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Bellamy was standing calmly in the corner of the bar, lukewarm beer in hand, and watching his sister grind on various men on the dancefloor. It wasn’t that he was opposed to her lifestyle choices, because he had definitely done his fair share of college hook-ups and drunken nights when he was younger, it was just that he had to watch his little sister do it as well, making the same mistakes that he did.
He was running through all of his Psych study, judging people based on what sort of drinks they were ordering. The ones that were ordering vodka shots on the rocks were all here to get pissed out of their minds, but the ones who were sitting at the bar and sipping occasionally at a beer that they had been clutching for hours were the ones that were lonely. If they were sipping frequently, or even sculling the beer, then they were here to forget. But whatever they were forgetting, it was something that Bellamy did not want to know about.
He glanced back over at O, who seemed to be enamoured with a heavily tattooed, dark-skinned biker. She was swaying against him, obviously drunk out of her mind, as he escorted her out of the premises. He made to move and follow them, to make sure that his sister didn’t get raped and left for dead outside in some back alley. But one quick glance from O told him that she was faking, and that she wanted to get into this guy’s pants as much as he probably wanted to get into hers.
There was always one downside to having your sister major in the Dramatic Arts in college, and that was that you could never tell when she was faking and when she wasn’t. His stomach twisted, because leaving his sister alone in an alley was never a good idea. But he was obliged to, because he had had a full lecture from her about giving her a longer leash when they were out, because whenever she wanted to pull, she couldn’t because of ‘a stupid protective brother’.
Bellamy moved back to his position at the bar, and watched as a pretty blonde walked through the door. She wasn’t a regular here, because he was a regular here, and he could always spot the regulars.
But not being a regular in this pub meant that they didn’t know who to speak too and who to avoid at all costs. The lack of information in that department left them vulnerable to Finn Collins, a.k.a. the single most pretentious asshole who ever had the pleasure to grace the Earth.
He had had the pleasure of meeting Finn when he tried to hit on his sister, back when she was a first year student here at Ark U. He seemed nice enough in the beginning, and seemed genuinely interested in what they were studying here, and why Ark U, and all of the other small talk questions that first year students got all the time.
But the moment that he went to get them another round of beers, things took a turn for the worst. He had given Finn his trust, that nothing would happen to his sister, but when he came back, three beers in his hand, he had almost dropped them when he found either of them nowhere to be seen.
The beers were thrown hastily down on the table as Bellamy dashed outside and around the corner to one of the alleys, and caught Finn with his pants around his ankles and O on her knees, tears in her eyes.
That moment went down in history as the scariest moment of his life, when his sister was there, her trust in men eternally broken.
They tried to press charges for attempted rape, but because of the justice system, they could only get a small fine of only $5000, because it ‘wasn’t rape if she wasn’t penetrated’.
Two years had gone past now, and O was almost her old self again, but this time it took her a lot longer to open up to a man, and it would involve a hell of a lot of Facebook stalking, and talking to old flames on the campus.
But even then, he was still protective over her, even though she was on the longest leash that he would allow. Just letting her out of his sight for this long, and in this alley, was making his stomach twist.
Just as he thought that though, O reappeared, the biker guy in tow. She was obviously more ruffled, because her hair and dress were both a mess and were sticking up in some strange places. They came up to the bar, ordered another round of shots, took them, and went back onto the dancefloor.
He didn’t stop staring at O until she nodded at him, which was a sign that she was all okay and that he should stop worrying, even though she knew that he wouldn’t. He sipped at his beer again, and turned his mind to other things, just to try and give O her room, which would make her happy.
He glanced over at the girl again, the one that walked in earlier, and noticed that she looked uncomfortable, and was fiddling with her drink awkwardly. A quick glance up confirmed his suspicions, and she was being hit on by the one and the only, Finn Collins.
This was a recipe for disaster, because she looked like one of those princess types that was used to having everything served to her on a silver platter, and he was known as a rapist around campus. She had to be completely new to Ark U, or else she would know to stay right away from him. Any other student here had already been informally warned about him, but there was nothing else the faculty could do. He had influential parents, and the university needed the money.
That was such a clichéd thing, but it was true in this case. He could be serving some serious jail time right now if his parents weren’t as loaded as they were.
And now he was hitting on the pretty blonde, who looked very uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. O was still dancing, and drinking, and dancing some more, and he wondered what he would do if it was Octavia in that situation.
The rage that boiled up inside of him settled that argument. He had to do something to prevent this nice looking girl from getting raped in the alley like O almost was.
He put his beer down on the bar and began to form a plan of action in his mind. The pretty blonde was now his best friend, and they were reuniting, or something.
“Oh my god!” He reaches around and taps the girl on her shoulder. “Is it really you? God, I haven’t seen you in ages and ages!”
The girl turned around instantly, staring at him. Finn looked at him too, recognition in his eyes. She hesitated for a moment, before her eyes lit up.
“Oh my god! Hi! How are you? It really has been ages, hasn’t it! We really need to catch up more.” The girl gushes, and they hug. He tries to make it as un-awkward as he possibly can, but it is hard when you have to act. He should have gotten O to do this instead.
“Who’s this?” He says as politely as he can, and Finn’s eyes widen ever so slightly.
“Um… this is Finn. Finn, you wouldn’t mind if I leave you here. It’s just, we have so much catching up to do, and I haven’t seen him in ages. Please?” Her face was pleading, and he knew that Finn was caving quickly. He saw the recognition etched on his face, and realised that Finn knew exactly who he was and what he had done. Bellamy could recognise what he was thinking in this moment, because they were both thinking the exact same thing. The only memory that was in both of their brains was that moment in the alleyway, where Bellamy had launched himself at Finn, pummelling him until his face was bruised and bleeding.
Those moments were ones he did not want to relieve.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you later then Clarke.” Finn said, grabbing his stuff and hastily making his way to the door. So the girl’s name was Clarke then.
The moment he was out of their sight, he turned to the girl. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Thank-you so much for that, by the way… uh…” She faltered, as she pushed out her hand for a handshake.
“Bellamy.”
“Clarke.”
They shook hands, and Bellamy could feel O’s eye on him. Just as he was, she was protective of him and of all his relationships, because of one relationship he had once. Echo was nice at first, caring, majoring in Classics like he was. She was funny and smart, and at one point he honestly thought that she might turn out to be the One.
But he was totally wrong about that.
Echo went from being the coolest person on the block, to a psycho bitch who didn’t have any boundaries. The tipping point for him, was when she made out with some other guy, Gustus, right in front of him, expecting him to get jealous and fight Gustus for her or some crazy shit like that. Bellamy just put his stuff down and walked right out on her, effectively ending the relationship.
O was the one to bake him cookies and let him watch Say Yes to the Dress for a few weeks after that breakup.
Just as before, he turned around to her and nodded once, to make sure that she knew that he was all good, because he was going to offer the same courtesy to his sister as she did to him. It was only fair after all. O nodded back, and he knew that she was okay with whatever way this night played out for him.
“Why’d you come over here anyway?” Clarke’s voice shook him out of his stupor, and he looked at her blankly.
O was still staring at him, because she had seen how everything played out, and he knew that she knew that Clarke was going to ask why he had come over and helped her out. She nodded slowly again, not halting her dancing. The moment her focus shifted to the biker guy, he knew that she was done talking with him.
So, in halting detail, he explained what had happened between Finn and Octavia. Clarke’s eyes widened with every word that he said, and he couldn’t bring himself to look at O.
“Oh my god. Oh my god, thank-you.”
“I couldn’t just standby here and watch it happen to someone else.” Bellamy looked at the ground sheepishly.
“Well, in exchange for your extremely chivalrous behaviour, maybe I could have your number?” She held out her hand, and it took Bellamy a few seconds before he realised that she wanted his phone.
“Oh! Yeah, yeah sure.”
They exchanged phones, and then numbers, as he watched Clarke smile down at his phone.
A few seconds later, a text appeared.
From: the chivalrous knight bellamy
hey beautiful x
“God, you’re cheesy!” Bellamy said with a laugh.
“I know. I’ll see you round then?” Clarke said, and something in him was vaguely sad that she was leaving. That confused him, but he accepted the emotion without complaint. Maybe she would be totally different to Echo.
“Yeah. Around.” His voice had a hint of bitterness in it, and she smiled widely at him. There were
“See you Blake.”
“See you, princess.” He winked, and she laughed, before turning around and walking out of the pub.
He looked back at O, only to see her making eyes at him. He just grinned at her before walking off to get another beer. He was most definitely going to find another excuse to see her again.
A few minutes later, his excuse came in the form of a text.
From: Clarkee
Roomie says ur a classics major. How much do you know about Ancient Greek philosophers?
To: Clarkee
A lot. Y?
From: Clarkee
Classics test Thursday. No idea about anything. Come help me study?
To: Clarkee
When and where?
From: Clarkee
Library @ 2 tomorrow. U in?
To: Clarkee
Yeah, why not?
From: Clarkee
No need to sound so dismissive Blake.
To: Clarkee
Sorry then ;) See you them.
From: Clarkee
See ya then.
Bellamy smiled at his phone. The girl had impeccable timing too.
It was a date then, he thought wildly, grinning to himself.