This summer

Chapter IV.

 "What about you Lexa? What do you do actually?" Monty asked the youngest Woods.

"I run the company my father founded," the brunette explained." He died of a heart attack a few months ago, and I have to be the next CEO."

"Oh, I am sorry."

"No need, don't worry. We weren't the closest with our dad, Lexa, and I," Lincoln reassured him.

"So you didn't go to college?" Murphy asked.

"I didn't need to, my dad basically groomed me into taking his place. Lincoln was never interested, so the pressure fell on me. It was a bit weird in the beginning, but you get used to it. It's been around a year and a half that I really went into it, but I truly am the CEO only since my dad died, so it's still pretty new."

The meal continued until Jasper voted to have a movie night. Gina, Maya, Lincoln, Miller, and Monty offered to clean up, the rest of the group needed to find a film to see. It only took 20 mn for Lexa to explode.

"STOP! My god, you are loud, I've never seen that before."

"Not my fault!" Jasper, Raven, and Murphy said at the same time, rejecting the blame to the two others. Lexa rolled her eyes at their childish antics, the others were used to it now and found it pretty funny. Those three together are worse than a hurricane.

"Look, what about Forrest Gump? It's a classic, but it got everything you want."

10 more minutes and they settled on Forrest Gump. Snacks were passed around.

Harper, Maya, Octavia, and Bryan passed out before the end of the movie. They all said goodnight and returned to their rooms for a good night's sleep.

One day down, a lot more to go!

At 8 am, Lexa was up, as she always was. She jumped in her workout clothes, and went for a run, like she does every morning. She had had this routine for years, grounding her in her life. Waking up, brushes her teeth, and clothes, morning jog, shower, and finally breakfast. Today was the same, and she jogged for about an hour and a half before coming back to the villa. Unlike yesterday, only Octavia and Lincoln were up.

"Morning Lexa," Octavia greeted her.

"Hey Lex', nice jog?"

"Awesome. You're getting lazy Linc', we don't change routine during the holidays."

Lincoln chuckled and flipped off his sister. She was laughing, as she left to take a shower.

"You usually jog?" Octavia asked the man.

"Yeah, but since I value my sleep, I do it at night, Lexa does it in the morning. Preferences."

"I can come with you if you want?" Octavia offered, always happy to spend time with Lincoln.

"Yeah? With pleasure! I usually wait a bit to digest before running, so like 30mn-1 hour after dinner. You're on for tonight?"

"Obviously, I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't. Plus, Lexa isn't wrong, if I don't do anything for the holidays, my return to the gym will only be worse."

Lincoln smiled and looked at Octavia. She was already staring at him, and their eyes locked. Both blushed bashfully but didn't look away. It was the arrival of Monty, Harper, and Miller that forced the two lovebirds apart. All five of them got started on breakfast, more a brunch to be honest. Just like yesterday, all got down at various hours. But at 1 pm, they were all ready, changed, fed, and impatient to visit the city. Both Woods were the guides today, so Lexa couldn't pass.

A few hours of walking later, the rest was starting to get hungry. Lexa directed them to a merchant, his shop was barely big enough to squeeze them all but she seemed to know him pretty well. They ordered and sat outside, enjoying the sun.

"I would never be able to understand how you can eat like a dinosaur, you already ate almost half of the brunch by yourself!" Murphy said to Raven as she swallowed her umpteenth waffle.

"There's the thing with talent, or you have it or you don't," she responded with a wink.

"Has anything romantic ever happened between Raven and Murphy?" Lexa asked Bellamy, having seen the wink.

"Yeah, why?"

"They look super close."

"They are," Bryan answered. "They dated during the summer between high school and college but it was a disaster. They broke up before college started, the distance was always a bit of a factor. They are way too much alike. They even held a prank war for a few weeks. As best friends they are unbearable, so imagine them as a couple."

"Oh, believe me, I do," Lexa laughed.

On the other side of the table, Clarke was focused on Lexa and her fucking smirk. This so simple lips movement was making her head turn.

"Are you listening to me Blondie?" Jasper asked her, forcing her out of her mind.

"Sorry Jas', I was out of it? You were saying?"

"She was too busy eye fucking Lexa to listen to you Jasper," Miller claimed, causing a roar of laughter from Raven and Murphy.

"I second that, But can you blame her, she is a specimen to look at," Raven remarked.

"Shut up you, I wasn't eye fucking Lexa," Clarke denied, the blush on her cheeks making her lose all credibility.

"Nah, I agree with them. You were staring at her like a hawk, that was creepy Griff'."

Murphy's sentence caused him to receive a slap on the shoulder from Clarke, never diminishing the laughter from their side of the table. They took turns teasing her when Raven suddenly stopped. Her eyes were fixed on a point away from them.

"My fucking god," she sighed.

"What? What's wrong?" Monty worried.

"I'll let that girl run me over with a truck and I'll probably thank her," the brunette responded, eyes still away from them.

Miller, Murphy, Monty, Jasper, and Clarke followed her gaze. The woman was Asian, with dirty blond hair, and her cheekbones looked like glass. Jasper and Murphy switched victim and teased Raven on her new crush. Monty and Clarke laughed, Raven always has new crushes left and right?

"Fuck, she's coming towards us. What the fuck do I do?"

It was true, the woman took a couple of steps in their direction. She looked absolutely intimidating, but just to see Raven freak out like that, it was worth it. The unknown woman got closer to the other side of the table where Lexa, Bryan, Bellamy, and Maya were chatting.

"Hey Lex', funny seeing you here. Who are your friends?"

Lexa turned so quickly that she almost broke her neck. She stood up to give the girl a big hug, leaving the rest of the group shocked in silence. Lincoln stood up too and smiled happily, hugging her too. Clarke was now looking at the woman with a barely disguised jealousy. Lexa has never been a touchy person, yet she almost jumped in this girl's arms. Who the hell is she?