Chapter 1:

Her hot breath fogged up the mirror by his bed as she attempted to maintain some type of sanity—she was obviously failing. The alarm on his nightstand read 11:24 AM but there was no fucking way it was almost noon on a Friday because she'd set the alarm for 6:25 that morning so they wouldn't be late to their last day of regular classes before exams. She exhaled, turning to him before exhaling once more. She opened her mouth, not holding back her volume at all. "Nathan." Clarke said calmly, "Why the fuck are you still sleeping?"

He opened one eye, sighing heavily before turning over in his bed. "Clarke…can we…not?" He yawned, putting the pillow over his head. She loved the way he was stretched out and coated with peaceful sleep like a caramel candy—or maybe caramel candy came to mind because of his skin. The beautiful brown color contrasted deeply with her pale, white skin. She deemed herself Casper the extra-friendly ghost whenever they were in bed, much to his amusement. Although, she was never too friendly. She was quite chaste when it came to the adult type of intimacy. "Please…shhhhhhhhhh."

This was what it was like to date Nathan Miller.

And she loved every unbearable second of it.

They had the typical love-story that made old women smile. They'd been best friends since diapers—maybe even before birth. They grew up together on the same military base with all of their true friends. Her father was an engineer, her mother was a surgeon and a general practitioner—his father was a high-ranking officer—translation? Their parents worked on top-secret projects together. The only time they'd ever spent apart was the time his father got stationed somewhere else for a year…when he came back, she knew she had to make him hers.

She'd spent her whole life with a diamond right under her nose and never noticed it until he came barreling back into her life at a velocity so agile that he put shooting stars to shame. She saw him, sparkling and sweet—never knowing that she had him wrapped around her finger like a ring. As much as she was attracted to Nathan—who preferred Miller because of his military father and friends—she didn't fall in love with him instantly. Her love blossomed like a purple tulip, her favorite flower, and it took time to grow.

There were god-awful fights, strings of unnecessary words exchanged, missed calls, small-betrayals, and lots of makeups and apologies between the pair before they were the steady couple they were today. It wasn't all negative—falling in love. There were lasting moments of happiness and bliss and it probably would have been a lot smoother if her parents weren't in the middle of a hateful divorce.

But things changed rapidly once the divorce was final and Clarke decided to live with her father. Her life changed so fast that she got motion-sickness every time she talked about it. It all started with a classified folder and a new station assignment—the Ark.

The Ark was in every single newspaper around the world—next to the articles that spoke of war threats. Their native country was confident that they would "never be hit because the enemy is too scared"—she didn't know if that was a good tactic or not. Every night Miller and Clarke cuddled up on the couch or sat in the incomplete library and watched the news so they wouldn't lose track of what was going on "down there." Their President would claim they had no reason to worry yet, he sent their families up to the Ark to finish it and test to see how livable it was. Clarke came pretty close to calling the man a fraud four nights ago but she'd been surrounded by high-ranking officials and her boyfriend (who respected the United States of America with everything he had.)

The Ark was superiorly gorgeous and was supposed to be able to run efficiently detached from the mainland. It currently had bi-weekly visits from carriers from Earth and also had bi-weekly departures from the Ark. So, living in space was lavish and cool…kind of adventurous—most certainly not the worst thing she'd ever done. Her mother begged her not to go, literally begged, but Clarke wanted adventure. She wanted to tell her grandchildren that she was one of the first to live in space successfully. She wanted her name underneath the class picture as the first teens to graduate on the Ark.

But she also wanted a sense of family, one her mother could never provide. She worked too much, she never had time for a cable sit-com or a dinner date. Her father did, though. He spent a lot of time making sure Clarke did well in school, had discipline but also had fun—he made sure she lived a satisfied life. He tried to spend a lot of time with her when he could but he was also busy like her mother. It was one of the reasons they divorced in the first place.

Her feet touched the metal flooring of the Ark carefully. She was preparing herself for when she actually had neighbors below her.

"I am in so much trouble." Clarke groaned as Miller eased up, his lips pressing against her neck as she slid on her boots. "My dad is going to kill me for staying the night here again." She turned around and smiled at him. He returned her smile before he brought her face to his, they soon parted their lips, deepening their embrace. His strong but lean arms pulled her on top of him, her breath catching her throat. He swept back her golden hair, tucking it behind her ear. His hand continued to trail down from her ear to the back of her neck to her spine. She moaned when his hand started to slide under his shirt that she was wearing, "Okay as fun as this is—"She broke their kiss with a sloppy sound, "We have to stop."

He groaned, "We always have to stop."

"Maybe one day we won't."

"I think you say things like that to give me false hope, dove." He kissed her neck again but this time as a parting. "What class should we be in right now?"

"You mean with the other twenty-five of us ruthless teenagers?" Clarke joked about the ruthless part. They were all military brats, kids of politicians, offspring of the wealthy, and the lucky children of the workers. No one younger than sixteen because they had to sign a consent form to board the Ark…government pish-posh if you asked the right person. "Mmm…" She said when she watched him put on his shirt, "Do you hear that? Something's telling you that the whole system will crash and burn if you put on a shirt."

"Tempting…" He cracked a smirk, "You know you're avoiding one of the two elephants in the room, right?" I know…She thought, knowing exactly what he was referring too. She attempted to throw him off.

"The fact that we haven't had sex or the fact that I'm going to the ground in two weeks."

"The latter." Miller sighed, "We read the news together every single day—thank god for WiFi and darling, it's just not pretty down there." His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to keep a brave face. She knew that he worried about her. She knew that he didn't want her to go but he wasn't using all of his power to stop her because he knew that she wanted to go. She knew that he would let her make her own choices in the end.

"It's only threats." Clarke said as if nuclear war was a nonchalant subject, "And it's only a week and a half with my mother. I'm going to hang out with Jasper and Monty—we've been Skyping almost three times a week. Do you want to break their hearts? I don't think so. I miss Lincoln, too. I really miss Lincoln…mmm."

He laughed, "Should I be concerned about your obsession with his body or…?" Miller was aware of Clarke's "thing" for Lincoln's magnificent features but he never really worried about infidelity. Clarke loved him—he loved Clarke. Their bond couldn't be tainted by anyone—not even Mr. Perfect himself.

"He apparently has a girlfriend. Plus, Lincoln's like that hot cousin you have that you know you can't—"She blushed before she shot him a suggestive wink. "I think I'm going to stay the night again tonight. My dad won't be home until morning and…yeah…your dad probably won't be home either."

He nodded, "Okay…well…let me know how your talk with him goes." She wanted to punch him in the face. David Miller freely let Clarke in and out of their apartment like it was no big deal but Jake Griffin liked to keep tabs on her boyfriend whenever she was over. He came up with lame excuses and did the whole cliché dad thing. She secretly loved it…but she also loved Miller….and she was about to leave in two weeks (this being the first time they'd been apart for a year) and she wanted to give him something special.

That something special being her virginity.

"I will." She frowned, "If I have to hear another sex talk…you're going to be on the video chat with us." She threatened, "So next time I set the alarm to go home, don't snooze it."

It wasn't the first time she thought about having sex with him. They were seventeen—of course they thought about sex and they had the "talk" that every sane couple needed to have in their relationship. In fact, they constantly updated the "talk" based on the state of their relationship. An example being, Clarke was about to turn 18 and she was probably the only virgin on the Ark and that made her feel pressured into having sex until Miller said there was no need in feeling pressured—they had a lifetime to have sex. It was something in his voice that told her he really meant what he was saying…and that's when she decided that when it came to her virginity…she wanted to give it to someone she would love for the rest of her life. She wanted to give it to the person she was going to be with for the rest of her life.

And that was Nathan Miller.