A sadness loomed over the entire group for what felt like months but had really only been about three weeks since Jasper and Maya left. Harper and Monty were spending so much more time together to fill the void their best friends and roommates left. It came to no surprise that they would announce they were moving in together.
While at dinner, the group sat around a long rectangular table, paired off in couples. Monty stood and meagerly cleared his throat. Octavia held back a snicker at his demeanor and got a nudge from Harper who was on her right.
"So, we have news," Monty said. Harper took his arm and pulled in back down, knowing he didn't need to stand up to make some declaration. He looked bashful and sat back down.
"We've decided since Maya and Jasper are gone, we'd move in together." Harper beamed. No one was surprised but everyone had smiles on. This would leave two couples not living together, though Murphy may as well consider himself living with her and Raven because he was always there. Clarke couldn't complain, she didn't care to see him half-dressed all the time but the food he spoiled them with made up for it.
"Whos apartment are you guys moving into?" Miller asked, knowing they lived in very different places. That piqued the interest of everyone else.
"Mine, well, ours." Monty smiled lovingly at Harper. They were the cutest couple.
Nodding, Harper added to it. "Yeah, we figured it would be cheaper and it's actually a little bigger.
"You do know where they live, right?" Murphy joked only to get jabbed playfully.
"I love that apartment, and I love Monty. You guys act like it's some wormhole."
Monty broke out in laughter. "To be fair, when Jasper was in it, is was." They all cracked up. Tonight was different than the normal weekend hangout. They decided to go bowling, like a pack of old ladies, or so they generalized. The alley the picked was state of the art and really big. So many lanes, most of which were packed with people of all age groups. They actually had to reserve their lanes, splitting off into two groups of four. Of course, this meant the formed pseudo teams. Octavia took Lincoln, naturally, Jackson, Monty, and Murphy. That left the other be spearheaded by the older Blake, Harper, Clarke, Raven, and Miller. The playful animosity radiated off of the two teams as they began their games. Somehow the boys with meat-haunches for arms could naturally just chuck a bowling ball with an immaculate aim. Harper was horrible, to say in the least. Maybe she was distracted but the other team kept joking about her needing bumpers. Monty, though on the other team, replaced her ball with a different weighted one and it helped her game by a lot.
Raven was up to bowl on their team and Clarke watched her power through a clear pain flair. Murphy and Bellamy noticed too because the three of them were watching her, not the ball. She managed and with strength, Clarke could only admire, she brushed it off and walked back to the ball return as the pins all fell down.
"You're such a badass." Clarke cheered her own, but Raven knew it was heavier than just sportsmanship and she smiled.
"That she is." Murphy cooed to his girlfriend and it made some of them noticeably cringe yet laugh all in one. Raven's second ball wasn't as aimed and her turn was over. Clarke was up. She draped her feet like a child in socks on a kitchen floor as she moved to the ball return. Plucking the ball she had picked out, she weighed it out in her hand as she eyed the lane. Feeling her move, she positioned herself, hooked her fingers into the ball, and drew it back twice before releasing. The ball smacked the lane with a thud and rolled at a decent speed toward the pins. At first, it veered off to the left, and naturally, so did Clarke as she nervously tracked it. Bowling is like watching a little kid play Mario Kart on a Nintendo and turning the whole remote to make a corner. The ball corrected itself, but just too much to hit right of center. Three pins stood tall. She huffed and returned to collect her ball. Readied again, she threw a little bit harder and lower, trying to gain accuracy. The ball barreled toward the pins and whiffed by them on the right, taking two down. She had one pin left at the end of her turn. She was okay with that.
"Good job." Bellamy leaned into her as she sat down.
"Coulda' been better." She shrugged, not disappointed but not really proud. It was a good turn.
"Don't worry, we'll beat O." He laughed.
"Oh, we better." She fake threatened.
"Or?" He asked, catching her threat. Clarke just painted a devilish grin on her smile and moved to sit up in the back at the table where her drink was.
The rest of the game was a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Moments of tension that felt more real than just playful. Overall they bowled their asses off, Raven getting weaker as the game went on and Jackson getting tired. The final scores came out and Lincoln and Bellamy both had the highest scores of high 200's. Everyone else was in the 100's bracket, even Harper and her wobbly throws.
"I think the losers should cover the tab," Octavia suggested before finding out who won. Bellamy grinned and shared a look with Lincoln. He shook his head, turning Bellamy's idea down.
"Lincoln won't let me have my fun, but we won." Bellamy bragged, waving the print out in her face like a child. She snatched it from him and compared it to theirs, confused as to how he knew that before he had seen her team's scores.
"How did-" She read.
"We can see the score the whole game, O." He chuckled. She rolled her eyes.
"It's not fair, your team got the arms." She playfully whined and Lincoln pulled her in with those very arms that won the game.
"Hey." Monty pouted, clear out of the 'arms' classification.
"Your team had the brains." Harper defended her boyfriend. They laughed and cleaned up their area, trading their bowling shoes back in and dropping their balls off in the sanitizing machine.
"I'm going to walk Ray out," Murphy said quietly, knowing if he brought attention to her she'd kick his ass. She wasn't in ear shot. Clarke nodded but before he could leave.
"Oh hey, it'll be record highs next weekend. Octavia and I wanted to host a lake party for the group, like last year." Lincoln broadcasted to the group who all moved into a pile.
Clarke knew how much it cost last year, granted she rented them a party barge. She did wonder though if they had the kind of money and it would seem Bellamy was on the same brainwave.
"I think that's a great idea, but we should all pitch in for a bash." He tried to politely suggest.
"We just want to give back, Jackson and Miller host everything." Octavia chimed in. No, she wanted to host, always a leader.
"How about this, we host but anything fancy we all pitch in for." Lincoln suggested and Raven added on "No surprises," with a pointed look at Clarke. She blushed.
"Hey, we had fun." Clarke defended herself. Bellamy slid into her space and put a hand on the small of her back.
"Yes, we did, but we can all pitch in this year if we want to do that again, deal?"
She nodded, no contest.
"Cool, we'll plan it in a group text, yeah?" O asked and the group nodded or mumbled agreement before parting ways. Murphy escorted a very tired and limping Raven out to the car. Clarke and Bellamy followed about twenty minutes later. On the way to the car though, he slid his hand into hers, engulfing her small hand in his.
"Come over tonight?" He asked simply. She looked up with questioning brows. It was pretty seamless when they stayed over at one another's apartments. Aside from the two times he more or less kidnapped her, they never had to ask, they just did. If they were at one place or the other, it just implied the person would be staying unless they had work early the next day. So this felt a bit out of place, but he seemed to be in a loving mood.
"One condition. We go to that artisenal drunk truck if it's open." She bargained and he squeezed her hand letting her know she had won. When they got to the car she leaned into the open back window on the passenger side.
"I'm going to go to Bell's, is Murphy a shit driver?" She asked
Raven could only laugh at first before shaking her head. "Nah, he can drive."
"Good. Take the lady home and treat her good." Clarke regretted the words as they came out because she knew the context Murphy would take them in. He grinned and she threw her keys at him, hitting his chest.
"Begone." She dismissed them and walked away from the car toward Bellamy's.
Bellamy whisked the princess away to get her a treat and treat her right himself. Morning came and Clarke was wide awake long before the snoring beast beside her awoke. When he finally did he noticed something was off because she wasn't splayed out peacefully. She was laying on her back flat looking at the wrinkles of light cast on the ceiling.
"Morning, beautiful." He had morning voice, a soft and unexercised dryness. She looked over at him as he pulled himself closer to her.
"Hey." She smiled sweetly.
"What's wrong?" He asked, his voice a bit more awake. He knew she was in her own thoughts and she couldn't deny that he knew.
"Just thinking about everything." She stated honestly. He had a general idea of what she meant but wanted clarification. He wouldn't ask for it, he just waited.
"I'm happy, not sad thinking." She eased his curiosity. "Just reflecting on things. I'm glad we're going to go back to the lake, I like that as a tradition." She ended her statement abruptly and he cocked his head, pressing her with just a look.
"I mean, I was just thinking how one day it would be cute if like Harper and Monty had kids running around the lake every summer or Octavia. She'd be such a good mom." She explained her thoughts without trying to give light to the idea that it wasn't just them she was thinking about as a mom. It was all of them, realistically. Herself included. It was like a movie that shows a scene in the beginning and then the same scene set in the future at the end. She thought it was charming and it felt right to think about.
"I think that's a perfect tradition to carry into the future." He agreed with her and moved into her space, leaning over her side a little bit as he lay on his tummy, propped up on his elbows. She looked relieved that he wasn't put off the baby talk, albeit indirect baby talk.
He gave her the sweetest peck on the cheek and she grinned gleefully. "You ever think about having kids?" She asked candidly after the glee fell from her face.
He smiled. "Always have." He didn't hesitate. He knew to his very core he wanted to be a father and always had. It likely had a lot to do with his relationship with Octavia and the lack of father figures in their lives. "I'd make some cute ass kids." He added with a cheeky smirk.
"Oh, they would ruin the world with how beautiful they would be." She laughed from deep within her gut. He chuckled.
"What about you? Does Clarke Griffin want to have an army of little blondes?" He asked.
She looked back up at the ceiling for a moment. "An army, hell no. I can't imagine what just one does to your body." She didn't see his frown.
"But a one or two? Yeah, I think so." She looked back down to him again, a soft smile on his face. "I've never really been gung-ho about the idea but the older I get the more it feels like that is something I could want for my future, something that feels right, you know?" She explained. He smiled and grinned then leaned in and kissed her. The kiss said everything neither of them were talking about. It told her how happy he was to hear that, even though they didn't know what tomorrow would hold for them let alone years from now. She returned the kiss and cupped his jaw and pulled him up and into her. He was all but laying on her now and they let things get a little heavy, lost in the love.