Starcrossed | Bellamy Blake

6. clarity

We stopped just shy of each other, a charged energy between us that was just as nervous as it was anticipated.

I spoke first.

"They let you go."

She nodded.

"Don't think I'll be able to shake the guards anytime soon but they're trying to be subtle and I'm not locked up anymore so..." She smiled at me, her eyes amused but relieved, so relieved. I noticed the unofficial guards too, shadowing her, keeping their distance but still with watchful eyes on her.

"We take what we can get in this world." I told her, half joking half not and her smile deepened.

"That we do." She replied, then her gaze shifted behind me, no doubt where Finn had reached Clarke, but I had no intention of checking whether my suspicions were true. I was quite happy looking at her.

"Finn fought for me." She said carefully. "Made sure Kane knew everything before he decided. The dropship, Charlotte, the bunker, the commander I killed for you and him, and everything after that. Even Murphy put in a good word for me."

I rose my eyebrows at that.

"So we like Murphy now?" I asked skeptically.

"Like is a strong word, but I think I'll manage to tolerate him." She corrected and I laughed.

"Check it out!" As if by talking about it we had manifested him, Murphy bulldozed over to us, clutching a tarnished metal cup in his hand.

"Speaking of..." I mumbled so only Luna would've heard and she stifled a grin.

"Someone salvaged Monty's still from the dropship." Monty continued, brandishing his cup and sure enough it reeked of the barrels of alcohol Monty had presented to the camp on Unity Day.

Unity Day. Seems like a lifetime ago we as a collective stopped giving a fuck for one night and got drunk instead. It was the first time Luna spoke to me that night, the way she whispered in the half light, her eyes more alive than I had ever seen them. I could tell she was thinking about that night because the same look crossed her eyes.

"If only they could salvage Monty." Murphy snickered after a long gulp of the contents of his cup.

Luna gave him an incredulous look, shaking her head.

"And just like that, I can no longer tolerate him." She decided and I agreed.

"Shall we?" I cocked my head guesturing behind me to wear the still was being kept.

"lead the way." She told me and so I did.

The still was being kept just inside one of the branches off the arc and makeshift tables and chairs had been set up around the outside underneath hastily put together lanterns. An attempt at normalcy.

I filled two cups, generously and handed one of them to Luna who took it with a grateful smile, then proceeded to down it. All of it.

"Right then." I laughed as she came up for air at the end of it and she was laughing too.

"Another one?"

Her smile was easier.

"Please."

So I filled it up again.

Music sputtered to life and a head sporting a victorious smile poked out of the door. I remembered him from my time on the arc, he was a mechanic; Wes? Whoever he was, he had good music taste and the heavy mood that had settled over the camp began to lift.

"Wes? Really? Music? You may as well be putting up a sign for the Grounders to come and get us." One of the guards growled at him.

"They're not coming tonight, Mark." Wes called back.