Work Text:
An unbreakable curtain of hush, fell over the coffee shop for the first time all morning. Clarke fell back into her comfy chair and stared blindly at the ceiling. Her eyes scraped with wandering intent over the few other customers idling around the room. A young couple encompassed in a bubble of their own whispers, giggles and loving stares. A woman wrapped tight in a midnight trench coat seeming to be elsewhere, the window or all that was beyond it held her attention. Finally, an aged man sat, cane by his side, newspaper in his lap and coffee to his lips, just taking in the calming atmosphere as she did.
She returned her attention back to where it was supposed to be. The laptop sat looking decidedly dejected on the small table in front of her. A dog eared sketch pad sat beside it, flipped open to a page of a half sketched hedged field, complete with cattle grazing and roaring sunlight that was certainly not present on that day. A heavy downpour awaited any unfortunate or stupid souls who tried/had to brave it.
Guilt crept through her as her fingers skimmed the half finished landscape. She needed to finish that essay… But procrastination is such a terrible thing. She lost herself in the lulling atmosphere of the cafe and the pencil countryside as it grew and changed in her light fingers.
Many hours later, a quiet “Eh hem.” Echoed in the space just behind her and she jumped a foot. Wide eyed and completely disorientated, she turned to find quite the stunning man standing before her, seeming a little sheepish, if the way he inclined his head and would not make any eye contact hinted to.
“I’m sorry, but we are closing now.” He mumbled almost unintelligibly. She must have still looked doe eyed and completely out of her element because he went to repeat himself, but she just about cut him off in time saying “Oh um, sorry… uh”.
At this exact and very moment everything clicked, she noticed he was an employee, since a brown apron was tied loosely around his waist and it was likely he was even the one who served her, hours earlier. She also noticed again but with increased effect, that this man in front of her was utterly gorgeous. A mass of curly brown hair, that was just barely out of his eyes it was that long. Chocolate brown eyes, that he seemed determined not to stare at her with. A mouth that was ghosted with a small smile, which he seemingly was trying to hide but failing miserably to do so. But the most eye catching part of this man, were his freckles. They were like God had just sprinkled constellations across his beautiful face, as if wanting to add to an already perfect masterpiece.
…
Where did she go for a minute there.
Wow
The smile erupted suddenly into a soft smirk - she’d been staring for too long and they both knew it. A puff of blush filled her cheeks and she stuttered something resembling an excuse before realising she should be leaving like a normal person would do in this situation. Like he asked her to.
She motioned to pack away her laptop, the screen saver had probably been on for over an hour, since she’d been sketching…
As she was wrestling her overly large laptop into her overly small bag, she nudged her precious sketchbook off her knee, where she’d forgot about it due to… reasons. Either way in landed with a ceremonious thud at the freckled stranger’s feet. And her world collapsed. Like it entirely exploded and imploded simultaneously as he lifted it with careful fingers and began to flip through it. There were no words for how she felt, except maybe utter despair.
You see, Clarke was not normally a shy person. Wells knew that for sure, from lots of playful childhood arguments over nothings. But this was different, no one had ever seen her drawings save for Wells and that was completely by accident. She was a closet artist, so what? The stranger’s eyes roamed over the pages as she stared on without saying a word. She busied herself, not wanting to watch his face for criticism or compliments.
He nudged her lightly and watched as she jumped again having fully immersed herself in not paying him any attention. She looked at him and he smiled, saying quietly that her drawings were amazing. She blushed. They stared mutually at each other for the first time and then… Miller happened.
“Blake!” a name echoed throughout the small café as another taller man appeared behind the counter. Both of their eyes flitted to him and a grin laced with a bit of malice slid across this new stranger’s face as he saw Clarke. “Man, either ask out the cute girl or tell her we’re closing” Blush erupted furiously across the pair’s faces and they wouldn’t look at each other.
“Shut up Miller.” Blake mumbled, as they both avoided the other’s eyes. Miller chuckled before disappearing slowly with yet another cunning smile plastered across his face. “Um, hey, well, uhhhh.” Came Blake’s failed attempt at conversation before he just splurdged words all over the place. “I’m Bellamy and I kind of have been watching you all afternoon and I really like your hair and your drawings are really cool and ummmm could I get your number? Oh yeah and your name, that’d be good, but only if you want to, oh damn, sorry it’s ok if you don’t want to uhhh...”
Well there have been more eloquent speeches in history and that was a bit of a tidal wave of words and it is safe to say that Clarke was a bit floored, slightly. But he looked so desperately nervous and extremely sincere so she collected herself from her small puddle of emotions and shock and wrote down her name and number with shaky fingers, deducing that using words wouldn’t really end well.
Hours later he calls.
And hours later she’s still talking to him.
Hearing about a life filled with a very independent but loving sister and her monstrously tall and muscled boyfriend who - and these are his words - he might’ve tried to beat up when they started going out only to fail since the boyfriend was literally too well built for him to be able to actually hurt the guy. He also mentioned a bunch of friends of his sister’s who were the literal embodiment of lovable idiots.
She told him about Wells, her best friend and Raven, her other best friend and the very weird way of how they became so close in the first place. Namely a proper bastard who played them both, only for them to meet and then collectively kick his ass and become friends out of their mutual hatred of him. She also told him about the degree in medicine she was in the middle of and how she wanted to be able to save people like her mother even though she didn’t get along with her.
By the end it was 5am and they were both extremely dazed and sleep deprived, but when they hung up with promises of meeting at a quaint little bookstore sometime, she felt herself grinning down to her very toes at this extremely unexpected turn of events.