SWEET LITTLE LIES // BELLAMY BLAKE // THE 1OO

TWENTY-TWO

"It's not, really," Bellamy said, causing Katherine to look up. The boy shook his head, his hands rubbing his face in a defeated way. "O and I had a fight before you and Nate came back to camp. I said some horrible things. I didn't mean them, obviously, but I did say them."

"Bellamy," Katherine said softly. She felt her heart melt for the man, who looked at her with endless brown eyes that hid so much pain. All of a sudden she remembered how desperate he had looked in the woods with Atom, and she wondered how much was left of that person. She didn't know if it was appropriate, but she let her hand rest on his knee in support. "She knows that, don't worry. I get that you were upset."

Katherine felt Bellamy grab her hand, giving it a little squeeze and then holding onto it. She noticed that his hand felt rough from the work he had done and that it was pleasantly warm. It was the opposite of how her hand must have felt, soft from the fact that she only had to work with plants and ice-cold, because they always were. She also noticed that her heart was beginning to race and her stomach felt queasy. Both reactions were unasked for.

"Seems like I always end up with you," Bellamy said, scoffing softly. Katherine felt her heart skip a bit, thinking that he might refer to his time as her guard, but she covered it up quickly.

"That's not true," she chuckled a little louder than she wanted to. She gave him a little nudge, only then noticing how close he was actually sitting. "You end up with a lot of girls."

When Bellamy let out a chuckle as well, shaking his head in incredulity, as if he couldn't believe that she had made that comment, Katherine felt proud of herself for getting that scowl of his face. A small smile covered her face.

"I don't talk with those girls, I just..." Bellamy drifted off, not sure what to say.

"Use them for the night and then dump them afterwards?" Katherine suggested, shrugging her shoulders as if it really wasn't that difficult. Bellamy looked at her like she was exaggerating, causing Katherine to look at him in the same way, unimpressed and with one eyebrow raised. It took Bellamy only a couple of seconds before he lost their staring contest, his eyes wandering off to the dying flames and non-verbally agreeing with Katherine. She also looked into the flames. "By the way, you don't talk with me either. You just either yell or grunt."

"That's not true," Bellamy immediately defended himself as if Katherine had offended him.

"Okay then, why don't you tell me how you're holding up with Charlotte's death," Katherine asked him, causing an ache in her own heart as well. She was still grieving for the young girl, well, if you could call pushing your emotions nine out of ten times away grieving. She was painfully aware of the fact that Bellamy was still holding onto her hand like it was a lifeline.

"I, uh..." Bellamy answered. He looked from the flames to Katherine, struggling to find the right words. Katherine thought she could see his cheeks heat up, but she thought that it could also be caused by the heat of the flames. "I don't know."

"That's okay, what is it that you do know?" Katherine asked, making sure her voice was soft and her tone sincere so that he would not interpret it as a snappy remark. Fortunately, he didn't take it as one, because he looked far away in his thoughts. Katherine found it a little ironic. He didn't seem to be having any trouble with giving speeches or talking to whole groups, but talking about what he felt didn't come naturally to him. She couldn't blame him, she had the same problem.

Bellamy seemed to hesitate for a second, but then he let out a loud sigh as his eyes wandered to their holding hands. "I know I don't want to fight anymore with you," he said softly, covering his words quickly up with a cough. He gave Katherine a lopsided grin as he into her eyes, trying to lighten the mood up a little. "To be frank, your determination is just tiring."