"There's no way in hell you are wearing that," Bellamy gawped at his sister as she came down the stairs. Octavia was clothed in a bright red dress that fitted to every curve of her body, ending high on her thighs and exposing the ivory skin of her collarbones and cleavage. "Definitely not," Bellamy repeated, shaking his head.
"It's pretty," Octavia smiled and flicked her head so that her long dark hair swished about her shoulders before she gathered it up into a high ponytail and tied it with her red ribbon.
"It's lingerie," Bellamy replied coolly. Their guests were due to arrive any minute and Octavia had barely gotten herself ready in time, despite having said farewell to their mother four hours ago. Bellamy weighed the odds of being able to convince her to change and found them disappointingly, not in his favour. Octavia laughed sweetly.
"Oh dear brother, that would be what I have on underneath," She winked and Bellamy made a face, pretending to gag.
"Please don't talk to me about your underwear ever again," He took a beer from the fridge and leant against the kitchen table.
"You started it," Octavia reached for the drink in his hand and he amused himself for by holding it high out of her reach. "Fine!" She snapped, giving in and grabbing a brightly coloured bottle for herself. "Have fun tonight Bells," She raised a dark eyebrow at him, "You can't look after me forever, remember? So you might as well enjoy yourself,"
The doorbell rang bringing with it the start of what he was sure would be a tiresome night. Bellamy took another swig of his drink.
Clarke smoothed down the front of her dress with her palms before she knocked on the door. She could already hear the thrumming of the music inside and see the lights through the window. When the door was pulled open to admit her it was by a guy she didn't know who gave her a leering smile and had a bottle of beer in his hand. Clarke nodded to him politely before she tottered past him on heels that were too high. She tripped several times and almost went careening into the wall or other guests; she had told Octavia the heels were a bad idea!
Octavia had convinced her to buy a dress in the end; it was made of a plain black fabric with three quarter length sleeves and a full skirt. There was a deep v-neck which showcased the top of Clarke's breasts and small cut-outs at the waist. Clarke found herself crossing her arms over her chest more often than not, worried about what people might think. Though once she saw what the majority of the girls at the party were wearing, she realised she needn't have bothered. Her outfit was one of the more modest. And she still hadn't seen Octavia.
"Excuse me," She tapped someone on the shoulder, "Have you seen Octavia?" The person turned round and it turned out to be a boy from her Biology class. He looked blankly at her and Clarke sighed. "You know? The host?" The boy shook his head slowly. "If you don't know her, why are you even here?" Clarke asked incredulously and the boy shrugged.
"To get smashed." He grinned then, "You look good, jailbait," Clarke recoiled as if he had slapped her and made to turn away but he gripped her shoulder. "Here, have a shot, unless you're too frigid? You're not frigid are you? That's what Wells said," Clarke all but ripped the shot glass from his hand and poured it down her throat, ignoring the burn on her tongue.
"Wells is wrong," She spat and she left the boy behind. Clarke had to bite her tongue to keep from crying. This was so wrong. She was supposed to be having fun with her friend, not getting insulted by a boy she barely knew. She took another drink from a table she passed and didn't hesitate in unscrewing the lid and tipping it back. She knew the age old rule 'don't drink something that's been left unattended'. She knew more than anyone the dangers of drugs, of course she did. But the comment had riled her more than it should have, and it seemed as if there was only one way she would be getting through the night smiling.
The flash of blonde curls caught his eye and Bellamy disentangled himself from the girl hanging on his arm and boring his ears off about something or other. The music was so loud he wouldn't have heard her even if he was trying.
"Sorry," He told the girl brusquely as he unpeeled her fingers from his forearm and pushed his way through the dancing people.
"Princess!" He grinned when he reached her, catching her arm and spinning her round to face him. "You made it!" He was stunned by how beautiful she looked in the tiny black dress with her blonde hair hanging in little curls across her shoulders and her full lips painted red.
"Of course I made it, Bellamy, I came for Octavia," She rolled her eyes at him as she spoke and Bellamy could tell then that she was drunk. There was a slur to her words and she swayed lightly on her feet. "Only, when I found her, she was with Jasper and she was too busy to speak to me, so I've been here drinking by myself!" She raised a half-empty bottle above her head before taking a long gulp.
"Didn't take you for a drinker, Princess," Bellamy put his hands on her shoulders to steady her, shouting over the roar of the music. Clarke shrugged and giggled. "How much have you had?"
"I don't know!" She called back, "What about you? You look awfully miserable," She turned her lips into a pout, supposedly mimicking Bellamy, but she couldn't hold the expression for long before she started to laugh once more.
"I just handle it better than you, Princess," Bellamy flashed his teeth in a grin.
"You look good, Bellamy," Clarke sighed happily, "You look sexy," Bellamy felt his cheeks hot up but thankfully it was too dark for anyone to notice. She's drunk, he reminded himself, she doesn't mean it. He however, was not nearly as drunk as he had planned to be, but looking at Clarke, he thought perhaps it was a good thing. She would need someone to look after her if she carried on this way, and who else was going to do it? Not Octavia who was apparently getting laid upstairs, he shuddered at the thought of Jasper with his little sister, and certainly not any of the other idiots at the party. Most of them would take advantage of her rather than help her.
"Ooh!" Clarke's eyes suddenly lit up, so beautifully that Bellamy's heart ached. "I love this song, come dance with me!" Her free hand took his, entwining their fingers and she dragged him to the main room where the music was sourced and several people were already dancing.
"Clarke," He protested, using her real name for extra effect, "I don't dance," Bellamy was determined to not look like all the other fools there with the classic 'white guy dance'. He was definitely not drunk enough for that and he'd never live it down.
"Oh come on, Bellamy!" She squealed, abandoning her drink and taking both his hands, pulling them back and forth in an attempt to get him to dance. He smiled crookedly letting her have her fun and, admittedly, enjoying the way she was shaking her hips and the way her golden hair looked in the half-light.
She dropped his hands and began to twirl around, tripping in the ridiculous heels she had on and Bellamy had to lunge forward and catch her. She giggled, gazing up at him, her hands pressed to his chest. She could surely feel the beat of his heart beneath her curled fist, but maybe she didn't notice how fast it had become.
"Princess, you okay?" Bellamy said quietly but Clarke didn't answer and merely leaned in, her eyes focused on his lips. "Clarke," Bellamy swallowed and pulled away from her. "I can't," The girl pouted.
"Don't you like me?" Bellamy sighed.
"It's not that I don't want to," He scratched the back of his neck; he did it when he was nervous, Octavia always called him out on it. "Trust me, I do," He laughed awkwardly, "But you're drunk out of your mind, I can't," He removed her hands from his chest and stepped back, smiling sadly. Stupid, he told himself, you could have had her! Clarke dropped her head dejectedly and picked up another drink as she walked away. He tried to remember he was doing the right thing. It would be wrong to take advantage of her, but it was so hard, especially when she was asking him to.
It was even harder when he saw her again later, talking to none other than Finn. It had been near half an hour since he had seen her and Bellamy had joined a game of 'ring of fire' in order to drown his disappointment in shots. By then he was a little light-headed but he was clearly in a better state of mind than most of the people at the party, and especially Clarke who was giggling madly at Finn and swaying and stumbling where she stood.
Bellamy watched the pair with gritted teeth. He shouldn't interfere, oh, but he wanted to. Clarke twirled a curl around her finger and Bellamy inhaled sharply as he watched Finn put his hand on her waist where the strip of skin was visible in the cut-outs of her dress. He leaned in and tilted Clarke's head upwards.
Bellamy's skin felt hot and uncomfortable as he watched the pair, he shouldn't watch he knew, it was none of his business, but he couldn't drag his eyes away. He felt his skin erupt in flames as Finn's hand dropped from her waist to her bum and his lips were at her ear. Without realising he had meant to move, Bellamy was storming over to the pair, his eyes narrowed and his lips a hard line.
"Come on, Princess, I think you've had quite enough," He pulled the glass from her hand and shoved it into Finn's, their eyes meeting, his were cool and angry, Finn's were surprised.
"Dude, what the hell?" Finn asked him incredulously.
"What about Raven?" Bellamy spat back and Finn sighed.
"We had a fall out, no big deal,"
"No big deal so you decided you'd get some tonight?"
"What's your problem, Bells? Are you doing her?" Finn asked rudely with a gesture to Clarke, but the girl was too out of it to even notice let alone be offended.
"Hey, play nice you guys!" She interjected, clutching Bellamy's arm. Bellamy stiffened as he turned back to his friend.
"No, I'm just looking after her." He took her hand and led her away, "Come on Clarke,"
He only managed to get down the hall before he realised that Clarke's version of walking was an odd mix of dancing and falling. Sighing, he scooped her into his arms and carried her like a baby up the stairs; too angry to enjoy her sweet laughter or the way she stroked the muscle in his upper arm. He shouldn't be angry, should he? It's not like she was his to be possessive over. But it was wrong for Finn to try and take advantage of her. Stupid Finn. He scowled.
When they came to his room and he banged the door open there was a couple in there making out.
"Princess needs a bed," He growled, "Get out!" He glared at them with disgust as they scampered past. Once they were gone he placed Clarke gently down onto the bed and sat down beside her with a rigid back and tense expression.
"Why did you bring me up here?" She asked innocently.
"Because you're pissed out of your mind and you need a lie-down. I'll go and get you some water," He made to get up but she grabbed him.
"No, don't leave me, please Bellamy," Her big, blue eyes were wide with longing so Bellamy exhaled deeply and stayed. It was so difficult to be curt with her when she was like that.
"Why were you angry with Finn?"
"It's like looking after a child," He snapped, "Why? Why? Why?" He did a cruel impression of her but he felt bad when he looked upon her pretty, heart-shaped face. "Because he was taking advantage of you," He said quietly, trying not to let the anger bubble up in him once more.
"Do you think he wanted to have sex with me?" Bellamy swallowed painfully and ground his teeth together.
"Yes, Clarke, I think he did,"
"Oh," She stayed quiet for a moment before continuing, "I don't want to have sex with him though,"
"It's fine, he won't be coming up here to get you," Bellamy moved a pillow behind his back so that he could sit more comfortably. Ideally he would have curled up next to Clarke, but he was too mad, too stubborn and too proud to do so. Besides, he could hardly throw a fit at Finn for taking advantage of her and then get too close himself.
"I wanted you, not him," Clarke spoke in a small voice and Bellamy's head whipped round in surprise, his dark eyes wide. "But you don't want me," The girl flopped onto her back, "You could have any girl you wanted, you don't want me; nerdy, frigid Clarke who brings homework to sleepovers," She pushed her hands over her eyes and for a moment Bellamy was frightened that she was crying. He leant over and prised her palms from her face.
"Hey, Princess, you're not any of those things, you're," He paused awkwardly as she looked on expectantly, "You're beautiful,"
"I am?" She whispered in surprise, her small hand interlocking with his. Bellamy smiled slightly, his anger beginning to ebb.
"You are. Now get some rest, Princess," Clarke nodded sleepily and curled up against his side, her head on his broad chest. Bellamy groaned to himself. She was so difficult. He settled for running his fingers through her hair, looking at the strands with their varying shades; gold and white blonde and mousy brown, even a few that looked almost auburn. He didn't stop, even after he could hear her gentle snores. He didn't ever want to.
A/N Hope you liked this chapter, please review, it means so much to hear what you have to say! :) - J x