A/N: So, while on the 20 hour drive down to Nashville for Thanksgiving, I just started writing for something to do, and this wonderful...decent piece of fanfiction came into being. It started out a little different and then become a two-shot because I wanted to actually post something this past week. It was just taking too long to finish and I realized there was enough (or at least going to be enough) for me to separate it into two parts.
I warn you, this is definitely not my best work, but it has kept me in the writing groove. It's not bad, just not the best.
This is my first two-shot and also the first contemporary piece I have written for Flarke. Enjoy!
I own nothing but the laptop I use to write and post ;)
Clarke milled around outside the gate, occasionally glancing at the house that lay beyond it. It was a house that she had spent many happy days in. The childhood home of her oldest friend, Finn Collins, who was no longer speaking to her.
The last time they had actually seen each other was at her party for getting accepted into Harvard Medical School. She did something stupid that night, destroying their relationship and breaking Finn's heart in the process. Clarke bitterly regretted what happened, knowing it was entirely her fault and she would not blame him if he still hated her for it. That had been about four years ago, and she was about to start her internship at a Medical Center in Boston's Fenway district.
The reason she was standing outside his parents' house in upstate New York right now, you might ask? It was across the street from her own childhood home. Her father, Jake, had called the week before to say that her mother had been in a car accident, some pile-up after a semi hydro-planed in the rain.
She did not make it to the hospital. Clarke had dropped everything and driven back to her hometown of Dryden, New York, just outside of Ithaca.
When she arrived, Finn's mother, Elizabeth, was there with her father, and had practically assaulted her with love at the door. Auntie Lizzy, as she insisted on being called, had been best friends with Clarke's mother, Abigail. It was why they lived across the street from one another, and why Clarke had been hoping, expecting even, that she would be there to offer comfort. They sat and cried with Jake, and before Auntie Lizzy left she said that she had something to tell Clarke, but that it should wait for the next day.
That 'something' was that Finn would be coming up for the wake and funeral.
His mother never held anything against Clarke for what had happened. Finn, apparently, never told her what happened, just that he had moved on. Clarke had told her, after an intervention from her mother and Auntie Lizzy both, what had happened from her point of view, and that it was all her fault. They had tried to convince her otherwise, but Clarke was just felt too guilty and a bit heartbroken herself. She convinced herself that there was nothing to be done and she should just accept it.
The blonde twenty-something walked up to the gate for probably the fifth time, and, once again, hesitated with her hand hovering just above the latch. The same questions ran through her mind as the last four times she attempted to enter.
'How will he react when he sees me? How am I gonna explain myself? Will he to talk to me at all? Does he still hate me?'
Clarke turned away, she was afraid of her oldest friend, or at least, she was afraid of what he thought about her now.
She went back to pacing the street, wringing her hands, and cursing her choice in footwear. Panicked walking around the neighborhood had not been factored in when deciding on the nice black heels she had only worn once. She gave up and crossed the street back to her parents' house, digging around in her purse for the keys. She had just pulled them out when she heard a door open and his voice carried across the street. Her head whipped around so fast Clarke thought she might have given herself whiplash.
There Finn stood.
He appeared to be talking to someone inside, she could not see his whole face, but she knew it was him from the sound of his voice. His dark hair was still a bit longish, but it was nowhere near the length he had let it get to in college. He was wearing a suit, and looked rather dashing. Clarke stood in front of her parents' door, staring at him appreciatively for a moment. Then she remembered why he was wearing the suit and her face fell as she thought of her mother.
Finn was still turned to look inside and she was about to call out to get his attention, when a woman with tan skin and long dark hair stepped out. The woman glanced in her direction and Clarke saw something flash through her eyes. She thought it might have been recognition, but with the distance she could not know for sure. The dark haired woman then took Finn's arm in both of hers and whispered something in his ear. He tensed as she leaned up and kissed him full on the mouth.
Clarke thought her heart had been ripped from her chest. Now she knew exactly how Finn had felt.
The blonde watched, frozen, as they stood there making out, believing that she deserved the pain it was causing her. She turned to the front door, no longer able to look at the couple, and fumbled with her keys. Finding the one for her parents' house was hard, she could barely see with the tears rapidly blurring her vision. She wanted to get inside before Finn saw her, but then she dropped the keys and they hit the brick steps with a jangling crash.
Clarke immediately bent down to grab them, partly reflex, partly to not be seen in the state she was in. As she straightened back up, she glanced across the street to see if they had noticed the noise. She caught Finn's gaze and they both froze, just staring at each other. She had thought to see contempt in his eyes, but instead she saw shock and something else. Something that Clarke did not even dare to hope was there.
Her father's dog barked and broke her trance. She turned around and, finally inserting the right key, quickly slipped into the house.
"Was that too much?" The dark haired woman asked as the door slammed behind the blonde.
"Yes, Raven, I think it was." Finn was still staring at the closed door across the street.
"Sorry, I got caught up in the role of loving girlfriend." She struck a dramatic pose.
"I'd hoped to maybe talk to her and actually offer condolences." He sighed exasperatedly. "She looked exactly like how I felt that night."
"I thought that was the point of the plan, to make her feel what you felt?" The dark haired woman asked, amused by the conflict on Finn's face, but also trying to make him realize the truth of the matter.
"Yeah, well, that was before I saw her face." He hung his head down, pinching the bridge of his nose for a minute.
"Oh, I do believe we are making progress." Raven said sarcastically, giving him a look of mock pride while slow clapping. He appeared to ignore her.
"I had a massive crush on her most of my childhood and preteen years and I'm pretty sure I fell in love with her in high school. But she was my best friend and I didn't really know what to do about it. Then there was college, and I thought if I didn't her see all day everyday that the feelings would fade, but they didn't! I just kept thinking about her and counting the days till the next time I saw her. I actually dreamed about her a few times. So, I decided I would finally say something at her party. But then," Raven held up a hand to stop his tirade.
"I was there for most of that, and I've heard the rest, lover boy, from you and your mother." She crossed her arms and gave him a look. "You were hurt, stubborn and convinced yourself you hated her. You decided you wanted to get back at her for what she did to you. So, you saw an opportunity and ran with it. But then?" Elongating and raising the pitch questioningly on the last word. He just looked at her confused, she rolled her eyes and spelled it out for him."You don't like seeing her upset." Revelation dawned on his face. "Not to mention we're here for her mother's funeral. A woman, you have told me, that you considered as a second mother."
"Aunt Abby is so gonna haunt me for this." He said wiping a hand down his face. "God, I'm an idiot!"
Raven looked at him with a raised eyebrow, as if to say, 'You think so?'
"Don't even think of saying 'I told you so.'" He said pointing a finger at her.
"I wouldn't dream of it." Sarcasm dripped from Raven's voice as arms were thrown up in mock defense. She looked over at the house across the street. "But, you know what I'm gonna say that you should do?" Her deep brown eyes pinned him down as she turned back to him.
"Yeah, yeah, I know what you're gonna say." Finn scratched and ruffled the hair at the back of his head as he jogged down the steps of his parents' front path and crossed the street. "I hope Marty isn't still so protective of her, or I'm total dog food," he mumbled under his breath as he stepped up onto the sidewalk on the other side.
Look for the next part sometime later this week!