Free Falling {The 100 Rewrite}

17. Trouble Route Home

With one hand, Adalynn held her book open, the other turned on the small burner. A kettle full of water on top of it, mug with a tea bag beside the stove. Eyes not leaving the words, she maneuvered her way back over to the couch. Just as she settled back onto the cushions, a knock at the metal door pulled Adalynn's attention out of the world that was The Goldfinch. She stood from her lounging spot on her couch, her sock clad feet padding their way over to the door, her eyes glancing to the warming kettle on the burner. When she pulled it open, there stood a teary-eyed Bellamy.

"Bell? What happened? Come in." She spoke fast, stepping aside and opening the door wider to allow the boy in. The kettle screeched loudly, steam emitting from the top of the spout.

"Octavia was almost caught today." He said as he entered the small home, like he had so many times before. He went over to the couch, plopping down onto it, the discarded book bouncing with the action and thumbing against his thigh.

"What? How?" Adalynn called as she pulled another mug and tea bag out of the cupboard.

"It was my fault." He spoke quietly, eyes not leaving the metal floor just ahead of him. He listened to the girl's effortless movement around her small kitchen before she appeared in his peripheral vision with two warmed mugs, handing one off to the boy who smiled for a split second before it disappeared again.

"I doubt that."

"It was." He said as he looked up to the girl now, tears still brimming his eyes as he looked into her concerned ones, "I wasn't thinking. I forgot mom picked up a shift cleaning tonight and didn't remember until I was at my door with Maisie. I panicked, started making lame excuses as to why we couldn't be there and before you know it, a guard overheard her yelling and came investigating. He checked the room, I was lucky O heard the argument and hid in her hatch."

He left out the part where Maisie thought Adalynn was on the other side of that door, waiting for him. Left out the part when he defended her quickly when the girl began to call her different words: slut, easy, bitch, homewrecker. All of them were far from the truth.

"Neither of them suspected anything, right?"

"I don't think so." Bellamy shook his head as he looked down at the mug, "The guard left and Maisie broke up with me."

"I'm so sorry, Bell." Adalynn offered her condolences to her closest friend, hand on his shoulder, "For everything that happened."

"It's okay. She wasn't that important or special." He muttered, taking a ship of the warm drink. It wasn't a lie, he had dated half  a dozen girls by now but none of them lived up to Adalynn Kane - they never were her. He couldn't tell her that though. Not now.

"Well trust me when I say the person who wins your heart will be the luckiest person alive." Adalynn said, a tug pulling her heart strings as she said it. She, on the other hand, hadn't dated anyone, never even kissed someone. She waited patiently in hopes that Bellamy would see her as more than a friend but who knows when that would happen.

There was a moment of silence that overtook the room. Neither of them knew what to say, they both just opted to drink their tea instead. Bellamy swiped at his cheek where one lone tear had fallen. The idea that he almost got his sister caught sat heavy with him and the girl in front of him was the only one who knew about his sister outside his family. 

"Thank you for listening to me, for the tea." Bellamy offered up as the two looked at one another again. A different tension, an almost good tension, wrapping around them now.

"Of course, it's what I'm here for." Adalynn smiled with her infamous warmth, "I'll always be here for you. Today, tomorrow, the next day, the day after that, next week, next mon-"