He sees her for the first time on the last Thursday afternoon of June.
The summer sun is beating down on his neck, his already olive skin darkening as he pushes the lawn mower around his front yard. His mom has been on his ass all week to do yard work but when it's over a hundred degrees outside he'd rather be playing video games in the air conditioned house or outside in the pool. He tried to explain that to her today, that it was too hot to do anything, but she had just raised an eyebrow and pointed in the direction of the shed in their backyard. He had grumbled and complained the entire time it took him to pull on board shorts and flip flops and then to find his iPod and headphones.
He's blasting AC/DC (nothing like the classics) as loud as possible when he sees the first moving van driving down the street, followed by a small red Prius, a silver Mercedes and then another van behind that. He's not really all that interested until the makeshift convoy stops at the house next door to his own. The Hooper house has been empty for the past eight months, his good friend Darin Hooper had lived there with his family until his dad was offered a job in California.
Both of the moving vans park on the street and the Prius parks next to the Mercedes in the driveway. A middle aged couple, a tall man with sandy blonde hair and a pretty brunette, get out of the Mercedes and the man heads over to talk to the driver of one of first moving van. The woman walks over to the Prius and bends down to talk to whoever is sitting behind the wheel before stepping back when the driver's door opens.
A tall, slender blonde, probably year or so younger than himself, gets out of the Prius and the first thing that crosses Bellamy's mind is damn. Of course it's at that exact time that Bellamy runs over a rock in the grass, causing a loud screeching noise that makes the girl and her mom, he's assuming, look over in surprise. Bellamy groans internally but holds up a hand to wave to his new neighbors.
"Sorry about that!" He calls out and the older woman smiles and heads for the fence separating their front yards so Bellamy figures he should probably turn off the mower so he can hear whatever she has to say.
"Hi there," she calls out cheerily and he smiles before walking over to the fence. "I'm Abby Griffin."
She holds out her hand and Bellamy wipes his own off on his shorts before shaking her hand. "I'm Bellamy Blake. It's nice to meet you." She returns the sentiment before pointing to the man that is now following a line of movers into their house.
"That's my husband, Jake. And that," she says as she points to the girl. "That's our daughter, Clarke." He looks at the girl, Clarke, and she blushes and waves awkwardly as she holds a large box marked Living Room in her arms.
"Do you need any help?" He asks, tearing his eyes away from the girl and Abby smiles softly but shakes her head.
"It's really nice of you to offer, Bellamy, but I think the movers have it covered." It's then that his mother comes out of the house, probably to see why the mower is off before the lawn is finished, and she looks at the moving vans in surprise before heading over to where they are standing at the fence.
"Hi, I'm Aurora Blake." His mother shakes hands with Abby and he stands around awkwardly while they talk about what he can only think of as mom things. Where to get the best pizza in the neighborhood, his little sister that just turned sixteen so she's practically never home, random things that a teenage boy honestly cares nothing about. After a few minutes Abby turns around and sighs as she watches one of the movers drop a box with the word FRAGILE written across it in red marker.
"Good thing I marked all of the boxes in the vans as 'Fragile'. I'm pretty sure that box is filled with throw pillow," Abby says with a wink and Bellamy chuckles. "I should probably get back but why don't we all get together after we're settled in?"
"That would be great," Bellamy's mother says and she nudges Bellamy with her elbow. "My son here is quite the wizard on the barbeque." Bellamy rolls his eyes and Abby grins.
"That sounds lovely. We will definitely have to do that. It was so nice meeting you both!" Abby smiles and waves before heading back to her family and his mom waits until she's out of earshot before she leans closer to Bellamy.
"She seems very nice," she says and Bellamy just nods. "And her daughter is very pretty." Bellamy groans and shakes his head.
"Stop trying to play matchmaker," he says seriously and his mom just laughs. "Go back in the house, I'm gonna finish the lawn."
His mom is still laughing when she goes back inside, leaving Bellamy by himself in the front yard. He rolls his eyes and shoves his earbuds back into his ears, but not before sneaking a look over to his new neighbor's yard.
What he sees is Clarke pulling a big stuffed panda bear out of her backseat, her golden hair shining in the hot summer sun, and he looks away before she catches him staring at her.
And he's really not trying to be a creep, he's staring because he's never once thought of a girl as beautiful before.
That is, not until now.
"Wait, so what you're telling me is a hot, new girl is living in Darin's old house and you haven't gone over there to talk to her yet? Is Bellamy Blake, notorious lady killer and all around super stud, losing his edge?"
Bellamy rolls his eyes and throws the football he's been twirling in his hand for the last few minutes at his best friend Jasper Jordan's head. Jasper laughs and catches it before it hits him between the eyes.
"You're a fucking idiot," Bellamy says and Jasper cackles as he tosses the football back to him.
They are sitting on Bellamy's floor, a bottle of whiskey between them, as a mindless horror movie plays on the TV in the background. It's their summer Saturday night ritual, something they started with Darin back in Freshman year, and he had insisted that they keep it going even though he wouldn't be around to participate. Jasper had shown up on his doorstep the first Saturday of summer vacation, this bottle of whiskey in one hand and a Freddy Krueger DVD in the other. They have been working on the bottle of Jack sitting between them for the past three Saturdays. It lasts a lot longer with just the two of them drinking it.
"Seriously though," Jasper says as he pours two more shots, hands one to Bellamy before lifting it up in a toast. Bellamy rolls his eyes at the gesture but taps his shot glass against Jasper's and tosses the shot back, the amber liquid burning as it coats his throat. Jasper makes a face as he sets his shot glass back down on the floor between them. "Jesus, you'd think we'd be used to that by now. But like I was saying…Seriously though, how hot are we talking about here?"
Bellamy leans so his back is up against the side of his bed, tilts his head back so it's resting on the top of the mattress.
"So hot, man. Like beach babe hot, you know? Blonde hair, blue eyes, tan skin." Jasper is nodding appreciatively, like he just knows that if Bellamy says she's attractive then she probably is. They have been friends all their lives because their moms are best friends and sometimes they joke about being as close as brothers, even twins sometimes. That's how he knows that Jasper just trusts that whatever he's saying is probably accurate.
Jasper grabs a handful of tortilla chips from the bag at his feet and tosses one in his mouth. "Where do you think she sleeps?" Bellamy raises an eyebrow and Jasper almost chokes when he starts laughing. "Not like that, I just mean…Do you think she's in Darin's old room?"
They look at each other and jump up at the same time, racing to Bellamy's window. Darin used to joke that the location of their windows was like something out of a teen comedy, except for the fact that Darin's window didn't quite match up with his, but instead about two feet to the right. They could never see into each other's windows, but they could sit on their respective windowsills and talk late into the night.
Bellamy reaches the window first and when he hears music coming from Darin's old room he holds out his arm so fast that it almost hits Jasper in the neck.
"What the hell, dude?" Jasper asks loudly and Bellamy puts a finger to his lips, points to his ear and then the window. Jasper is just staring at him like he has two heads and Bellamy groans and rolls his eyes.
"Listen," he whispers sharply and Jasper nods as they scoot closer to the open window. They are crouching now, their eyes peering over the edge of the windowsill in the hopes of catching even the smallest glimpse of the girl next door.
"What are you two idiots doing?"
They both jump at the sound of his sister's voice and when they turn around she has one perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised and both of her arms crossed over her chest.
"I highly doubt mom would be okay with you two creeps getting drunk and spying on the new neighbor girl." Bellamy stands up easily and reaches down to help Jasper up and it makes his sister laugh and roll her eyes. "You two are like dumb and dumber, I swear." Jasper finally makes it back into a standing position and he rests his hand on Bellamy's desk before smiling at the pretty brunette.
"Octavia, hey. How's it going?" He asks with a smirk and Bellamy shakes his head as Octavia glares at them.
"Seriously?" She looks at Bellamy, who just shrugs. Jasper has been into Octavia for as long as he can remember, despite her being almost two years younger than they are. "Look, mom's on her way up here. So, I'd put the booze up and be on your best behavior if I were you." She looks at Jasper again, who's now wiggling his eyebrows in her direction. "And thank god that I'm not."
She shuts the door behind her and Bellamy grabs the whiskey bottle and shoves it under his bed. He pulls a deck of cards out of his bedside table and his mom walks in seconds after he deals the cards.
"What are you boys doing?" His mother asks, her eyes narrowed as she looks at the two of them. Bellamy grins at her and holds up the cards in his hand.
"I got pocket Aces but shh…don't tell Jasper!" He whispers loudly and Jasper rolls his eyes.
"I can hear you, moron." Bellamy laughs and shrugs and his mom gives them a knowing look and a little "Mhm" under her breath, before telling them good night and shutting the door behind her. Jasper breathes out a sigh of relief and pulls the bottle back out from under the bed. "Thank god for Octavia, right?"
Bellamy punches Jasper on the shoulder before pulling the bottle from his hands. "Seriously dude. You need to knock it off with the Octavia stuff. She's my little sister, that's totally off limits." Jasper gasps dramatically and puts his hand over his heart.
"And here I thought you wanted to be brothers! I…you just…you broke my heart, Bellamy Blake."
Bellamy takes a swig of the whiskey straight out of the bottle and hands it to Jasper. "Sometimes, I really wonder how we're even friends." Jasper laughs and pats him on the arm.
"Me too, buddy. Me too."
He wakes up Sunday morning with a wicked headache.
Jasper is passed out on his floor, the bottle of Jack lying empty on the rug next to him. Bellamy groans when the sun from the open window hits his eyes. He usually sleeps with it closed, with heavy dark curtains to keep the summer sun from cooking him in his sleep. They had gotten far too buzzed last night and when Bellamy's head hit the pillow at three am he wasn't even thinking about the morning.
He steps over Jasper to get to the window and he's about to pull it closed when he sees a flash of silver out of the corner of his eye.
Clarke is pushing her window open, a silver bracelet catching the sun with the movement. He tries to pull the window closed before she sees him but it's too late and she jumps a little at the sight of him.
"Holy shit!" She yells and he chuckles a little to himself as she holds a hand up to her chest. "You scared me!"
"Yeah, sorry about that," he says. "I'm Bellamy."
She's still breathing hard, and she smiles as she pushes her hair out of her face. "I'm Clarke."
"And I'm Jasper!" Bellamy rolls his eyes as Jasper pushes his way into the frame of the doorway. "Welcome to the neighborhood!"
"You're brothers?" Clarke asks, looking from one to the other, probably wondering if one, or both, of them are adopted.
Bellamy shakes his head. "Not brothers. Well, not by blood."
It makes her smile and he likes the look on her. Her blue eyes sparkle and her cheeks are a little flushed. She's fucking gorgeous. He hears her mom calling her name from downstairs and she yells back saying that she'll be down in a minute.
"Yeah, so I gotta go downstairs for breakfast," she says and he nods lamely as she gives them a little wave and pulls her head back out of the window. He pulls his shut before yanking the dark curtains over the window to block out the sun.
"Holy shit, dude." Jasper says as he lays back down on Bellamy's floor.
"Yeah," Bellamy says in agreement as he pushes his pillow back under his head. "Yeah, I know."
He doesn't see her again until Tuesday afternoon, when he's washing his truck in the driveway. She's carrying a pink yoga mat and her hair is up in one of those messy buns all the girls in his school wear during gym class. She holds up her hand in a wave as she gets into her Prius and he raises his own as she passes by her house.
The only thing on his mind when he watches her car turn off of their street is this is going to be one hell of a summer.