Clarke may already be slightly drunk when she arrives for Octavia's 21st birthday party. It's a warm summer night, she looks amazing, and she's feeling good. And the punch she's made for the party is delicious.
Abby has volunteered her back garden as the venue, and Clarke hears her mom laughing from the living room as she comes through the front door. Clarke follows the sound down the hall. She finds Abby giggling, a glass of wine in her hand, as Kane tells her what must be a very funny story. Although, Abby is the only one laughing that hard. Bellamy, Indra and Kara seem amused, but from the looks of it, Abby is even drunker than Clarke herself.
"Hi, Mom," Clarke says from the doorway, alerting the group to her presence.
Abby beams up at her. "Hi, honey! You brought punch! Me too!"
"Yeah," Clarke laughs. "Hey, everyone," she addresses the rest of the room, but her eyes are on Bellamy. He smiles at her. "What are you doing in here with all the grown-ups?" Clarkes asks him, grinning.
"Waiting for you," he says with a wink. Clarke rolls her eyes, but she's pretty sure she's blushing.
She looks down at her punch to hide her pink cheeks. "Where should I put this?"
"There's a table outside," Kane says.
"I'll show you," Bellamy jumps up. Clarke stands aside so he can lead her outside, though she lived in this house for the first eighteen years of her life.
Bellamy walks beside her and nudges her shoulder with his affectionately.
"You'll make me spill the punch," she scolds half-heartedly.
"Was that full before you got here?" Bellamy raises an eyebrow, judging her maybe slightly.
"That's irrelevant," Clarke pokes her tongue out, and Bellamy laughs, deep and joyful. The sound warms her from the inside out.
She brings the punch outside and puts it next to the one her mom made, then pours herself and Bellamy a cup.
"We should play beer pong later," she decides. "Or punch pong or whatever."
She sets off to find Octavia, Bellamy following her. She finds Octavia dancing with Niylah on the grass under the fairy lights, amongst a crowd of other people. Clarke is pretty sure she knows them all, but she ignores them in favour of greeting the birthday girl. She throws her arms around Octavia, grinning.
"Happy twenty-first birthday! You can finally have your first drink," she laughs, knowing Octavia has been drinking since she was sixteen. Clarke still doesn't know how Octavia managed to keep it from Bellamy, but then he's always been a little blind when it comes to his little sister.
"And you can have your, what? Tenth for the night?" Octavia laughs. She pulls out of the hug and looks to Bellamy. "You finally decided to join the real party, Bell? Now that Clarke's here?"
"I'm just here for the punch," he shrugs, taking a sip.
"And I'm not even that drunk," Clarke says. Except she probably is that drunk. But she's an affectionate drunk, and she gives Octavia an exaggerated peck on the lips, full of love for the girl, and the night and life in general.
"She's definitely drunk," Niylah chuckles, and Clarke turns and gives her a kiss too.
"I love you guys," Clarke says.
"Hey, where's my kiss!" Raven yells. Clarke looks in the direction of Raven's voice and sees Raven watching from by the fire pit. Murphy, Monty and Harper lounge in chairs beside her, looking amused.
"Come here and get it!" Clarke yells back.
"No, you come here!" Raven yells back.
Clarke laughs and skips over to Raven, falling into the empty seat beside her. Clarke grabs Raven face and smooches her, making over the top kissing noises. Raven pulls away and wipes her mouth.
"Gross, why is it so wet?"
"You wanted a kiss."
"I was mistaken," Raven screws her nose up.
Clarke laughs, probably a little too much. "Shut up. You loved it." She turns to the other three. "Who else wants one?"
"I'll pass," Murphy snorts.
"Oh no," Clarke smirks wickedly. "You're not getting out of it that easy!"
Clarke jumps up and to Murphy's credit he lets her peck him on the lips.
"Are you going to kiss everyone at the party, Clarke?" Monty chuckles.
"Maybe I will," Clarke shrugs. She gives him a kiss next, and then Harper.
"Everyone?" Raven says pointedly. She nods her head in the direction Clarke had come from. Clarke follows the direction of her gaze and her eyes land on Bellamy, talking to Miller. Clarke's stomach flips over and she sobers up for a moment.
And maybe, if she wasn't so in love with him she would kiss him. Because she knows it can't be just a kiss the way it is with everyone else. But he doesn't know how she feels and he definitely doesn't feel the same, so kissing him just for the hell of it isn't an option.
She clears her throat. "Anyone want more punch?"
They end up playing beer pong (or punch pong), Octavia and Indra vs Clarke and Miller.
"If we win, I'll kiss you," Clarke tells Miller.
"Not an incentive, Clarke," Miller tells her.
"If we lose I'll kiss you."
"Better."
They lose anyway, despite the incentive and their cheer squad consisting of Bellamy, Raven and Monty, because as competitive as Clarke and Miller are, Octavia and Indra are on a whole other level.
"Clarke, you lost, so you have to kiss Miller!" Octavia yells in her victory.
Miller rolls his eyes. Clarke looks at him, half smiling, half grimacing. He sighs. "Come on then, Griffin. But you're the only girl I'm ever kissing."
Clarke laughs and gives him a quick peck on the lips. Clarke turns on Indra.
"Winners get one too!" Clarke shouts, and before Indra can protest, Clarke plants a sloppy kiss on her cheek. "Who haven't I kissed yet?" she shouts.
"Bellamy!" Murphy shouts.
"I haven't kissed my mom or Kane!" Clarke realises. She races over to them, now that they've joined everyone outside, and kisses them both on each cheek. Kane looks bewildered, but Abby looks delighted.
"Love you, Mom," Clarke beams.
"Love you too, Clarke."
We R Who We R comes on, and Clarke knows she has to dance. She grabs Raven and drags her onto the patch of grass that has become the dancefloor, claiming it's their song, though Raven isn't sure why. Clarke dances and sings and jumps up and down, and she makes sure to kiss everyone else who's dancing.
The song ends, and Clarke goes to get more punch. Only somehow, she trips over the table leg, and being a fold up table, it collapses, sending the punch bowl flying, and drenching Clarke in a mix of juice, cheap wine, and vodka.
She lies on the ground for a second, and she's pretty sure everyone saw her fall. Bellamy appears at her side.
"You okay?"
Clarke nods. "I tripped."
"I saw."
Clarke groans. She sits up, wincing. She banged her elbow pretty hard, and she's covered in punch, but other than that she's okay.
"Let's get you cleaned up."
Bellamy gets Clarke a glass of water while she rummages around in her old room for something else to wear. Nothing as cute as the sundress she has on now, but at least her old Taylor Swift concert t-shirt doesn't have punch on it.
She walks out of her room and Bellamy hands her the glass of water.
"I knew you were a closet Taylor Swift fan," he grins.
"Shut up," Clarke swats at him playfully. She heads to the laundry to throw her dress in the machine, and Bellamy goes with her. She sets the glass down and puts the dress in the machine.
"Are you having a good night?" he asks her.
"I was until I got punch all over myself," Clarke sighs. Having punch poured all over her seems to have sobered her up a fair bit, although she is feeling a little dizzy.
She's suddenly aware of being alone with Bellamy, of him watching her. She grabs the washing powder and of course manages to drop it and spill half of it on the floor. She crouches down to clean it up, and Bellamy's beside her in an instant, helping her sweep it back into the box. Their hands brush and Clarke stands up hurriedly, her face flushed.
Bellamy stands up slowly and puts the washing powder on top of the washing machine. He's standing so close to her. Not touching her, but close enough that if she swayed even slightly she would brush against him. Her heart hammers rapidly, and her throat feels dry. She swallows.
"I've probably made a huge idiot of myself tonight, haven't I?" she blurts.
Bellamy looks amused. "Well, you are the only one here who got punch all over herself."
"I meant all the kissing," she screws up her nose. She looks at his lips. Why had she brought up kissing with him standing so close to her?
Bellamy shrugs. He hesitates. "I was wondering… why you've kissed everyone at this party but me."
Clarke swallows. She can't look at him. "You noticed that, huh?"
She glances up to see him nod.
"I can't kiss you," she says.
"Why not?"
"Because…" she bites her lip. "Because it means something different with you."
"Clarke," he says, in that deep voice that makes her knees tremble. She keeps her eyes on him as he closes the small space between them, and then she's closing her eyes, her lips parting as he kisses her. The room spins, and she's not sure if it's the alcohol or the kiss, but it could be the kiss.
It only lasts a few moments, but it leaves her breathless for much longer.
"Now you've really kissed everyone at the party," Bellamy grins. "Congratulations."
Clarke lets out a breathy laugh. "Make sure I remember this in the morning."
"You'll remember," he winks. "And even if you don't I'm happy to do it again. As many times as you want."
"Okay," Clarke says, and she's blushing again. Bellamy laughs, and Clarke kisses him again to shut him up. "We should go back to the party."
Bellamy nods, and Clarke takes his hand and leads him back outside, a new spring in her step. She steps through the back door into the backyard.
"I've officially kissed everyone at this party!" she yells, pulling Bellamy's hand up in the air with her own. She's pretty sure all her friends are cheering, and this time its Bellamy's turn to blush.