Authors Note: Hey guys! So this is my first big fic and I'm super excited for you all to read it! It was originally just a big oneshot, but I felt it would be better in chapters :). I'll add more tags as I update, but for now I don't want to spoil anything! Hope you guys like it and feel free to leave me comments if you have anything you'd like to tell me :)!

Clarke had no idea how she'd gotten herself into this mess. Of course to anyone else this looked completely normal. Just her, Octavia and Bellamy, in Bellamy's apartment on a Friday night doing their weekly movie night, but of course it wasn't normal anymore because god forbid something simple in her life stay that way. This time the atmosphere just felt awkward. She and Bellamy had barely spoken to each other the past two weeks. Only "Hello's" and casual conversations that she would immediately cut off once someone else entered the room, and phone calls and text messages she would either ignore or answer only to end up being short with him. Of course this was his fault for deciding to get a girlfriend and apparently coming to the conclusion that Clarke was no longer the 2nd most important woman in his life (Octavia coming first, obviously) . But for as long as she could remember it was her, Octavia, Bellamy and their movie nights. She and the Blake siblings had been doing a weekly movie night sense they were kids. After they moved in next door, her and Octavia became instant friends at the age of 6, and of course with Octavia came Bellamy. They'd all grown up together, never missing a movie night. 15 years had passed and they'd still managed to not miss one. Of course when Bellamy went off to University it had been complicated but they kept the tradition with Bellamy over Skype. But now their usually fun tradition was dampened by Clarke's mood. Of course Bellamy had no idea Clarke was so upset, mainly because she didn't have a reason to be, or at least not one that would make sense to anyone else.

She and Bellamy had been best friends for so long that she just assumed it would always be that way. Then again she didn't plan on falling in love with him and then hiding it from him for 2 years until she got the nerve to say something only to be blindsided by the fact that he now had a girlfriend. She had barely gotten out how her day was before he told her about Echo, leaving her confession to remain a secret for fear of looking ridiculous. He had gone on about how he met this beautiful girl named Echo down at the library a few weeks before, and how they had instantly clicked. She loved mythology just like him, and was just as beautiful and strong as some of the goddesses they read about. He had brought her to meet their friends the night after he had told her and Clarke had been avoiding him ever since.

Clarke knew she was being irrational and unfair to Bellamy, but she just couldn't handle hearing him go on about how amazing Echo was any longer. It's pretty hard to listen to the man you're in love with basically talk about how he's falling for another girl, but that's how they ended up here, sitting in the living room of Bellamy's apartment, watching movies. Clarke usually sat on the couch between the two, but tonight she opted for the recliner to avoid being near Bellamy. Of course when she had done this last week he had given her a strange look. When he asked her why she wasn't sitting with them, she had given him a thin excuse ("Bell it gets too cramped sometimes. I am aloud to sit on my own you know."). He had relented with a scoff and a teasing eye roll. This time though she kept seeing him glance over at her from the corner of her eye, a worried expression plastered on his face. She managed to ignore it and everything was going fine until there was a knock at the door.

"Bell, are you expecting anyone?" Octavia asked as she paused the movie.

He didn't answer and instead went to open the door.

"Hey Bells! Thanks for inviting me! I'm so sorry I'm late, I got held up at the home. Mrs. Gardner just would not go down for her nap!" She said gleefully giving Bellamy a kiss on the cheek as he shut the door behind her.

Had Clarke mentioned she worked at a senior's home? Because she did, as if Bellamy needed any more reason to like her.

"Bell? Can I talk to you for a second?" Octavia asked. She was calm but Clarke could tell from the look in her eyes she was pissed as she led Bellamy into the kitchen.

O knew about her being in love with Bellamy. It's kind of hard when you live together and are best friends to not know all each other's secrets, so of course Raven knew too. They loved to tease her about it, but when Clarke had come home in tears the night he told her about Echo, they had immediately went into best friend mode and had a rom-com marathon with loads of ice cream and tissues to cheer her up. They had also been trying to set her up on a few dates so she could get back out there. Though they were trying their hardest and she loved them for it, Clarke was hopelessly and irreversibly in love with Bellamy Blake and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it.

She and Echo were left alone in the living room. To say the atmosphere was awkward would be a complete understatement. Clarke quickly grew angry not only at the fact that she had to be around Echo and that she couldn't be upset with her because she had technically done nothing wrong, but at the fact that he had invited her to their movie night. When she had brought Finn a few years ago he had completely flipped out and didn't talk to her until a week later. ("Clarke it's been just us three sense we were kids. It ruins it if other people are involved, that's why we don't invite anyone else in our friend group." He had explained to her after they started talking again.) Now he was just going to go against his own rules? Well she was officially done with this movie night. She abruptly stood up startling Echo just as Bellamy and Octavia walked back in the room.

"Everything okay?" Octavia asked, eyes darting between Clarke and Echo. Bellamy stood next to her completely oblivious to Clarke's anger, Octavia's wariness or Echo's obvious discomfort.

"Everything's perfect. Isn't it just perfect how we can just do whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want?" Clarke said with faux enthusiasm that both Blake siblings saw right threw.

"Clarke, are you okay? You seem upset." Bellamy asked a mixture of confusion and worry on his face.

"I seem upset? Well maybe that's because you decided to invite your fucking girlfriend here without asking me and O!" she said her voice beginning to rise. "When I did that with Finn you completely fucking flipped your lid and said it ruined movie nights when we invite other people, but now it's okay for you to do it? Well that's fine. Enjoy yourself because I'm leaving. O, I'll see you at home."

She didn't give him a chance to answer as she stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her and making her way down to the parking lot and starting her car. Just before she left the driveway she saw Bellamy open the front door of the building coming towards her car, but she sped out before he could reach her.

When she got home she was still furious, so she did the only thing that was logical when she was upset and couldn't punch something, she painted. Clarke usually did portraits and scenery's, but whenever she was feeling inspired she liked to do abstract work. Usually when she didn't quite know how to express how she was feeling in any other way.

She went into her studio, set up her canvas on her easel, got out all her paint and cranked her music. As usual she lost herself in her work, completely pouring out all her frustration, sadness and anger onto the canvas. By the time Octavia got home she was sitting in her studio in dead silence just staring at her painting, not quite knowing what to make of it.

"Clarke? Are you okay? I've been trying to reach you al…" Octavia cut off mid-sentence once she entered the studio and noticed Clarke's tear streaked cheeks and her clothes covered in paint. Without hesitation Octavia crossed the room and enveloped her best friend in a hug.

After talking about with Octavia and later Raven when she got home from work, both of her friends couldn't understand why he had done it. Clarke just relented saying it didn't matter anymore because she and Bellamy would never be the same again. The thought brought a sickening feeling to her stomach but she pushed it away.

It had been 3 days sense her big blow up at Bellamy's place and she had completely shut him out, she hadn't gone to the bar for their groups' usual Saturday night get together, knowing he'd be there. She told Octavia to tell everyone else she had a piece she had to finish a huge project for her Art History class. He had tried to call her multiple times and even came by the apartment on Sunday, but Raven had given him some lie about her having a faculty meeting at the school (though Clarke was only 21 she had a part time job at the school teaching grade 10-12 students' art every Monday) when she was actually just cooped up in her room watching Netflix. He gave Raven a message to tell her to call him and left.

It was late in the afternoon and Clarke was just finishing up with her students in her grade 10 art class when she noticed someone in the doorway of her classroom. Turning her head briefly she noticed it was Bellamy and opted to ignore him for the last 10 minutes until the bell rang and she would be forced to deal with him.

"Alright guys, I hope you have a great night! Please remember your rough sketches need to be handed in by next Monday." Clarke said to her class as they began to leave.

Clarke began cleaning up knowing that Bellamy was still standing in the doorway watching her. About a minute passed before he spoke.

"You were always a really good teacher. Remember when you taught O how to draw horses when she went through that phase? Man my room was covered in horse drawings from her for months." He said with a slight chuckle. She could tell he was trying to lighten the mood but it wasn't working.

Sighing she braced her hands on the table in front of her. "Look Bellamy, I'm really busy and I have to clean up. What do you want?" She said trying to sound exasperated though all she felt was sadness.

"Well I came to talk to you about what happened the other night. You were pretty upset and I wanted to make sure we were okay." He said with no indication that he was the least bit sorry.

Clarke turned to face him. Trying to get a read on the man she'd known her whole life. "Why do I get the feeling you're not the least bit sorry about what happened?" She questioned crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"I am sorry that you were so upset, but you completely freaked out on me in front of Echo, and now she thinks you don't like her." Bellamy said with clear annoyance in his voice.

Clarke was taken aback by his sudden protectiveness over this girl. Sure they were dating, but he had only known her for about a month. Clarke's shoulders slumped, the fight draining from her like the tears had the night he told her about Echo.

"Look Bellamy, I had a really long day and I don't feel like getting into it right now. I'll see you Friday at your place." She said quietly grabbing her bag and beginning to pass him.

Before she could though his large hand wrapped around her arm, turning her to face him. "Clarke." The way he said her name made her look up. The look in his eyes was enough to take her breath away. The look of pure worry and something else she couldn't quite place in the depths of his beautiful, expressive, chocolate brown eyes. "What's going on with you? You barely acknowledged my existence for two weeks and now you're completely shutting me out. Look, I'm sorry I brought Echo. She's just been so worried about fitting in with our group, so I figured it would be good for her to spend some time with my two favorite people." Ah so she still was important, good to know. You were always important to him. You're just being ridiculous. Her subconscious told her. "I didn't think you guys would mind."

She sighed, opting to take the high road and speak to him calmly. "First of all, I have no idea what you're talking about. We've talked plenty the past couple weeks, and as for the past couple of days, I've just been really busy." That was a blatant lie. She hadn't been busy at all. Unless you count drowning her sorrows in Vodka and The Walking Dead being busy. "Second of all, I understand you wanting Echo to get to know me and O better, but you shouldn't have brought her to movie night to do that. Like you told me, it ruins it when anyone else is there but the three of us. If we don't let any of our other friends, we shouldn't make an exception for Echo. I mean we've never made one for Lincoln or Lexa or even Finn when we were together so it just isn't fair." at the mention of Finn Bellamy's gaze darkened for a fleeting moment. Almost so fast she wouldn't have noticed had she not known him for so long. The Finn debacle had been nothing short of awful, and Clarke imagined Bellamy was remembering her showing up at his apartment at one o'clock in the morning, drenched from the rain and tears running down her face. That night he had held her tight to his chest, whispering soft comforting words into her hair while he rubbed his hands up and down her back and occasionally kissing her forehead when she started shaking. She saw Finn for the first time a week later, his black eye and cut lip just beginning to fade. She knew it was Bellamy and the boys doing, and she couldn't help but remember what wonderful friends she had.

By now Clarke had taken a step back and was facing Bellamy fully. He still looked concerned but not as much. "Okay, I see your point. I was pretty pissed when you brought Finn that time, but when am I supposed to make plans with all three of you when you never answer my calls?"

"I told you I was busy."

"Clarke."

"Okay fine so maybe I didn't answer you the past couple of days because I was pissed. I'm over it, we're fine."

He looked at her disbelievingly "Really? You're not just saying that?"

She decided that pushing him away wasn't going to help anything, they would both just end up getting hurt, her because not only was she losing the man that she loved from her life, but also her best friend and him because he was going to lose his best friend.

"Yes Bellamy. I wouldn't say it unless I meant it." She said exasperated but with a fond look on her face.

Before she had time to take in his expression she was swept up into a bone crushing hug. "Thank god." Bellamy whispered into her hair. "I missed you Princess." He said putting her back on her feet. His smile was breath taking and Clarke couldn't help but smile back.

Although the blatant show of affection just reminded her of how much she loved this man and that he was never going to feel the same, she did miss him too. He was her best friend after all, so she decided to continue to swallow her feelings for him. She'd been able to hide it for two years, why quit now?

"I've got a lot of prep I have to do for my portfolio, but what to you say we go to the movies on Wednesday? I've been dying to see Dead Pool!"

"That sounds great, but could we go Thursday instead? Echo and I have plans on Wednesday."

Swallowing the lump in her throat Clarke nodded. They finished cleaning up making casual small talk that wasn't terse like it had been before. After locking up they walked to the parking lot together saying their goodbyes. Bellamy left first, Clarke just sat in her car taking a moment to catch her breath. She could do this. They always said if you love something set it free, and that's exactly what she intended to do with Bellamy. With a heavy sigh she started her car and started on her way home.