If there's one person Clarke Griffin won't tolerate, it's Bellamy Blake.
And Octavia's aware, of course. She's heard too many times about the asshole that is her brother, how he had yet again called her princess in his most condescending voice, the way he pretends she's invisible when she asks him to pass the salt when she comes over for dinner.
She's also aware that they're probably meant to be, so when Clarke comes over for their annual movie night on Friday to see the rest of the gang there, and even worse, Bellamy, she can practically see the steam coming out of her ears.
"What?" Octavia asked innocently, glancing behind her to make sure the seat next to Bellamy's is still the only one left available.
"Monty better have snuck in some alcohol or I'm murdering you," Clarke growled, walking through the living room treacherously. She slowly sat down beside Bellamy, scooting as far away from him on the loveseat as possible.
Bellamy snorted. "Princess afraid to get infected from the germs of a commoner?"
"God, Bell-" Clarke started but before she can go on, Octavia interrupts with her sickeningly sweet voice that silences the entire room.
"Tonight's horror. Cool with everyone?" Octavia asked, a devilish grin upon her features.
The movie of choice was no spur of the moment decision, of course. It'd been carefully planned out at the grocery store's redbox with great precision, all in the name of Clarke and Bellamy.
Romantic comedies were destined to gross the guys out, sci-fi too mundane for Clarke's palette. The Oscar-nominated movies were way too long for anyone's attention span, and a coming of age seemed just not enough to put the two together at last. But then, Octavia had flickered through the last genre to see horror. Perfect.
Octavia had seen it too many times in movies; the reluctant couple at the movies, closely fidgeting together as the girl becomes more and more scared. Clarke wasn't easy to scare, but her brother was.
And Clarke knew it, too.
"Afraid you'll pee your pants, Blake? I can lay a towel out under you if you'd like," Clarke smirked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Bellamy tapped his hand against his jumping thigh rapidly. "Please, princess. I'd like to see you last ten minutes watching this movie before calling your mommy."
"Screw you."
At first, she wasn't quite sure her plan was going to work. They were still on opposite sides of the couch, avoiding each other like the plague. Octavia even once sneaked a peek to see if they would accidentally bump hands in the popcorn bowl she had strategically placed constantly by them, but to no avail.
But then arrows began flying toward the main characters in the movie and there was no doubt that Bellamy's hand flew into a death grip upon Clarke's bicep. Octavia noticed Clarke's slight grimace that melted into indifference. Small steps, Octavia told herself, small steps.
No hiding about forty minutes into the movie that Clarke and Bellamy were less than six inches away from each other. Hands finally did bump in the popcorn bowl and she saw Clarke's face burn red and quickly rip her hand out of the steel bowl till Bellamy nudged the bowl back toward her with a shy smile.
It was probably the tenth jump scare when even Clarke wouldn't have been able to deny that their hips were practically glued together now. Clarke didn't even scowl when Bellamy's nails dug into her forearm. Bellamy barely realized Clarke's hand tracing the veins of his hands as they stared into the screen.
The rest of the group weren't even watching the movie anymore. Raven had barely voiced her disgust when the main character stuck someone's head into a blender with a sickening chop. Monty was too busy nudging Jasper in the elbow, nearly knocking the wind out of him to realize the plot twist. Even Lincoln, usually stony-faced behind his soft interior, was smirking at the two.
It wasn't until Octavia turned the lights back on with everyone else's protest that the two jumped away from each other, back on other sides of the couch yet again.
"God Blake, I'm probably going to get blood blisters from you pinching my arm so hard," Clarke said coolly, as if the past two hours of cuddling had barely happened. Octavia let out an inaudible groan.
"And I'll have to get more food considering someone decided to hog all the popcorn," Bellamy snapped back. Clarke looked at him with frustration and something else that Octavia couldn't quite identify before the blonde stomped out of the room and into the kitchen.
Octavia whipped her head around to face her brother so quickly that he nearly jumped for the hundreth time.
"Damn it, Bellamy, can't you just quit being an asshole for three seconds?" Octavia asked in a whisper-shout.
"She started it!" Bellamy said, sounding like a five year old arguing with his mother.
"I don't care. I saw the way you were looking at her when you thought everyone was paying attention to the movie."
Maybe she hadn't seen him look at her, but she knew for a fact that he probably was. Bellamy's blush was just evidence at that.
"Fine, fine. Sorry."
Octavia rolled her eyes and threw her thumb behind her, toward the kitchen. "Tell her that."
He didn't, or at least not till Clarke had stared daggers into him for an hour then announced she was leaving, her voice uncharacteristically small. She glanced at Bellamy once more, as if praying he'd do something, but he only looked at her with soft eyes.
Octavia glared at him till he noticed and suddenly jumped, coughing loudly. Clarke looked at him with knit eyebrows.
"Uh, do you want me to walk you out to your car? I know it's a pretty treacherous journey and you might need some backup," Bellamy said, giving her his famous half smirk.
Clarke contemplated for a moment, staring at him in disbelief before nodding slowly. They walked out the door together with considerable space. As soon as the door shut, shaking the entire house, everyone else peeked through the blinds to see the scene unfold before them.
They couldn't hear a word they were saying but they seemed to make up when Clarke threw her arms around Bellamy's for a kiss, sending him bumping rather harshly into her car. He didn't seem to mind too much, steading his hands around her hips and kissing her back fully.
When Bellamy came back in, he was greeted with a tackle and screaming.
He didn't seem to mind that too much either.