Remember how the coffee made us shake on those long drives?
"Jasper, I swear to God, you do NOT need coffee."
"But I do!"
"No. You do not."
Although 'college road trip to Vegas' seemed like a good idea at the time, Bellamy is starting to have serious regrets about taking these hooligans halfway across the country. It's day two and he's already about to knock Jasper upside the head.
To be fair, it was early enough in the morning and they haven't eaten anything yet. But the rest of the van-load is still asleep or groggy, and Jasper's sunny morning personality certainly isn't helping anything. Monty silently agrees with him when he shoves his hoodie in Jasper's face, resulting in a long, drawn out whine.
"Bellamyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."
Bellamy rolls his eyes and counts to ten, hands tightening then relaxing at the wheel. He sighs. "Well—"
"YES. STARBUCKS," Jasper yells excitedly, ramping up the energy in the van from about a 2 to a 10. Jasper is a morning person, and everyone else in the car is definitely not. There were times when the gang appreciated his rampant energy, but now was not one of those times. Raven is always especially grumpy in the morning, and Murphy, well…Murphy is always a little ticked off. Clarke is a heavy sleeper and would usually take a lot of effort to wake up in the morning. Bellamy remembers stories O has told him of her and Raven's misadventures of attempting to get Clarke up in the morning. Said attempts either ended up with a black eye (Raven) or the silent treatment for a week (Octavia).
Octavia must've heard her girly coffee drinks calling to her in her sleep, because she immediately sits up and zeroes in on Bellamy. "Starbucks? I'm in." She doesn't even look phased at the fact she's actually awake before 9 a.m. This was a rare feat, so Octavia must really want her coffee. Or coffee subsititute. Bellamy really isn't sure what Starbucks actually did to their drinks, but he could've swore some of the things Octavia brought home for him to try were definitely NOT coffee.
Clarke lets out a soft laugh from the passenger's seat, startling him more than he would like to admit. He prided himself on being observant, but he had missed her waking up. Too busy criticizing Octavia's horrible taste, he supposes. "You can't say no to Starbucks, Bell," she adds sleepily with a lazy smile on her face.
Maybe he could say no to Starbucks, but there is no way he could say no to that face (It certainly didn't help that it was Clarke AND Octavia asking).
"Fine," he grumbles, putting on a grumpy façade. "We'll stop."
"There's one in the next town!" Monty chimes in helpfully. Miller high fives him, and earns a side eye from Murphy. Morning Murphy didn't like loud noises or the possibility of being hit, probably because he had nursed one too many nasty hangovers in the past.
"You aren't hungover, are you Murphy?" calls Bellamy, a smirk growing on his face. If anyone could sneak booze on this trip, it would be Murphy. That sly fox.
"No," Murphy says with a frown. "I just don't want to get hit back here and these two won't stop flirting." He sets his jaw and slides further down into the seat, causing Octavia's laughter. She proceeds to pat him on the head, which makes him furrow his eyebrows.
"Not you, too," he whines. "You're one of the nicer ones."
Octavia leans forward, the signature Blake grin growing on her face. "Who said I was nice?"
Murphy watches her warily out of the corner of his eye. Finally deciding he doesn't want to take his chances with the younger Blake, he leans back over towards Miller. "You people, I swear to God," he burrows further down into his blanket. "All savages early in the morning."
O ruffles his hair and leans back into Lincoln, who has been watching her with a proud expression. "That's my girl," he says with a (rare) smile and she giggles.
Bellamy groans. "Not this again," he mutters under his breath. Clarke puts her hand on his arm. He barely notices the ghost of a touch on his arm, but since he knows it's Clarke, it's like a fire coursing through his veins from where she hesitantly has placed her hand on his arm. He doesn't know when this started, but he can't say the distraction is welcome. He has enough to freaking worry about with his little sister and tall dark and tattooed back there.
He opens his mouth to protest the blatant flirting, but Clarke cuts him off. "Come on. Don't you remember being happy like that? She's so carefree. Let her stay that way while she can." She looks wistful, and Bellamy knows how heavy her burden is. He has carried it himself a time or two on his own, and there is one that they have shared together. It's more than she should have to carry, but she is the strongest of them all. He knows this. They all know this. Clarke drags her eyes back to Bellamy, and her face carries a lighter demeanor.
Sometime in the night, Clarke has tossed her wild and curly blonde hair into a messy bun. Straggling pieces fall down and frame her face, and her cheeks are red. She's adorable, curled up in a blanket, and sitting right next to him.
Bellamy so wishes this was under completely different circumstances.
This is why pining for your friends sucks. He had seen how things had gone down with Finn fiasco, and the major rift it had caused amongst their group. There is no way he was ever putting them through that again. He honestly didn't know if they could take it. Bellamy loves his friends more than anything, and the last thing he would ever want to do would be to break them apart.
But man, it sucked. Feelings sure had the capability to bring the strongest people to their knees. For instance, stopping at Starbucks, and drinking their not-coffee.
The things he did for this girl.
(whether she knew it or not)
"Take the next exit!" Monty says, scrolling through the directions on his phone. "It should be along the main drag."
"Good, wouldn't want to miss it," Bellamy deadpans, resulting in a chuckle from Raven, who currently is burritoed in a pile of Afghans. To be honest, he can't even see her at all. He thinks it's Raven. She, like the rest of them, is not a morning person either.
Clarke pokes at the pile of blankets, cooing at her. "C'mon, baby Rae," she croons. "We're getting coffee." A hand emerges out of the blanket, then a foot, then finally, her head.
"Coffee?" she says skeptically.
"Starbucks," Clarke clarifies, with a knowing smile adorning her face.
Raven huffs, and proceeds to (attempt to) disentangle herself from her cocoon. "I guess I want some."
"Good morning, sleeping beauty," sing songs Octavia from the back.
"Not one word, Pocahontas."
When Octavia and Raven found out that Bellamy called Clarke princess, they decided that it was unfair. (Well, Octavia did. She was always deciding things her older brother did were unfair) Octavia determined that they should be princesses too. Since Raven slept literally anywhere and everywhere, she earned the nickname 'sleeping beauty.' When O started dating Lincoln, who had crazy tribal tattoos, she thought that she wanted some, too. She almost made Bellamy faint with all the ink she asked his opinion on. In the end, she didn't end up getting anything, but she did manage to almost give Bellamy a heart attack, and the nickname 'Pocahontas' stuck. They were more barbs than anything, but the girls didn't mind. It was the same level of affection as when Monty calls Jasper 'Kim K' and Jasper calls Monty 'Victoria's Secret Angel.' At least, Bellamy thinks so. He's actually not quite sure about that one.
"Oh, there's a spot! Park there!" Octavia says, and Bellamy shoots her a dry look. It's the only open spot, why wouldn't he park there? He sighs exasperatedly, and Clarke just shakes her head at him. He does manage to catch a glimpse of a smile before she exits the van, though. Score.
Everyone somehow manages to get out of the van without causing a riot (it's a miracle, really), and they all head inside the little Starbucks. Octavia looks ecstatic, and drags a resigned Lincoln in behind her. That's one thing Bellamy was okay with, if Lincoln was going to be with his sister, he had to put up with her too. It was a comforting thought, at least. Jasper pushes to the front of the line, but looks like a deer in the headlights when he notices the pretty cashier looking at him expectantly.
"I, uh…" Jasper mumbles, cheeks turning pink. Clarke muffles a laugh, but Murphy doesn't even bother. Miller punches him in the arm, but he doesn't stop. Bellamy really can't blame him. For all the bravado Jasper puts on, it sure crumbles quickly in an uncomfortable situation.
"Maybe he'll tone it down for the next couple of hours," he stage whispers to Murphy, and he snickers.
Monty, Jasper's best friend and apparent savior, rushes to the rescue before his friend's situation becomes irredeemable. "He'll take a Caramel Macchiato. And I'll have the Pumpkin Spice Latte."
When everyone looks at him accusingly, he just shrugs. "What? I love a good white girl drink every once in a while." Jasper finally remembers he should open his mouth, and manages to stammer out, "With whip cream, please."
Monty pats him on the back and pulls out his wallet. Jasper moves to stop him but Monty silences him by holding his pointer fingers up in the air. "Shhh. My treat. You entertained us already this morning." Everyone laughs, and Monty pays. Everyone shuffles up in line, and it goes relatively fast, considering the number of the group. Bellamy, last but never least, finally makes it up to the counter and orders the least toxic thing he can think of—black coffee. He pays and waits, messing with the straws and sugar packets to appear busy before his name his called.
He grabs his coffee and heads to the group's table in the corner, snagging a seat in between Clarke and Miller.
"What'd you get?" she asks, eyeing his opaque cup.
"Black coffee."
"That's so boring," Clarke says, leaning forward on her right arm. "You've gotta spice it up your life a little."
"Au contraire, princess." Bellamy lifts the cup to his lips and grins while taking a sip. "It suits me rather well."
She looks at him questioningly, and he continues. "Black, like my soul," he chuckles. "Or my heart," he adds thoughtfully. "Or maybe I don't have one."
Clarke rolls her eyes. "Only you. "You who swallowed a falling star, oh heartless man…""she trails off expectantly.
Bellamy narrows his eyes in speculation at her. When he finally recognizes it, he snaps his fingers. "Did you just quote Howl's Moving Castle at me?"
"Maybe," she says, looking quite pleased with him.
"Only you," he teases. "What are you drinking, anyway?"
She holds up her transparent cup, giving him a view of her tan liquid. "Chai tea."
"Not a coffee fan?" he muses.
She wrinkles her nose in distaste. "Not at all. I'm a tea person any day."
Bellamy starts to argue that she is completely wrong on that front, but Octavia pulls him up. "Come on Bell, we gotta go," she whines. "If we don't leave now we won't make it to Oklahoma City by tonight. I wanna sleep in a real bed tonight, don't you?" She tugs him further despite his protest, and he can hear Clarke laughing behind him at the eagerness of his sister.
Now that they all had their coffee, day 2 of Roadtrip: Vegas Edition (Jasper likes to name things, okay?) was a go.
