ever stop?" she rolled her eyes. "Should've been a business major. All they do is play beer pong at the Kappa Alpha house."

Suddenly, Octavia's attention caught on me. I didn't think I'd done anything to earn it, but apparently her legal studies were turning her into a regular bloodhound for drama. Great. 

"You look different," she mused, cocking her head and twitching her nose. 

I buried my mouth in my coffee cup and took a slow sip. "What?" I played, taking another sip. "No, I don't."

"Yeah," she crossed her arms and leaned against the back of the stool, "you look...vibrant." 

I didn't answer, just took another sip of coffee and tried to avoid eye contact. It was then I realized I was wearing Raven's hoodie instead of my own. Octavia realized it at the same time I did.

Fuck. She knew.

Her eyes grew wide and excited. "Holy fucking shit!" she blurted.

"Shhh!" I quieted her.

"You didn't?" 

She was being way too loud, so I made us grab our coats and boots and go sit outside by the fire pit to talk with the promise I'd tell her everything once we were out of the house. It was cloudy and cold but the snow had melted on the shore. While I lit a fire to keep us warm, Octavia kept pestering me with questions about the night before. I finally sat down in a chair beside her and began to explain everything.

"Yes, okay. Raven and I had sex last night."

"Oh. My. God," she bubbled. "How? When? Why?"

"I don't know. It just happened. One minute, we're talking and the next we're...naked."

It looked like Octavia was about to cry with excitement. She sniffed falsely. "This is better than TikTok," she whined. 

"Shut up," I giggled, zipping my coat up closer to my chin.

"So, that was, like, the first time anything like that's ever happened between you guys? It was just random?" She gaped for a moment. When I didn't respond, she got the message. "Wait, so you guys fucked before and didn't tell me?"

"It happened back in high school. It wasn't really a big deal."

"Wasn't a big deal? Clarke, if you and I banged it would definitely be something worth talking about."

"Um, yeah, because we're related, weirdo."

"You know what I mean. You don't just hook up with a friend and then everything goes back to normal."

"I know, but I thought...I don't know what I thought."

"So, what about Lexa?" she reminded.

Shit. Lexa. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "She told me she wanted to take things slow, so I don't think it's a big deal."