Thank you everyone for your kind reviews! This story contains 30 chapters total (prologue and epilogue included), 28 of which are already written and in the process of editing. I will post once a week, or more if possible. I hope you'll enjoy the ride, can't wait to see what you guys think!
A special thank you to girlofrainandfire (Tumblr) for editing this story.
CHAPTER 2: CLAIRE
01/02/2019
"Hello?"
"Hi Jas, It's B—"
"Hellooo?"
"Yeah, it's Bellam—
"Ahah, just kidding! This is my voice mail. Sorry guys, I'm probably busy at the moment…"
"Stupid fucking voice mail," Bellamy swore. "I always forget."
"…Just leave a message after the tone! Beep."
Bellamy sighed.
"Hi, Jas. It's Bell. I mean, you probably know that since it's written on the screen... Anyway, you're not answering your phone, so you probably turned it off or something. I'll be passing by in an hour or so. I've got some lasagna. Maya must've told you already. So uh, yeah, see you later."
~oOo~
Clarke didn't even have the time to step into the apartment before something smashed into her. Suddenly, arms were around her and strands of brown hair were in her face.
"Jas, I need to breathe."
Jasper kept holding her tight against his chest, as if she were going to disappear in an instant. She heard Monty laugh.
"If I let go of you, you have to promise you're not going to leave again."
"Jasper. I really can't breathe."
"Promise me."
Clarke rolled her eyes. She could see Monty and Harper smiling at them, as they both went to sit on the couch. Their smiles grew bigger when she mouthed 'help me.' But those traitors clearly were enjoying themselves and had no intent to come to her rescue.
"…Yeah I promise," she conceded.
"Promise what?"
She laughed. God, she'd missed him. And he was leaving her no choice.
"I promise that I'm not leaving."
Jasper loosened his grip on her. He waited a few seconds—as if he didn't fully trust her—then finally let go of her. He was beaming, pleased with himself. Clarke took a breath.
"…For now," she continued.
Jasper gasped, an overdramatic look of shock on his face.
"How dare you betray me like this."
Clarke suddenly felt bad.
"Sorry… It's just for a few days."
"You know what? You're not my friend anymore," Jasper said, turning his back on her.
He went to the opposite side of the living room, pouting. Monty only shook his head. Years and years of friendship had taught him not to believe everything his best friend said. Clarke knew Jas didn't really mean it, but she didn't like disappointing him.
"Don't worry, Clarke. He knows very well you're not staying for long," Monty said.
"He's probably trying to guilt you into staying longer," Harper added.
"Absolutely not!" Jasper responded from his corner of the room, his back still turned on her.
"You're not really convincing," someone else said.
Clarke turned around and saw Maya coming out of the kitchen.
"Hi Clarke! So nice to see you again!"
Maya hugged her, not as tight as Jasper did, fortunately. Clarke had only met her once, when Maya and Jasper had come to visit her in TonDC about a year ago. But they'd learned a lot about each other through Jasper's countless facetime calls, so Maya truly felt like a friend.
"Hi! Nice to see you too." Clarke hugged her back. "This is a really a nice apartment you got here!"
The two lovebirds had moved in not so long ago, after months of work to make it the pretty place it now was. Jasper was very proud of it, even if Maya did most of the decorating. It was one of the two reasons he wanted Clarke to come over as soon as she was in town. The other reason being he couldn't wait to see her.
"Thank you! Yeah, we really like it here."
"It's beautiful."
"Complementing my home won't make me forgive you, Clarke," Jasper said from his corner of the room.
Clarke and Monty exchanged a look. He winked at her.
"Oh yeah? I know something that will," Clarke smiled.
Clarke was not going to pass by without a little gift. So, she, Monty, and Harper had stopped at a cake shop on their way to Jasper's. Clarke knew exactly how to woo Jasper: with his favorite dessert. She whirled around the room, looking for it, but the little package was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, I think we forgot it in the car," Harper said.
"Yeah, probably."
"I'll go get it."
"No, no. Don't worry," Clarke said. "I'll go. Just give me the keys."
"Whatever it is, it won't work anyway," Jasper told her.
"I wouldn't bet on that," Monty laughed.
Jasper glared at him. Harper handed Clarke the keys.
"I'll be quick," she said, already on her way to the door.
~oOo~
Bellamy parked his car. He checked his phone one last time, but Jasper hadn't called him back.
"Well, let's hope he's home then," he muttered to himself.
He got out, the box of lasagna under his arm. He slid his phone in his back pocket. He was a few feet away from the building's door when it suddenly opened.
Someone almost smashed into him, then quickly stepped away from him. For a moment, all Bellamy could see was short blond hair.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" the girl apologized, raising both of her hands before her.
"Don't worry, it's nothi—" he started.
But then she looked at him. Something unexpected happened. Something that made him stop talking. He saw pure shock taking over her eyes, her face, her entire body. She completely stopped moving, her hands still raised before her. Her mouth was wide open. The keys she was holding fell to the ground.
"Are you okay?" Bellamy asked her, confused.
He had a strange feeling about her. It was as if something wasn't right. As if something was missing. Seeing she still wasn't moving, he bent down to pick up her keys. When he held them out to her and she didn't take them, he looked at her again. Really looked at her.
The sun was illuminating her eyes. He couldn't quite decide if they were blue or green, but they were beautiful. He felt something, somewhere in his chest. He couldn't quite tell what it was.
Her expression changed from shock to something else. She seemed to suddenly come out of her trance, but her body was still clearly tense. She ripped the keys out of his hand.
"Thank you," she said, looking at her feet.
That's when he understood what the look on her face meant. She was afraid.
Afraid of what? The weird feeling he had intensified. He wondered "What if…?"
She tried to walk past him, but at the last moment he put his hand on her arm. She started.
"I'm sorry but…" he started.
He had to ask.
"Do we know each other?"
Her breath caught. She was still refusing to look at him. She took his hand off her arm.
"No," she said, firmly.
And she left.
Bellamy stood there for a while, stunned. Just him and his thoughts. He kept seeing the shock on her face again and again. It didn't make sense.
"What the hell?" he muttered to himself.
Who was that girl anyway? He'd never seen her before. At least, not that he remembered.
But if she did know him, why would she lie about it?
His feet had carried him all the way up to Jasper and Maya's apartment, without even noticing. The door was surprisingly open, and he could hear Harper's and Monty's voices. Meaning Jasper was home. He slowly pushed the door open wider and peered inside. Maya was the first one to notice him.
"Oh, Bellamy! Come in!"
Suddenly, the voices stopped. Everything was silent. Bellamy saw his three other friends abruptly turning around. When they saw him, their eyes widened.
"Bellamy…" Jasper said. "Wow… er… what are you doing here? What a surprise!"
Even Bellamy could hear the panic that was taking over his friend's voice. He frowned.
"I called you, like, three times to tell you. I'm bringing you some lasagna."
"Oh yeah, I told him to pass by yesterday," Maya added.
Jasper froze. Monty closed his eyes, seemingly exasperated.
"Shit," Jas whispered.
"Uh, I thought lasagna would put you in a better mood," Bellamy said, as he put the box on the counter. He was starting to get suspicious.
"It does! It does! It's just, er…" Jasper struggled with his words. "We're very, very busy right now."
"Very busy," Harper repeated.
Bellamy looked around them.
"It doesn't look like you're very busy," he said.
Maya looked as confused as he was.
"Yeah, well. We are," Jasper continued, "so it's better if you leave."
Bellamy crossed his arms over his chest. This was too much weirdness in ten minutes. Something was up. He scrutinized each of his three friends, more and more wary of them. He fought the frustration that was taking over his body. He had to be smart.
"Okay, I'll leave," Bellamy conceded.
He saw relief take over Jasper's, Monty's, and Harper's faces. It didn't last long.
"But first, do you happen to know the blond girl I just ran into?" he asked innocently.
"Yeah, that's Clar—Ouch!"
Maya was interrupted all of a sudden. Jasper had no-so-subtly elbowed her in the ribs. Bellamy took a deep breath, slowly losing patience.
"It's, uh, Claire!" Jasper said loudly. "She's uh…"
"She's Harper's cousin!" Monty added.
"Yeah! Exactly."
Harper only nodded as a confirmation, but Maya still looked confused.
"I see," Bellamy said.
They all stayed silent for a while. Bellamy opened his mouth, then stopped. He was about to ask them what the hell was going on, but then he thought, 'They wouldn't tell me anyway.' He wasn't stupid though. His friends were amazingly bad at lying.
"Well then, I'll just be on my way."
They let him go with no resistance, almost urging him to leave. As he went down the stairs, his mind was racing. He hoped to see the blond girl again. He didn't.
But he was going to do everything he could to see her again. Because yeah, Bellamy didn't understand anything about what had just happened. The girl's fear. Maya's confusion. His friends' panic. All of this was just an enigma to him.
But he was now convinced of three things. First, his friends were hiding something from him. Maybe they had been keeping secrets from him for years.
Second, he was certain the blond girl knew him. They had met before. And she was avoiding him.
Finally, he was going to do everything he could to find out why.
