Chapter Text
The Griffin family has been known to be slightly overbearing at times, and Clarke is usually rather adept at handling everything that entails. She’s a master at fielding her mother’s demands about her life after college, she deals with her father’s constant nosiness, and hell, she even handles her obnoxious brother Wick’s unusual protectiveness that manifests itself through overt sarcasm and humorous intimidation (his words, not hers). One thing she can’t handle though, is Grandma Griffin’s need for her to find a husband.
“Wick, please just explain to her that I have too much school work to be looking for a husband,” Clarke muttered into the phone.
“Oh come on,” he dragged out the last word in response. “You and I both know that saying that just results in the story of how she married Papaw when she was 18, had dad when she was 19, and still managed to get through college. Grandma is a force of nature.”
“Well what else am I supposed to respond with? She already thinks I’m an old maid headed for a future with too many cats.”
“Bring a date to my wedding at least. That should hold her off for at least a year or so.”
“You’re getting married in three weeks, Kyle.” Clarke deadpanned.
“I am?! Well geez. That’s news to me. Did you hear that, Raven?” Clarke could hear him shouting away from the phone. “Clarke says I’m getting married in three weeks!”
“Who would be dumb enough to marry you?” She heard Raven shout back before her brother and future sister-in-law broke into laughter. Clarke missed them terribly. Unfortunately Clarke went to school across the country from her hometown in Virginia. Wick had gone there, too, but he was exactly four years ahead of her and moved back east right when she moved out to California.
“You guys are idiots. But you know what I meant. I can’t get a date in that time.”
“Not with that attitude you can’t.”
“Could you please be serious for just one second? Now that you have Raven, Grandma only has me to obsess over and I just don’t want to disappoint her.”
“I know, I know.” Her brother, to his credit, did manage to sound somewhat sincere. “You aren’t a disappointment to anyone though. You’re a kickass gal-”
“A gal? What is this? An old timey-”
“Would you just let me finish? I’m trying to be nice to you for once. You should be savoring this not mocking me.”
“Fine. Get on with singing my praises.” She smiled into the receiver and settled onto her couch.
“I was saying that you’re a kickass gal, and you’re brilliant, and organized, and incredibly talented and you don’t need a significant other to impress anyone- even Grandma.”
“I know that, it’s just that the one thing she’s ever wanted for me is to be as happy in a marriage as she and Papaw have been and I just want to give her some hope that it might actually happen to me at some point, you know?”
“Yeah I get that. Just find someone to bring to the wedding and I’ll tell her that you’re in a relationship, okay?”
“Who am I going to convince to buy a plane ticket to Virginia, wear a tux, and tell my grandmother they’re in love with me?”
“Well I mean you could try asking someone who’s already on the guest list of you’d like,” Wick’s tone was one that she knew meant trouble and it didn’t take more than a second for her to realize what he meant.
“No way am I making Bellamy pretend to be my boyfriend. That’s a bad rom-com waiting to happen and you know it.”
“You love rom-coms,” he replied.
“Everybody loves rom-coms but aside from the fact that doing that would be a cheap plot, I don’t want to ask him to do that. It’s an inconvenience to him and I think it’s pushing it a little bit, don’t you? I mean he’s your friend not mine.”
“I know for a fact he is just as much your friend as he is mine at this point. I may have forced him to watch out for you when I moved back here, but he’s stuck around you for three years because he likes you, not because he likes me.” Clarke knew Wick was right. When she came out to school Wick had made sure that his friend Bellamy would help her get settled and watch out for her when Wick couldn’t since Bellamy was just starting his senior year when Clarke was a freshman. Bellamy soon figured out that Clarke didn’t need watching out for and was entirely capable of handling herself, but the two had become good friends anyways and it was nice to already know someone in a new place so they’d stuck together.
“Yes I know. I just don’t wanna make things weird.” As if on cue, there was a knock at Clarke’s door. “Wait one sec, someone’s at the door.” She got up and made her way over to the door.
“Is it Blake himself?”
“I hate you, but yes. We’re getting dinner before we go to the library to study.”
“Ask him to be your date to the wedding,”
“Please stop talking to me,” Clarke said as she opened the door. Bellamy furrowed his brow at her and pointed to himself in question.
She rolled her eyes in answer, pointed to the phone. “Brother.”
“Aha. Tell Wick I say hello.” He commented as he moved into the apartment.
“I’m not going to do that. Wick doesn’t deserve a hello. He’s being obnoxious today.”
“Hey! I am trying to help you here. No need to get snippy,” Wick admonished in her ear.
“Put him on speaker phone.” Bellamy took a step towards her and started reaching for the phone.
“No I really don’t think that you want me to do that. Actually Wick was just hanging up he has-” He playfully snatched the phone from her hand before she could finish her protests.
“Hey, Wick! Why doesn’t your sister want me to talk to you?” Clarke lunged after him trying to recover her cell. He put it on speaker and held it above his head so she couldn’t reach it
“Because she’s being a baby,” came the reply.
“Wow, thanks big brother.” Clarke snapped as she continued to struggle to get her phone back.
“Well, you are. Clarke needs a date to my wedding so our grandmother won’t think she’s going to die alone.”
“Oh,” Bellamy said, halting the pursuit and leaving the two of them standing much too close together for Clarke’s comfort. “I’ll be your date.”
“I told you he’d do it!”
“You really don’t have to, Bellamy. I couldn’t ask you to-”
“You’re not asking, I’m offering. Plus, who else are you going to convince to fly across the country with you on such short notice.” Bellamy’s tone was adamant, and as much as she would have liked to, Clarke knew that there was no point in arguing with him about it. His mind was made up.
“That’s what I said,” Wick contributed.
“You know it isn’t just like a friend date,” She was still too close to him, looking up at him with an imploring expression. “We would have to pretend it was like a date date.”
“I think we can handle it, Clarke. Plus it isn’t like you have any other options.
“She thinks it’s a great idea. She’ll do it, thanks Bell.”
Bellamy smiled at Wick’s comment and Clarke was starting to realize how much of a bad idea this was. She took a step back and Bellamy lowered his arm from where he’d been holding the phone out of her reach.
“C’mon, it won’t be the end of the world and I know how your Grandma gets. We’re both in the wedding party, we’re already great friends, it just makes sense,” She started to open her mouth to reply but knowing where she was headed he cut her off. “And it Isn’t an inconvenience to me. It’ll be fun.”
“Fine,” she conceded, “but I told Wick earlier, I am not letting this play out like one of those stupid romantic comedies, okay?” She heard her brother start laughing over the phone and Bellamy smirked.
“Then all you have to do is promise not to fall in love with me and we’re set.”
“Oh, shut up. We all know you’d fall for me first,” she shoved him lightly.
“Please, princess, I’m a catch and you know it.”
“Gross you guys, save your flirting for the wedding,” Clarke had almost forgotten that her brother was still listening in. “I’ll tell the grandmother you’re bringing a date. Also you’re welcome for solving your problems sister, dearest. I have to go, Raven needs some help with flowers or something. I’ll talk to you guys later.”
“Love you, Kyle.”
“Bye, Wick,” Bellamy said and hung up her phone for her.
Clarke walked back to the couch and Bellamy followed, taking his usual seat beside her. There was a halfway uncomfortable silence that hung between them. Clarke let it linger for a few pointed seconds while she avoided eye contact.
“I promise not to make this weird if you promise, too.” Clarke rushed out.
“I pinky promise. We don’t even have to talk about it until we get on the plane.”
Clarke turned towards him and shook pinkies with him, the juvenile action breaking the tension of the situation for a full two and a half weeks until they found themselves on the plane headed for Virginia.
…
The first leg of the trip went off without a hitch. It wasn’t until after the connection in Atlanta that Clarke even started to stress. She would have been totally fine if it were just a wedding that Bellamy had to pretend to like her for, but the wedding was still five days away. But she was the maid of honor and Bellamy was a groomsman so they were flying in early. That meant several days of maintaining the falsity of a relationship. Maybe they would only tell Grandma Griffin they were together and let everyone else know it was a lie. That was a solid plan, right?
It wasn’t that she was particularly nervous about convincing anyone- they got asked if they were together all the time. It was just that she still felt like it was such an inconvenience to be making him do this for her.
Clarke Griffin was many things, but she was especially known for her fierce independence. It was a gift and a curse, though. It meant that she hated asking for help more than almost anything else. It had actually caused problems with hers and Bellamy’s relationship when they first met.
As Bellamy did all he could to try and help her get settled she fought his assistance tirelessly. It didn’t matter that she actually needed assistance carrying all of her things to her fourth floor dorm. He was insistent though. They argued every time he tried to help her for months. It wasn’t until Clarke ended up slightly tipsy at a party after a good game of quarters and the only person she could find that she knew was Bellamy that things changed. It turned out that drunk Clarke wasn’t a great navigator and that saying “I need you” can go a long way towards building a relationship (also a pretty good way to get help back to your dorm).
So of course when Clarke was panicked on the plane Bellamy knew it. He reached his hand over the armrest to grab hers and reassured her that everything would be fine, it was no trouble at all, and that he wanted to help her. But of course he didn’t say that- he didn’t need to. He just took her hand, gave her a huge smile and said “together,” but she understood what that really meant.
He took her hand again after they’d grabbed their carry-ons and deplaned, only this time it was to play boyfriend. Jake griffin met them by the baggage claim with a sweeping hug for Clarke. Bellamy reached out his hand to Clarke’s father but was taken in for a hug as well.
“We’ve met enough times now that we can do away with the formalities, son. You’re in my son’s wedding and you’re dating my daughter,” Jake beamed.
Clarke couldn’t help but smile at the way Bellamy took this in stride- hugging her father back and returning the grin. It had been two minutes of pretending, but already she felt like he fit well as her boyfriend.
That couldn’t possibly be good.
The drive from the airport to the Griffin family home was spent discussing work and school and catching up with the details that don’t get shared with a country between family members. Clarke was content to listen to her father talk about his co-workers and talk to Bellamy about his master’s program until they reached the house.
Well, house was a modest word for it.
The Griffins were wealthy- that was undeniable. Abby had come from a rich southern family and made quite a paycheck being a surgeon and Jake was an incredibly gifted engineer. There might have been a time that Clarke would worry that their finances would intimidate Bellamy, but that time was long passed.
Bellamy hadn’t exactly had an easy upbringing. His mother was neglectful in his early years and her lack of attention had put raising his younger sister Octavia mostly in his hands. Everything he did was for her until he was about 16 and his mother met Jordan, who was now his stepfather. By the time Bellamy was ready to go to college, Aurora Blake had cleaned up her act, stopped drinking, and made amends with her children. Bellamy was able to go to school with a great scholarship and only a limited amount of fear for Octavia getting on without him. His rough upbringing though had left him bitter and with an intense distrust of people with money. Wick had helped ease him out of that and for that Clarke was thankful.
She was thankful in general for the relationship her brother had formed with Bellamy. They had met at the campus student center in what was Bellamy’s sophomore year and Wick’s junior year and had hit it off immediately. Their friendship was sealed when Wick proved his worth as an excellent wing man and Bellamy actually thought Wick’s jokes were funny (they were not). More than that, though, they treated one another like brothers.
They bonded over the protectiveness they felt towards their sisters, too. Wick had always been looking out for Clarke like Bellamy had for Octavia, only the boys showed it differently. Clarke was certain that Wick could be credited in helping Bellamy finally ease up on the way he treated Octavia because Wick’s protective nature manifested itself in a more gentle way than Bellamy’s. The two had helped each other a thousand times over. They had quite the “bromance”.
The strength of their relationship was evident in their reunion. Clarke watched as they met with a bone-crushing bear hug and a few teary eyes that she knew would be denied later on. Her gaze was interrupted though when Raven pulled her in for a similar embrace.
Clarke couldn’t be more thrilled that the girl was going to be her sister-in-law in a few short days. Reyes had barreled into her life four years earlier when she had come to visit her boyfriend from college. It turned out that Raven’s boyfriend was also Clarke’s boyfriend. The two had cut him out of their lives and gotten each other instead of heartbreak.
Clarke had introduced Wick and Raven that thanksgiving when he came home from break and her brother was immediately smitten but Raven took much longer to fall. The rocky start to their relationship was water under the bridge now, though because eventually she fell like a ton of bricks from a skyscraper. The only two people Clarke had ever seen more in love were her Grandma Griffin and Papaw.
“Kyle told me about you and Bell- the real story that is,” Raven whispered to Clarke as they hugged and Clarke felt a wave of relief wash over her knowing that she wouldn’t have to lie to her best friend, too.
“I have a hundred bucks that says you won’t get through the week without really dating, though.”
“Raven!” Clarke gasped in response and the relief left as quickly as it had shown up. She found herself blushing furiously and pulling away from Raven so she could smack her in the shoulder.
“Clarke!” Wick shouted as he picked her up and spun her around.
“I missed you, Kyle,” she smiled into his shoulder. The Griffin children were great friends. When they were younger they fought constantly, but around the time Wick got to high school their spats became less fiery and they turned civility into a great relationship. When Wick went to college they got even closer, texting almost every day and appreciating their time together even more. She really had missed him with all of her heart.
“I missed you too, kid,” he said. “You got here just in time for lunch! To the kitchen!” He started half carrying her, half walking her backwards towards the houses kitchen until they both started laughing too hard and had to let go.
It felt good to be home.
The meal was spent much like the car ride had been, laughing and catching up until long after the food was eaten. As the afternoon wore on the conversation switched to the wedding week schedule and Clarke found herself tallying up the events she would have to attend and pretend to be with Bellamy.
There was a family dinner that night, the bachelorette party the following night, tea with the Griffin grandparents on Wednesday, a whole day of last minute details and wedding party responsibilities on Thursday, the rehearsal dinner on Friday and the actual wedding on Saturday. Clarke was ecstatic for the week to come but couldn’t help the nerves she felt, too.
“Clarke? You still with us?” She was snapped out of her thoughts by Raven.
“Oh, yeah, sorry.”
“Good. We should probably actually get going, Clarke. I have an appointment with the florist in a little bit for us to check over the details for the arrangements. Raven stood up from the table and the boys started clearing the dishes away.
The trip to the florist was short. Raven approved of the sage and white rose bouquets with varying pomegranate colored accents. Raven had surprised everyone by how traditional she’d been in the planning process for the ceremony. She had wanted the long white dress, the church, the flowers- all of it. And everyone was happy to give it to her. Clarke suspected it had something to do with Raven’s unconventional childhood. Her mother had essentially left Raven to fend for herself growing up and it had made Raven scary strong in ways no one should ever have to be and guarded with just about everything. She rarely did what anyone expected her to and instead found her own way in everything. But her wedding was going to be old, new, borrowed, blue, and perfect.
The girls returned home to the Griffin’s with just enough time to put on sundresses for dinner. Clarke descended the stairs into the foyer and felt Bellamy’s eyes on her immediately. She was halfway to him before she even realized where her feet were taking her, but that was just because she was supposed to be dating him, of course. Her subconscious was just concerned with keeping up appearances. That’s all.
And the blinding grin he sent her way was just an act, she reminded herself.
“You look lovely, Clarke,” he greeted with a kiss to her forehead. This was nothing new- he’d done things like that before- kisses on cheeks and foreheads were casually exchanged with thank yous and greetings between them, so why was Clarke suddenly feeling so giddy over the way his lips pressed against her skin?
“You’re not so bad yourself,” she returned his smile before her family seemed to all notice her at once. She was taken in a flurry of hugs from cousins, aunts, and grandparents who were thrilled at her arrival back in Virginia. She hardly saw Bellamy again until everyone moved to be seated at the long wooden table in the dining room.
He met her eyes and moved towards her with a grace only he could possess in what Clarke would categorize as a very stressful situation. He was no doubt about to be grilled about being her boyfriend by her entire family yet he looked completely at ease as he pulled her chair out for her and took his place at her side.
Clarke, on the other hand, was trying not to panic. She had never been especially good at lying (something she probably ought to have taken into consideration before she had decided to take on a fake boyfriend) but here she was. It didn’t take long for her family to realize there was a handsome stranger at Clarke’s side and before the mashed potatoes could even be passed Grandma Griffin had zeroed in on Bellamy.
“Well, Clarke, who is your friend, here?” She crooned with a knowing grin on her face.
“This is Bellamy Blake, my boyfriend,” huh. The lie slid off of her tongue much more easily than she had anticipated. Her grandmother looked delighted.
“Well, Bellamy,” Grandma was practically beaming already. “Tell us about yourself. How did you two meet?”
Clarke and Bellamy had agreed to keep their story as truthful as possible and what they had come up with was hardly a stretch at all. Bellamy recounted the way Wick had asked him to help her out all the way up to their current day lives, the only alteration being that they’d been seeing one another for three months now. He had her whole family’s rapt attention and she was glad that Bellamy was so charismatic because he handled their focus like a pro.
She didn’t realize that she was staring at him with a dazed and lazy grin until she got swift but subtle elbow to the ribs from a smirking Raven beside her. She blushed furiously and turned her attention to her food, pointedly ignoring the fact that she couldn’t quite ditch the smile.
The rest of dinner was a breeze and her family finally finished interrogating her fake boyfriend and let him relax to move onto harassing a younger cousin about his college plans.
“How’d I do?” he leaned over to whisper in her ear. She didn’t miss the genuine concern in his voice.
“You were perfect,” she whispered back truthfully and was rewarded with a look that was more bashful than anything else. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him look that kind of shy before. Since when was Bellamy bashful about anything? This whole ruse was getting stranger and stranger and it had only been half a day.
The family migrated away from the dinner table and mingled over drinks and dessert for a while before the extended relatives left for their respective hotel rooms and those staying at the house made their ways to bed. Soon it was just Wick, Raven, Bellamy, and Clarke left chatting around the island in the kitchen with a few beers between them.
“I have to say,” Wick started, teasing in his tone. “You two make a lovely couple.”
The group collapsed into laughter at that. It was true, though. Bellamy had stuck dutifully by her side through the evening, a warm presence through all of the conversations. He had even saved her from a few uncomfortable discussions about grad school and helped keep chat light when it started veering towards more controversial subjects. He was a dream when it came to small talk. She, in turn, had laughed at all of his jokes glared at her uncle Jeff before he could talk about how useless he thought Bellamy’s course of study was, and been as delightful as she could manage. They did make a great couple, they made the best couple, and maybe that should have scared Clarke more than it did, but for now she was just too relieved to have a break from pretending to dwell on it.
“No, really. Grandma was elated, she seems to really like the pair of you,” Wick continued.
“She did seem really happy,” Clarke felt a slight pang of guilt. She was lying to her own grandmother after all, but she couldn’t deny how good it felt to see Grandma Griffin looking to pleased.
“Of course she was happy. I’m incredible,” Bellamy was doing that stupid smirk thing Clarke hated with mischief in his eyes. Her heart was fine. Totally fine.
“Please,” she rolled her eyes. “They just love me. You’re practically an accessory. Like a watch, or a nice pair of shoes.”
“I’ll have you know that I am the nicest pair of shoes you’ll ever have,” He drew the hand that wasn’t holding his beer to his chest and mocked offense.
Clarke was about to make a remark about the Louboutins she had upstairs in her closet but a loud yawn from her brother cut her off.
“Well, kids,” Raven said. “Wick and I actually have to work in the morning, so we’re going to go home instead of watching the two of you stand around and flirt. Goodnight!”
“She’s right. Goodnight Clarke,” Wick came around the island and Clarke leaned her face up so he could kiss her on the cheek before he left. He gave Bellamy one of those “bro” nod things that guys did, with a “Bell,” and then the two of them were gone.
Clarke’s heart felt full. It was cliched to say, but it was true. She’d spent the day with the people she loved most in the world and she hadn’t been this happy in a long time. She looked to Bellamy to find that he was already staring at her, a look of unguarded contentment gracing his complexion.
“What?” She matched his gaze.
“Nothing, I just like seeing you so happy.”
It didn’t surprise her that he knew exactly what she’d been feeling. She was an open book (well not really, he just knew how to read her).
“That’s good, because I like feeling this happy.”
They stood there in the kitchen, him leaning back casually against the counter, Clarke mirroring him against the island, just grinning lazily at one another before he cleared his throat and looked at his watch.
“Well it is pretty late and we’ve both got long nights tomorrow so we should stock up on sleep while we can,” He said.
“Ugh Raven is going to make us stay out all night. I’m not sure my body is ever going to be ready to consume the amount of alcohol we’ll undoubtedly consume, either,” she felt a little wobbly on her feet just thinking about it, or maybe it was just that Bellamy was standing very close behind her as he reached around her where she was trying to rinse out the Blue Moon bottle in the sink to take it from her. “My lame and original brother is probably just going to take all of you groomsmen to a strip club and then leave after half an hour to go bowling instead because he’s so smitten with Raven he won’t enjoy being surrounded by strippers,” Clarke felt like she was babbling- a nervous habit of hers. That didn’t make any sense though. She had no reason to be nervous. It wasn’t like being alone with Bellamy was having any effect on her. They’d been together just like this hundreds of times before.
Bellamy had essentially caged her in with his arms on either side of her as he rinsed out the bottles for them. Too soon though he was moving away and tossing them in the recycling bin they kept next to the trash.
“Yeah Wick is whipped in every way. I would expect nothing less out of his bachelor party. Especially since Monty is planning it,” Bellamy said as they walked to the stairs together. If he noticed her rambling he didn’t indicate it.
“I didn’t know you knew Monty,” Clarke replied. Monty was a co-worker of Wick’s that she’d known since they’d been in high school together. He was younger than she was, but he was also brilliant and had finished high school at 15 and college at 18. He was also Wick’s best man.
“Yeah, we’ve only spoken a few times, but I get the vibe that the only part of partying he really understands is the drinking,” Bellamy said, and was surprisingly accurate.
“Get ready to try the strongest moonshine you’ve ever had,” She smiled. “I can’t wait to see you hungover on Wednesday.” Bellamy had an annoyingly high tolerance for alcohol and she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him completely drunk.
“I don’t get hangovers, Clarke. You know that,” another annoying quality of his.
“Just wait,” she was certain Monty’s moonshine would do him in.
They’d reached the top of stairs by now where they had to part ways. His guest room being on the opposite side of the house from hers. There was a distinct pause before they moved, though, both of them unsure how to say goodnight.
“Thanks for-” Clarke said at the same time Bellamy stuttered out
“I uh-” They both stopped.
“You go ahead,” Bellamy rushed.
“I just wanna say thank you again. You know, for pretending to be my boyfriend and all.” She nodded as she spoke.
“I mean it’s a pretty hard thing to do, you know. You’re kind of a monster,” he teased lightheartedly.
“No, seriously,” she hit him lightly on the chest. “My family really does love you.”
“It’s the curse of being charming,” he looked shy again. She liked it.
“Goodnight,” She breathed out. Clarke reached up to his jaw and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
She turned away and heard him say goodnight after her, but missed the way he stayed standing where she’d left him, smiling sadly for just a beat too long.