170. Chapter 170

She’d blown off the class because she was hungover and she was depressed, and hell, all her perfect scores were never going to be enough for Eliza anyway, so what the hell did it even matter?

Well, it mattered now, because she’d failed the next day’s exam. She’d failed, and a stupid organic chem test at that, something she was supposed to be amazing at, something other people, less Alex Danvers people, were supposed to sweat over, panic over. Fail.

But now she was the one with a scarlet F on her chest, and now more people than just Eliza would be able to see her for what she really was: a disappointment.

She ignores her girlfriend’s texts as she storms back to her dorm, and she snaps at her roommate so sharply that Lena just arches an eyebrow, slings her bag over her shoulder, and stalks off to Kara’s room.

She groans irritably at the rap on the door a few minutes later, figuring that Lena forget something, figuring she’d forgotten her keys or didn’t feel like digging for them in her bag, figuring that Lena decided not to let her off the hook for her bad mood so easily after all, and she stomped over to the door and opened it aggressively.

“What.”

Her tirade stops before it begins when the woman standing in the doorway isn’t her roommate, but her girlfriend.

“Lena warned me you were in a mood when I passed by her just now, but damn, Danvers. Do I have to kill anyone for you?”

Alex just huffs and steps back from the doorway to let Maggie in, because her bag is about three times her size and sure enough, she lets it down with a relieved grunt as she sinks into Lena’s beanbag chair and pulls Alex down into her lap.

“What happened, Alex?”

Alex glares daggers at her before leaning over and grabbing at her own bag, thrusting the crumpled score sheet into Maggie’s confused hands.

“Oh, Alex,” Maggie sighs sympathetically, pulling Alex down into her shoulder.

“You’ll make it up, babe, you’re amazing at this stuff. You just had an off few days, your mom really got you down last week, you know? And hey, she doesn’t have to find out. Your mom, I mean. We’re apparently all independent and shit now, babe.”

“Okay, fine, but even if I don’t tell her, this just proves her right,” Alex counters grumpily, but she snuggles deeper into Maggie’s lap because even if she won’t admit it, she loves being held by her (albeit tiny) girlfriend.

“Hey, Ally, don’t say that, okay? She’s not right. You’re a lot of things, great in bed being one of them – ow! that’s a rude way to respond to a compliment – but babe, a failure is not one of the things you are. You’re fantastic, Alex, you’re brilliant, and some stupid test doesn’t define you, or how much you’re worth, okay? And you’re worth everything to me. Everything. Okay?”

There’s a long pause where Alex stares at Maggie, trying to judge the truth behind her words.

“Great in bed, huh?” is what she finally says, deciding that maybe she’s worth something beyond an exam after all.

Something that feels a lot like love, and being loved, and being here, here, here.