"Now there's something I never thought I'd see."
Clarke frowned, her brow furrowing in her mostly still asleep state. She had the beginnings of a hangover, and she wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not, but that had almost sounded like…
"I guess I know why neither of you were answering your phones, anyway."
Octavia.
Clarke moved to sit up abruptly…and instantly collided with Bellamy, who'd done the same.
Clarke pressed a hand to her throbbing forehead, looking up to find Bellamy moving his jaw gingerly.
They both turned, looking over the arm of the couch to find Octavia standing just inside the doorway, hands on her hips and a suitcase at her feet.
"O! What are you doing here?" Bellamy asked, wincing as he moved to sit up, placing a hand under Clarke's elbow to help her do the same. "And how did you get in my apartment?"
"I'm here because I got an angry voicemail last night that made me see what a bitch I was being," Octavia admitted, looking at Clarke pointedly, although seemingly not with any anger.
Clarke winced, looking back and forth between the siblings, hoping neither of them would be too angry at her meddling.
Bellamy was just watching her closely, almost studying her, and Clarke looked away uncomfortably as she straightened her clothes and attempted to smooth down her hair.
"And I made a spare copy of your key before I left. I didn't have a fob for the door downstairs though, so I had to call Raven to let me in when both of your phones kept going to voicemail."
"Sorry," Bellamy said, getting up and making his way to his sister, wrapping her in a tight hug. "I think mine died last night. I meant to plug it in, but I must've forgotten."
Octavia pulled back, seemingly more concerned with what was going on in front of her than Bellamy's dead phone. "So, when did this happen?"
"When did…what…happen?" Bellamy asked, confused.
"This," she said exasperatedly, gesturing back and forth between Bellamy, who was standing beside her, and Clarke, who was fidgeting uncertainly on the couch, unsure of what to do or where to go. "My brother and my best friend start sleeping together and no one thought to tell me?"
Bellamy and Clarke both started to deny it at the same time.
Octavia scoffed. "I literally just walked in on you."
Clarke could feel her face heating up, and she just glanced uncomfortably at Bellamy before staring somewhere near Octavia's suitcase.
Honestly, she was too tired to deal with this right now.
Luckily, Bellamy took over the explanation. "We're not sleeping together, O. We…fell asleep…together…on the couch," he finished, somewhat lamely.
Octavia was watching them both in that calculating way she sometimes had, eyes narrowed as she focused all her terrifying powers of perception on them. "So, this was a one-time thing? Nothing's…going on…between you two?"
"Of course not," Bellamy answered.
Clarke couldn't help it when her eyes landed on him. Why did he have to sound so damn certain about that?
Clarke had no idea what the hell was or wasn't going on between them anymore.
When she finally pulled her eyes away from him to glance at Octavia, she found the other girl with a devious expression she didn't like…not one bit.
Clarke stood up abruptly, heading for Bellamy's bedroom. "I'm going to go get dressed," she said, then could have kicked herself, because her statement made Octavia glance down at her clothing, and of course she was wearing one of Bellamy's shirts, not doing herself any favors in the 'there's nothing going on between me and your brother' department.
Octavia's smirk only widened.
Clarke made a hasty retreat, walking through the bedroom and into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
The events of the previous night came flooding back to her all at once.
It wasn't that she hadn't remembered them before, but being woken so abruptly by a surprise guest and then the awkward conversation that followed had stopped her from immediately replaying them in her mind.
But now that she was alone, they were playing in full living technicolor, complete with surround sound.
Bellamy on top of her.
Her hands roaming over the strong muscles in his back.
His lips on her neck.
Her straddling him.
Him hard against her thigh.
Her running away, only to come back and kiss him again after explaining why they should stop.
The way they'd kissed after that, soft and slow, both careful not to get carried away again.
The way they'd practically fallen asleep still kissing, both barely able to remain conscious, but unwilling to let go of each other for the last time.
…the way Octavia must have walked in on them this morning, wrapped around each other, their legs tangled together and her head buried in his neck.
Honestly, when had her life become such a clusterfuck?
Clarke wasn't sure how to deal with…any of this, so she hurriedly got dressed, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and then gathering up the toiletries she'd spread out in his bathroom over the last few days.
She stepped quietly out into his bedroom, grabbing her bag and stuffing everything inside.
Gathering her resolve, she walked back out into the living room, catching the tail end of the siblings' conversation, which made it seem like Octavia was apologizing profusely, probably for not coming home for the funeral.
"I told you, O, it's okay," Bellamy said gruffly, his arms wrapped around his baby sister.
Clarke cleared her throat nervously. "I'm going to head home. Give you two time to talk," she said, grabbing her phone charger, Ipad, and the heels she'd kicked off underneath his coffee table yesterday and hurriedly dropping them all in her bag.
When she glanced at him, Bellamy was watching her mad dash of a cleaning spree and frowning. "Clarke, you don't have to…"
"You guys need some Blake bonding time and I should be getting home anyway," she said, pulling on her boots and then walking to stand in front of Octavia. "I hope you're not mad," she said quietly.
Octavia rolled her eyes. "If you can't count on your best friend to tell you when you're being a selfish bitch, who can you count on?"
Both girls chuckled at that, hugging each other tightly.
"Call me. We'll have to get lunch or something, okay?" Clarke asked, already on her way to the door.
"Sure," Octavia answered, again watching Clarke with some sort of amusement.
"I'll…see you later, Bell," she said a little awkwardly, nodding in his direction as she opened the door.
"Clarke…wait!" he called after her.
She barely got 10 feet down the hallway before she heard his footsteps behind her as he pulled his door shut.
"Clarke!"
She took a deep breath and turned around.
"Where are you going?"
"Home," she replied.
"You don't have to."
She looked at the baseboard near his feet. "I was staying here so you wouldn't be alone…and now Octavia's here, so…"
When she looked back up, his face had hardened a bit, closing off. "Right," he replied.
See? This is what she hadn't wanted. This awkwardness. This second-guessing of everything they said to each other.
She tried to smile, attempting to show him that everything was okay. "I need to get home and take care of some things. And I need to call Chief Kane and see when I need to make up my shifts…and exams are coming up, so…"
He nodded.
She forced herself to walk to him, hugging him a bit gingerly. "But call me if you need anything, okay?"
His hands took a moment to land on her back, and when they did, they were barely touching her. "I'm sure we'll be fine," he replied.
Clarke wanted to cry, because how had they screwed this up so much in such a short amount of time?
She made herself let go of him when all she really wanted to do was pull him closer. "I'll text you," she promised.
He nodded again.
She turned and walked away from him, and by the time she got in the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor, she was wiping away tears.
A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but that seemed an appropriate place to stop for now. I'll try to post again in the next week or so. All I can say is...Octavia always brings trouble...why should my fic be any different?
P.S.- The E!Online TV Scoop Awards are currently open, so here's my friendly (read:pushy) reminder to go vote!
Bellarke are up for sexiest moment (I would provide a link, but FF hates me), The 100 is up for Favorite Drama, and Bob and Eliza are both up for Best Drama Actor/Actress.
Go throw some votes around, please and thank you. :)