Clarke's POV
Clarke was leaning on the window staring at the big, heavy clouds in the sky with her thermos cuddled to her chest. She had taken the night shift so that she could be there, in Octavia's Land Rover heading to IKEA; so she had only slept two hours and thirty-seven minutes. That was what her life had come to now; counting every single minute of sleep she had. She absently sipped her mocha while she tried to stay awake.
"Ugh, looks like it's going to come pouring" Octavia huffed from the driving seat.
Her friend had asked her if she was down for a trip to the department store to buy stuff for when the boys would be back. A couple of weeks after Octavia had moved to London, in the band's apartment, a water pipe had broken while she was at work, ruining most of the furniture, and she hadn't had time to go and replace it until then.
"I'm sorry I dragged you with me.." Octavia apologised glancing her way.
Clarke interrupted her reverie to quickly turn to her "No O! I'm happy to be here!"
Octavia gave her sceptical look "You look tired.."
She leaned back on her seat and sighed "That's because I am, I've been at the hospital the whole day yesterday and night, I barely slept three hours."
Since she had gone back to the trainee program she had had barely time to do anything but eat and sleep. Clarke practically lived in there, between work and her father. The only reasons that took her out were having lunch with Raven and sleeping at home- that under her mother's insistence if it was up to her, she'd probably pass out in a random storage room of the hospital-.
"Okay, now I'm even more convinced that I shouldn't have called you.." Octavia pouted adorably
Clarke gave her a pointed look "I took the night shift so that I could be here O."
Since the moment Octavia had called her, she had been moving her schedule around so that she could be free that day without feeling too guilty. She had done it more than happily, Octavia was great company, and it had been a while since the day she last saw her after she set up that first call with Bellamy. She had missed her. Plus, they were going to buy stuff for the boys- Bellamy- hell if she was going to pass that chance.. ugh.. could her crush be more pathetic?
Octavia blinked "Oh?" then a smile started to spread on her lips, a knowing glint in her eyes when she turned her whole upper body to her stopping at a traffic light "Is that so, huh?"
Clarke felt her face warm up and mumbled: "Yeah, so?"
"Was it because you actually missed my awesome company, or because you couldn't miss the chance to go buy something for famous band members aka my brother?"
Oh, God. Is she psychic or something? It's like she read her mind dammit.
By then Clarke's face had turned to a whole new shade of red and pointedly avoided looking Octavia's way, aggressively staring at the lid of her thermos.
Her friend, of course, cackled not making it easier for her at all. "Aww, it's adorable really. I love it. It just perfect." Octavia's grin didn't falter as she turned back to drive "Don't worry, you're secret's safe with me.."
Clarke looked at her then.
Octavia made a face "Sort of.." Clarke hit her arm and the other girl chided "Oi, driving here!"
It was an innocent chide, and Octavia had used a playful tone. But that didn't stop Clarke's blood to turn cold as memories of the accident filled her eyes. She even heard the song playing. Her breath started to come out in puffs, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would actually burst out from her chest that was tightening around it; she knew what this was, she was more than familiar with these panic attacks, even more now, after that day. She desperately searched for something to focus on, something stable-
"Hey, you okay?"
Clarke blinked a few times and focused her eyes on the butterfly-shaped pendant around Octavia's neck. Focus on something solid.
"Clarke?" She looked up then and took in the worried look on Octavia's face, and forced down the bile that was rising up. She closed her eyes trying to regain a normal breathing and then she gave her friend the brightest smile she could muster "Yeah, I'm fine, nothing to worry about.. That's a beautiful necklace" she stated partly to sidetrack her but also because it was true, mentally repeating over and over to herself that everything was okay and that nothing bad was going to happen.
Octavia watched her for a while with that familiar look that was so similar to Bellamy's that made Clarke feel like he could see right through her, but after a beat she smiled back nonetheless brushing her fingers on the butterfly in an unconscious gesture "Yes, it is.. Bell gave it to me for my sixteenth birthday.. When I was a kid mom brought us to Eaton Park back in Norwich, she always told us how she had to constantly keep an eye on me cos otherwise I would chase every single butterfly that I'd come across to, and get lost because I was so concentrated on the butterfly that I wouldn't pay attention to where I was going" she giggled as she kept talking eagerly sharing anecdotes of hers and Bellamy's childhood.
Soon enough Clarke relaxed as she listened to Octavia's stories, focusing on her happy tone and imagining the little brothers on a beautiful spring day chasing butterflies in a field full of flowers.
"Wakie wakie sleeping beauty!"
Clarke startled awake and looked around momentarily forgetting where she was. When her eyes found Octavia's smiley face she relaxed and sleepily smiled back "Hey... I fell asleep"
Her friend snorted and leaned back up holding Clarke's side door wide open "Yeah, you definitely did according to the sweet little snores that you emitted"
"Oh" Clarke felt her face flush and giggled awkwardly
"I almost got offended, I thought my stories bored you"
"Oh no! I actually dreamt of you and Bellamy in a field of flowers!" Clarke blurted wide-eyed.
Octavia laughed "I bet you did."
Clarke shook her head, mentally slapping herself for her lack of filter, getting out of the car, and waited for the other girl to lock it.
"And anyway, I was kidding. I know how tired you were" Octavia said linking her arm with Clarke's "but now that you had your beauty sleep you can concentrate enough in helping me find the ugliest furniture and buy it!" She announced with a wicked grin
Clarke laughed and nodded her agreement.
"Oh my god. This one is perfect" Octavia squealed running towards a solid wood-like table "It's ugly exactly like the boys' taste. They'll love it" she informed Clarke that eyed the table unimpressed.
"Yeah it looks ugly enough.." she checked the tag "Welcome, to the family Norden" she announced stroking the top of the table affectionately, receiving weird looks from a couple passing by
Octavia giggled "I think you should reconsider, which one of us is the weirdest"
Clarke moved away rolling her eyes "I think it's a tie"
O followed her after noting the name of the table on a piece of paper and they strolled around giggling while telling each other dumb jokes.
"Oh, would you look at that, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, sons of Cronos and the three supreme Gods of mount Olympus.." Octavia addressed the picture in front of them "Poseidon was always my favourite, he created horses after all, and I love horses" she informed Clarke turning to her "Bellamy though... He preferred Hades"
That got Clarke's complete attention "Isn't he the God of Death?" she asked with a frown
Octavia shook her head "That's a mistake that most people do. Thanatos is the God of death, Hades is the lord of the underworld and ruler of the dead."
"Oh.."
Clarke turned to look at Octavia in wonder, but the other girl was frowning, still staring at the picture "Bell always said that he felt like he had more in common with him than the other two, he loved the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, he said that it demonstrated that he wasn't as awful as the other Gods made him look. Plus, Cerberus was his guard dog, and that 'was one hell of a dog' direct quote" Octavia giggled and Clarke joined her "He always wanted a dog but we never got around to adopt one" Octavia sighed and turned to her friend that was still staring at her with an odd look "What?"
Clarke shook her head "I would've never thought of Greek myths as a passion of yours" she shrugged smiling.
Octavia snorted hard making Clarke smile and frown at the same time, confused by her reaction, the brunette gave her a look " Bellamy is the one with the Greek Myths passion, scratch that, all myths, in fact not only that, but he's the biggest History nerd I've ever known. I was practically raised with these stories" She arched her eyebrows in emphasis "I blame our mother, she's the one that got him into it with stories on the Roman emperors, hell I was named after Augustus sister after all! He was so obsessed with Rome that he wanted to become a gladiator" she giggled "He would hassle me until I'd agreed to be seated on my bed pretending to be a lady, so that he could slay Marble, our giant teddy bear, and devote the victory to me, his lady, just how gladiators used to do in ancient Rome.. Then he actually started to study the Romans in school, and when he discovered what kind of atrocities went on in the arenas because of the gladiators, he was so appalled and got so depressed over it that our mom actually started to worry, so she gave him a book of Greek myths to try and replace the void, and after a while it worked." She smiled fondly "He was back on pretending to be the mortal heroes that the Gods tried so hard to make their life miserable and after that, his passion for myths evolved into a passion for history and in senior year he decided he wanted to become a true Historian through and through.. He would have his degree now if things hadn't gone to crap.." Octavia concluded sadly looking down to sigh.
Clarke was reminded of the first time she actually talked to Octavia at the café where they met to return the blouses, how she had told her that her brother -who at the time she had no idea was Bellamy- had to give up his dreams to make sure that hers didn't go down the drain, and how now he was finally fulfilling one of the two. Now she knew what the other was, and she felt.. She didn't know how she felt. She recognized sadness. Part of her was aching for the reason why he had to give up his studies, but one other part felt that way because she had never realized how history was so important for him. Since the moment she and he had started to talk, she felt like she started to really know him and suddenly she wasn't so sure. How could she not notice the historical references that he made from time to time?
Octavia was still staring at the picture with a wistful look. Clarke rubbed her back and hugged her from the side, encircling her back with one arm and her chest with the other "I'm sure your mother would be so proud of you two" she said kissing her cheek.
Octavia rested her hands on the arm around her chest and turned to Clarke with a gentle smile "Thanks."
A phone went off then, startling the girls apart. Octavia patted herself to find it "Ah, I have to take this," she said when she finally found it and looked at the caller ID. She walked away and answered after she had reached a point far enough she was sure Clarke wouldn't hear her from.
Clarke continued to stare at the three Gods, completely unaware of the continuous glances that Octavia kept throwing her way while talking on the phone in hushed tones.
In a snap decision, before she knew what she was actually doing, Clarke looked for the area where the other replicas were and when she finally found them, she took one out and found herself grinning like an idiot.
After ending the call, Octavia strolled back to her friend but stopped in her tracks when she saw what she was holding in her hands. A slow and wide grin made its way on her lips and Clarke felt a flush creeping on her neck and quickly rolled her eyes and started to walk away,
"You know you don't have to impress the guy, I'm pretty sure he'll be over the moon just for seeing you again" Octavia yelled
Clarke turned her head to stick out her tongue and Octavia cackled behind her.
Once they finished picking all the necessary furniture, the two girls headed home back on the Land Rover.
They spent some time in companionable silence until Clarke couldn't stop herself from asking "So, how was Lilian?"
Octavia tensed a little and remained silent for a while "Lilian?" she then asked turning her head to her after stopping the car at a traffic light.
Clarke frowned "Yeah, isn't she Bellamy's ex-girlfriend?"
Octavia smiled tightly nodding her head " That Lilian... Yeah, she is... What about her?"
Clarke watched her closely taking in the way Octavia looked not really keen in approaching the subject. She almost hated herself for pushing, but her curiosity was taking the best of her. She already had felt like she didn't know important parts of his life, and now she just wanted to fill the gaps as best as she could. "How was she? "
Octavia shrugged "She was nice"
Clarke frowned. Well, that helps a lot, thank you very much. She bit the snarky comment back and shrugged "Are you guys still in contact?"
Octavia just shook her head.
Clarke waited for her to say something else, but when that didn't happen she sighed deciding to let the subject drop and turned her head to watch the heavy raindrops splash on her window.
Octavia sighed deeply. "I'm sorry,"
Clarke looked back and smiled "its fine if you don't want to talk about it.. I understand"
Her friend frowned "It's that she really is nice and she is Bellamy's first love and I really liked her, but she broke his heart, and it took him a while to heal from it.."
"Oh" Clarke stared at her friend in loss of what to say.
She is his first love. It was like listening to a broken record, she couldn't think of anything else. Realizing she was staring she turned her head and instead stared without seeing outside her window.
Of course, she was. Obviously, he knew what love felt like. Just because Clarke had never had any experience with love -or boys in that sense whatsoever-, didn't mean that he wouldn't too. How stupid was she that she just... People say that you never forget your first love. So he'll never forget her.
Her eyes filled with tears making herself feel even more stupid and childish. For fuck's sake, get a grip, Clarke. She tried to take deep breaths as covertly as possible so that Octavia wouldn't notice how stupidly upset she was.
"Oh no, I upset you, didn't I?"
Clarke rolled her eyes heavenwards, frustrated with herself. She was even more stupid to think that O wouldn't notice.
"Clarke" Octavia touched her arm and she finally turned back
She sighed "This is so stupid, I feel stupid. Oh god" she flinched as she rambled nonsense
Octavia shook her head quickly "No, no" she cursed under her breath and searched for a spot where she could stop the car for a while "He's over it. Lilian's chapter is done. Finished. Caput." She emphasized gesturing wildly once stopped the car at the side of the road "It's been a year, and he doesn't think about it anymore, he isn't thinking about it for a while, and hell after he received your letter, he probably doesn't even remember who that is!"
Clarke smiled despite herself and nodded. "It's fine, it's not like I want to be with him or anything" She pathetically lied and cringed when Octavia just raised an eyebrow "It's that, I don't even know the guy, who am I kidding" she continued her pathetic ramble "We literally met just once!"
Octavia held up a hand "Stop right there. So what? You've been talking for a while though. And blame it on my romantic streak or whatever, but I think that if two people have a connection they can feel it even if they meet only one time. And I'm pretty sure that's what happened on that train. It might be weird for some people, but who cares? You two know how you felt, it's up to you if you want to explore it or not." She concluded with a little shrug
Clarke stared, again in a loss of words.
"And by the way, I read that eighty-eight per cent of the time, people know right away when they meet their soulmate" Octavia added wiggling her eyebrows and grinning cheek to cheek.
Clarke laughed "We're soulmates now?"
Octavia pointed herself "I am Bellamy's sister. And I know him pretty well." She waited for Clarke to nod "And I'm getting a clear idea of who you are. And I really like you." Clarke giggled nodding again "If I was one of the Moerae –the three goddesses that controlled destiny- it would be already a done deal. But I'm pretty sure it is, even without my divine intervention" Octavia nodded to herself.
Clarke shook her head and smiled fondly "Whatever you say O"
"You wanna come in? I could put the kettle on"
"Nah, I have some... Commissions to take care of before I head back" Octavia declined the invitation
Clarke nodded "Okay if you need help in mounting the stuff or anything just call me"
Octavia smiled "I'm pretty good with that stuff, but thanks for the offer"
Clarke nodded again "Of course" she felt like all of a sudden Octavia was trying to get rid of her and planning to not see her for a while. She shook the ridiculous thought away –they were going to see each other in a week when Bellamy would come- and smiled "Okay, I'm gonna go." She got off the Land Rover and waved her goodbye.
The first thing that Clarke noticed coming in was the sound of Raven yelling obscenities from the living room.
"MOTHER FUCKING PIECES OF SHIT! HOW DARE YOU MAKE THEM BREAK UP ARRRRGHHH"
Clarke gingerly watched her friend screaming at the TV and waited at the doorway "Ray?"
Raven turned so quickly that Clarke almost literally jumped out of her skin. She looked like a demon from Supernatural had possessed her body "CAN YOU BELIEVE THESE ASSHOLES? THEY FUCKIN MADE THEM BROKE UP! AFTER ALL, THEY'VE BEEN THROUGH! AFTER ALL THAT SHIT! THEY FUCKIN MADE THEM BREAK UP! AND NOT ONLY THAT BUT THEY BELITTLE THE WHOLE THING BY FOLLOWING THE SCENE WITH A 'COMEDY' ONE" she aggressively made quotation marks with her fingers "IF YOUR BOYFRIEND CHASED FROM A CRAZY BITCH WITH A SHOOTING GUN, CAN BE CONSIDERED COMEDY! ARGH!" she dropped on the sofa and heaved trying to regain her breathing.
Clarke approached her in the way you would approach a wild beast- which in these case was more than appropriate, talking about a raging Raven- and after a while, rested a hand on her friend's shoulder "I know.. I was pretty upset too, remember?"
Raven looked up pouting, her eyes were filled with tears "Having OTPs sucks"
Clarke snorted and nodded her agreement "Yeah.."
Raven shook her head miserably "I can't believe it... They are endgame, they can't just.. no"
Clarke rubbed her back and sat in front of her "Here's what we'll do" she waited for Raven to look up and continued "I'm going to make popcorn and put all the sweetest, tooth-rotting candies in one bowl, while you pick either the cheesiest or grimmest cinematographic piece ever made, and we'll gonna stuff our faces while cackling like hyenas or crying like babies" she shrugged "Depending on the movie"
Raven smiled "Sounds like an awesome idea"
Clarke grinned and stood up heading to the kitchen.
Raven sighed and slumped on the sofa. Her phone beeped signalling a new message and she lazily reached for it
Where the frack are you?
"Shit" she hit her forehead and jumped up, looking for her coat
"Going somewhere?" Clarke asked confused as she came out from the kitchen after putting the popcorn in the microwave
"Uhh, yeah!" she hit her forehead again "We're out of milk!"
Clarke looked at her like she had grown two heads "Milk? You don't drink milk "
She laughed awkwardly "Well I want it now, okay? It's an OTP breakup situation necessity. I need milk" she took an umbrella "Don't worry, I'll be back in ten" she ran out making the door slam behind her.
Clarke stared at the space where her friend had been wondering what the hell had just happened.
Raven hurried her pace on the sidewalk trying to balance the huge umbrella against the force of the wind. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the headlights of a jeep flashing. She shook her head "I'm surrounded by a bunch of dorks"
"Took you long enough!" Octavia huffed once Raven huddled inside her car "Woah, that's a huge umbrella" she exclaimed eying it oddly
Raven rolled her eyes "Yeah, tell me about it. My wrist is killing me. The wind is insane"
Once she was comfortably settled she fully turned to Octavia who was waiting grinning from cheek to cheek "So is operation Freckles go?"
Raven laughed heartedly "Oh god, Clarke is going to kill me when she finds out that I told you"
Octavia giggled "Oh, she is. When I'll tell Bell"
Raven laughed again "Damn, we are so mean.. She'll want your head once the operation starts, I'm warning you"
Octavia shrugged "She'll thank me after.."
The other girl watched her closely "You really don't mind? Not going?"
Octavia smiled "Nah, it was my idea, to begin with, remember? I was thinking about it since the day I set up the skype call" she leaned back on her seat "I miss my brother like crazy, this is the longest we've been apart from each other since ever, but I really want to do this"
Raven leaned back on her seat too "If in the end, everything goes how you think it'll go, you should seriously consider a career as a matchmaker" she said grinning
"Mhm I'll take my place as one of the Moerae, thanks" Octavia corrected airily
"Huh?"
She giggled "Nothing. So Operation Freckles; you promise you won't go with her?"
Raven rested a hand on her heart "I promise"
"Even if she promises you the answer for that equation that you've been working on since freshmen year?" Octavia tested narrowing her eyes
Raven snorted hard ; So hard O was surprised her nasal septum didn't detach "Please, as if she kn- Wait how do you know that?"
Octavia bit her lip "I might know someone you work with.."
Raven narrowed her eyes "Who?"
"Kyle?"
"Who the hell is Kyle?" Raven asked frowning
Octavia laughed "Oh my god, he told me you weren't exactly on the nicest of terms, but damn you don't know his first name?"
Raven stared at her for a while, then Octavia had the entertainment of the century as she watched her friend's face morph from one expression to another as she realized who she was talking about "WICK?"
She nodded solemnly.
"How?"
"We've been friends for a while, he's a cool guy"
Raven snorted again and muttered something under her breath that Octavia was pretty sure sounded like "Cool my ass, he's as cool as an ass of a baboon "
She shook her head with fond frustration. Once she had started Operation Freckles, she was going to think of something for these other two dorks. They clearly had the hotts for each other, but they were clearly too damn stubborn to do something about it. She sighed internally. What would they do without her? Live a lonely and desolate life. That's what.
They'll better give her some big presents when they'll have their hundred babies.
Octavia's POV
When Octavia had finally brought up all the boxes from her car, she slumped on her bed and skype called Jasper
"Hey, munchkin" He greeted fondly
Octavia rolled her eyes "When will you stop calling me that?"
"O, you should be happy that he dropped the 'little'" Monty pointed out appearing beside his friend
"Took him long enough" Octavia huffed
"I say we go with little steps, you don't want to traumatize the guy by reminding him how old you are now," Miller said grinning
"Why how old are you O? Sixteen?"
"Jesus, Jas" John appeared smacking the back of Jasper's head "Cut it out, you're being pathetic"
"Ow, that's mean!" Jasper moaned rubbing the sore spot
Murphy just made him a face and sat in front of the pc "So little munchkin, what's up?" he asked grinning cheekily
Octavia giggled despite herself. God, she missed them so much. She sighed reminding herself of what she was going to tell them "I'll go straight to the point. Is Bellamy there?"
"No, he's out, just as you wanted" Monty assured
Octavia nodded "I won't be the one meeting you guys at the airport as established before"
The guys frowned almost in synchrony, "What do you mean?"
"I'll have a work meeting that day, a really important meeting.." she explained cryptically
"You can't change the date?"
"I could. But I won't"
The guys looked even more confused and Jasper even a little hurt "Oh okay.."
Octavia melted looking at them. They looked like a bunch of abandoned puppies. "Guys, its all part of a plan"
Murphy scratched his head, one of his tell-tale signs that he had no idea what the hell was going on "How about you go straight to the point like you said, little munchkin?"
Octavia grinned widely "I won't be there. Someone else will. Alone. She's the one that will take you all home"
"Who?" Nathan asked frowning
Murphy grinned nodding his head in approval, finally getting the sense of it all "Clarke"
The guys looked at each other wide-eyed for Octavia's and John's amusement "But, what about Bellamy? Do we have to keep it secret or we tell him? He'll be sad when he doesn't see you there, you know?" Monty observed dampening the mood a little
Octavia nodded "I know, that's why first I'll tell him that I'm coming with Clarke, then I'll wait a couple of days and just before you guys get on the plane, I'll send him a text saying that I won't be there and that only Clarke will. So he'll have the entire plane ride to mull and sweat over it." She grinned even more widely "And it's you guys' job to make sure that he doesn't start to think of doing something stupid like deciding to NOT hug her because it'd be a too high-rank barrier to break and that he'd be a presumptuous fucker to assume that she would want a hug from him"
Jasper made a face "Sounds just about like Bellamy"
"Stupid gentleman" Octavia sighed
The guys nodded their agreement "Damn O, you really thought of everything"
She shrugged "I know my brother too well, and I'd be damned if I won't do anything in my power to not make those two idiots fuck things up"
"Behold world, Moera Octavia is going to use all her powers" Jasper announced
"Damn straight, I'm a Moera" Octavia smiled more than pleased with the new nickname.
Bellamy's POV
Bellamy waited patiently in line for his and the guys coffee orders. Since the moment he had stepped in the coffee shop, his thoughts had gone to Clarke. She never failed to praise how Coffee beans were simply the best thing that nature could ever create. That girl was an addict. But then again with the crazy hours that she had to make at the hospital, one could hardly blame her.. He sighed. Coffee might taste good, but it also caused strokes. And he wanted Clarke to be around for a long while.
Suddenly all his thoughts were interrupted when he felt someone touching his arm. When he turned he was met with the same beautiful smile he had fallen the first time he'd seen it.
"Lilian" he breathed.