✮ Her head wished she had went on thinking he was an infuriating, overly-confident, horribly handsome asshole, that hated her people and always put himself first. Her heart knew he wasn't any of those things. He was a celestial; a man plucked from t...
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"Life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom."
—Louisa May Alcott
Day 73
"But Beth, though yearning for the grand piano, could not pluck up the courage to go to the 'Mansion of Bliss', as Meg called it."
Astoria read from the book she was holding over her head, using the hard back to block out the sun from her eyes. Her hair was sprawled out in the grass below, and her legs were folded over Bellamy's stomach in a way that should have been awkward and uncomfortable.
They hiked at least ten miles out from Arkadia, because Astoria felt so cooped up in the camp that Bellamy was afraid she was going to start bouncing off the walls. She was used to being free—living in the trees and following no ones rules but her own—so switching to being apart of a real community would take some time. Luckily, Abby had no problem with them leaving Arkadia for a few hours at a time, because they were both experienced enough with the grounders to not cause any problems.
It was a beautiful day, especially because it had rained from sunset to sunrise for the past two, and when Bellamy knocked on the door to the Chancellor's office (where Astoria had been helping Abby and Kane make up a list of essential Trigedasleng terms that every sky person should know) with her pack in hand she all but dragged him out of the Ark and through the gate. She'd work on the list later; if her and Bellamy ever wanted to finish reading Little Women they would need to start dedicating time to it.
"She went once with Jo, but the old gentleman, not being aware of her infirmity, stared at her so hard from under his heavy eyebrows, and said "Hey!" so loud, that he frightened her so much her 'feet chattered on the floor', she never told her mother, and she ran away, deciding she would never go there any more, not even for the dear piano." Astoria brought the book down and rested it on her chest, twisting her head to look at Bellamy.
He was lying right next to her, their heads nearly touching, and he already had his eyes on her as he listened to her read. She was much slower than he would have been, but the whole point of having her read was so she could get better. Not to mention, he thought her accent and voice of velvet was the sweetest thing he had access to. He didn't tell her that he had read Little Women already, because he was afraid she may have took back the offer to read it to him.
"Do you think we could take the piano from Mount Weather and bring it to the Ark?" she asked, not mentioning the shiver that fought to crawl up her spine from the way he looked at her. She didn't completely understand why he agreed to listen to her read all day, but she needed the practice.
"The hell would you do with a piano?" he asked with a laugh, snatching the book off her stomach and scanning the page to find where she left off.
Astoria smiled, and twisted onto her side to watch him. She supported her head on her hand, "Play it."
