Chapter Text
"So, John!" Clarke looks up from her plate, letting her fork just hang in the air, waiting for her mom to finish. Clarke spares a quick look over at Murphy, who already looks miserable to have been the one called on this time. She grins a little, ducking her head. He deserves it - he's been insufferable for the past ten years. "Would you like to tell us more about this...Bellamy?" Clarke very suddenly wishes that she wasn't here at all, her grin falling off her face when she sees Murphy's own appearing. She thinks that she probably should have expected this, but they had gone the entire dinner without it being brought up. Clarke was so sure that it wasn't going to be brought up, she was convinced, but now she has to sit here and listen to Murphy ramble on and on about his stupid soulmate who he hates. Clarke resists the urge to sigh, opting to lean back in her chair, preparing to fully mentally check out.
Murphy leans back in his own chair, crossing his arms against his chest. Clarke feels one of his legs rest on her own, and she jerks her leg up as hard as she can, beaming at the sound of Murphy's knee hitting the bottom of the table. "Well," Murphy starts, one of his hands drifting off to under the table, and when Clarke looks down, she sees him flipping her off. She's going to kick his ass as soon as she's freed from this hell. "I think that he makes me significantly more angry than he does anything else," he grins, tilting his head to the side a little. Even with the stupid, cocky look on his face, Clarke can see the genuine affection he has for that dumbass man in his eyes. She doesn't think she'll ever be able to understand just how the hell the two of them manage to hate each other so much while also being so obviously in love. She doesn't think she wants to understand. "He's majoring in history. He works part time at the flower shop past the City of Light. You know, that god awful coffee shop."
Clarke scoffs, kicking Murphy under the table. "It's not god awful," she shoots back, flipping him off when she kicks him again. She's pretty sure that their parents are well aware of what they're doing, but she doubts that they're surprised. They definitely shouldn't be, not after they've raised them for so long. "You're just upset that I took away your family discount privileges." Murphy grins, and she can so clearly see him replaying the memories in his head. Clarke wanted to take it away from the moment that she was told she had to offer it to him, but Indra refused, right up until he started hoarding coupons just to get basically free coffee, like the prick he is.
"Sure," Murphy beams at her, waving a hand. "Anyways. Bellamy's...he's Bellamy. That's all there really is to say," he shrugs. "He's kind of like a bear, I guess. He's tall, he probably would fight anyone who even walked in front of his house and looked at it. He's just Bellamy. And I guess he's my soulmate, or whatever," Murphy sighs, rolling his eyes. "I like him. I wouldn't go as far as to say love, I don't even like him a lot, actually, but hey, apparently tolerating him was enough for the soulmarks to show up," Clarke glances over at Mom, who raises her eyebrows up, directing a pointed look over to Murphy. Clarke listens to him sigh, watching as he rolls up his sleeves, letting his arm hit the table. "Yeah, it's real. Unfortunately."
And there on his wrist is an intricate pattern of shapes and lines. It's abstract, and it hurts Clarke's eyes when she strains to try and make it out. Soulmarks only form actual, real marks when they're looked at by your soulmate. That still doesn't stop Clarke from being disappointed when she can't fully make it out. "That's wonderful, John," Mom beams at him, and Clarke rolls her eyes. It isn't like she's not happy for Murphy, because she is. She knows that he had been convinced he didn't have a soulmate, and for him to finally find out that he does...it's nice. Clarke is unbelievably happy that he's found his soulmate, and that she can actually tolerate said soulmate. She can only tolerate Bellamy when he isn't around Murphy, though. The two of them together is a nightmare, and Clarke will never understand how the fuck the universe decided that that was a good idea, but whatever. "You'll have to let us meet him sometime! I'd really like to meet this fine young man."
"Sure," Murphy shrugs, pulling out his phone from his pocket. "I'll text him, yeah. I'm pretty sure he's trying to get me to come over and meet his whole family. Clarke knows his sister, though, and I'm not sure how much I want to be in the same room as someone who's only heard blatant lies about me."
"Fu-" Clarke stops herself from finishing that word at the look at Mom gives her. She can't believe that they're still strict on swearing when they've heard Clarke tell Murphy, in great detail, how she plans on killing him. "That's not true at all," she decides to say instead, propping her arm up on the table, resting her head in her hand. "I've never lied about you. I've actually been painfully obvious, which is enough to get the point across. I've never told a lie once in my entire life. And you know what that makes me, Murphy?"
"Don't you dare."
"The favourite."
Murphy purses his lips, and Clarke grins at the look that crosses over his face. He can't do shit to her right now, and she's so well aware of that, and so is he. She revels in the moment for a couple of seconds before she hears Mom sigh, warily glancing back over to her. There's no faux disappointment on her face, so Clarke assumes that she's safe for the time being. If anything, Dad will probably just call off dinner and give Murphy a chance to enact his revenge, as if Clarke would let that happen. She'll get to his car before he does, she'll put it in reverse, and she'll watch it drive ass-first into the lake. Easy.
"Clarke," Mom says instead, and Clarke instantly feels her blood run cold. It isn't made any better by the fact that she sees Murphy's stupid face morph into a grin, and she wonders if he had anything to do with whatever the hell is about to happen to her. "What about you?" Mom leans forwards a little, and Clarke shifts back a bit, the question bouncing around in her head for a couple of seconds. What about her? "Have you been seeing anyone? Soulmate or otherwise?"
Of course.
Clarke doesn't even know why she's surprised, she really doesn't. She should have been expecting this from the moment that they started asking Murphy about his soulmate. Clarke quietly thinks about it for a few seconds before she realizes that she's taken too long. She can't say no now without both of her parents being suspicious of her, she knows them, and if she says yes, then she's going to have to figure shit out real fast. It doesn't help that Murphy is sat right next to her, and he's going to know that she's lying, because he's always managed to know, and-
"Yeah," Clarke says as casually as she possibly can, waving her hand. "I've been seeing her for a little less than a month," she meets Mom's again, refusing to blink. "I actually found out that she was my soulmate a few days ago, but I knew that Murphy had found out about Bellamy, and I didn't want to, you know," Clarke shrugs. "Make it about me, I guess? I don't know, I figured I'd tell you guys soon, I just didn't think it was that important. She's pretty laid back about the whole, you know, soulmate thing, so I didn't think it was a big deal."
"Clarke! That's wonderful, honey! How long have you two known each other? Is she someone that we know? Is it that Raven girl that you and John hang out with? What's her na-"
She jolts when her phone starts to ring, staring down at the name. Murphy is calling her, and Clarke is about to hang up before she realizes that he's giving her an out. Maybe she isn't going to kick his ass or drive his car into the lake. "Actually, it's her right now," Clarke laughs, standing up. "I'll be right back. Can I tell you guys about her later? I'm kind of interested in how Murphy managed to win over Bellamy despite literally everything," Clarke beams at them, disappearing up the stairs, figuring that that's a safe enough place for her to hide right now. She gasps when she sees Murphy appear in front of her immediately, her hand rushing up to clutch at her chest. "Jesus Christ, Murphy."
"Room. Now," Murphy brushes past her, opening the door to her room. Clarke rolls her eyes, wondering why the hell they couldn't have just used his room. She trails after him, quietly shutting the door behind her, sitting down on her bed next to him. "You're so lucky that I'm a good person," Murphy heaves a sigh, throwing his head back. "So, you're a god awful liar. I still don't know how the fuck they believed you down there, and you're welcome for getting you out of there. You're an idiot."
"Thank you so much for the support," Clarke sneers at him, running her hands through her hair. "I don't know, okay? I just, I panicked."
"So you decided to lie to Mom and Dad about you finding your soulmate," Murphy starts, leaning a little closer to her. "All because they asked you once?"
"When you put it in those exact words, it sounds really, really bad." Clarke sighs, dropping her head. She hasn't felt regret hit her yet, but she's almost certain that it will in a couple of minutes. There's no way that it won't. Fuck. She fucked up, she really, really fucked up. She should have said no, she should have just been honest, but she wasn't, and now she's going to have to deal with it. She can't lie and say that they broke up only a few days after she bullshitted about dating someone. And she said that they were soulmates. She said that they were soulmates, which means there would be a mark, and god. She fucked up, holy shit.
"No," Murphy jabs a finger at her, tilting his head to the side, sounding so unbelievably disappointed. "It sounds really, really bad because it is really, really bad. You just didn't say it out loud. Or spend more than two seconds thinking about it. Where are the soulmarks, Clarke? Where are they? Did you think about that? Or the fact that you're going to have to lie even more? Or the fact that you're either going to have to tell Mom and Dad that you broke it off, that you lied to them in the first place, which isn't an actual option, or that you're going to have to find someone to play pretend with you?"
Clarke flips him off, closing her eyes shut for a few seconds. "Shut up, Murphy. The soulmarks aren't important. It isn't like they're going to demand to see them, especially if it formed on, like, my back. The soulmarks are not the thing that I'm worried about right now."
"Uh huh, sure. Because Mom definitely isn't going to keep asking about that," Murphy pauses, a grin twisting onto his face. Clarke wants to punch him again, and she only resists because she knows that she technically owes him now. He saved her ass from dinner, and even though he already knew she was lying, she's openly admitted to it now. He has way too much leverage over her, and Clarke isn't going to give him any reason to suddenly decide to be a moral person and out her on her lying. "So when you find this girl, which isn't going to happen, because who the hell would willingly date you, even if it's fake, are you guys gonna get matching tattoos to really sell this?"
Clarke tilts her head back, willing God to give her the patience to deal with this bullshit. "No, Jesus Christ, Murphy. God, no. And fuck you, you know what? I can get a real girlfriend easily. Getting a fake one shouldn't be hard," she heaves a sigh, crossing her arms against her chest. "Fuck. Why did it have to be you? Why couldn't I have been with anyone else right now?"
Murphy grins at her, so obviously smug that it makes her want to punch him in the face even more, but she resists. She has to, or else he'll hold this over her head until she dies. There's no way she can let that happen, absolutely not. She would rather die than let Murphy have even more leverage over her. "You gonna tell the rest of our friends?"
"What?" Clarke blinks at him, her eyes widening. "No. Raven can't keep a secret unless I pay her, Octavia is untrustworthy, Jasper would tell Monty, and Monty would just be disappointed, and I don't know if I can handle that. Plus," she pauses, briefly remembering that Emori is definitely still angry at her. She wouldn't even think about telling Echo or Roan, even though she knows that the both of them would keep quiet about it. Roan would never let her live it down, and Clarke doesn't think she would be able to deal with Echo constantly making fun of her in that half-joking half-real way. "Emori would immediately tell Mom. You know she's still angry at me for that one thing."
"That one thing," Murphy starts, giving her a pointed look that Clarke does her best to ignore. "Being you letting out her cat when she asked you to watch him, replacing him, and then never telling her until you found and brought back Ori?" He asks, tilting his head to the side even though he knows damn well that yes, that is that one thing. Clarke doesn't think she's going to be able to resist from beating the everloving shit out of him for much longer, she really doesn't.
"Yeah," she breathes out, her shoulders slouching."Yeah, that one thing. The point I'm getting at is that no, I am not telling our other friends," Clarke pauses, narrowing her eyes at her idiot brother who has more malice towards her than anyone else. "And neither are you."
"Sure I'm not," Murphy beams at her, not at all making Clarke feel better in the least. "I'm telling Bellamy."
Clarke feels all of her hopes, the few that she actually risked having, dissipate instantly. "Do not."
"He deserves to know, Clarke."
"Murphy, please. Come on. You know you don't have to do this to me. I'm already going to have to figure out so much shit for this, and I don't need you blackmailing me on top of it. Don't you dare."
"Guess you're gonna have to give me some incentive to not tell my boyfriend whom I share everything with."
Clarke scoffs, in complete and utter disbelief about the words coming from Murphy's mouth. "That is such a lie. You don't! You don't! You're..." Clarke trails off, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I hate you so much. If you tell Bellamy, I'll tell Octavia about how much you love Bellamy. I'll show her the texts that you've sent me. I have screenshots, Murphy. I have receipts that go to April. And you know that she'll tell Bellamy. You know that she will."
Murphy stares at her, scoffing right back at her. "You suck, what the hell, Clarke? God, fine. Fine. I won't tell Bellamy," he holds up his hands. "You're lucky that it's time to leave," Murphy tells her, pushing himself off of the bed. "It's ten. We're officially twenty minutes over the normal time that we leave. You've got..." he trails off, waving a hand. "Maybe two weeks? You've got maybe two weeks to get yourself a fake soulmate," he beams at her, walking over to the door. "I'm also not going to help you with that, so don't even bother asking. Good luck, princess."
Clarke doesn't even bother giving him a response, opting to just silently trail after him down the stairs.
She's so fucked.
Clarke looks up from her phone when she hears the bell on the door ring, her good mood instantly disappearing when she sees Murphy. He beams at her, waving, and Clarke flips him off in return. "Hello to you too," Murphy snorts, moving to lean on the counter in front of her. "Slow day?" He asks, tilting his head to the side. She nods, motioning over to the complete lack of customers yet. To be fair, it's Monday, and they never get any customers on Monday. "At least you don't actually have to do anything. You're literally getting paid for just sitting on your ass."
"I still have to do storage," Clarke sighs, sparing a quick glance over her shoulder. "Wait," she pauses, narrowing her eyes at him. "Don't you literally have class right now? You have a lecture that you're missing." Murphy grins, holding up his hands in mock surrender.
"It got cancelled," Murphy tells her, and Clarke does not believe that for a second. She doesn't think she'll ever fully understand just how the hell Murphy is managing to pass all of his classes when he literally never shows up to any of them. She sighs, flipping him off again, and that only seems to fuel his good mood. "And you're not going to have any room to complain about me missing a stupid lecture in a couple of seconds," Murphy beams, turning around to push his back against the counter, resting his arms on the counter a few seconds later. "You're lucky I'm such a good person."
Clarke frowns, trying to look around Murphy when the door opens, hearing that stupid bell. "What the hell are you talking about, Murphy? Are you serious? I need to-"
"Meet Lexa!" Murphy hops off of the counter, and Clarke stares ahead of where he had been, and holy shit. Lexa is beautiful. She's dressed for summer weather even though it's only spring. She's wearing a white t-shirt, a pair of black cargo pants, and combat boots that practically blend in with her pants. Her hair is wavy and reaches down to her shoulders, and fuck, Clarke is sick and tired of falling instantly in love with women.
"Why am I meeting Lexa?" Clarke finally manages to ask over the lump in her throat, tapping her fingers against the counter. "No offense," she offers a quick smile at Lexa, who smiles right back at her, and god, she's so pretty. "I'm really sorry you've been dragged into whatever the fuck Murphy is doing."
Murphy scoffs, crossing his arms against his chest. "Whatever the fuck I'm doing? This is fully on you, princess. Lexa is in a similar situation to you," Murphy tells her, his lips quirking up into a grin. It only takes Clarke a couple of seconds to realize what he's getting at. "So, I decided that I'd help you both out. You both owe me," Clarke laughs, shaking her head in disbelief. There's no way. There's no way. "So, yeah. Have fun. I'm pretty sure there are some fake matching tattoos you guys can get. You know, the ones that you just run water over and shit? Yeah, go for those. I'm gonna head out because I can't stand being around you," he directs a grin over to Clarke, "for any longer. Bye."
"Fuck off, Murphy," Clarke laughs, watching as he flips her off as he disappears out the front door. All too suddenly she's left alone with Lexa standing in front of her, and she doesn't know where the hell she's even supposed to begin. Clarke glances down at the counter for a few seconds, risking her dignity to look up, thankfully finding that Lexa isn't looking at her at all. "So," Clarke clears her throat, watching as Lexa jerks her head back to face her now. "I'm sure Murphy already told you, but I'm Clarke," she beams. "Clarke Griffin. Do you, do you go to Arkadia?"
Lexa smiles at her, soft and pretty. Clarke reminds herself to stop being a idiot, pushing down all of her stupid, bullshit infatuation. "I do, yeah. I'm Lexa Woods. I'm going into journalism. I have Murphy in a few of my classes. You two are...friends?"
"Siblings," Clarke sighs. Lexa looks confused for a second before it looks like it clicks in her head, and Clarke can't help but smile. Every single person has that reaction, and it's even worse if they know the both of them. "I'm majoring in art," she beams, leaning forwards on the counter. As much as she enjoys Mondays for being slow and not having to work, she thinks that she's enjoying this Monday for a much different reason. "So, um. You're in the same situation as me?"
"Oh, yeah," Lexa looks away, ducking her head for a second. "Yeah, I am. My parents were asking about it, and it just..." Lexa trails off, giving a half-hearted shrug that Clarke understands all too well. "So, um," Lexa takes a couple of steps forwards, pulling out her phone. "I don't want to keep interrupting you since you're, you know," she pauses, a bright smile appearing on her face. "Working, so..."
"Trust me," Clarke laughs, pushing herself up, pulling her own phone out. "You're not interrupting anything. We never get any customers."
"At all?" Lexa laughs, handing Clarke her phone. She takes it, handing Lexa her own, even though she doesn't think she really needs to. "I wish I could get paid for just having to do nothing all day."
"It's the best job I've ever had," Clarke grins up at her, quicky putting in her information. "There's nothing to do most of the time other than do inventory and storage, and that's really easy. The coffee is really good, too. Not just because I make it."
Lexa laughs again, her eyes crinkling at the sides. "I'll be sure to bring my wallet next time. Murphy sort of just told me to meet him here, and I didn't get the chance to ask him why before he was already gone," she sighs, though she's still smiling. "Is there, you know," Lexa shifts on her feet, suddenly looking nervous. "A partner discount?"
"Wow," Clarke slides Lexa's phone back to her, taking her own a second later. "You're really just in it for the discounted coffee, huh?" Clarke beams at her, watching as Lexa's nervous smile shifts back into something far brighter. "Yes, there's a partner discount. We can just text about all the details later? When's your next class?"
"In..." Lexa looks down at her phone. "Fifteen minutes. Yeah, texting would be good. Texting would be great, actually, yeah. I'll see you around?"
"I hope so," Clarke laughs. "Bye, Lexa."
"Bye, Clarke!"
And then she's gone, the bell on the door ringing as a reminder of her absence. Clarke lets out a breath, running a hand through her hair. She jerks up when she hears her phone go off, staring down at the notification.
lexa!: have fun on the rest of your shift :)
Clarke laughs, her heart soaring up into her chest. She should have just asked Raven to be her fake soulmate, it would have been so much easier, but here she is.
clarke: have fun being stuck in a lecture for the next hour <3
lexa!: i won't <3
She grins, shaking her head a little as she pockets her phone.
Clarke definitely owes Murphy.
lexa!: hi :)
clarke: hi :) finished with classes?
lexa!: finally
lexa!: so what all did you tell your parents?
clarke: i just said that we've been seeing each other for about a month now
clarke: & that we found out we were soulmates a few days ago
clarke: i think i also told them that you don't rly care about soulmates? i don't know, i was high on adrenaline at that point
lexa!: ofc ofc
lexa!: okay, that works well enough with what i said
lexa!: i just told them that we've been dating for a few months now, it got serious recently, and that we found out we were soulmates about a week or so ago
lexa!: so that works pretty well :)
clarke: oh thank god LMFAO did they ask about soulmarks or anything?
lexa!: nope :) they're not super into the idea, they're just happy that you know
lexa!: i'm seeing someone
lexa!: "seeing"
clarke: well you definitely saw me today
lexa!: that was awful. i'm reconsidering this entire alliance, clarke
clarke: ALLIANCE? i can't believe this isn't even a relationship
lexa!: it's not going to be a relationship if you make the Worst jokes
clarke: smfh, fine fine. my parents want to meet you in a couple of weeks. we have a monthly get-together type thing, and we just had our last one about a week ago
clarke: so we have time to actually make this believable
lexa!: is murphy going to be there?
clarke: unfortunately
lexa!: since he helped you, he isn't going to do anything to mess with us, right?
clarke: oh yeah he'll be fine
clarke: if he does anything i'll just kick his ass dw
clarke: so. boundaries for all of this. you're okay with like hand holding and stuff?
lexa!: i would hope i'd be okay with my girlfriend holding my hand
clarke: i can see why you and murphy get along so well
lexa!: <3
lexa!: but seriously yes it's fine :) just normal girlfriend stuff
lexa!: it isn't like it has to be Forever. i can break up with you at some point
clarke: oh YOU'RE the one breaking up with ME? i don't think so
clarke: i'll break up with you rn
lexa!: sure you will
clarke: smfh
clarke: what times do you have classes tomorrow?
lexa!: i don't actually have anything
clarke: oh sweet
clarke: my shift starts at ~9am
clarke: come say hello?
lexa!: do i get free coffee?
clarke: discounted coffee
clarke: fake girlfriends don't get free coffee
lexa!: damn :(
lexa!: i guess i'll take the discount
clarke: smfh
clarke: i'm going to fake break up with you SO HARD
lexa!: sure sure <3
lexa!: i'm actually dead exhausted, so i'm gonna go pass out
lexa!: i'll see you in the morning clarke :)
clarke: see you in the morning lexa <3