Bellamy Blake was always in her house. She was glad Octavia had her brother back. But come on. This was almost getting ridiculous.
Clarke came home from work earlier than she had planned. Everyone was picking up more shifts at the bar to be able to pay bills and still have money left over for their trip. She had worked thirteen hours straight and her boss took pity on her, sending her home. Her feet hurt and she was ready for a shower and bed. Yawning, she went into her room and began to undress. Her bartender uniform always smelling like alcohol and cigarette smoke. It made her head hurt.
Turning on her radio, she put on her music. Octavia and Raven had come in for their shift at six, so Clarke was positive her music wouldn't disturb anyone. She hummed along to the song and walked over to her restroom. Then she screamed.
"Fuck Princess, can you shut the fuck up!" Bellamy exclaimed. Bellamy Blake in her shower. Bellamy Blake naked, scurrying to wrap a towel around himself. Bellamy fucking Blake.
"Fucking Octavia." Clarke muttered before stepping out of the restroom, shutting the door behind her with a loud slam. Throwing herself onto her bed, she realized a beat later she had been in her underwear. Groaning, she smacked her palm against her forehead. Of course.
She got up and grabbed a large tee-shirt from her top drawer and put it on. Then she grabbed her phone and sent Octavia a text. 'I accidentally body slammed your brothers naked body with my naked body. BOUNDARIES, TAVIA.' Throwing herself back unto her bed, she glared up at her ceiling.
A soft but insistent knock came from the restroom door. Sighing, she called him in. He was wearing black basketball shorts and a grey tee-shirt. His hair was still dripping.
"Hey. So. Sorry." Bellamy mumbled.
"So monotonous." Clarke mumbled back at him.
He frowned at her, finally meeting her eyes. "Sorry about that, Princess. Octavia said no one would be here at this time."
"Stop calling me Princess, Blake. Its rude." She snapped at him. "But it's my fault. I wasn't paying attention when I got home. I usually hear the shower running." Clarke ran her hand over her face, closing her eyes.
"Bad day?"
Clarke peeked through her fingers to see Bellamy awkwardly standing at the doorway. She sniffled, then sat up. "Not really. Just a long day at work. I'm just tired. We're all picking up shifts so we won't go bankrupt this summer."
Bellamy scoffed at that. "Yeah, O told me. She said you were pulling a double today. That's why I could use her shower." He gestured behind him, dropping his gaze
Clarke frowned. "Why are you here?"
Bellamy bristled at her rude tone, but kept his voice steady. "Miller's dad is in town for the next two days. I offered him my room, since it was originally the guest room." He shrugged. "I actually stayed here last night also, but no one was here."
Clarke and Octavia had been at work and Raven spent the night at Wick's, she recalled. "Oh, well that was—nice of you."
"Why the tone of surprise?" Bellamy shifted his weight, the corner of his lips pulled down in a small pucker.
Clarke shrugged at him, not commenting.
"Well, the restroom is free. Sorry, again." He turned around and headed through the door.
Before Clarke realized what she was doing, she had stood up quickly and followed him. "Bellamy?" he was already in Octavia's room, but he turned around slowly to look at her.
"Thank you." She said.
"For?"
"For giving up your spot on the couch." His face softened slightly. Before he could say anything, Clarke closed the door, smiling to herself.
With the door closed, she turned to look at herself in the mirror. Then she froze. The expression on her face was gross. Her cheeks were pink, her eyes sparkling and there was a stupid grin on her face. Clarke shook her head hard, reminding herself to get a grip. They barely spoke a few words to each other. She was being ridiculous.
Standing under the hot water, she was able to relax a bit. The steam rose up around her and she felt her muscles loosen up. She realized she was being unfair to the Blake siblings. If she hadn't seen her brother in almost a year, she'd want him around often. Plus, she was rarely home so it wasn't like he was physically bothering her. Silently, she decided to stop complaining to Octavia.
Dried and dressed in flannel pjs, Clarke make her way to the kitchen. She wasn't really hungry, but she hadn't eaten all day so she figured nibbling on something would suffice. Crossing the living room and entering, Clarke stops short. Bellamy is standing in front of the stove, of course. His tall frame filling up the tiny kitchen.
"Sit." He doesn't look up from the pan. Clarke just noticed he was stirring something in a pot.
"I'm not a dog, Bellamy."
He looked up at her then, a smirk flitting across his face. "Sit please, Princess."
"Why are you always so rude?" Clarke huffed, rounding on her heel. She began to walk off, but Bellamy placed a hand on her shoulder, halting her. She glared up at his face. His smirk was gone, replaced with a tight polite smile.
"Sorry, old habit. I'll be nice." He lifted his hand from her, stepping back in a surrender pose. Clarke shook her head, frowning slightly. She backed away slowly from Bellamy and walked over to the bar, sitting on one of the tall stools.
Bellamy smiled at her hesitation, then turned back around to the stove.
"So, what are you making?"
"Hot chocolate."
"You're making it on the stove?" she crinkled her nose. Bellamy whirled around to look at her, confusion tugging his eyebrows down into a scowl.
"How else would you make hot chocolate?"
"I don't know." Clarke shrugged her shoulders. "Microwave? Or with that machine that dispenses hot water and you just mix the hot chocolate powder in—why are you looking at me like that?!" the expression on Bellamy's face was becoming more horrified as her words continued.
"What kind of chocolate have you had? Never mind." He waved off her protests. "Don't answer that. I don't want to know. This is the real deal. Heaven in a cup, some might even say." He grinned cockily.
"Well, what's it made of? Rainbows and unicorns?" she shot sarcastically at him.
Snorting, he replied. "Of course you'd think of those ingredients, Princess. Nah, this is an old family recipe. You warm up real milk, whole. Not the weird 2%. You add honey and cinnamon as it boils. Then you add these chocolate bars, and mix as it melts."
His back had been facing her as he told her the recipe. Now, he turns and draws out two mugs, setting them down on the counter in front of her. Grabbing the handle of the pot, he poured the steaming brown liquid into both mugs. He slid her one gently.
"When Octavia was small, she'd beg me to make her this all the time. Because she wasn't tall enough to reach the stove." Bellamy reminisced. "Don't tell her I made you this. She'd whoop my ass if she found out I didn't make it for her first."
Clarke laughed at that, nodding in agreement. "She is a force to be reckoned with. I don't know if I can help you go up against that."
Bellamy tried to maintain his stern gaze, but a smile kept threatening to break out. "Shut up and mix your hot chocolate. That helps cool it down."
She mimicked his stern face. "Yes sir, Blake."
They stayed in a small silence after that. Clarke kept mixing her hot chocolate, steam still rising from her cup. When Bellamy turned to put the pot in the sink, she snuck a glance at his face. He seemed at ease. Not angry, nor frustrated. The last time she had seen him, Bellamy had been a ball of pent up anger.
She could feel herself waiting for the old Bellamy to pop out his rude head and become the Jackass she had first met, but he genuinely seemed more—peaceful. Hmm, whatever life changes he was going through, Clarke thought he was more likeable this way.
Bellamy turned just in time to catch her smiling at him over the lip of her mug.
"Why are you smiling like that? I feel like you're going to hurt me." He took a mocking step back.
Clarke rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up, Bellamy. This is just a really good cup of hot chocolate." Yeah, sure. Blame the chocolate, she thought to herself. But he seemed to buy it, smirking down at his own cup. "Who taught you the recipe?" she asked him.
"My mom." He said softly. "She made this a lot when I was a kid. I never asked her where she got the recipe from."
"It's good that you learned it then." Clarke said simply. Bellamy's eyes darted up to look at her, but she kept her gaze focused on the counter. "It means you kept a piece of her alive, you know? Her recipe survived."
She still didn't meet Bellamy's gaze, taking a sip of the chocolate. It really was good. Rich with spices, sweet with chocolate. Clarke had to stop herself from moaning. It was an addicting taste.
"Oh, there really are unicorns and rainbows in this." The serious moment was broken and Bellamy threw his head back and laughed, his eyes crinkling in the corners. She decided she liked Bellamy Blake's smile.
"So what is your preference? Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings?"
"Definitely Harry Potter."
"What? That is insane, Princess. You cannot mean that." Bellamy grimaced at her. "You can really sit there and tell me some boy with a wand is better than the world created in the Middle Earth?"
Clarke giggled (mentally groaning because she was not the type of girl to giggle), "I am honestly sitting here telling you that J.K. Rowling is an amazing author. And the world she created outside of our own was so amazing and rich in detail. I will never read a better book than hers."
Bellamy continued to shake his head. "No, okay. I don't disagree there. She is an amazing author. But we aren't talking about writing skills. We're talking about the actual story being read, not written. The Lord of the Rings far outweighs Harry Potter."
"Stop dissing my Boy Who Lived, Bellamy Blake. The whole story was amazing. Lord of the Rings was mainly war and bloodshed and the greed of men. Harry Potter was the story of people still rising above through this dark time to shine bright and keep the morality of men in check. Stop shaking your head! You cannot just block out an entire series!"
"I have never watched Harry Potter." He stated solemnly. Clarke's mouth popped open in its own accord.
"Wha—okay. I can't judge. I've never watched Lord of the Rings." She admitted reluctantly.
"Seriously? How have you lived this long without watching it?"
"What about you? Harry Potter was huge. How did you never see any of the movies?" Clarke shot back.
They had begun talking about authors soon after finishing the hot chocolate. Bellamy had picked up an Emily Bronte book from next to the fish bowl. That led him to firing off questions to Clarke about her favorite books. Eventually, a debate arose between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
A little while later, another debate came up. This time between R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike. On and on they went, ending up on the U shaped couch. Between them laid a small pile of books they had collected to show the other. At some point in time, Clarke had turned on the TV and brought up Netflix. They both settled for a standup comedy as background noise for their debate.
She couldn't be sure of the time, but she began to doze off on the sofa, a pillow tucked against her chest propped up her cheek. Bellamy had started reading an Anne Rice novel she had handed him. Clarke watched him for a small while. He was tugging on his lower lip slightly. Black curls hung down around his face, some strands flopping in front of his eyes. He didn't seem to mind them, continuing to skim his eyes down the page.
Her eyelids drooped, obscuring him from her sight.
When she woke up, she was in bed. Sunlight was streaming down on her through the window near her bed. Blearily, she tried to remember walking back to her room, but she couldn't. Clarke stretched out her body, yawning widely.
She reached over for her phone. Four new messages. Three were from Octavia.
'Naked bodies?! Why were there naked bodies to begin with?!'
'Clarke? Are you guys alive?'
'I am calling the cops if I don't hear from either of you. Please don't kill him. He can be nice. Sometimes.'
Then there was one from Raven that simply said, 'You going to hit that?'
Clarke rolled her eyes at her friends. She got up quickly and walked through her restroom to peek into Octavia's room. Her blinds were still drawn shut, the room was in semi-darkness, but Clarke could see that Bellamy was not in there. She tiptoed to her friend's bed, then crawled in next to her.
Octavia moved over to make room for her, still half asleep. She cracked her eyes open just a centimeter to look at Clarke.
"Morning sunshine, the earth says hello." Clarke whispered to her.
Octavia groaned. "Go away." She mumbled. "It's too early."
Yes it is. But I'm going back to sleep. Just needed to assure you I didn't kill your brother and I have an alibi if one is needed." Clarke stated matter-of-factly.
Octavia opened her eyes wide at this, leaning forward to look at Clarke full on. "What was that? Naked bodies? Did you and my brother—"
"No, Tavia! God." She rolled away from her friend. "He was in the shower. I didn't know anyone was here. So I was going to hop in and instead I walk in on your brother in the nude."
"Well, shit Clarke. Next time say it like that! 'Two naked bodies colliding.' What the hell else am I going to think?"
"It was meant to sound more daunting than it actually was. I don't think you can properly explain walking into your roommates brothers shower time through text."
They both snorted at the mental image of that. Clarke was about to ask Octavia about his recent switch in moods, but she was interrupted by her friends next sentence.
"I would be okay with it you know." At Clarke's confused expression, she explained. "You and my brother. I would be okay with the two of you. I can see how it would fit."
Clarke cleared her throat awkwardly, avoiding her friend's steady gaze. "Tavia, Bellamy seems nicer than before. But I hardly know him. We've interacted politely a total of two times. Let's not be hasty, eh?"
Octavia grinned at her. "Whatever you say, Princess." Clarke groaned, throwing the blanket over her face.
"Not you too, Tavia!"
The two girls talked a bit more. Octavia talked about a fight that went down while her and Raven were at work. This was why they had all decided to work together. They had a few jobs separately, but getting everyone to work on time had proved difficult. And for some weird reason, they all liked working as waitresses or bartenders. There was something alluring from the socialization they got during their jobs. Plus, none of the girls liked to be still for so long. In their job, they were constantly moving, flowing around customers. But the hazards of working in bars was aggressive men pumped with too much alcohol. Working together allowed them to always have someone with them. It was a confidence booster to have her friends support throughout their shift.
After Octavia finished recounting their night, she rolled over. "Okay Griffin. Decide now. Sleep with me, or get out of my room." Clarke pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh out loud at Octavia's frustration. Not even a minute passed and Clarke could hear her soft snores.
She snickered at her friends sleeping form. Just as she tucked into the blankets once more, her phone chimed. Groaning, she reached over for it. Turning it on, she saw it was a Facebook status, posted by Monty.
Who is down for the Dropship tomorrow night? First round is on me!
He had tagged Jasper, Maya, Bellamy, Octavia, Raven and herself. Scrolling down, she saw there were already comments.
Jasper wrote: 'Hell yeah. Free drinks. You sure know how to Woo me (;'
Raven commented as well less than a minute ago. 'I'm in. I'll let my vampire roommates know when they wake up.'
Clarke rolled her eyes at Ravens comment, responding with; '#SleepyBartender but I'm in as well.'
Monty: 'Awesome, eight o'clock, our place?
Maya: 'We'll be there.'
Raven: 'Clarke, you guys up? Haven't heard either of you. #WhereYouAt
Clarke: 'I am cuddling with Tavia. zzZ'
Raven: 'No invite? Rood.'
Clarke: 'Bring me coffee and we can cuddle next.'
Jasper: 'Clarke, sweetie. What did we say about selling your body for coffee?'
Clarke: 'To not to..'
Monty: 'Unless they throw in a bagel. Its 101, Clarke.'
Bellamy: '(Tagged Miller and Murphy)'
Murphy: 'Nothing better to do.'
Miller: 'I'm out of work at nine. Meet you all then?'
Jasper: 'The more the merrier.'
Clarke: 'Night everyone!'
She turned her ringer to vibrate, smiling to herself. Her friends were amazing. She really did want that coffee from Raven. She reminded herself to text her when she woke up to beg for a cup. Sliding under the blankets with a finality, she slid closer to Octavia's form. She radiated a warmth that was comfortable for Clarke. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to fall into step with Octavia's slow breathing. In no time, she was asleep.