I was going through some of my old stories, and I literally started this a year ago. Holy shit. Finally finished!

Disclaimer: I don't any of the characters.

Bellamy Blake swallowed hard as he raised his eyes to look over at their manager, Marcus Kane. Usually he got on really well with the man, but today he was hungover as shit and he did not want to be here. But it was their last management meeting before they went their separate ways for the next month—and Marcus wanted to discuss someone who was quickly becoming the bane of his existence.

Echo Teles.

They had hooked up twice, about six months ago, and then suddenly their faces and named were being linked together and plastered all over the trashy magazines and gossipy websites. So their managers had gotten together and decided that it would be good for everyone involved to put the two together as though they were in a relationship. Bellamy hadn't been too keen on the idea, but the rest of the band had reasoned that most of the bad press they had gotten was because of him, so he kind of owed it to them to get some good press. Bellamy had agreed and to begin with, it had been fine. Maybe a little bit annoying, but it was really just a big publicity stunt which meant they had to go to events together and be seen out in public doing mundane things every now and then. But then she had started to get clingy, and her naggy and snobby personality had gotten to him, and he told Marcus that if he didn't get out of the faux relationship then he would display some insane diva behavior.

As in some Kathrine Heigl shit.

So Marcus and Echo's manager had leaked a story about how they were no longer together, but they had parted ways on good terms and were still friendly. It would have been perfect, except it meant that they still needed to answer questions happily about one another and have a few more sightings together.

And apparently Marcus wanted one of those sightings to be at the New Years bash that was being thrown in New York.

Which really didn't suit Bellamy's plans. He and his friend who had originally started their band, Lincoln Whittle, were going back to his sisters place in California and spend Christmas and New Years. He didn't want to be Bellamy Blake, rockstar, for three weeks, starting at five this evening. He was going to be Bellamy Blake, annoying older brother and terrible joke maker, and hell, he was looking forward to it!

"Bellamy, are you listening?" Marcus raised an eyebrow at him and John Murphy sniggered at the blank expression on their lead singer and guitarists face. "Look, you don't have to spend the whole night with her or anything. It's just about being seen together, playing nice—"

"No," Bellamy stated. Marcus almost jerked out of his seat and Lincoln hid the grin on his face by ducking his head. "Look, I know it doesn't seem like that much of a big deal, but I'm not going to be in New York for the party. I'm going to be in Cali, with my baby sister, just like I've been telling you for the past six months."

"But—"

"Surely you didn't think that I would change my mind because of some stupid brat and this relationship that doesn't even exist," Bellamy continued.

"Yes, well—"

"Marcus," Bellamy cut him off again, this time looking a little exasperated. "This is Octavia—my little sister. It doesn't matter what you say, I'm spending Christmas and New Years with her." There was a tense silence that settled over the room before Murphy let out a snort and shrugged.

"So now that's all sorted, can we all fuck off? I had plans today that involved not being here." Marcus sighed and nodded toward the door. Lincoln, Murphy and Atom Rogers were all racing toward the door in a flash, while Bellamy took his time getting up and adjusting his jacket, walking slowly toward the door.

"You know I'm all for promoting the band, even if it's with that bimbo, but I haven't seen my sister in ages," Bellamy said, his voice quieter than just a few minutes before.

"No, no, I understand that," Marcus said as they walked out of the conference room. "And I bet Lincoln can't wait to see her," he gave Bellamy a wry grin as the younger man cringed.

Bellamy and Lincoln were the closest in the band, given they had gone to school together and formed the band. About eighteen months ago, he and Octavia had started seeing each other. Bellamy attempted to ignore what was going on, until it all came to a head and he walked in on his best friend and baby sister practically naked on the couch in his apartment when she was staying with him for a long weekend. Things had been frosty for a while until they came to an understanding.

Lincoln and Octavia would keep things PG and over the clothes whenever Bellamy was around, and Bellamy in turn would pretend to be okay with it.

"Okay, but you'll be back by the interview on the fourth? I know that you're not going on, but your support for someone else in this label is something we expect," Marcus reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Bellamy gave him a grin. They stopped as they reached the end of the hallway. "Okay, well—have a good Christmas, Marcus. See you on the flip side." The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Bellamy stepped inside, putting two fingers to his forehead and giving Marcus a salute before the doors shut and he was whizzing toward the lower ground.

He was excited.

He felt like he was a kid again and he still believed in Santa and magic—it had been a while since he felt like that.

It had been almost eight months since he had seen Octavia and that was the longest time they had ever been apart, which is why he was so adamant about spending the full amount of time with her. And Lincoln. And Octavia's best friend, Clarke Griffin. Despite the fact that the siblings skyped almost every week, it didn't feel the same, and all he wanted was to be back in Cali with her. Their bags were already all packed up and he and Lincoln were going straight from their meeting to the airport. The flight left in an hour, then it would be five and a half hours in first class, and then he would be touching down in California, and just minutes away from his sister.

"Bell!" Came a shout and Bellamy scanned the crowds from underneath the baseball cap he was wearing. They had managed to keep a low profile on the flight, although a couple of the stewardesses had asked for pictures and autographs, but so far they had managed to keep out of the public eye. With Octavia jumping up and down, waving her arms and grinning at them, she was drawing a bit of attention from amused bystanders, but then the airport was always known for emotional displays. "Lincoln!"

"Hey, O," Bellamy reached Octavia and wrapped his arms around his little sister. She was practically vibrating in his arms, throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing him tight. She looked good, fresh faced and eyes glowing. "I missed you," he told her earnestly as he took a step back.

"I missed you too," Octavia gave him a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek before moving on to Lincoln, jumping up so that she could wrap her legs around his waist and give him a hard kiss on the mouth. Bellamy rolled his eyes at the pair of them, still not completely used to the idea of them together even though it had nearly been two years. Lincoln's hands were on his ass and the taller man was laughing full heartedly as Octavia peppered kisses over his cheeks and forehead. He then let out another laugh as she whispered something in his ear that Bellamy was very grateful he couldn't hear.

"Okay, any day now," Bellamy grumbled, but he couldn't stop the smile on his face, still just glad to see his baby sister. Octavia laughed and wiggled out of Lincoln's grip.

"Let's go get your bags! Clarke is out in the car waiting for us, she refused to pay for airport parking which is why she's waiting out there," Octavia grinned.

"You'll like her," Lincoln said under his breath, nudging Bellamy in the side. Even though it had been a while since Bellamy had seen her, Lincoln had managed to get two trips out to see Octavia in the past eight months, even if they were just extended weekends. Usually Octavia needed to come into the city to Bellamy, because he rarely got time away with concerts and recordings, and recently, a part in a summer block buster movie—so he hadn't actually been to Octavia's place since she moved to California over three years ago with a friend she had made at college, Clarke. Bellamy had heard a lot about the blonde, and seen plenty of photos, but they had never actually met.

"Over here!" Octavia directed them when they got out of the crowded airport, Lincoln and Bellamy both keeping their heads down so that the brim of their caps shadowed their faces. There was a silver Mazda that was parked up in the 'dropping off/picking up' section, and Bellamy could see a blonde behind the wheel with a pair of sunglasses on her face and when they reached the car, his sister bumped her hip against his. "Nah-uh, I'm in the back seat with my boyfriend. You get shotgun." Bellamy rolled his eyes but nodded. They slung their bags into the boot and then got into the car.

"Let's get out of here!" Clarke Griffin announced before Bellamy even had a chance to shut his door, and then they were pulling away from the curb. Bellamy shook his head and let out a laugh as he jerked on his seat belt and then got a good look at the blonde.

She was gorgeous.

Long, curly blonde hair that was loose and falling around her face and down her back. There were a couple of colourful beads and strings woven into a few of the braids that were scattered through her hair, and she didn't look as though she was wearing any makeup, given the adorable scatter of freckles over her nose and cheeks. She was wearing a loose, blue and purple singlet and a pair of frayed denim shorts that left her tanned legs pair.

"Uh, Bellamy," he introduced himself as he took off his baseball cap and ran his fingers through his curly hair.

"Clarke," the girl responded with a cheeky smirk in his direction, her blue eyes twinkling at him.

The first couple of days went by in a blur of alcohol, the beach and late nights on the top of the girls apartment building underneath the stars. Bellamy was still getting over how clear the skies were out here, and given Octavia and Lincoln spent most nights in bed with each other—not making too much effort to stay quiet—Bellamy and Clarke tended to retreat to the roof where there were a couple of lounging chairs. Clarke was easy to talk to, she laughed quickly, she was smart, and she didn't dwell on his career, or how famous he was. She was a nurse, and frankly sounded like a bit of a workaholic. Apparently she had worked right through last Christmas and New Years, as well as all holidays since then, so her boss was long overdue in giving her some time off.

The fifth day there was Christmas, and they all exchanged presents in the girls flat, underneath the Christmas tree that was covered in so much tinsel it was almost painful to look at. Apparently Christmas was Clarke's favourite holiday, which Bellamy could definitely believe with the way she paraded around in a hideous green and red sweatshirt despite the heat outside.

"Seriously, though," Bellamy grumbled as he and Clarke started on the dishes sometime in the afternoon after they had managed to move from their food coma's. "How many times do they need to say thank you?" Clarke let out a laugh as she looked over her shoulder toward the lounge where Octavia and Lincoln were making out on the couch.

"Aw, stop being such a dickhead," Clarke laughed and bumped her hip against his. "Let them have their fun." Bellamy just rolled his eyes. "You know, if you're feeling lonely, there's a couple of clubs just down the road. I'm sure there'll be lots of single ladies who would love to get with the front runner for The Sky People," she teased him and Bellamy rolled his eyes again. "I mean, unless you're with that Echo chick. But Octavia said it was just a publicity stunt."

"It is—I mean, it was," Bellamy quickly confirmed with his nose crinkling. "There was literally a signed contract and everything. We slept together a while ago, and we accidentally got seen together. But the only time I've ever kissed her since then is when we've been seen by the paparazzi and my manager is practically forcing me onto her."

"Sounds super romantic," Clarke joked as she moved away from the sink and pushed off the ground so that she was sitting on the bench.

"Oh, it definitely is," Bellamy muttered sarcastically as he continued drying and putting away the last few dishes.

"So she was probably with other guys?" Clarke continued.

"Oh, she definitely was," Bellamy snorted. "I've even walked in on her making out with some B-grade actor at this award ceremony we went to together. But it's fine. Our managers leaked a story about us parting ways, but we still have to pretend to be friends and get on well and all that shit, so we have to be seen together every now and then. It's just because we're all at the same label, they want us to all show our support for each other, blah blah blah."

"So you're not seeing anyone at the moment?" Clarke asked idly as Bellamy stretched up to put two cups away.

"Nope," he answered.

"Well, that's convenient," Clarke stated and Bellamy turned around to ask what she meant when he saw a smirk on her face, holding a piece of mistletoe above her head. The implication was clear, and Bellamy snorted at the cheesiness of it all. "Hey," she shrugged lazily. "If you want to break tradition and not kiss a girl under the mistletoe, then that's on you, but—" she broke off as Bellamy closed the gap between them and pressed their mouths together. Clarke felt so good against his body, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms draped lazily over his shoulders, and Bellamy was surprised how quickly he got turned on. His hands were travelling up and down her sides, and were moving around to touch her ass when there was suddenly a bang from the doorway.

"No!" Came a cry from Octavia, who was standing in the kitchen doorway. Clarke and Bellamy pulled apart, and Clarke giggled dropping her forehead to Bellamy's shoulder. "You come all the way out here to see your sister and then you hook up with my best friend?!"

"Doesn't that sound awfully familiar?" Bellamy lifted an eyebrow and glanced between Octavia and Lincoln. Lincoln was grinning at the disgusted expression on his girlfriends face, and he poked her in the side with a finger.

"He's got you there, babe," he pointed out, and Octavia narrowed her eyes, still not looking happy.

They had a week and a half left in California, and Bellamy intended to not waste any of it. The day after Christmas they went out to a party that was being thrown by one of Octavia's friends, Harper McIntyre, and Bellamy had been a little bit nervous about going at first, but by the time they got there, most people were far to drunk to process who he was. Octavia and Clarke introduced him and Lincoln as 'Bell and Linc' and no one paid too much attention to them, just looking at them as Octavia and Clarke's friends.

Clarke and Bellamy made it nearly two hours, but sometime between Harper's sickly sweet pink and the tequila shots, they found themselves in a tiny room at the back of the house, ripping each others clothes off and then dissolving in laughter when they realized they didn't have a condom.

It was the easiest, most comfortable experience Bellamy had ever had. In the end, Clarke got on her knees to get him off with her mouth, and then he returned the favor, loving the way that she practically rode his face, having no problems at all in chasing her own pleasure.

The pinched look on Octavia's face when they got back to the party said she knew exactly what they had disappeared to do, and Clarke had just laughed, throwing her arm around her friends shoulders.

The four spent their days lazing at the beach, Octavia and Lincoln all over each other while Clarke and Bellamy mainly talked, and drank a lot of beer. Not that Bellamy didn't want to be all over Clarke—she looked ridiculously attractive in the black bikini she wore—but Clarke didn't seem like the type of girl who liked public displays of affection. That was another thing that attracted Bellamy so much to Clarke, given most of the girls he had dated over the years were all too keen to take photos and put them up on social media.

They shared a bowl of nacho chips, and she flicked a piece of cheese at him, laughing at the surprise on his face. That had started a whole food fight, Clarke pulling pieces of corn chips out of her hair, laughing so hard that she almost fell of her chair.

On New Years Eve, they went out to a local bar. Bellamy could barely look at Octavia, given the tiny pair of shorts she was wearing and singlet that she had on revealed a lot more than what they were covering. Clarke, on the other hand, he had absolutely no problem staring at. One of her ex boyfriends, who was apparently an ambulance driver named Finn Collins, was at the club, and he spent most of the night glaring at them from over his whiskey glass. But Bellamy didn't care, because she was wearing a navy blue dress with a high neckline and a silver, jeweled collar, and her legs looked amazing, and she was drunk enough to be dancing sort of like an idiot but still ridiculously attractively.

They were pretty much glued together at the mouth, and Bellamy knew that he had his photo taken by a couple of fans, but he had one of the best nights of his life, even when he and Lincoln were practically carrying a passed out Octavia home at three in the morning, Clarke running behind them and singing Backstreets Back at the top of her lungs. After putting Octavia to bed and leaving Lincoln in charge of making sure she got to the bathroom if she needed to throw up, Clarke and Bellamy had sex on her bed, and then on the tiny balcony just off her apartment, and then on the floor, because all the blankets had fallen off the bed, before finally falling asleep when the sun was starting to come up.

Bellamy tried not to think about what was going to happen once he left California, because he was having so much fun with Clarke. She was exactly the type of girl that he was looking for. She was funny, and smart, and she didn't seem to get bothered over the small things. She was focused on her career—he saw her work roster in her room, and the girl barely seemed to take any down time. He liked that; that she was focused on something other than her social life, and her hair, and if she was wearing the right make up. The relationship that she had with Octavia was steady and unselfish, and he had seen her with some of her other friends, and they all clearly adored her.

She was the type of girl that he wanted, but maybe in another couple of years, when his own career wasn't blowing up quite as much as it was now. When he wasn't bouncing between cities every couple of of days, and spending all hours at the recording studio, and had to fight just to get a few weeks down time for the first time in eighteen months. He didn't have time for a girlfriend now, but maybe later...

"You're thinking so hard I can barely concentrate on the movie," Clarke teased lightly, stretching her legs out on the couch so that her toes were pressing into his thigh. Bellamy tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it felt stretched on his face. Tomorrow, he and Lincoln were flying out. Lincoln and Octavia had gone out on a proper date—to a fancy restaurant and all dressed up in expensive outfits—and were spending the night in a honeymoon suite at a hotel in town, so Clarke and Bellamy had the apartment to themselves.

"I'm going to miss you," Bellamy answered earnestly, surprised at his own honesty. Clarke's smile faded slightly and she looked sad as she lowered her gaze.

"I'm going to miss you too," she murmured. She took in a deep breath and then shifted the way she was seated, moving forward and curling up against his side, resting her hand on his stomach. Bellamy slung an arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. It all felt extremely domestic, and there was an uncomfortable ache in his gut that this was going to be the last time that he experienced this.

"Long distance shit never really works," he mused out loud.

"I know," Clarke's voice was muffled against his shirt.

"And we both have really busy work lives," he added.

"I know," Clarke agreed.

"This...This has been amazing though," Bellamy put two of his fingers underneath Clarke's chin and tipped her head upward so that he could look at her. "And maybe...Maybe later on..."

"Let's not talk about this," Clarke told him, her big, blue eyes glowing. "This is now, okay?" She slung a leg over his thighs and put her hands on either side of his face. Bellamy rested his hands on her lower back, sliding underneath her shirt and rubbing circles on her golden skin with his thumbs.

This time was slower.

A lot slower.

Clarke rode him in the late afternoon sun that was coming through the windows of the apartment, her hair glowing golden around her pretty face. Sweat beaded on their bodies, Bellamy gripping her hips so hard that he knew that there was going to be marks left for the next couple of days. He watched her face closely, committing every gasp from her pink mouth and every twitch of her eyelids to memory. Afterwards, they fell to the side, curling up on the couch with a thin blanket pulled over them, Bellamy with an arm wrapped around her middle. He pressed his lips against her shoulder, mumbling sweet nothings against her skin.

Forever wasn't an option right now, but for now, this was just right.

Let me know what you think :)