Now: June 20th 2015
2:23 pm
"Oh you've got to be friggen kidding me" Clarke snapped as she slowed her car down behind the building traffic of the highway. She wasn't even in a real rush to get to her destination but the fact that she could add another item to her ever growing list of things going wrong that day was like adding fuel to the already burning fire.
The silver piece of junk she was driving came to a stop and she threw her head into her hands in annoyance, elbows smashing into the horn. Jumping back in a slight panic at the sound she looked around at the surrounding cars waiting for someone to blast her out.
Seconds later a middle aged man stuck his head out of his SUV screaming, "Shut up asshole we're all stuck."
Taking a deep breath she rolled up the window not wanting to listen to the fights brewing between the other drivers on the road. She watched the GPS as the estimated arrival time began to tick up by the minutes the longer her car stayed at a stand still. Her mother wouldn't be happy by her late arrival. She couldn't completely blame her, part of it was her fault for stopping for coffee and then managing to spill it all over herself by not looking where she was going, forcing her to go home and change.
Still, her mother didn't need to know about her clumsy side delays, she was sticking with the traffic story. It wasn't a lie.
Her car moved up about five more feet before she realized she wasn't going anywhere any time soon. She turned down the Adele song on the radio before scrolling down her slightly cracked Iphone and clicking the call button on a familiar number. It rang twice before the sarcastic voice filled the speaker.
"Don't tell me something's already happened?"
Clarke rolled her eyes even though she knew her best friend couldn't see her. She wasn't sure any of her friends knew how to answer the phone with a "hello" like a normal human being.
"I'm not even there yet. I'm stuck in traffic with no exit for twenty miles. I swear the universe is against me."
"The universe is not against you. It's against everyone, watch the news."
"Not everyone," Clarke responded not hiding the edge in her voice. She couldn't help thinking of a certain pretty brunette she was dreading on seeing again.
The one who was marrying her best friend.
"Maybe you shouldn't go."The voice said after a few moments of silence.
"I HAVE to go" Clarke said with a sigh. "He's not only my best friend but our mothers are best friends. We grew up together. If I didn't go it'd be a drama fest."
"Well he shouldn't expect you to go after your family Easter party."
Clarke bit her lip thinking about the incident that had happened only three months before. The day she had took a hammer to any wall she had built up after her last relationship and finally put her heart on the line.
She told him she loved him.
And he rejected her.
"Clarke?"
"I shouldn't have told him." Her voice was sad and defeated. She had been wishing she could take those words back since they had slipped out of her mouth and the look on his face became pained. He didn't have to say anything. She knew what the look meant and she turned and ran. "I mean he had just gotten engaged! What did I expect that he'd leave her and be with me?"
"You took a chance. It's better than pining from afar."
"I'm still pining from afar Raven. Only now I look stupid as well."
"You're not helping here Griffin. Damn we should have just got you a date. I should have been your date! I'm totally fun at weddings."
Clarke rolled her eyes. "I'm not getting into some fake dating episode that explodes in my face. This isn't a movie." She heard a car horn shoot a long beep along with a man shouting "What the hell is going on?!"
''You could ask him to be your date."
"Funny" Clarke replied sarcastically while sticking her head out the window to see if she could catch a glimpse of what was causing the jam."But I think the blonde girl in the Mercedes is more my time".
"Speaking of blondes Jasper had an accident with another experiment."
"Oh my god."
"I'll send pics."
"You better," Clarke laughed as the traffic finally began moving again. "Okay we have movement on the car front. I'll talk to you later".
"Okay and Clarke?"
"Yeah?"
"You'll be fine."
"Thanks Ray" she said ending the call and taking her car out of park to move slowly down the highway along the rest of the flow.
The next half an hour was a lot of stop and go and Clarke really just wanted to take off at the next exit and turn the car around to return to her home in Boston. She had been dreading this ever since they had announced the plans to meet are her parents cape house a week before the wedding for final preparations and a relaxing vacation.
She found no part of this to be relaxing and had even tried to claim that the Museum she worked at wouldn't give her the week off. Unfortunately, her mother had threatened to call them and talk to them herself after having a long rant to Clarke about how she never spent any time with her family anymore. Clarke decided it would be better just to get the time off of work than to have her reputation ruined and face a lifetime of embarrassment that would come from her mother demanding her boss give her time off.
Plus, her not being there wouldn't change the situation. Bellamy would still get married and it still wouldn't be to her.
Her mother and Bellamy's mom, Aurora, had met in college after being assigned as roommates their freshmen year. Instantly they had hit it off and become like sisters. When they had graduated Clarke's mom moved to the suburbs, met her dad and got married while Aurora went to live in the city.
It didn't last long. Within two years Aurora became pregnant by a man she was seeing and he abandoned her. Terrified about being on her own, Abby had told her to come out to the suburbs to stay with them for a while.
So she had. She spent a couple of months with Abby and Jake and eventually was able to find an decent enough job as a waitress and rent a cheap apartment.
A year later Abby had become pregnant herself which only gave the two women more of a reason to spend time together. The excitement of raising their children at the same time and helping each other as new mothers kept them practically inseparable.
Soon after Clarke was born Aurora met another man. They got married and two years later they had a little girl, Octavia. Tragically, he died only a few years later leaving Aurora a widow and once again a single parent.
Once again Aurora was left in a tough situation. She had two children and a job that ran odd hours. As a doctor, Abby was left in a similar situation of working hours and the women became each others lifeline helping to switch off and watch each others children when needed.
Clarke had never realized back then what Bellamy had truly meant to her and once she had it was too late. She had grown up with him and he was more than a best friend to her but she could never put her finger on why.
But it was a one-sided love. And she was on her way to his wedding to a beautiful woman named Echo. She hoped this trip would help her find closure and move on.
Still, it was the most heartbreaking feeling in the world.
She came upon her exit happy to be getting off the highway after spending longer than necessary on the road. Her stomach grumbled and she desperately wanted to stop at a Mcdonald's but she knew her mother would flip out if she found the bag and realized Clarke had eaten before she came home to her perfectly served three course dinner.
Eventually the long driveway to her parents cape house came into view. Most people would call it a mansion because well it was huge. That was the whole reason Bellamy and Echo's wedding was going to be there. Bellamy worked as a high school history teacher and while he loved his job it didn't pay much. Not only would having the wedding out the house take out venue expenses but it also allowed for family and guests to stay free of service.
Bellamy had protested at first but her parents had said it would be like their wedding gift to him and Echo had been more than happy to accept.
She pulled up to the house parking her small car in arched driveway and taking in the scene of the giant soft blue home. All her memories at this house had been a happy and part of her felt like her enjoyment of it was about to be tainted. It wasn't her parents fault. They had no idea about Clarke's feelings for Bellamy, but she still knew she'd never look at it the same after seeing Bellamy's wedding there.
The voices filled the home the instant she opened the front door. The entrance was grand. White marbled floors swept across the entryway and up the circular staircase leading to the second floor. There was a sweet aroma in the air from the live plants and small trees that brightened the room for the guests entrance. Finally an elegant chandelier hung from the high ceiling adding to the natural light already flowing into the room.
Laughter came from Clarke's left and she left her suitcase in the entry as she headed towards the living room with a final deep breath.
Before she could even process the scene of the group, Octavia saw her and her face lit up. "Clarke!" She shouted jumping off from her seat on the couch and running towards her. Only two years apart Octavia had been like a sister to Clarke as well as one of her best friends but after Bellamy had rejected her she felt herself unconsciously cut ties with Octavia in some self-instinct to protect her heart.
But seeing the bright, happy eyes staring back at her, Clarke couldn't help but break into a smile. "I missed you O. How have you been?"
Octavia pulled away beaming. "Great! I finally graduated college this May." She fist pumped the air. "But I skipped that whole ceremony thing otherwise you would have gotten an invite. I mean who wants to sit there for four hours listening to boring people talk. Like I sat there for four years already, I'm done."
Clarke laughed and gave her another hug as her mother stood up coming into view.
"There you are I was getting worried. I was just saying I thought you would've been here by now." She explained giving her daughter a hug before looking at her with concern creased in her brow.
"There was traffic." Clarke shrugged then seeing her dad smiled wider moving away from her mother. "Dad!"
He gave her a big hug that put such a large smile on her face her cheeks hurt. He had always give bear hugs. "Hey kiddo."
"You got to stop calling me that I'm like 24." A chuckle escaped her lips as she pulled away.
Still smiling she turned as Aurora came up to give a hug of her own. That's when she noticed that Bellamy and Echo weren't in the room.
"So where's the lovebirds?" She said trying to make a joke out of the awkward situation.Octavia gave her and instantly she realized Bellamy had told her.
The other three adults however didn't waiver in their movement or expressions. "Oh well there was a last minute thing with the cake so they went to take care of it. Don't worry they'll be back soon. I'm sure Bellamy will be happy to see you. I was just saying to Abby that I'm surprised he didn't make you his best man or woman or whatever." She laughed.
Octavia bit her lip and looked down heading back to her seat on the plush couch.
Clarke shrugged not meeting her eyes, "Well Miller has seen more of Bellamy lately than I have so it makes sense. Plus they've been friends forever." She took her own seat in a chair next to the end of the couch. She couldn't avoid eye contact with Octavia any longer and the brunette gave her a look that said 'we need to talk about this later'.
"Well anyway, you obviously are going to be in your own room Clarke and Octavia in the room she always stays in since is practically hers now anyway but Echo will be in the guest room a few doors down and Bellamy is on the first floor." Abby explained in her orderly fashion.
Clarke gave a questioning look and Aurora seemed to interpret it. "They aren't married yet, we're old fashioned. No sharing rooms." Clarke gave a slight roll of the eyes though she couldn't help feel slightly pleased that they wouldn't be sleeping next to one another.
Before anything else could be said the door opened making her heart skipp a beat. Octavia continues to stare at her as though she was trying to read her so Clarke made her best attempt to keep her expressions normal.
"We're back!" The low rough tone of Bellamy's voice sent a chill up her spine and she could feel the flush creeping onto her face and more importantly Octavia's eyes analyzing every minute of it.
"Clarke" His eyes seemed to fall on her the minute he entered the room. She wasn't sure how to react but he broke into a smile "It's been forever come here."
Clarke stood up awkwardly and walked towards him plastering her best fake smile across her face despite the fact that Monty once told her it looked like someone had injected her with bad botox.
"Hey," she reciprocated the hug hoping he didn't notice the pounding of her chest as it was pressed up against his. She cut it short then gave Echo a curtsy hug despite the irritated look in the girl's sharp eyes.
Bellamy was still smiling though which only made Clarke more unsure of where they stood. His eyes were as dark as melted chocolate but they somehow seemed to glow as he looked at her."How long ago did you get here? I feel bad we weren't here to greet you but there was an issue with the cake."
"No worries it's fine there was traffic." She waved her hand off of it and looked away only to be unable to focus on anything else besides the other pair of Blake eyes staring at her knowingly.
"Yeah" Echo said smiling but her's somehow looked as fake as Clarke's felt. It was too tight. Monty would probably say it looked sewed on. "So glad you could make it."
"Me too." Clarke breathed out wondering if it came out as exasperated as it felt. It was going to be a long week.