chapter one

Clarke had been excited to go skiing, she really had. Octavia and Raven had spent months badgering her to go, the two girls relentless in their pursuit - Clarke had found brochures for skiing clothes in her handbag every single morning for a week once.

It had gotten to the point where she'd just agreed to get them off her back, but she had been excited about it for a while - ten days in the mountains with two of her best friends in the world, learning to ski and drinking beer and watching stupid movies.

It sounded like heaven to an overworked and overtired Clarke - they had all graduated from university a matter of months previously, and after the usual post-college dream crushing job hunt, Clarke had found herself working as a legal aid for a firm in the city. They worked her like a dog, but whatever, she enjoyed it. Clarke liked being busy, she always had, but even so, a break sounded great.

Until she had found out that both Octavia and Raven were bringing their boyfriends. Clarke was the single friend - she worked long hours, so she didn't exactly have time to date, and she had only ever dated casually in college. It had never bothered her, and even now it didn't. What bothered her was being the fifth wheel for ten days.

Lincoln was great, really. Octavia had been dating him for close to two years now, and he was a permanent fixture in their little apartment. He was fun, always brought takeout with him when he came over, and he loved Octavia to pieces.

Finn was a different story. It wasn't that he was a bad person, he was a good guy, but he and Clarke had a slight run in in their junior year of college when he and Raven had been on a break, and when he had chosen Raven all over again, he'd kind of broken Clarke's heart.

Not that she would ever, ever admit it.

She could have dealt with Finn being there though, it would have felt a little awkward and weird but she would have dealt with it in the end.

What Clarke was not going to deal with was the giant lump of stupid standing in the doorway of Octavia's grandmothers house in Aspen, blocking her way in.

Clarke still couldn't believe Octavia had invited her idiot of a brother along.

"Princess. Glad you've left your castle for long enough to socialise with your subjects."

"Says the guy who owns a house in Aspen." Clarke snapped, her gaze cold.

"Don't your parents own a villa in France? On the other side of the world?"

"Bell, don't be an idiot." Octavia said, laughing as she pushed past Clarke to hug her brother. "How are you?"

"I'm good O, I'm really good." Bellamy said, hugging her tightly. "I'm excited to kick your ass this week though."

"Oh, you wish. I'd wipe the floor with you any day, we all know I'm better at skiing." Octavia replied. "Tell me you have milk in the house Bell, I would literally sell you for a cup of coffee right now, it is cold as balls."

"Side affect of snow O." Bellamy said, jerking his head towards the kitchen. "That really annoying Richardson kid dropped a cheesecake over earlier."

"Cheesecake? Hell yes." Octavia practically shoved her brother out of the way, dragging her bags behind her, dumping them in the entrance of the hallway.

Clarke didn't move, frozen on the doorstep in front of Bellamy.

"I'm not going to carry your bags for you princess, if thats what you're waiting for." He smirked.

"How about you just stay the hell out of my way this week and I wont try and kill you in your sleep?"

"I love it when you talk murder to me princess, its really sexy."

Rolling her eyes, Clarke huffed past him, heading into the house. She'd seen pictures of the place Octavia had shown her before the trip, but it was absolutely stunning - a vast expanse of wood and carpet, the whole place warm, and homely.

"Clarke, get your ass in here! You have to try this cheesecake."

"But what about all our stuff…."

"Clarke, you're on holiday." Raven said, grabbing her friend by the shoulders and guiding her into the bright, open plan kitchen, Octavia already sitting at the table, digging into a slice of cheesecake hungrily. "You don't need to stress about everything while we're here."

"Thats going to be hard with Bellamy here." Clarke mumbled, pulling her gloves off. There was a blazing fire going in the kitchen, and it was ridiculously warm.

"Just, pick a different mountain to ski on." Raven grinned, moving past to help herself to some cake.

"Thanks Ray." Clarke replied sarcastically. "So helpful."

"Don't be a downer Clarke, just eat some cake. You love cheesecake." Octavia held the plate up, wriggling her eyebrows. "Its cheesecake Clarke."

Clarke shrugged off her jacket, dumping it on the kitchen counter before joining her friends at the table. "What flavour?"

Octavia beamed. "Lemon."

"Give it here."

Octavia cut her a slice, giving her a grateful smile. "If you can bite your tongue for ten days and not hate my brother Clarke, I will make you breakfast in bed for a straight month when we get home. OK?"

"With bacon?"

"With all the bacon I can get my hands on."

"OK. You have a deal." Clarke grinned, taking a bite of the cake. "As long as you keep these cheesecakes coming."

"Careful princess, don't you know cake goes like, straight to your hips?" Bellamy smirked from where he was leaning against the kitchen counter.

Clarke twisted in her chair, her expression angry. "Whats that supposed to mean?"

"Come on, that was hilarious. That was my best Valley girl impression!"

"I'm from San Diego, asshole." Clarke snapped. "You might want to make sure you're not suffering from memory loss Blake, I hear its a side affect of being an idiot."

"Children, children!" Raven hollered. "Can we all act like adults for once?"

"Its not my fault - he clearly has a personality disorder."

Octavia sighed. "Am I going to have to keep you in separate rooms for this entire holiday?"

Bellamy smirked again (she was going to wipe that stupid smirk off his face), staring directly at Clarke. "We could totally share a room princess."

"Ew, no!"

"Sorry, I forgot you were saving yourself for marriage."

That was it.

Clarke scraped her chair back, glowering at Bellamy. "I hate you so much, you know that right?"

"And it wounds me to know it every single day princess." Bellamy clutched a hand to his chest dramatically.

Clarke rolled her eyes, looking at Octavia. "What room am I staying in?"

"Any room down on the next floor except for the three at the front."

"Thanks." Clarke stomped out of the kitchen, absolutely fuming. This was supposed to be her holiday, and they'd been there for all of five minutes before Bellamy had to start mouthing off.

He was so annoying.

Clarke dragged her suitcase up the stairs, her bag thudding loudly against each and every one of the steps as she did so.

Stupid, arrogant, annoying, childish -

"Clarke?"

"What?" Clarke snapped angrily, her eyes widening when she realised it was Finn, not Bellamy. "Sorry, I -"

"Thought I was Bellamy?" Finn finished for her. "Its fine Clarke. I was just going to see if you needed any help."

Clarke shook her head. "I'm good. Thanks though."

Finn nodded. "I was bringing me and Ray's stuff up anyway."

"Cool."

Cool? There was actually something wrong with her.

"So, you excited to go skiing?"

"I've never been." Clarke admitted. "It should be interesting."

Finn nodded. "You'll love it. We always have a great time up here."

"Good to know." Clarke nodded, feeling desperately awkward and uncomfortable. "I'm going to go and unpack."

"Right. Me too." Finn nodded. "Its good to see you though Clarke. Raven says you're doing really well - with work."

"I'm taking the world of legal assistants by storm." Clarke said, smiling slightly. "You and Raven good?"

Finn nodded. "Yeah."

"Thats good."

"I'll uh - I'll go put our stuff away." Finn said, grabbing the handle of Raven's suitcase.

"I'll go claim my room." Clarke said, and turned away before Finn could add anything else to their intensely awkward conversation. It was nearly two years since everything had happened, but at times, it did feel a little raw to her - she had liked him a lot.

Shaking her head, Clarke headed to the nearest door, pushing it open. The house was really incredibly beautiful, and the queen sized bed in the middle of the room looked like heaven on Earth to Clarke's aching shoulders - she really hated flying, and the journey from New York to Colorado had cramped her neck up awfully.

Wheeling her suitcase into the room, Clarke kicked off her shoes, flopping back onto the pristine white covers.

"Oh my god." She found herself muttered, her eyes squeezing shut.

Her bed in New York was nowhere near as comfortable.

A sudden wave of tiredness hit her, and Clarke moved into a more comfortable position on the bed, her breathing slowing. A quick, five minute rest couldn't hurt - it might make facing Bellamy less of a chore.

She was just going to close her eyes for five minutes and then go get some more of that incredible cheesecake.

Yeah.

Five minutes.

"Princess! I know it might be tiring for you to have to carry your own bags around, but there was no need to take a three hour nap."

Clarke groaned loudly as Bellamy's obnoxious voice interrupted her peaceful rest. "Fuck off Bellamy."

"Nope. Octavia told me to wake you up because we're going for dinner."

Clarke sat up angrily as something hit her in the stomach hard. "Did you just through my coat at me?"

"Don't be such a baby, its a coat. I was going to throw a shoe."

"I wish you'd throw yourself off the balcony instead." Clarke muttered, running a hand through her messy hair.

Bellamy shook his head. "You'd miss me too much. I make your life a thousand percent more interesting."

"Yeah, Octavia's college drop out older brother who makes it his life's aim to give me a psychotic break is someone I would definitely miss." Clarke replied sarcastically. "Can you get out of my room so I can get ready?"

"Its OK, I don't have a foot fetish - I can wait for you to put your shoes on, it wont be weird."

Clarke barely held in a scream as she shoved her feet into her boots, grabbing her jacket and handbag. "Go. Move."

"Do you even know how bossy you are?"

Clarke ignored his comment, pushing past him into the hall, Octavia and Raven already in the hallway, talking excitedly.

"Clarke! I was wondering if you were ever going to join us." Octavia teased, linking their arms. "There's this amazing bar down the hill that does chicken wings to die for, you're going to love it."

"Can't wait!" Clarke smiled, forcing herself to relax. She was on holiday with Octavia and Raven, and she was going to damn well enjoy it. It's not like she was ever fifth wheel before, right?

Wrong.

Five hours later, Clarke found herself in the corner of a packed bar with only Bellamy for company. Apparently, since she wasn't going to be alone if they coupled up, Octavia and Raven had taken it as logical reasoning to do just that.

Octavia and Lincoln were in the middle of the dance floor, Octavia dancing wildly, Lincoln simply watching and smiling, occasionally spinning her around to keep her happy. Finn and Raven had somehow become the rowdy couple grinding on each other in the middle of a crowd, and Clarke suspected it was something to do with the six rounds of Boilermakers they'd downed after dinner.

Maybe.

"Want to dance?"

"I'd rather stick pins in my eyes, thanks."

Bellamy didn't look the slightest bit fazed. "I'm starting to think all this bickering is just pent up sexual attraction, princess."

Clarke snorted. "In your dreams."

"In yours."

"I need another drink." Clarke said, moving to get up.

"You're going to love me you know."

Or, another twelve drinks.

And a lobotomy.


author's note: based off a post janina (rebelleleader) made on tumblr, so all credit to her for the amazing idea. i'm just running with it and hoping it lives up to the original post! plus, the prospect of bickering bellamy and clarke stuck on holiday together was too much to refuse.