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She was early. Of course she was early. She hated being early, hated being the only one at the large, remote lake house. She’d seen enough of the Friday The 13th movies to know what happened when you were alone at a lake house—or even not alone, psychotic killers didn’t care. So she parked and waited in her car, doors locked, the heat and radio blasting.
Five minutes into the wait, she saw a black truck pull up behind her. A familiar tinge of burning hatred began coursing through her as she picked up her cell phone and called Clarke. “Yo,” It was Octavia.
“Put Clarke on the phone.” Raven snapped.
“She’s driving.” Octavia muttered.
Raven shut her eyes, exhaled an insult she controlled herself to not put into words, “Then put me on speaker.”
Some shuffling noise in the background, then another female voice, “Yeah?” It was Clarke.
Raven looked at her rear view mirror, saw the black hair and tanned skin she would never forget. “He’s here.”
“Who?” Clarke asked in confusion. Raven was sure the blonde woman knew exactly who she was referring to.
“Him.” She hissed.
“Jason Voorhees?” Octavia questioned innocently.
“Fucking Bellamy!” Raven shouted lowly. She looked back in the mirror. He was still in his truck.
“Oh,” Both women breathed, though they didn’t seem at all shocked or concerned.
“Why is he here?” Raven demanded, her hand gripping the phone so tightly she feared she might crush it.
“I invited him.” Octavia answered.
Raven shut her eyes, rubbed her temples. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“Because he’s my brother and he’s our friend, too.” Octavia stated.
“But I’m here.” She whined.
“So observant.” She could practically hear the younger woman roll her eyes.
“I’m gonna—“
“Listen, we’ll be there soon, okay? Just—“ Clarke was cut off my her girlfriend.
“Sort out your shit.” Octavia commanded and then hung up on her. Raven sat there in stunned silence for a few moments, her phone still pressed to her ear, the dial tone echoing through her head. She couldn’t believe this. Well, actually she could, because it was Octavia, and being the devious little sister she was, when she invited Bellamy she probably left out the part that Raven would be there, too.
“You’re such great friends. Both of you. So nice, so caring. Fuck you both.” Raven continued to say into the phone although they had hung up on her.
Oh god, she was pissed. More than pissed; she was livid. She wanted to either kill someone (Octavia? Bellamy? Clarke? All three? She hadn’t decided yet.) or punch her fist through a wall. Or maybe—
She jumped slightly, dropping her phone in her lap, when he knocked on her window. She slowly turned her head, a deep, deadly twisted look on her face. Bellamy gave a little wave, motioned for her to let the window down. She did, just barely. “What?” She snapped, venom lacing her tone. She could have sworn that he flinched back a little.
“It’s, uh, there’s an ice storm coming in.” His deep voice was muffled by the scarf covering his mouth.
Raven hitched an eyebrow. “And?”
Bellamy slumped his shoulders a little. “Are you going to stay in your car?”
She nodded once. “Until Clarke gets here.” She went to raise the window, but his fingers between the opening stopped her. She could have brought the window up anyway. Could have smashed his fingers until they broke. She could have. She should have. She wanted to. She didn’t understand why she didn’t. She really, truly had no idea why.
“You’re going to freeze.” His tone was gentle, and it made her want to punch him in that perfect face of his.
“I have a heater.” Her voice was clipped. Raven was growing more agitated by the second with him standing there.
“If you keep the car going the battery is going to run out and then you’ll freeze in there.” He pointed out. She hated that he was right. Like, really, really hated it. Hated him. Hated Clarke and Octavia for putting her in this situation.
“Fine,” She said through her teeth. She raised the window, not stopping to see if his fingers were still in the opening. They must not have been because he didn’t shout due to them getting crushed. She pulled her keys from the ignition, then grabbed her bag and opened the car door, a little disappointed that Bellamy stepped out of the way before it hit him in the stomach.
She exited the car, slammed the door shut, then brushed past the bundled up man and made her way towards the front door of the lake house. “There’s no—“ Bellamy’s voice cut off when Raven stuck a key into the lock, twisted, and pushed open the door.
“Clarke gave me the spare key before we left.” Raven muttered as they walked into the large house. He nodded, began taking off his scarf and thick jacket. Raven went over to the heater, clicked it on high, but it wouldn’t come on. She flipped the switch a few more times, but nothing. “Damn it,” She went over to the light switch on the wall, flicked it on, but the house remained dark. “Great,” She sighed and plopped down on the couch. “No heat, no power. And who doesn’t have a goddamn fireplace in their lake house?” She whipped a hand out towards the center of the living room. There was a decorated mantel but no fireplace. How smart.
Bellamy was about to say something but stopped short at the loud clank of ice hitting the roof. So the snow storm had started already. Raven wanted to kick her own ass for getting herself stuck in this situation. How were they supposed to stay warm in a freezing house? Cuddle? Yeah, no fucking way. She thought with mild disgust. She’d rather turn to an ice cube.
“I’ll try to find some candles and blankets.” Bellamy said. When he got no response from the dark haired woman he sighed to himself and then disappeared to the back of the house. Raven took out her phone, hell bent on calling Clarke and giving her a piece of her mind, but of course she had no service due to the storm. And there was no way in hell the others would arrive at the house any time soon with that deadly storm going on. So Raven was stuck with Bellamy for gods know how long.
Just her and him.
Alone.
She wanted to scream.
“I couldn’t find any candles but I found some blankets.” The man said as he emerged back into the living room, holding several thick blankets in his arms.
Raven rolled her eyes, brought her knees to her chest. “My hero.” Her dull voice was saturated in sarcasm. Bellamy put the blankets down beside her, sat on the opposite end of the couch. He wanted to say something but didn’t know what. Every time he brought up the thing she just started yelling. He supposed she had every right to yell, but if she would just let him explain…
“So, where’s Roma?” Raven asked suddenly, her tone dark. She kept her eyes on the wall in front of her, careful to not shift her gaze towards him.
The man shrugged. “Probably with Monroe.” His tone was aloof and that pissed her off even more.
“Surprised you didn’t invite her.” The woman went on, her body heating up with every word and every thought she had of that night she caught them.
Bellamy sighed deeply, ran his hands through his hair. He knew this was coming. He should have been more prepared. It was the beginning of WWIII and he had no guns. “Why would I do that?”
She looked at him then, sharp eyes and tight lips, her heart pounding with anger. “Because she’s your girlfriend.” Raven stated. She remembered that night vividly; a month ago, it was around ten pm, she was walking down the street, just got off work. She passed by a nice Italian restaurant, five stars, and saw Bellamy and his ex girlfriend, Roma sitting at one of the tables. Smiling and laughing. She was leaning over the table and he was invested in the conversation. It was like a rage monster had taken Raven over, because the next thing she knew she’d stormed into the restaurant, cussing both of them out. Poured the expensive wine all over Bellamy’s head, dumped his food in his lap, then stomped out in a fiery explosion before the owner called the police. Bellamy had run after her, tried to explain, begged her to listen. But there was nothing to explain, there was no reason for her to listen. She saw what she saw and that was the end of it. She packed his bags that night, set them out in their apartment hallway, kept the door locked when he came to get them, ignored his many pleas to let him in so that they could talk. She kept the door locked, refused to talk to him.
Raven’s only ever experienced pain and heartbreak like that one other time in her life. She guessed she was cursed with dating people who would always cheat on her.
“You’re not even—“
“I wasn’t cheating on you!” Bellamy suddenly blurted, his voice high and frantic as he jumped up from the couch and turned to her. Raven was silenced, momentarily stunned by his outburst.
It lasted only a few seconds before she jumped off the couch, too, pointed an accusing finger, and shouted, “I saw you!”
Bellamy looked down at her, his face softening when he saw her eyes glistening with tears. “I wasn’t cheating on you.” He said softly. “I would never…I would never do that.”
“Then why were you at a five star restaurant with Roma? Your ex?” She questioned, her voice strained. She was trying so incredibly hard to not let tears fall or her voice crack. She hated that she cried easily, especially when she was pissed off. It did not help with the unbreakable exterior she was trying to show.
The dark haired man shrugged a shoulder. “She was in town and wanted to catch up. Jesus, Raven, we dated for one year in high school.” He pointed out, throwing his arms in the air in exasperation.
“And you were in love with her!” She argued, her voice rising. Bellamy turned away from her as she continued, softer, “I remember you coming to my house a mess the night you broke up.”
He spun around, eyes wild with tears and begging. “Because she cheated on me!” He exclaimed. “How could you think I would cheat on you with someone who cheated on me?” He put his hands on his hips, waited for her to answer, but she was silent.
Raven looked away from the man, crossed her arms loosely across her chest, shook her head a little. “Because maybe you realized you’re still in love with her.” That was always her fear. That Bellamy would see what such a short fused, mess of a woman she was and go running back to Roma or someone else from his past, or look for someone better in the future.
The man stifled a laugh, sat back down on the couch, hung his head, then said, “Roma wanted to tell me that she was getting married.” He looked up at Raven, who was now standing on the other side of the room, her back to him. “To Monroe. The woman she cheated on me with.” She faced him at that, ice running down her spine, her eyes bulging from her skull. He continued, “They’re getting married next April and they invited us to the wedding.”
He could have easily been lying, she knew, but from the desperate tone of his voice and the defeated body language he was exerting, she knew that it was the truth. That, and Bellamy had never lied to her. Not once. Not when they were kids, not when they were teenagers, not when they were dating, and not now.
The dark skinned woman kept her arms crossed as she strode back towards the man, sat down on the couch, though careful to keep a few inches away from him. All the rage had subsided from her voice when she spoke. “Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?” She questioned, her voice a mangled wreck, cracking and hoarse from the tears that threatened to fall and all the screaming just moments before.
“Because you wouldn’t listen to me.” Bellamy stated bluntly. His tone wasn’t harsh but it might as well have been because it slashed her like a million little knives. She flinched back slightly as he continued, not looking up at her, “You wouldn’t let me get a single word in. You saw what you saw and came to the conclusion yourself. I tried to explain it to you a million times, but you just blew me off.”
And she did, yes, because the betrayal had consumed her heart. Raven couldn’t stand to look at him, much less hear his voice, begging and pleading over and over again to hear him out, let him in, return his calls, just let him explain. She refused everything. Clarke had been on her side, of course, as a good best friend would, but Octavia was skeptical about the whole situation. She was pissed at first, but then after a talk with Bellamy she calmed down, tried to get Raven to call him. Raven understood her loyalty to her brother, she really did, and she understood the position Octavia was in—best friends with Raven, sister to Bellamy—but she expected at least a little more from her longtime friend. After a week Octavia had given up trying to get the older woman to talk to him and for that Raven was thankful.
Finally, she whispered, defeated by her own stubbornness, “I was upset.”
Bellamy turned to her then, his dark eyes locked on hers. “You didn’t have to be.”
“So this is my fault. Us breaking up.” She stated, a few tears finally slipping out of her reddened eyes. She quickly wiped them away with her shirt sleeve, didn’t want him to see her cry.
He shook his head, scooted a little closer to her, hesitantly reached out and placed his hand over hers, gave it a little squeeze. “No, it’s my fault. I should have told you I was having dinner with her. I…know how it must have looked. I know why you thought I was cheating, but I hoped you would think better of me.” He hadn’t meant for the words to sting, she knew, but they did.
She placed her hand over the one he had on hers, squeezed it tightly, said with sincerity, “I do think better of you, Bellamy.” His face was skeptical. “Of course I think better of you, which is why I got so irate when I saw you in that restaurant. I never had to worry if you were cheating or not. So when I saw you…” She trailed off, searching for the right words.
“It felt like the ultimate betrayal.” He finished for her.
She nodded. “You are…the best man, if not the best person, I’ve ever met. But after the whole Finn thing…I just…”
“Never really let your guard down.” He was sitting fully beside her now, their shoulders and legs touching. They were looking at each other, both of their eyes bloodshot. He squeezed her hand tighter. “I love you, Raven. I’m not Finn; I would never hurt you like he did.” He declared, his voice strong.
She nodded, a lump forming in her throat. “I know that.”
“But do you really?” He cocked his head to the side, a sad look in his eyes. “You say you do, but do you?”
“I do.” She assured with confidence. “I know. I know. I love you.” She leaned in, touched her forehead to his, ease settling through her body. They sat like that for a few moments, holding each other’s hands tightly, their foreheads resting against one another’s. Breathing in the comfortable silence, all the tension and anger vanished from the air.
“So does this mean we’re together again?” It was Bellamy who spoke, hopefulness in his voice.
Raven exhaled deeply, laughed, “Fuck, I hope so.” They both laughed. “Move your things back into the apartment when we get back. I know Murphy must be driving you insane by now.”
Bellamy shrugged, smiled, “He’s not so bad.” Raven raised her eyebrows, a little shocked. His smile faded, then he admitted, “Okay, he’s killing me. He and Emori have sex every night and it wouldn’t be so bad if he wasn’t so loud.”
The dark haired woman choked on a laugh. “He’s loud?”
Bellamy nodded, a serious look on his face. “So loud.”
“Oh man.”
“You’re going to give him shit about it, aren’t you?”
Raven nodded several times. “Hell yes I am.” Bellamy just grinned.
After all was said and done, they huddled up on the couch, under a cocoon of blankets, tangled up together. Raven had missed this; Bellamy’s body against hers, his arms around her, his face pressed against her neck, his hands running through her hair. It was comfortable; it was home, and she never wanted it to go away again.
Clarke, Octavia, and the others arrived at the lake house the next morning. Clarke entered the home, calling out to Raven and Bellamy, hoping she wouldn’t find a blood bath in her living room and a dead body on the floor. Instead, to her blatant surprise, she found the both of them cuddled up together on the couch, sleeping heavily.
“Well, well,” The blonde muttered, stopping in the room threshold.
“Huh,” Octavia stepped up beside her, a relieved and amused smile on her face. “Guess they sorted out their shit.” She shrugged, went back outside to gather her bags.
“Guess so.” Clarke smiled and then followed after her girlfriend, shutting the front door behind her, careful to not wake the sleeping couple.