A New Years Promise

Every year the Griffin and the Woods families would celebrate the new year with a game night. Abby Griffin and Becca Woods were the mothers of the two families and had been close in college, however after they both started families of their own, the two began to drift apart. Abby had the idea to join their families together with an annual game night, and thus it became tradition. In the year 2018, the Woods family was to host. For most people in the families, everything seemed as it had been in the past, but for the daughters in both the families it was an extremely different story. Clarke Griffin and Lexa Woods had always been civil with each other, they would smile at each other in the hallways at school, and they did not mind getting paired with each other for projects, but they only ever hung out legitimately at the new years parties. That all had changed in the past year. Circumstances had driven them together and as they learned more about each other, they became closer, until it was rare to see one without the other. Their moms were ecstatic that their daughters were finally connecting, both believing that the two would end up marrying each other, and that their families would eventually be joined together. One day, Clarke and Lexa suddenly split, and no one other than themselves knew what had happened. They kept up an act around their families, not wanting to ruin their moms' fantasies, but at school they acted as if they did not know each other. They went from smiling courteously at each other, to holding hands, to avoiding even looking at each other in the halls. It had not been difficult to avoid each other, for the most part. When their moms asked about the other, both would make a lame excuse such as schoolwork as to why they were not hanging out as much anymore. In general, they had been able to stay away from each other, up until now.
"Clarke! We're leaving!" Abby Griffin yelled up the stairs for her daughter. After a minute of no response she yelled up again, "Honey, do you want us to be late?"
Clarke rolled her eyes and muttered a small 'yes' under her breath. She had been standing in front of her closet for the past ten minutes, trying to pick out an outfit that said 'I don't care enough about you to try'. However, all she could seem to pick out were outfits that Lexa had loved on her. She originally had gone for sweatpants and an old sweatshirt with holes in it, but she remembered that Lexa had said she looked hot in sweats. Then, she went for a casual dress with no fit or particular style, but remembered that Lexa had once borrowed the dress, and had looked so much cuter on her than Clarke thought she looked in it. Clarke went through about everything in her closet, but it was no use. She could not seem to find a single outfit that did not come with a memory of Lexa. She sighed and threw on the sweatshirt Clarke had given Lexa one night when she had been cold, and the leggings Lexa had said brought out Clarke's curves, thinking 'fuck it'. She grabbed her phone and walked downstairs, meeting her mom at the bottom of the stairs.
"I was just about to come up to get you," her mom said with a pointed look at Clarke.
"Couldn't find anything to wear," Clarke mumbled, knowing whatever excuse she gave, her mom would still reprimand her.
Her mom sighed, "I buy you all these clothes and you don't appreciate them? Clarke, need I remind you that everything in your closet you picked out."
"Yeah I'm sorry Mom, I guess I just wanted to, uh, look nice."
"Okay," her mom began to walk towards the door. "Wait, you wanted to look nice, and you chose that?" she shook her head, "What has fashion come to?"
Abby ushered Clarke out of the house and to the car parked in the driveway. Clarke's adopted sister, Raven, was sitting in the driver's seat with Clarke's father, Jake, sitting next to her in the passenger seat.
"She finally emerges," Raven remarked, smirking.
Clarke groaned, "Aw, Raven? You're driving?" she turned to her mom. "There's no way we're making it to the Woods' house intact if Raven drives."
Before Abby could answer, Raven made a 'tsk, tsk, tsk' sound with her mouth, "Clarke, you really have no faith in me do you?"
"No, no I really don't," Clarke said, while getting in the backseat of the car, next to her mom.

• • •

After what seemed to Clarke as the longest car ride of her life, with her whole family belting Christmas songs even though Christmas had already passed, and with the stress of Raven's maniacal driving, they arrived at the Woods' house. Clarke raised her head and looked at the door, where she saw a swish of brown hair, frantically moving away from the doorway. She sighed, readying herself for a long night.
Inside the house, Lexa stood with her back against the wall next to the front door, hoping that Clarke had not seen her. Her mom suddenly appeared in front of her, "Oh, are they here?" she exclaimed giddily, but shortly followed with, "Lexa, what are you wearing?"
"Uh, a t-shirt."
Becca sighed, "With stains all over it!" she walked over to the stairs located near the entryway of the house, about five feet from the front door, and picked up a sweater folded on the second to last step, left over from Christmas. "This is perfect for you!" She walked back over to Lexa and shoved the sweater on over her head, "There we go."
Lexa sighed, at least Clarke had not seen her in the sweater before, and was attached to no memories of her, which was what she had been trying her best to avoid with the stained shirt. The doorbell rang, causing Lexa to jump, hitting her head on a painting her brother had done in fourth grade. Her mom laughed and Lexa shook her head, "Thanks Mom."
Becca ignored Lexa's remark and opened the door, welcoming Abby with an embrace, "Oh I'm so glad you could make it!" she exclaimed.
Lexa smiled halfheartedly, looking down at the floor, trying to avoid making any kind of eye contact with Clarke. She noticed her calico cat, Luna, trying to find an opening in the door to run outside, and leaned down to pick her up. She stood up and turned around, walking straight into Clarke, "Oh fuck," Lexa muttered, and then instantly regretted it, 'what if Clarke heard that?' she thought. If Clarke had heard it, she did not show any sign of it, she just smiled and walked around Lexa. That simple action caused a pang in Lexa's heart, and she began to blame Clarke in her mind, but stopped herself, they had both caused this, and blaming each other for it would make things worse than they already were. Lexa took a deep breath and followed her family into the dining room, sitting down at the closest chair to her. She was twiddling her thumbs underneath the table, when Clarke walked over to the chair next to her, and sat down.
Lexa looked up at her and Clarke looked away, not meeting her gaze, "For our families," she said. Lexa nodded, but on the inside, she wished that Clarke had sat next to her for different reasons.
Lincoln Woods, Lexa's older brother, then brought over a stack of games from a cabinet in the wall, setting them on the table with a big 'woomph'. He grimaced at the noise, and then smiled, "Who's ready to play?"
Lexa and Clarke sighed, knowing they were in for a long night.