Bellamy watched from the corner of his eye as Wells dabbed at his mouth with his napkin. Dabbed at it, like it he was some kind of royalty with the finest silk napkin. In reality, he had just eaten a six dollar burger in a college bar.
The truth was, Bellamy didn't want to despise this guy, it's just, how could he not? The two of them were sort of complete opposites in every way possible. The only thing they had in common was Clarke. And Clarke, well, Clarke was worth despising Wells over he reasoned.
"Hey how is Charlotte doing?" Clarke asked as Wells pushed away his empty basket.
"Good! She's in highschool now, ninth grade. She's grown up a lot, I'm so proud of her."
"Oh, that's so good," Clarke said, then leaned over and explained to Bellamy, "Charlotte was a girl that Wells tutored a few years back. She had dyslexia, didn't she?"
"Yeah, but more than that she just hated school," Wells chuckled.
Tutoring a little girl was just such a Wells thing to do.
"Anything else I can grab for you tonight?" The waitress buzzed over to their table, setting down the check and gathering up their empty baskets.
"No, that'll be all, thank you very much," Wells said.
"Alright, you guys have a great night!" The waitress slipped back into the crowd that surrounded the bar. The place was packed and only getting busier by the minute. Clarke, however, seemed relatively at ease. Bellamy smiled to himself, remembering the first time he took her out to dinner, how when the bar got busy, she clung to him, afraid. Now, she was confident and comfortable and Bellamy thought that perhaps he needed her more than she needed him anymore.
As Clarke stood up from her chair beside him, shrugging her arms back into her jacket, Bellamy came back to the present moment, reaching for the check at the same time as Wells.
"Let me get it man," Bellamy said.
"No, that's alright. My treat for the campus tour."
Bellamy frowned. "It's fine. My meal was the most expensive, I'll pay."
"And I'm not even going to offer, because I know you'll both argue with me, so I'm leaving the tip," Clarke said, slapping a ten dollar bill on the table and making for the door.
Bellamy rolled his eyes fondly at her, then immediately scowled when Wells dropped a few more bills on the table.
"Really, don't pay for me. At least let me pay for my own meal."
"Relax, Bellamy, it's no big deal. Besides, it's my dad's money," Wells chuckled, walking away from the table.
Bellamy didn't find that funny. He picked up the haphazard pile of bills, folding them together so the busy waitress didn't have to. He noticed that in addition to paying for the entirety of the meal, Wells had also added an additional ten dollars to Clarke's tip. It left him with an unpleasant feeling. Wells clearly came from money and thought nothing of this. It unsettled Bellamy, like Wells didn't think he could pay his own way.
Trying to shake the feeling, Bellamy followed the others out into the night. Clarke was stuffing her hands deep into her jacket pockets, hopping from foot to foot, her breath coming out in foggy puffs. The clouds hung low and heavy in the sky, reflecting back the orange glow of the streetlights.
"It was sixty degrees in Oregon two days ago," Wells mumbled, clearly feeling the cold too. Bellamy smirked. The cold had never really bothered him, but it was always funny to see non-Minnesotans enjoying their first winter.
Yeah, I thought it was still fall," Clarke muttered.
Bellamy laughed. "Fall's already over, Princess. Only lasts about two weeks."
"That's ridiculous," she mumbled.
Wells' phone started ringing and he pulled it out with an apologetic glance at Clarke.
"What is it, Dad?" He answered, walking a few paces away. Bellamy watched him for a second before turning to Clarke, pleased to find her eyes on him.
"So," she said slowly. "That's Wells."
Bellamy nodded. "He's uh, he's a cool dude."
Clarke snorted, bumping Bellamy. "That's all you got?"
"Yeah. That's it," he chuckled. "He wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I guess I can see how you guys are friends."
Clarke slowly shook her head, looking out over the street. "It feels like an entirely different lifetime when we were close. I feel like so much has changed since then, and I guess it has. I moved across the country and started college and met so many amazing new friends. And you. You've definitely changed me as a person, Bellamy."
Bellamy softened at her words, so gentle and warm. "You've changed me too, Clarke. I've never been-"
Wells interrupted their moment, returned from where he had taken his phone call. "Sorry, but I have to get back to the apartment."
Clarke tore her eyes away from Bellamy, blinking several times as if to break the spell that had just come over them.
"Why? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. My dad just forgot his new key to the apartment and I have the only other one." Wells flashed a silver key.
"Oh. That's too bad. Can't the front desk person let him in?"
"That's what I said, but turns out that the desk is only staffed until 6pm, so he'd have to call the apartment manager and they'd have to come down to let him in. We both figure it'll probably be quicker, and easier, if I just run home."
Clarke nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Plus, he doesn't want to make his landlord think he'll be a pain in the ass on the first day he moves in."
Wells laughed. "Good point, I never even thought about that one, Clarke."
Bellamy shuffled his feet, waiting as this conversation continued. He wanted to get back to whatever was going on between him and Clarke. Having Wells interrupt their moment brought a sense of urgency to him, and strong need to tell Clarke how he felt. He had to get it out on the table, tell her everything she meant to him and that it was killing him not to kiss her right now.
"...Right Bellamy?" Clarke nudged him, turning a suggestive look on him.
"Uh, yeah. Right," he said, making it clear that he had not been following the
conversation.
"You're free tomorrow to help Wells move his stuff from his dad's apartment to his new dorm?" Clarke filled him in.
Great. More time with Wells. "Yeah, absolutely. I'll make Miller and Murphy help too. We'll get you moved in in no time flat."
"Awesome, that's really nice of you, Bellamy."
"It is!" Clarke playfully grinned up at him. "Such a helpful man, my Bellamy."
Bellamy, getting hung up on the way Clarke said my Bellamy, tuned out of the conversation again. It couldn't have been too important considering they never asked for his input, leaving him free to try and keep his heart from pounding.
He couldn't help but feel a bit foolish, like he was thirteen years old and unable to control his emotions, but damn. Clarke could make his pulse spike with a single word. And she didn't even know she could do it. No one had ever made him feel so out of control, or so willing to give up control.
"Where is the nearest Metro stop from here, Bellamy?" Clarke asked. "I figured it would be faster for Wells to get back to his dad than walking across the bridge."
"Oh, yeah. It's just a few blocks from here." Bellamy pointed up the street and they started walking.
"So are you still going to bring me cookies to the library?" Wells asked.
"Huh?"
"Remember? When you would always bring treats to school because you would bake and have no one to eat the stuff you made?"
"Oh, yeah. Pretty sure that was the only reason you were my friend, Wells You just like baked goods."
"Guilty as charged," Wells said, but the way he touched Clarke's shoulder said something different.
This time though, it didn't make Bellamy stomach churn, because Clarke turned back towards him and held out a hand.
Bellamy readily took it, lacing his fingers through hers. "You need to get some gloves."
"I don't need gloves. I've got you."
Bellamy smiled, using his other hand to rub to the back of Clarke's cold knuckles.
"So you get to do any baking here? Aren't there community kitchens in the dorm basements?" Wells broke in, sounding a bit awkward.
"Not much. I don't have the time, I've been so busy with other stuff. But I did make a cake once."
"Mmm, german chocolate," Bellamy sighed. The memory was sharp in his mind, one of his favorites with Clarke. It was one of the first times he had seen her happy, seen her doing something she enjoyed and was good at.
"What were you baking a cake for? Was it someone's birthday or something?" Wells asked.
"Not exactly," Clarke gave a sly grin to Bellamy. "It's a funny story. Well actually, not really."
"What? I have to hear this now."
"Well, it was kind of an apology cake."
"An apology cake? I've never heard of such a thing."
"Okay, maybe not an apology, but a thank you."
"Sure. Why?"
Clarke stalled, then laughed lightly. "You really want to know? It's kinda… unpleasant."
"Of course, I gotta know now," Wells pressed.
Clarke cringed. "Honestly, Bellamy should tell you. I don't remember half of it."
Bellamy snorted and said bluntly, "Clarke threw up all over the bathroom and then passed out on the floor."
"What?! Jeez, were you okay?"
Clarke, laughing from Bellamy's explanation, said, "Oh yeah. I made it seem like I was having a rough night, but really, I just needed a way to get my roommates to clean the bathroom."
"That's one way to do it, I suppose," Wells said, amused.
"And I found my knight in shining armour to come pick me up off the floor, so thanks Bellamy."
"Hey, it was well worth that cake."
"Yeah, it was really good. Too bad Wells doesn't like coconut."
"Your loss man," Bellamy said unapologetically.
"Yeah, indeed it is," Wells replied, and somehow Bellamy knew it was about more than a cake.
They stepped into the circle of light emanating from the bright streetlamps at the Metro stop and Wells was staring at Clarke. He looked defeated, and Bellamy almost felt bad for the guy. He had clearly been expecting his reunion with Clarke to go differently than it had.
He decided that the thing that set him and Wells apart was their tenacity. If Bellamy had come back into Clarke's life after two years, which was implausible because he was never going to leave, but assuming he did, he would not be so resigned after a couple of hours. If he felt the way he felt now, there would be nothing that would make him give up on her. Not even some new guy in her life.
"I don't know how close this is going to get to the apartment complex, but it'll definitely take you most of the way there," Clarke said, looking at the posted map of the Metro lines.
"Good. Anything to get me out of the cold."
Clarke laughed. "Really? I don't think it's so bad now. It was just so warm in the bar that when we came outside, it felt freezing."
"True. And this is nothing compared to what it'll feel like in February. Better get a good winter coat, Wells, because it's going to get fifty degrees colder than this in a few months."
"Fifty? You mean it's going to be below zero?"
"Oh yeah. All the time."
Wells huffed. "Can't wait to get hypothermia on my way to class."
"Added bonus of the U of M."
The Metro transit pulled up, groaning on it's tracks as it came to a halt.
"Do you want to walk back, if you're suddenly feeling so warm now, Princess?" Bellamy asked, an idea sparking in his head.
Clarke nodded without hesitation. "Sure. Plus, I think the Metro would upset my stomach after I ate so much food at dinner."
"I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow then?" Wells said, backing away from them, towards the waiting train.
"Yep! Have a great night Wells!"
He nodded, then locked eyes with Bellamy. "Take care." Of Clarke.
Bellamy heard the unspoken words and nodded, clutching Clarke's hand tighter. Wells disappeared amid the people exiting the train, swallowed up by the mirrored doors.
The Metro zipped away with a rush of cold air and the relative silence that followed it's noise was heavy.
"C'mon," Clarke said, tugging Bellamy's arm as she started walking. "You better make this walk worth it and tell me what's on your mind."
Trying not to falter, he said, "Huh? What do you mean?"
Clarke spun around and walked backwards for a few seconds, cocking a brow at him. Bellamy pulled her back around where she leaned into his side. Neither of them spoke as they continued on back the way they had come, towards the bridge and East Bank and their warm, waiting dorm rooms.
But first, Bellamy was determined to get some things off his chest and into the open. Perhaps the chill in the air would be a motivator...
Clarke started chatting, telling Bellamy about this Shaw character who had come to her dorm, supposedly to tutor Raven. He half listened, still trying to think out what exactly he wanted to say to her.
Should he start by saying how great of a person she was? Or how he was proud of her? No, then he would sound like her father… and talking about her dead father wasn't something Bellamy didn't want to bring up.
Perhaps he should say how his life was so different before he met her. He could say that his life lacked meaning and purpose and she came into his life like a burst of color in an otherwise black and white world. Maybe not, that sounded like a line from a Hallmark movie.
Maybe he could say that no one had ever made him feel like this before. He could bare his soul and admit that the love he felt for Clarke terrified him. That he couldn't think about a single thing harming her without his pulse racing. That might not give her the right idea though.
He could just come right out and say, I love you.
He could. And the logical part of him knew that she would say it back. But what if she thought he was just saying it as friends? He needed to lead into that, he had to say something that would-
"Earth to Bellamy! Hey, space cadet," Clarke said playfully.
"Uh, what? Sorry." Bellamy shook his head. They were nearly halfway back across the Washington Ave. Bridge and he hadn't even noticed.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on in your head? I've never seen you so spacey."
Bellamy metally steadied himself, steering Clarke towards the railing of the bridge. She looked momentarily puzzled but did not resist, instead dropping his hand and leaning over the bridge to peer down at the Mississippi flowing below. With the clouds so low in the sky, the light from the buildings was reflected back down and shimmered on the water in a myriad of colors that flashed and danced on the black surface of the water.
Clarke looked back at him patiently, awaiting his words. Bellamy never considered himself a coward, but instead of saying what he intended, he said, "You know, there is a university in Japan that has a bridge like this and they had to put huge nets below it because there were so many students jumping off at one point."
Clarke looked horrified and Bellamy mentally smacked himself. Of all the things to say, why did he say that?
"That's awful," she commented, looking back over the edge of the railing. "Do you think you'd die if you hit the water from this height?"
Again, that stricken feeling came over Bellamy at the mere thought of injury befalling Clarke. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders to calm himself.
"I have no idea and I never want to find out."
"Me either. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you, Bellamy."
Bellamy's mouth went dry. Here was Clarke, creating a perfect segway into his intended conversation, fixing his mistake and righting things. She just got him.
"Don't worry Princess, I'm not going anywhere," he said. Clarke sighed softly, leaning into him, and somehow, she soothed his anxieties. Whenever she was around, Bellamy couldn't be more content. Why he had any apprehensions about admitting his feelings to her, finally putting to words the deepest desires of his heart, he did not know. With Clarke, everything was always just right.
She gasped softly and pulled away. "Bellamy!"
"What?"
Clarke whirled around, her blue eyes bright with unbridled excitement. "It's snowing!"
"Huh?" Bellamy glanced around, and sure enough, tiny snowflakes were coming down. They were few and far between, and so small you would see them unless you were really looking.
"Oh wow," Clarke breathed, spinning in a slow circle. Bellamy watched her as the precipitation increased quickly, turning from a slight flurry to an honest to goodness snowfall. The snowflakes grew fat and puffy, swaying in the air, taking the longest possible route to the ground. They obscured the surrounding city until the ends of the bridge couldn't even be seen.
Clarke giggled. "No one told me it was going to snow before Halloween."
"Sometimes," Bellamy said, grinning at Clarke as the snowflakes started to settle in her hair and on her shoulders. One caught on her eyelashes and sparkled in the light for a brief moment before melting away.
"It's so beautiful."
"It sure is."
Clarke's eyes focused on his, and Bellamy held her gaze until the only thing left moving in the whole world was the swirling snow. A silence descended on the bridge, on the little island that had formed, isolating the two of them from everything. It was a familiar silence to Bellamy, the kind that always accompanied snow, when all noise was absorbed into the whiteness and everything felt at peace. It was the type of silence that could make you feel as though you were the only living being around if you let it.
Clarke's eyes were the only anchor, the only thing that kept Bellamy from drifting off into the silence around them. She was looking at him as if Bellamy himself moved heaven and Earth. Bellamy knew she heard the silence, but found him as to not be alone. In that moment, there could be no doubt that Clarke felt the same way about him as he did about her, and words came easily and of their own volition.
"Clarke, I've known since the moment I met you, you were special. It didn't matter that I found you at the lowest point in your life, because even then, you were the most beautiful person I had ever seen. I felt an instant connection with you, and everyday it has grown stronger and stronger. I hated the fact that you were suffering, but I loved that it was me that got to help you through it. Every moment I spent with you, I learned more and more about you, how you're an amazing artist and the smartest person I know, and that you love cheesy romance movies even though you pretend not to, and your favorite drink is water. How boring."
At that, Clarke giggled softly, smiling warmly at Bellamy. Her eyes shimmed as if on the brink of tears, but her face was glowing. Bellamy stepped towards her and pulled her to him.
"You are so compassionate and committed to your friends, and you are so, so strong."
Clarke wrapped her arms around Bellamy's middle, hiding her face in his jacket.
"You're the bravest person I have ever met, Clarke. You deserve the world and I want to be the one to help you get it."
"Thank you, for saying that," Clarke whispered, leaning back to look him in the eyes. Then she said matter-of-factly, "You should kiss me now."
Bellamy smirked and did just that. He kissed Clarke for all he was worth where they stood on the bridge. Nothing else existed but the two of them, cocooned in their very own snowy world. If there was nothing else out there but Clarke and an endless whitewashed landscape, it would be enough for Bellamy. Clarke was his everything.
She pulled back from their kiss, which had been just as sweet as the first. "Bellamy," she murmured.
"Clarke," he said back, unable to stop smiling at her beautiful face. The snow was coming down in earnest, covering her jacket and hair in a fine layer of white. Her eyes sparkled and her breath escaped in a foggy cloud.
He thought he could stare at her forever. She was right where she belonged and Bellamy never wanted her to leave.
"I love you, Clarke."
The snow-filled silence after his words was deafening.
Bellamy watched Clarke as her eyes widened and then closed blissfully. Her face split into a brilliant smile as she reached up to cup Bellamy's face with her chilly hands.
"I love you too, Bellamy Blake. More than you could ever know."
AN_
Hi. :) Yay. I love Bellarke with all my heart.
This chapter is on the shorter side, but our final chapter is quite long, so you can look forward to that. I am just about done writing it, then my lovely beta, kyliEisMC2, will fix all my silly mistakes like some kind of editing wizard, and it should be posted next week. I am so excited to finish this story, but so sad at the same time.
I again want to say an enormous thank you to everyone who has left a review. It is truly the best thing ever to hear from someone who has enjoyed reading my story and makes me sooo happy. Thank you to the Guest review I received this morning, it was very sweet and I hope you liked this chapter.
Thanks for reading!
-Birch66724
