High school boyfriend.
The words bounced around Bellamy's head as he trailed Clarke back to campus. She dropped that bombshell of a comment before hopping back into Miller's van and driving off. Apparently she wasn't interested in discussing the topic any further, which left Bellamy uneasy. Just when he had finally, finally, kissed Clarke, something like this had to come up.
He gripped the steering wheel tighter than necessary as he drove, scowling at the dented back bumper of the van, tuning out the sound of the radio.
High school boyfriend.
Maybe that was some kind of code word? Clarke really hadn't sounded too thrilled over the phone with her mom, but Bellamy had only been partially listening to her half of the conversation. Or maybe it just wasn't a big deal at all, and Bellamy was blowing this way out of proportion. That was probably it, but Bellamy wasn't going to take any matter concerning Clarke lightly.
He was so wrapped up in his own head that he nearly ended up giving the van another dent when Clarke came to an abrupt stop at a red light.
"Jesus," he cursed, smacking his palm on the steering wheel and cringing as the Jeep's brakes made a grisly grating sound. For some reason, Raven was in love with the old pile of rusted steel, even if it was a piece of shit. Bellamy really didn't want to be the reason the thing got totally ruined, so he tried to refocus on driving when the light switched green. Watching the edge of Clarke's head though the back window seemed to help, so Bellamy focused on her. Something about that girl could bring him right back down to Earth.
The Jeep hissed like a gasket had blown when Bellamy turned the key out of the ignition in the parking lot back at home, so he got out quickly and walked away, pretending like he hadn't heard the sound.
Clarke was waiting for him a few parking stalls up where she had situated Miller's van.
She didn't seem to have anything to say as they walked up to the building, and Bellamy didn't either. Clarke didn't seem to be as tense as Bellamy was though, walking lightly and fiddling with the keychain attached to Miller's fob.
Just as Bellamy was about to broach the quiet, the front door of the Hall burst open and Murphy and Jasper fumbled out.
"Christ, you're going to make us forfeit!"
"Yeah, the tournament starts in like, fifteen minutes!" Jasper said, inaptly exasperated.
Bellamy rolled his eyes at his teammates. "Yeah, yeah. Lucky I showed up at all."
"What? You were going to throw us to the wolves?" Jasper cried, latching onto Bellamy's arm as he pushed past him to get through the door.
"More like throw us to the Grounders," Murphy grunted.
"Do we have to play them again today?" Jasper bemoaned, hanging on to Bellamy despite the fact that he was now being drug across the entryway of Frontier Hall.
"I don't know!" Bellamy snapped, shoving Jasper off. "Just give me a fuckin' second!"
Jasper sobered up so quickly that it made Bellamy regret his harsh words. The guilt increased tenfold when he met Clarke's deprecatory gaze from the doorway.
"Sorry," Bellamy mumbled, turning away from them and jogging up the stairs without another word. He wasn't himself right now, and it took him an embarrassingly long time to pinpoint the exact thing that was rubbing him the wrong way.
He had had quite literally one of the best afternoons of his life, up until that phone call from Clarke's mother.
High school boyfriend.
God damnit.
When did he become such a jealous person? Bellamy grumbled, yanking open the door to his dorm room, more than a little relieved to find it quiet and empty. He slammed the door shut and paced once, twice, across the room.
That wasn't the only thing making him irritated though. Bellamy realized that in fact, it was more his guilt over what he had done with Echo than Clarke's announcement of an old boyfriend. If this random guy was enough to make Bellamy jealous enough to lash out at his friends, then how hurt would Clarke be when she found out that Bellamy had slept with another girl?
With an irritated sigh, he plopped heavily onto the edge of his bed and raked his fingers through his hair. When it came to Clarke, his previous temperament was thrown out the window. That girl did something to him that he simply didn't understand, something so strong, it made him irrationally anxious and jealous of a guy he had never even met. It made him reconsider his morals and think about Clarke's feelings before his own. He felt himself going around and around in circles in his head.
"Get a grip man," Bellamy muttered to himself before standing up and quickly changing into an old high school homecoming t-shirt that he had cut into a muscle shirt and a pair of basketball shorts.
Just as he was heading towards the door, a knock came from the other side. There was only one person he wanted to be on the other side, and something told him that it wasn't her. He swallowed down his resurfacing irritation, ready to meet the wide-eyed gaze of Jasper or Monty.
Opening the door, he found his sister frowning at him.
She stared for a moment before pushing him back into the room and shutting the door behind herself. Octavia opened her mouth to say something, but paused and narrowed her eyes at him, appraising his expression.
"Don't look at me like that," Bellamy grunted, turning away.
Octavia scoffed. "What'd you do this time?"
"Nothing!"
"Yeah right," Octavia paused.
A silence hung in the room as Bellamy busied himself with tidying up his desk, where he had various papers and pens scattered about from the last time he had bothered to study. To be honest, school had been the furthest thing from his mind the last few weeks.
Finally, Octavia's scowling face was unavoidable, so Bellamy turned towards his sister, waiting for her to say her peace.
"It's Clarke, isn't?"
"What's Clarke?" Bellamy asked, although he knew.
"You." Octavia waved her hand at him. "She's got you all messed up, huh?"
She wasn't wrong… but Bellamy wasn't about to admit that. "I don't know what you mean by that."
Octavia scoffed. "Yeah, okay sure. I'll just pretend you haven't turned into some broody teenage boy then." Bellamy only glared, so she continued. "You know? I was always glad you were five years older than me in highschool, so you couldn't date my friends."
"Oh give me a break, Octavia."
"No! I mean it, Bell! She's all -" Octavia gestured with her hand, trying to get her point across without actually having to say the words. When Bellamy raised a brow to spur her on, she grumbled and spit out, "- fucked up Bellamy! I mean, c'mon! God knows we've never been around the greatest people, but somehow you just seem drawn to them, like you can fix them or something. I don't know why you think you have to be everyone's savior. You're like a moth drawn to the flame, except the flame is emotionally screwed up people."
Bellamy, quite shocked by Octavia's outburst and committed to defending Clarke's honor, didn't hesitate to snap back at her. "Jesus Christ Octavia! I - she's your roommate and you're going around shitting on her? What kind of friend are you?"
That seemed to shock Octavia enough that her mouth snapped closed, and obstinate fire burning her eyes.
If there was one thing Bellamy knew about his sister, it was that she was never one to back down from an argument. It was something that often put them at odds before Bellamy learned that he was never going to win a battle of wills against his sister, no matter how stubborn he was himself.
"Remember how hard you tried to fix Mom?" Octavia said, her voice deadly calm.
Bellamy glared, refusing to reply.
"Bellamy, I don't think you slept for a year. You spent every spare second chasing after her, getting yourself into fights you couldn't win with drug addicts and God knows who else. It nearly killed you! And after all that effort, where did she end up?"
Bellamy tried not to show on his face how much Octavia's words were biting into him. Everything she said was true, which only served to make it hurt worse.
"Where is she now, huh Bellamy?" Octavia pressed.
He still wouldn't reply, only stubbornly glared at her.
"She's in prison, Bellamy! You couldn't save her, no matter how hard you tried!"
"So you're saying I can't save Clarke either? Whatever that means."
"No, I'm saying you get too wrapped up in someone just to have them ruin their own lives. You're a fixer, Bellamy. You want to fix people, but sometimes you can't."
"What the fuck does that mean, Octavia? Clarke doesn't need to be fixed. There is nothing wrong with her!"
Octavia leaned back, her brow cocked as if to say, really?
Bellamy took a heavy breath, his mind racing. What exactly was he doing with Clarke? He had been telling himself that he was just helping her out because she had no one else, and in the beginning, that may have been true. But now, she had told their friends about Finn, and Finn was in jail. She didn't need protecting from him any longer. Maybe Clarke didn't need him, and he was just spinning his wheels because helping her made him feel like he was doing something useful.
But it was too late to step back now, wasn't it? Christ, he's had some sort of epiphany when he was with Echo. Bellamy had gotten himself too tangled up with Clarke to simply walk away. Even if she didn't need him any longer, he needed her.
Bellamy looked back at his sister, who had softened significantly while he had been thinking.
"Bell, I don't want to tell you what to do with your life, but I don't know how much more you should get involved with Clarke."
"Why's that? Just because she got raped, you think she's damaged goods now or something?"
"No, it's not that exactly." Octavia opened her mouth to say more, but glanced away.
Bellamy frowned. "What?"
"I-" Octavia shook her head. "Did Mom ever tell you why she got sucked into the whole prostitution thing in the first place?
Bellamy froze before slowly shaking his head.
Octavia sighed. "It was because she got raped."
Bellamy opened his mouth to retort but Octavia held up her hand to silence him.
"Before you go off and say Clarke's not like that, I know she isn't. Mom was involved with the guy beforehand and she knew that he used drugs. But still, she wouldn't have gotten as deep into it with him and that lifestyle as she did if it wern't for the rape."
"Why? That doesn't even make sense, O'."
Octavia looked him in the eye, really looked at him. It made Bellamy shift uncomfortably, made him feel like Octavia was the older sibling, the one that was trying to break bad news to the younger one in the gentlest way possible.
"She couldn't afford a baby without it, Bellamy."
Bellamy blinked, staring at Octavia. He registered what she said, but refused to process it. He knew his mother had had him when she was young, seventeen and still in highschool, which she promptly dropped out of. He knew she was already wrapped up in all that stuff before he was born. But what he hadn't known, was that he was the reason she was sucked into all of it.
"No, no, that's not true," Bellamy said hollowly. "When did she tell you all of this?"
Octavia shrugged. "That doesn't matter. I was never going to tell you, but it was the only way I could think of for you to see that-"
"See what? The being raped fucks someone up? Don't exactly have to be a genius to figure that one out," Bellamy spat. He didn't know what he was feeling right now; an emotion so strong that it slammed against the inside of his ribcage, demanding to be let out. Finding out you were the son of a rapist wasn't a great feeling.
"No of course it does! But Bellamy, it's not your job to fix Clarke just because you couldn't fix Mom-"
"You think that's what this is about? You think Clarke is some kind of - of project for me?"
"No, I just…"
"You what?" Bellamy demanded, breathing heavily.
"I just don't want to see you get hurt like you did after Mom!" Octavia shouted. Immediately afterwards, she shrunk back, looking as if she were close to tears.
Bellamy stopped and squeezed his eyes closed, calming himself down as much as he could. Images of his past flashed in his head, things he hadn't wanted to think about ever again.
"Bellamy, you went off the deep end after Mom got arrested," Octavia said, drawing him back to the room. "I was so scared," she whispered.
Bellamy's throat felt like it was closing off. Octavia wasn't wrong. He had gone off the rails, but it was a couple years ago now. He didn't like to think about that time of his life, and he purposely hadn't since it ended.
Most of all, he didn't like to think of the strain he had put on Octavia then. She had still been in highschool, a sophomore that year. Bellamy had graduated and been working for a couple years. The entirety of his life then was consumed by work, taking care of Octavia, and trying to keep his mother on the straight and narrow. Clearly, his efforts hadn't been enough.
Bellamy hadn't realized he'd squeezed his eyes shut again until Octavia hugged him. Her scrawny arms wrapped around his chest, making him feel like they were back in their old apartment, red and blue lights from the police cars flashing on the dirty walls as an officer waited impatiently to take Octavia away. Bellamy might have been an adult, but he technically wasn't Octavia's legal guardian, so she therefore wasn't allowed to stay with him after their mother had been carted off to jail.
"I'm sorry," Bellamy whispered, hugging her back. It had taken him a lot longer than it should have to become Octavia's legal guardian, mainly due to his own issues. During that time, she had bounced around between a handful of different group homes, teen centers, and foster families.
Eventually, Bellamy had gotten his shit together. He searched high and low for an affordable apartment, worked his ass off to save up a bit of money, got a lawyer, and made his court appearance in order to get custody of his sister. It was a happy ending, but the damage was done and a strain had been placed on their relationship.
Bellamy blamed himself for what had become of their mother, while Octavia blamed Bellamy for leaving her in foster care for so long. They had both gotten over it though, or so Bellamy thought, and moved on. Apparently, Octavia still harbored a bit of deep-set resentment and anxiety about the whole situation.
After a long moment, Octavia pulled back and wiped her tears with the heel of her hand. Bellamy looked at her sadly, unsure what to say.
Otavia sniffled and said, "I just don't want you to get too wrapped up in Clarke in case she takes a turn for the worse and you end up blaming yourself for her decisions."
Bellamy smiled softly. He knew Octavia's concern came from a place of love, which was the only reason he wasn't spitting mad any longer.
Octavia looked as if she wanted to say something else, but glanced away.
"Spit it out, O'. You've said an awful lot to get bashful now."
Octavia's head snapped up. "I just want to know… Well, maybe it's not my business."
Bellamy chuckled. "Since when have you ever minded your own business?"
"Are you like, dating her?" she blurted.
Bellamy paused before slowly "No."
"But you're more than friends?"
"Yes," Bellamy said just as carefully. That much was true. Up until kissing Clarke out on Bell Tower today, Bellamy hadn't much considered the possibility that they could be anything more than close friends, no matter how strongly he felt for Clarke.
Octavia looked wide eyed and innocent as she gazed up at her brother. "I don't want you to get hurt by her."
Bellamy gave a closemouthed smile. "She could never hurt me, O'."
"Well, you don't hurt her either then." Octavia smiled back at him. A few moments passed before Octavia added, "Sorry I freaked out on you… I really do care about Clarke, you know."
"I know you do. I do too."
"How much?" Octavia dared to ask.
Bellamy stilled, having to answer that question for himself before he could give his sister an answer.
"Very nearly as much as I care about you," he finally admitted.
"Aww, can't let her take my number one spot now Bell!" Octavia teased.
Bellamy, slightly surprised and pleased that she hadn't scoffed at his response, reached out and tousled Octavia's hair. "No one ever could."
"Bellamy!" A shout came from the hallway.
"Dear God in heaven," Bellamy muttered before shouting back, "What?"
"How goddamned long do you need to change? We're going to be later than a pregnant whore's period!"
Bellamy cringed at Murphy's crude language, but swung the door open all the same.
A forceful wave of deja vu washed over him, seeing his friends standing outside the door, just as they had been on the morning of the very first dodgeball event. Things had changed since then, some for the worse, some for the better.
Clarke stood there, grinning, looking happier than Bellamy remembered her ever being. On the flipside of the coin though, Raven stood beside her, leaning heavily on her crutches, her paralyzed leg hanging uselessly in it's brace.
"Hurry hurry!" Jasper urged, bouncing on his toes before starting to physically push people down the hallway.
"Just wait a second!" Clarke called, grabbing Bellamy's wrist as he moved by her.
He spun around to meet her clear, bright eyes, flashing back to the way she looked earlier, right before he kissed her…
"Remember when I told you I was working on that special project?"
Bellamy nodded, recalling the night they went out to dinner together. Some might call that their first date, he supposed.
"Well, it's done, and everyone else has already seen it. Nosy bastards," Clarke muttered without venom at the other boys. Monty mouthed a sorry while Murphy shrugged unapologetically.
"What is it?" Bellamy asked, more than a little curious.
"Here." Clarke produced a large poster from behind her back, unrolling it and holding it out to Bellamy.
He stared for a moment, taking it all in. "Wow, Clarke. I didn't know you were so talented," he said earnestly, looking at her face as she blushed.
The poster was truly a work of art, it must have taken her hours. Bellamy traced his finger over the drawing of himself, briefly wondering how long Clarke stared at the photo of him in order to capture his likeness on the poster. It was like looking at the photograph itself it was so lifelike.
"It's incredible," he said.
"Glad you like it," Clarke said, pushing it into his hands. "Take it and replace that other one."
"Hey! That other one is a masterpiece!" Jasper protested.
"Sure it is, Jasper. And Murphy's a beauty queen." Miller slapped Murphy on the back.
"Piss off," Murphy chuckled.
Clarke rolled her eyes, stepping back to Raven's side. "You guys really do have to get going now."
"You're not coming?" Bellamy asked as everyone else started for the elevator again.
"No, she thinks she got to babysit me," Raven answered for Clarke, poking her roommate in the foot with a crutch.
"Oh, well that's good," Bellamy said lamely, trying not to sound too disappointed.
Clearly it hadn't worked. "Oh, don't cry, Blake. Your Princess will be here when you get back," Raven teased and Clarke blushed.
"It's true, I promise," Clarke said. "Go have fun Bellamy."
He smiled at her, and then just to see her cheeks blush again, said, "Of course. And this poster is amazing, Clarke, really."
"Oh, get outta here!" Clarke shooed him, giggling.
"See you soon!" Bellamy said, running down the hall to catch up with everyone else. Harper had held the elevator door open despite protests from Murphy, so he was easily able to slip in. He watched the door close and cut Clarke off from view, where she was very obviously being chastised by Raven. She looked just so untroubled at the moment, it made Bellamy's heart swell.
As they set out at a jog down the sidewalk towards the Recreation Center, the thought popped into Bellamy's mind. Was he going to have to see Echo here? He hadn't said a word to her since he walked out of her dorm after having sex with her… and then proclaiming that he was in love with someone else.
He inwardly cringed. It was never his aim to make a girl feel badly, in fact, he tried to avoid it, but Echo probably hadn't been feeling too delighted when he raced out her door as if he couldn't get away fast enough. What he had done with her had been a mistake, but it made him realize how he truly felt for Clarke.
It was a feeling different from what he felt for past girls in his life. That was all lust and heat of the moment. It was instantaneous and then it was over. With Clarke, it was a feeling that had been building and growing. It didn't stem from physical desire, although Clarke was damn attractive. It would be more aptly described as similarly to the way he loved Octavia, a love that was deeply rooted, cemented into Bellamy's heart with a permanence that he was certain would remain throughout his life, no matter if Clarke moved back to Oregon tomorrow and never spoke to him again.
It was as terrifying as it was exhilarating.
"Bellamy!" Octavia's voice shattered his reverie. He returned to the sidewalk outside the recreation center, back to his friends and his sister. The trip from the dorm had passed in an instant when his mind was focused on something else. Namly, someone else.
Octavia gave him an odd look, then rolled her eyes. "Wipe the stupid little grin off your face, lover boy."
Bellamy grunted in weak protest, swiping a hand across his mouth as if to literally wipe away his expression before trailing the group into the complex.
The gymnasium was pretty busy, busier than it had been last time. Bellamy slipped away from the group and wove his way across the floor to hand up Clarke's new poster. Clearly, they weren't as late as they'd thought. The courts were filled with chit chatting students rather than actual dodgeball players.
Bellamy stretched onto his toes to pull down their pitiful attempt at artistic team spirit, earning himself a shower of glitter for his efforts. He staggered backwards, coughing at rubbing his eyes as the tiny pieces covered his face.
"Fuckin' glitter," he muttered, irritated.
"That's a good look for you."
Bellamy paused, straightening up and blinking open his eyes, which were watering in an attempt to fend off the foreign bodies invading them.
"Huh?"
"The glitter in your hair, it's cute."
That voice was familiar. "Thanks, Echo."
She only nodded, looking faintly amused and Bellamy carded his hands through his shock of hair. He pretended to scrape more glitter off his corneas in an attempt to make Echo talk first, but his plan failed. Echo only stood watching, her thumbs hooked through the belt loops of her very short jean shorts.
"Hey, you know, sorry about the other night," Bellamy said, focusing on transferring the tape front he back of one poster to the other.
Echo scoffed. "Don't be. I had a good time."
That gave Bellamy pause. Echo was certainly bold, he would give her that.
"I mean, it doesn't feel great to be the person that leads someone to a revelation about the true love of their life, but, well, you know your way around in bed."
Bellamy inhaled. "Uh, thanks?"
Echo nodded once. "Well, you're welcome. And if the other thing doesn't work out, I'll be around."
Bellamy tried, unsuccessfully, to hide a grimace. Echo was walking around, openly talking about being some second rate girl. It didn't sit right with Bellamy, but before he had the chance to say something, she changed topics.
"Wow, where'd this come from?" Echo picked up Clarke's poster.
"Uh, Clarke drew it. She couldn't stand this thing." Bellamy shook the other poster, sending another snowstorm of glitter onto the polished wood floor.
"I'd say this one is marginally better," Echo said sarcastically.
"Yeah, Clarke's a good artist. And a good baker. Actually, she's pretty much good at everything."
"Clarke, huh?"
"Yeah, Clarke," Bellamy said softly, thinking about the day he and Clarke baked that cake. Well, Clarke baked a cake while Bellamy sat and watched. He didn't see the way Echo was looking at him for several seconds, and when he did, he felt a slight heat rise to his cheeks.
"She's the one?" It wasn't really a question.
Bellamy busied himself rolling up the glittery monstrosity. Was he really that easy to read? First Octavia, who admittedly knew him pretty well, and now Echo, who was more or less a stranger.
"Lucky girl," Echo murmured. This time, he knew she was talking about more than his specific skill set in the bedroom. Bellamy couldn't help noticing the irony in the phrase, though. Clarke was anything but lucky, really. She more or less got stuck with Bellamy, and it was just a bonus side effect that they ended up getting along.
"She's pretty special," Bellamy finally said, smiling down at the drawing of himself and the guys as Echo handed the poster back to him.
Slowly, he turned and reached up, pressing each taped corner to the brick wall gingerly as if it were extremely liable to tearing.
Stepping back, he admired it once more. It was slightly crooked, tilted to the left a few degrees, but that was due to his subpar poster-mounting skills. Bellamy didn't mind, choosing to see it as more of a metaphor of his and Clarke's lives. Beautiful things could be a touch off center and still be beautiful.
It was easier to talk to Echo when he wasn't looking directly at her face. "Echo, I really am sorry. I know I acted like a dick, and I never wanted to make you feel used. I just… life has been crazy lately. That isn't an excuse, but- Well, I feel really bad about what I did."
Echo made a small sound, and for the first time since meeting her, sounded truly genuine. "I know. But you shouldn't. Don't forget that I was the one who invited you over in the first place. And I knew you weren't interested in me, but I wanted to see how far you would go. Don't blame yourself, it's on me."
Before Bellamy could think of a reply, an unfamiliar voice came from just behind him.
"Fraternizing with the enemy, sis?"
"Relax Roan. I'm not even on the team." Echo gave her brother a shove as he placed a hand on each of her shoulders and shook her playfully. Bellamy marvelled at how quickly she had shifted from sincere to spirited.
"You're Bellamy, right?"
Bellamy nodded, remembering Roan from their previous tournament. He vaguely recalled that he and Echo were siblings, too.
"Heard about you, man. You used to work for Mecha Construction?" Roan continued, confusing Bellamy.
"Uh, yeah, for a few years," Bellamy said uncertainly.
Roan nodded. "Pike's a sonna of bitch, isn't he?"
Bellamy chuckled at the mention of his former boss. "He's a royal hardass, that's for sure. How'd you know him?"
"Used to do summer work for Mecha when I was in high school. Roofing and laying patio brick and all the other shit no one else wanted to do. I was the one they called when the sewer pipes froze up in the winter, even though I was only contracted in the summer. Pike paid me under the table." Roan chuckled.
Bellamy paused. "Wait a minute, you're the Ice King?"
Roan laughed in earnest; a booming sound that seemed to reverberate around the whole of the gymnasium. "Haven't heard that name in years!"
Echo turned to look at her brother. "Ice King? Why'd they call you that?"
"Because one time he got the ice out of the pipe by-"
"Okay! Anyways," Roan quickly interrupted Bellamy, steering his sister away. "'Bout time to get started, isn't it?"
Echo laughed. "Now I want to hear this story!"
Bellamy chuckled at them as he turned to spot his team. They weren't far off, just a few dozen feet behind him, standing next to the rest of the Grounders.
As he walked over towards them, Bellamy noticed his own sister standing rather close to one of the guys. He felt the subtle shift of suspicion in himself as he watched the man hug Octavia around the shoulders with a muscular arm covered in tattoos. He stood several inches taller than Octavia, and looked several years older.
Octavia grinned back at the man and the pair looked awfully friendly.
"Hey, Bell!" Octavia shouted, slipping out from under the man's arm and latching on to Bellamy's hand, either oblivious to, or, more likely, ignoring, his reproving expression.
"This is my brother Bellamy, Lincoln. Finally found him." Octavia presented Bellamy to the guy.
Lincoln wiped his palm on his shorts before extending his hand to Bellamy, who shook it.
"Nice to meet you, man," Lincoln said stiffly, then glanced to Octavia, who grinned and gave him a thumbs up.
"You too," Bellamy said skeptically. "Who are you?"
Octavia butted in before he could respond. "I just told you! Lincoln! He's on the Grounders team?"
"Well, yeah. I know that," Bellamy muttered, noticing how the courts were clearing now as the time for the first games approached.
"Lincoln, c'mon dude!" someone shouted.
"Oh, good luck!" Octavia said exuberantly, bouncing up on her toes and kissing the man.
Bellamy blinked, momentarily stunned. This dude looked to be about twenty-five and Octavia was barely eighteen.
Lincoln cast a glance at Bellamy before jogging off quickly, leaving Octavia with a pat on the shoulder.
"What the hell, O'?" Bellamy said coarsely, turning to his little sister.
She only flashed him a rebellious grin and said, "By the way, we're dating."
"When were you going to tell me you had a thirty-year-old boyfriend?" Bellamy asked, making a genuine effort to keep his voice level. Of course his sister was going to date people, and she had, but Bellamy had always given his stamp of approval beforehand. Or at least partial approval.
"He is not thirty!" Octavia protested. "And I don't have to tell you everything I do, Bellamy. Remember when you agreed that I was an adult and you'd stay out of my business? Because I remember quite well, actually."
Bellamy grumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose. Octavia technically was an adult, but Bellamy wasn't ready to relinquish his say in her big life choices yet. Especially when she decided to make her boyfriend a literal walking brick shithouse with a Roth-IRA.
"Octavia-" Bellamy started, but realized he didn't have anything to say. He knew he was jumping to conclusions and being prejudiced and unfair, but he cared about his sister.
"You don't even know him!" she protested.
"Do you even know him?"
"Yes. We've been dating for almost a month."
"A month! And you never even mentioned it?"
Octavia glared. "No, Bellamy, I didn't. Because I knew you were going to behave like this!"
"Behave? I care about you, O'." Bellamy said, deflating.
"Well then support me!"
"I just don't want you to get hurt."
Octavia frowned. "I know. I should have told you sooner," she said, then begrudgingly added, "Sorry."
"It's okay," Bellamy sighed, glancing back at where Lincoln was stretching out his legs with Roan and his other teammates. "I just want you to be safe, you know?"
Octavia smiled then, and surprised Bellamy by hugging him. "I am safe, Lincoln is a good guy. He'd never do something to me like Finn did to Clarke."
Bellamy paused where he was hugging Octavia back. He hadn't even realized that had been his concern until she'd said that. He didn't want Octavia to end up in Clarke's position. He didn't want anyone to end up in Clarke's position.
"And, he's really not that much older than me," Octavia said, pulling away. Bellamy raised a brow. "He's no older than me than you are of Clarke!"
Bellamy shook his head. "Clarke isn't my girlfriend."
Octavia gave him an, oh really? look that made Bellamy's stomach flip.
"C'mon!" Octavia said, not allowing Bellamy to linger on his thoughts of Clarke as she pulled him towards where Harper had set up in the bleachers with the rest of the guys. The absence of Clarke and Raven among them brought a pang of sadness, but at least they were both still alive. It was a dreary way to look at the situation, but it was the truth. Both of them were recovering from their own forms of both physical and mental trauma, but they were recovering.
Bellamy took a moment to close his eyes and decompress. Today had probably been one of the most emotionally draining days of his life, and yet he was content. He desperately missed Raven and Clarke in their little group, but they were safe back at the dorm. Life was going to work out, one little piece at a time.
AN_
Hi! :) Fancy seeing you here.
Thanks for reading!
-Birch66724
