Once you get this you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly. Then you have to send this to ten of your favourite followers. (Non-negotiable, positivity is cool!) - bastardandkhaleesis main, damn you tumblr for sideblogs
I’ve done this so many times haha but I will do it again at the risk of looking vain. Thanks for sending, my friend! I love your sideblog too. Bellarke for life!
1. I like this blog! It is a part of myself, I think, since I spend so much time here haha.
2. I am a true and loyal friend.
3. My winged eyeliner game is on point.
4. I’m a good teacher and I have love and compassion for my students.
5. I’m friendly and approachable. People feel comfortable telling me things and I like that, because we all could use someone to talk to from time to time :)
"I close my eyes, thinking that there is nothing like an embrace after an absence, nothing like fitting my face into the curve of his shoulder and filling my lungs with the scent of him.”
― Jodi Picoult
----
Clarke Griffin felt nauseous. She hadn’t been this nervous since she told her parents she was dropping out of medical school to pursue her art, and even then she’d been fairly certain her father would be supportive. Here and now, standing outside Arc High School, she felt like she was at a crossroads. Beyond these doors was either her destiny, or her ultimate humiliation. She’d called herself a fool almost from the moment her plane had landed back in her hometown. She’d planned on skipping the reunion-that is until she’d heard Bell was going to be there.
What choice did she have though? Bellamy Blake had all but disappeared from the face of the earth after high school. He and his sister had moved away from town not long after graduation, and no one had heard from them since. At least Octavia was on Facebook; Bellamy seemed to avoid all social media of any kind. While browsing (i.e. stalking) O’s page, she learned very little information. He’d been tagged in a few of her photos, though only in the last year or so. The most recent photo was from about six months age, and it was of Bell and some girl named Roma. “Roma,” Clarke had thought snidely to herself at the time, “what the hell kind of a name is Roma?” The fact that he was clearly involved with someone should have been enough of a deterrent for her. After all, no one harbors a crush for a freaking decade, right?
She called it a crush but it was much than that. They’d grown closer their last two years. She’d known Wells since 1st grade, but in some ways she’d been closer to Bellamy. He’d gotten her weird dry sense of humor and she didn’t put up with his macho bullshit. They liked the same movies and had similar taste in music. Then graduation happened, the Blake’s moved, and they’d never really talked since. She’d always wondered why, if maybe she’d done something.
“All the more reason for her to face him tonight,” she told herself. Something she didn’t know she wanted or needed to do until she heard from Wells during their monthly Skype chat that Bell’s name was on the list of attendees. Just like that, the damn butterflies were in her stomach and her palms had started sweating. How was she ever supposed to move on with her life if every time she thought about his stupid face and his stupid hands and his stupid arms, she turned into a simpering school girl?
So here she was, in a dress that was a bit too tight and a bit too short, gut churning, and fighting down the urge to run. After all, what did she really have to lose? She’ll have few drinks, maybe share a few laughs, and god willing get Bellamy Blake out her system at long last. Giving the hem of her dress one more tug – Raven had assured her the combination of leg and cleavage it revealed would drive him wild – she strengthened her resolve and reached for the door.
*****
The sounds of Hollaback Girl drifted through the rafters, and the song brought a smile to Clarke’s face. The gym was decked out to the nines, with decorations and lights everywhere. There was a bar set up in the back “Thank God”, she thought, and tables and chairs around the outside of the dance floor. She approached a table that had been set up just inside the gym, recognizing the faces, but not the names of the people manning it.
“Hi, Clarke Griffin.”
“Welcome back, Grounder!” The over-exuberant greeting grated on her nerves a bit, but she still managed a small smile in the woman’s direction. While they searched for her nametag, Clarke started cataloguing the faces in the crowd, searching for a mop of dark curls among them.
“Alrighty, here we go! Now there’s going to be a little mingling first, and then we’re going to be handing out some awards!” The woman’s voice went up on the word awards, and she and the girl next to her actually squealed. Clarke flinched at the noise, hand going to her temple, which had suddenly started to pound. She grabbed for her nametag with more force than was strictly necessary, giving the giggle twins a tight smile before turning and making her way further into the building.
Glancing at her nametag, she groaned when she noticed the picture. It was her, but the 15 year old her; all chubby cheeks and oversized frames too big for her face. She hadn’t really blossomed until after high school sadly, and she could have done without the stark reminder of just how unglamorous she’d been back then. With a sigh, she affixed the tag to her dress and made a beeline for the bar.
She’d just ordered a dirty martini when suddenly she found herself being spun around and enveloped into a hug. When she saw the tangle of brown hair and a pair of goggles on the person currently squeezing the life out of her, she finally brought her arms down around them.
“Hey Jasper, how’ve you been?” she asked, a genuine smile on her face.
Before he could answer her, she found herself in another set of arms.
“Monty,” she laughed as she hugged him back, “I’ve missed you too.”
Pulling back to take a good look at both of them, she couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her.
“Clarke, I can’t believe you came!” Jasper said, clapping his hands together. “We thought no one else was going to make it from our group.”
“Yeah we knew Wells wasn’t coming because of Echo and the baby being due any day,” Monty continued, “but he told us you weren’t coming last time we talked.”
“Yea,” she replied, “I decided sort of last minute to make the trip. You guys look great, what have you been up to?”
As they launched into an explanation about what they’d been up to the last ten years, Clarke continued her perusal of the crowd, still searching out Bellamy.
“Needless to say,” Jasper was concluding as she refocused on him, “we made our first million at 22 and it’s been pretty non-stop since.”
Clarke couldn’t help but be impressed with their success story. “That’s amazing guys. Who knew all that pot you guys smoked in high school would come in so handy when you joined Kane Pharmaceuticals.”
“Yea,” Monty said a smug grin on his face as he turned to his partner in crime, “and they said we’d never amount to anything.”
“Come on we’ve got a table in the back,” Jasper said, motioning for her to follow them. She grabbed her drink from the bar and followed them, skirting the dance floor on the way. She saw where they had a photo booth set up for taking pictures as well as another area next to it that seemed to have pictures from when they were in school on display. “Something to check out later,” she thought.
When they arrived at their destination, more hugs were in order. Both Miller and Monroe were there along with Murphy and Harper. Monroe and Harper were excited the final girl had arrived (Octavia had been a year behind them, though she’d been the fourth part of their group). Miller and Monroe were apparently still together, if the huge baby bump was evidence to go by. Murphy gave her his trademark leer. She knew now it was just his personality, whereas in high school when he first started to hang with them, it used to creep her out.
They’d only been 100 kids in their graduating class, so really everyone was at least friendly with everyone else. But their group had been very eclectic. She, Monroe, and Well’s had been the brains, while Miller, Murphy and Bellamy had been the jocks. Monty, Jasper, and Harper were the potheads while Octavia went where she pleased, floating from group to group, always ending up back with them.
She listened as everyone started to discuss what they’d been up to the last decade. While she was pleased so many of her old friends had shown up, she was disappointed that Bellamy had yet to make an appearance. Maybe this had been a silly idea, thinking she could have one last shot with him. She finished off her drink and told the gang she’d be back with in minute.
As she made her way back, she decided to stop and glance at the photo display the organizers had set up. A flood of memories assaulted her as she made her way around. There were pictures from survival camp, where she and Bellamy had first met and butted heads. They’d both been elected leaders by the other kids, and had been forced to work together the whole week their earth skills class had been camping out. There were photos from all the school dances, dances that they’d all attended as one big group. She found one of Bell, Miller and Murphy celebrating after winning the state championship in soccer. Then there were candid’s from around campus, showing people hanging out around campus. She found herself drawn to one in particular.
It was a shot of her and Bellamy. They were laughing and smiling at each other, sitting outside one of the classrooms. She couldn’t remember the class, or why they’d been working in the hall. She loved the way he used to smile at her. Clarke had always secretly thought of it as her smile, the one he used just when he was with her. Reminded once again why she’d made the trek back here in the first place she made to head back to her friends when she heard it.
“Hello princess.”
*****
Bellamy Blake had no idea what had possessed him to come back to his old stomping grounds. He and his sister had moved on from here a long time ago, and he’d thought there was nothing tying him here anymore. He still talked to Jasper and Monty on occasion and he and Miller had remained close all these years. Hell, he and Murphy had taken Miller to Vegas for his bachelor party after deciding to finally make an honest woman out of Monroe. The only person he hadn’t really kept in touch with was Clarke.
Which was fine with him, or so he used to tell himself or the guys whenever one of them brought her up. He knew from Octavia that she’d been seeing some astronaut for a year or two now, and that she’d moved to the Washington DC area to be closer to his base. “I don’t know why you’re telling me this O,” he’d said to his sister after she’d filled him in. She’d just given him a look, replied “Sure you don’t Bell,” and then walked off. Sure DC was only an hour train ride from where he was based in Baltimore, but what, were they supposed to get together now or something? She clearly had a life for herself and Bellamy had no desire to hear about how amazing it was.
Which okay, maybe that made him an ass. And it’s not that his life wasn’t going well. He was a top consultant at a security firm, a job which afforded him the opportunity to travel and see the world, something he never thought would happen growing up poor the way he and Octavia had. So they were both success stories. No, the real reason he didn’t want to see her was because he was afraid he would do something stupid like kiss her or tell her he loved her.
He’d been in love with Clarke since they were 15, and they been elected co-leaders on a class camping trip. At first he’d turned his nose up at her attempts to work together, but as he got to know her, he realized she wasn’t a stuck up princess – though he still called her one because it caused her skin to flush a nice shade of red. They’d banded together and managed to get the whole class through the trip with out to much difficulty. Except when Jasper accidently got high when he ate some weird nuts they’d found while hiking.
And no the time had come to put up or shut up. Once Octavia told him she’d heard from Well’s that Clarke was coming back, he knew the time had come. It was now or never, one last chance with the one that got away.
“Please God,” he thought, “Let them have a bar.”
*****
After grabbing a beer from the bartender, Bellamy scanned the crowd, looking for a friendly face. He was considering making a lap when he noticed wild gesturing across the gym floor. On the other side of the dance floor he spotted the gang. Jasper was telling a story, his arms flailing about, the goggles he’d worn everywhere back in school sitting upon his head. He’d just started to make his way towards them when a halo of golden hair appeared in his peripheral. He turned but only caught the back of her as she rounded a corner.
A smile appeared on his face as he changed course and made his way to the photo exhibit. He took little notice of the images, intent upon finding the blonde in the sinful blue dress. He found her in front of a photograph of them strangely enough. They were laughing and smiling in it, her glasses sliding a bit down her nose. He’d had so many fantasies about sliding them down and off her nose; he’d dreamed about sliding other things off of her as well. He didn’t let his thoughts stray too much in that direction. They were in public after all.
From behind she looked incredible. The dress, if you could call it a dress, hugged her in all the right places, and the color maybe her hair almost luminescent. Or maybe the disco ball was doing that, whatever. The point was she looked amazing, and suddenly he felt a bit sick, and almost turned around and ran out the way he came. But then he looked at the photo again, at the smile on her face, and knew he couldn’t leave without seeing her smile at him like that one more time.
She started to turn away, but before she could he said, “Hello princess.”
*****
This was the moment of truth. Clarke’s not sure what she expected to find when she turned around. Maybe he’d have a date with him, or maybe he’d gone bald (she prayed it was neither of those things). What she found was Bellamy. It was her friend Bell that she’d laughed with and cried with and been maybe possibly in love with since she was a kid. Suddenly she felt lighter, like a piece of her had clicked into place that she wasn’t aware was even missing. And then she was in his arms.
Bellamy was in a bit of shock. Seeing her again after all this time was a shock to his system. Her blue eyes were still bottomless pools and he still wanted to wrap his fingers around her blonde locks. She had a smile on her face and he wanted to taste the mole on her upper lip. Before he could do anything more than smirk at her, she had rushed towards him, throwing her arms around his shoulders. For a moment he didn’t move, too in shock at feeling Clarke pressed against him. It felt right, to have her there. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back.
The 10 years seemed to fade away and it was like no time had passed between them. They stood there, holding each other, for who knew how long. In the last decade, nothing had felt as right as Clarke did in Bellamy’s arm in that moment. It felt right to pull back and gaze into her eyes. And it felt right to lean down and catch her lips with his.
Bellamy Blake was kissing her. Bellamy’s lips were on her lips, and they were much softer than she could ever have imagined, and oh wow, the things he could do with his tongue. Her arms had left his shoulders, her hands now grasping the lapels of his jacket. His hands rested dangerously low on her hips, urging her to lean more fully against him. The sounds of people moving around them brought her back to herself and she reluctantly pulled away. He tried to follow her and she had to give a slight shove to get his attention.
Her laugh caused him eyes to open, and he found her in front of him, shaking her head. Then he noticed the people around them. Clearly he’d forgotten where they were for a moment, losing himself in her. He laughed and dropped his hands from her hips to clasp their hands together.
“So I guess you missed me, huh princess?”
“Me? Please, you so missed me more than I missed you.”
They both laugh and look down at their shoes, nervous and excited about what had happened. Clarke reached up and wiped his lower lip where her lipstick had left its mark. He grabbed her wrist and kissed her finger. The butterflies were back and she shivered from head to toe. The reaction was just as strong if not stronger than it had been all those years ago. She knew they had to back to their friends at some point, but more than anything she wanted to be with him, near him, and get to know him all over again.
They’d always had the ability to communicate without actually speaking to each other. A shift of the eyes, a clench of the jaw, she could tell when was about to lose it, and he knew by the set of her shoulders and the cold look on her face when she was upset. She could also make him laugh when no one else could. Which was weird because she wasn’t really funny. But it was just one of the things he’d missed about her. And now here she was and she was giving him that smile and he started to think maybe that hour long train to DC wouldn’t be so bad. Which reminds him.
“You don’t have a boyfriend right?”
It takes Clarke a second to respond; she was too busy counting the freckles on his face.
“No.”
“Good,” he replies, trademark smirk in place.”
“Wait you don’t have a girlfriend do you?”
“No.”
“Good,” she said with smile, grabbing his had and tugging him along behind her. She gave him a look over her shoulder that made him groan. “That means you’re all mine tonight.”
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I don't know. I think I was reading Harry Potter 2 while waiting for Day 21 (second instalment of The 100) and I was freaking out because I wanted to read it so much! :D
