Is There Somewhere?

4: The Mess I Made - Parachute & Magnets - Lorde & Disclosure

Lexa saw her almost as soon as she walked into the little bar and grill with Costia and Echo. How could she possibly miss those golden locks? They were ushered towards a table set up at the opposite corner of the restaurant, away from the music and away from Clarke.

Her first thought when she saw her was, wow, she looks gorgeous. Her second one was, shit, what the hell is she doing here?

They sat down together, Lexa between the wall and Costia with Echo across from them. The entire night had been awkward so far. The cousins didn't know what to say to each other and Lexa had never met Echo before that night. While driving over, she had asked all of the appropriate get to know you questions. Where are you from? What do you do for a living? Do you have any pets? Where do you live? Anything new?

She'd received mundane, every day answers to her mundane, every day questions. The conversation was forced, with Costia barely involving herself and instead, stuck to her phone like it was a life line. She only added her two cents whenever she thought it was necessary and those two cents were mmhmms and yeahs that really didn't coincide with the conversation.

But Lexa persisted until they reached the restaurant and settled down into their seats. Costia had already pulled her phone out of her pocket, Echo looked around as though searching for someone and Lexa was too preoccupied with a specific blonde she knew was seated across the room.

She tried to push those thoughts aside and focus on the menu before her. Lexa flipped through the pages passively, scanning over greasy menu items she knew Costia would never think of getting in a million years. She would probably nag and scold Lexa for whatever she got, because it probably wouldn't be up to her health standards.

Lexa's eyes settled on a chicken tender platter and knew that was what Clarke would have gotten if she was eating. With honey mustard, probably. She remembered the blonde mentioning that she was going to suggest to her chef friend that he should make some sort of honey mustard batter so she didn't get it all over her face. Clarke was a very messy eater.

God, she could never seem to get the blonde out of her head, even when she was with Costia. But Lexa's girlfriend didn't really pay all that much attention, she was too busy focusing on whatever she was doing on her phone. Most of it seemed work related, being the CEO's right hand was a job that took all of the stuff Lexa couldn't be bothered with and putting it on Costia's shoulders.

But, Costia was constantly in work mode, which made their relationship incredibly hard. Not to mention that Lexa was cheating and only in the relationship anymore because her father had arranged it, even though he hadn't approved of her homosexuality at first.

The waitress came and took their orders and handed over their drinks not long after giving them a couple of minutes to figure out what they wanted. Lexa ordered a cheese burger that Costia, of course, disapproved of, while Costia ordered a chicken Cobb salad. Echo picked the battered teriyaki chicken wings and an order of fries.

"I think I see a friend of mine," Echo said, suddenly after the waitress had left, "I'll be right back." Before either Lexa or Costia could respond she was out of her seat and across the room.

The two sat there in silence, without even attempting to communicate with each other. Costia had her cellphone lying flat on the table and she scrolled through Facebook passively. Lexa let out a dramatic sigh and rested her head against the window, closing her eyes. She didn't even try to start conversations with Costia anymore, they barely spoke really.