Chapter Text
This was hopeless.
Clarke knew that now she’s screwed up her chance at finally making her parents, or rather her mother, proud of who she is. She’s tired of constantly having to conform to the person that her mom wants her to be.
Once she walks out of the hospital and out to the parking lot, she unlocks her car and gets in. Tears threaten to spill as she turns the key in the ignition and makes her way to the cafe she works at to squeeze in a couple hours of work before heading off to Christmas with her parents.
Clarke somberly walks into the little hole-in-the-wall of a building to find her best friend, Wells, stanfing behind the counter taking a customer’s order. When he’s finished, he notices her slouched shoulders and upset look and pulls her aside.
“You okay?” he asks her and she just shakes her head to tell him no. She knows that if she tries to say anything then the tears she’s been holding back will spill over and she doesn’t want people to see her cry, to see her as weak. Wells understands what she’s implying and gives Clarke a nod before getting back to work.
Once Wells walks away, Clarke makes her way into the break room to grab one of her aprons from her locker. She pulls on the ugly orange colored thing that has a tear in one of the pockets and coffee stains spattered randomly from her past battles between coffee machines and syrup pumps. She sneaks into the employee bathroom to check over her appearance, pasting a smile to her face, before thoroughly washing her hands and making her way out to help Wells and a couple of the other employees, Jasper and Monty, with the sudden rush of customers that have made their way in from the bitter cold outside.
About an hour or so into her shift, she spots a familiar head of dark hair making his way up to the counter. A real smile spreads across Clarke’s face with the appearance of her boyfriend, Finn. She grabs a towel and walks out to wipe off some of the vacant tables. Clarke approaches her boyfriend, needing to talk to him about their plans for going out to spend time with her parents for Christmas.
“Hey,” she says as he turns to face her, cup of coffee in his hand.
“Hey,” he answers smiling down at her.
“I need to talk to you,” she states. “You’re still coming home with me for Christmas, right?”
“Well,” he begins to respond before he’s interrupted.
“Finn!” A voice calls from the doorway and Clarke turns to see a dark haired woman making her way over to them. The woman finally makes it over to them and pulls Finn’s face down to meet hers in a kiss. Clarke can’t help but feel the hurt bubble up in her chest as she witnesses what is happening before quickly looking the other way.
“Oh, sorry. Where are my manners? I’m Raven, Finn’s girlfriend.” The woman introduces after detaching her lips from the man next to her.
They shake hands as Clarke responds, “Nice to meet you. I’m Clarke, uh,” she pauses. “I’m a friend of Finn’s. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work now. It was nice meeting you, Raven, and bye Finn.”
Clarke makes her way back to the counter, ignoring Finn calling after her and trying to avert her attention from the feeling of her heart being ripped out of her chest. She couldn’t believe that Finn was cheating on her, right in front of her face, no less. So much for bringing someone home for Christmas, her parents (actually, mainly just her mother) were going to be so disappointed in her for screwing this up, just like how she screws everything else up.
‘This day has just turned to complete shit.’ she says to herself. It’s that moment that Clarke notices an attractive looking man walking through the door, talking on his cell phone, that an idea sparks in her head. Maybe she wouldn’t have to go home alone for Christmas after all.