Us (Bellarke Fanfic)

[chapter nine - clarke]

I can't bring myself to focus on the dumb romance movie Octavia chooses. 

All I can think about is tomorrow - the day my mom leaves, for good. 

That's not even what I'm most worried about. I can deal with the three hour drive to visit my mom - but not if I don't have anywhere to live. 

I don't even have a car to stay in if I needed to resort to that option. At this point, I'm going to end up living in my own garage while strangers are in my house. Maybe I should have asked her to kick out the tenants - is it too late? I guess I could just go stay with her until I figure something else out here - but that doesn't work well for school. 

"Clarke?" Octavia asks, waving a hand in front of my face. "You're totally zoned out. Is everything okay?"

I sigh. 

"Yeah, it's fine. Keep playing the movie."

Octavia frowns, not pressing play. 

"Something's wrong. Spill, or we sit here until Bellamy comes home and kicks us off the couch so he can mope."

"Honestly, Octavia, I don't want to make you listen to my problems."

"Lincoln, will you go make more popcorn?" Octavia asks, handing him her bowl. Lincoln looks a little taken off guard, but disappears into the kitchen. "Okay," she says, turning back to me. "Did Finn say something? Raven? Bellamy? M-"

"It's my mom," I say, cutting her off. 

"Oh," Octavia says, her frowning deepening. "What happened?"

"She's moving to Washington."

"Oh no!" Octavia exclaims, jumping off the couch. "You can't move to Washington!"

"I'm not," I say, shaking my head. "That's the problem. My mom... she kind of made the decision without talking to me. And I totally understand it, I mean, this position is everything to her. Ever since my dad died, she hasn't been able to move forwards with her career. This job is going to help move her forwards, and I want that for her more than anything. But I kind of... I told her my life is here, and I don't think leaving is the right next step for me."

"I'm glad you told her that instead of going with her," Octavia says, sitting back down. Her frown has transformed into a sympathetic expression. 

"Me too," I reply truthfully. "It's just..." How do I say this without sounding whiny? "She's rented out the house to a family, apparently, to keep a steady income to pay for the house while she's gone. And I didn't exactly tell her until after she did that, and I felt awful asking her to make them find someplace else... so now I have until the end of Saturday to find an apartment, or I'm living in a hotel until I find somewhere."

Octavia ponders this for a moment. 

"This is why I didn't want to tell you," I say, sighing. "We just met, and I don't want to involve you in all my crazy family problems."

"On the contrary," Octavia says, her face breaking into a smile. "I think I have a way of solving both of our problems."

"You have a problem too?" I ask. 

"Sort of," Octavia says, blushing sheepishly. "It's just... I've been wanting to, uh, spend more time with Lincoln recently. But I live here with just my brother, and, um, it's kind of hard to leave when he notices the absence of another person almost instantly."

"What are you saying?" I ask, knowing immediately what she's going to say. 

"You should move in," Octavia says slowly. "Oh my gosh, that would totally be perfect! Then I can leave, and since there's someone else here, it won't be as noticeable. I love my brother, don't get me wrong, but he smothers me. He's literally like my mom. He still doesn't let Lincoln in my room without the door open, even if he's in there alone. You'd be the perfect distraction for him, because, well, you're you, and he's Bellamy."