Business Before Pleasure (A Bellarke Modern AU)

Chapter Two

Clarke woke up late for the first time in her life. When she rolled out of bed, her clock read 9:47. She had less than two hours to get ready and get across town.

She, regreatfully, took the shortest shower of her life. She wore a white blouse and and black pants with the matching heels. She let her curled hair flow pass her shoulders and didn't put on jewelry. She didn't even have time to eat a quick bowel of cereal she didn't even like but she took time to put on minimal make up which she had to wipe anyway in the car because of how bad it was. Clarke decided to go with a layer of foundation, light pink lipstick and mascara. Forgetting to make her usual morning coffee, she sped out the door at 10:30. How she did it is still a mystery to her. In the car, she tried to look for Monty's text with the address. After searching for a few minutes, she got him to text it again along with Miller's phone number. She tried to start the car, but nothing. The battery died. She called Miller through her Bluetooth.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is this Nathan Miller? Monty's friend? This is Clarke Griffin, from Polaris Estates." She explains.
"Oh, yes it is.... still coming?"
"Yes. I'm on my way now. I just wanted to let you know I had car troubles this morning so I might be a few minutes late." She scrunched her face up, hoping he won't think lowly of her.
"Oh, sure! No biggie! Can't wait to meet you Ms. Griffin."
"And you, Mr. Miller." Clarke smiled and they hung up.

***

Bellamy woke up fully refreshed and energetic, which was odd. He got up at 9:00 which gave him two hours to get ready. Basically, living only a few streets away from Miller, he had plenty of time.

He took a nice long shower, dressed in a button up shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. He even watched some TV as he at his biscuits and gravy.

He left his apartment with ten minutes to eleven. He arrived early and walked up to the front door.
"Hey, Bellamy!" Nathan smiled and hugged him. It was unproffesional but they were friends.
"Hey, how are you?"
"Good... so, uh... we have a small problem." Nathan chuckled as they go inside the house.

***

Clarke was going a few miles over the speed limit and thought for a second she was going to make it, until red and blue lights started flashing behind her.
"Oh come on!" Clarke groaned and pulled over. A black haired girl got out of the driver seat on the cop car and walked up to the rolled down driver window of Clarke's car.
"Ma'am, are you aware you were going 85 in a 75?" The girl asked.
"Sorry. I'm late for a meeting." She murmured, not knowing what to say.
"Today is just not your day, is it?" The officer sighed. "License and registration, please." Clarke got them out and handed it to the officer. The officer went to her car to check them and came back. "Well, I think I should let you know, your license is expired."
"What?" Clarke asked genuinely shocked.
"And there's a few discrepancies on the registration you gave me. Probably nothing but..." the officer shrugged. Clarke closed her eyes and sighed. "Look, I'm just going to give you the speeding ticket. As long as you promise this car isn't stolen, I won't write you up about your registration, deal?" She tried. Clarke looked at her, suprised and relieved.
"Deal! Thank you so much, Officer-"
"Officer Blake." The cop nodded.
"Thank you." Clarke repeated, smiling. Then she went on her way.

***

"I have to share a meeting?" Bellamy asked Miller. They both sat in the dinning room.
"Again, I'm sorry. I was supposed to schedule the meeting with Monty's friend for next week but...I didn't." He shrugged. Bellamy sighed.
"Well, maybe this is a good thing." Bellamy looked at the clock. 11:15. "How late could he be?" He wondered out loud before there was the sound of a doorbell. Miller got up and answered the door. Bellamy listened in.
"Oh, good. You made it."
"I'm so sorry. You would not believe the kind of morning I've had." Bellamy heard a female voice.
"It's all good. Look, I hate to give you bad news but we've got a... situation. You see, Monty told you about my other friend in Real Estate, right?" He asked as they walked in the dinning room. Bellamy watched them enter and kept his eyes on Clarke. Monty's friend is a girl. He realized fully and stood up to hold out his hand. A really pretty girl. He noted.
"Hi. I'm Bellamy Blake from The Ark Real Estate." He introduced himself. Her eyes went wide as she looked at Miller who suddenly walked away.
"I forgot something in the kitchen." He murmured and sped off. Clarke looked at Bellamy up and down as if assessing him. Bellamy put his hand down.
"Is it something I said?" He asked, confused.
"No." Clarke said quickly and sighed. "My names Clarke Griffin from Polaris." She said and he nods in realization.
"Griffin... so you're the CEO'S famous daughter." He said. She nods. "Well, nice to meet you, Ms. Griffin." He smiled and put his hand back out to her. She was startled but shook his hand and grinned.
"You too... you said your name is Bellamy Blake?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Do you happen to have a relative that's a cop?"
"A few actually."
"What about a girl? Early twenties? Long black hair?"
"That'd be my sister. Don't tell me you've got a criminal record."
"Not exactly. She pulled me over for speeding and gave me a ticket." She laughed. "She seems really sweet."
"You've got a good attitude towards the cop who gave you a speeding ticket."
"She helped me out with my registration... apparently, I've got discrepancies on it." She explained.
"I've got the papers." Miller came in smiling. "Shall we begin?" He asked and they all sat down. It was a long table. Miller sat at one end and on each side of him, Bellamy and Clarke sat across from each other.
"So," Clarke got out her notepad and pen. "Let's start with why you are selling."
"Well, Bryan and I have been married for a couple months and, really, we just want a new start." He shrugged. Clarke nodded as she wrote.
"So do you know of any serious problems with the house? Like, have you had any plumming issues or have you had to deal with any water damage?"
"We actually get annual inspections. Had one just recently come. Here's the report." Miller handed her the folder and her eyes lit up with excitement. Clarke scanned the report.
"Looks good. It's going to sell fast, I can already tell."
"You can tell that by a piece of paper?" Bellamy challenges her.
"It's in a nice neighborhood, the house is in beautiful condition, well taken care of, and there's even a school nearby." She said excitedly. Bellamy stayed quiet, impressed. Besides her showing up late, she seemed so professional. She obviously carried herself well and appeared confidant. No wonder she was the best.
"Well sure. But it's a bit out of date, isn't it?" Bellamy asked, motioning to the carpet floor that had stains (from previous owners) covered by other rugs through the house.
"That's all cosmetic."
"That's all money. We don't know how much it'll cost to rip the floor out, repaint the walls, or buy furniture."
"You wanted to furnish it?"
"It's better for an open house." He said.
"Not so great for people who want to decorate the house themselves. I agree about the carpet- that it'd need to be replaced- but I think it'd be best not to furnish it. Besides, no furniture would make it look bigger." She points out. Bellamy considered it. "Of course, it's up to Miller. I mean, if you wanted to keep it low cost you could just keep Miller's stuff here till its sold but that could confuse buyers who wanted a furnished house. Wait, do you plan on taking your furniture?" Clarke asked.
"That's still up for debate. I think we should keep it but Bryan wants to start completely fresh."
"Well, whatever you decide. We have plenty of time. Do you already have a house lined up?"
"Uh, no."
"Do you have one in mind?"
"No."
"When do you plan on looking?"
"Not for a few months. We want to deal with this house a bit more before we start."
"Alright. Then we have some time... well, I think I'm all out of questions for now. Mr. Blake, do you have any?" She looked at him expectantly.
"Yeah." He smiled and looked at Miller with a serious and focused expression. "Did you see that game Monday night?" Bellamy refered to the football game he knew Miller watched. Bellamy ment the question as a joke but Clarke wasn't amused. She planned her questions- thought them out and he's going on about some game on TV like he doesn't care?
"Oh man! I know! That touchdown that third quarter was INSANE." Miller chuckled.
"You mean the one between the Patriots and the Jets?" Clarke spoke up. The guys looked at her.
"Uh... yeah."
"Well then, yeah the touchdown was impressive but I was really shocked at the last minute interception in the fourth quarter- not that I'm complaining." She laughed.
"You're a Jets fan?" Bellamy grinned.
"My dad..." Clarke started. He nodded.
"Well, Ms. Griffin actually asked all the questions I was going to ask so I guess I'll leave and look like I don't know what I'm doing." He joked.
"Yeah, I'm going to show my boss the report and ask around about a photographer. The sooner it's on the market, the sooner it sells."
"I know a guy that would give us a reasonable price." Bellamy offers.
"Perfect. Miller can set up another meeting and we can schedule the photo shoot to be that day too. Kill two birds with one stone."
"So I'm hiring both of you then?" Miller asked, confused.
"No." Bellamy and Clarke said at the same time. They looked at each other uncomfortably.
"We are going to set up the meeting, take the pictures, and then you can decide who to go with." Bellamy decided, standing up. Clarke nodded.
"Sounds like a plan." Miller sighed.
"Alright then." Clarke smiled, stood, and walked up to Bellamy with an outstretched arm. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Blake. I'm glad to know whoever Mr. Miller decides to work with, they'll be a good agent." She admitted honestly. Bellamy was slightly shocked at her compliment, with him not feeling like he did anything, but smiled and took her hand.
"You too. But, call me Bellamy." He suggested.
"Alright, Bellamy." She stressed his name with a grin. "I'll see you next time then- and thank you for contacting your photographer."
"No problem." He nodded. Clarke looked at Miller, who stood to shake her hand.
"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Miller."
"You can just call me Miller. Everyone does." He shrugged.
"Well, Bellamy, Miller, it was nice meeting you both." She nodded and left.

***

About a week later, Clarke had some errands to run in the city and decided to try a new coffee shop after she was done. She walked in to the bitter smell of fresh coffee and immediately liked the little shop. Clarke walked up to the front counter.
"Hi, could I get a plain cup of black coffee?" She asked, noticing the sugar packets on each table.
"That'll be $3.25." The cashier said, setting the cup of finished coffee in front of her. There was no one else in line as far as Clarke saw. She opened her wallet and didn't see any dollar bills. In a small panic, she started searching her purse.
"Oh no!" She whispered.
"Need a little help, Princess?" A man said behind her, making her jump. She looked at the man who towered her.
"Bellamy." She smiled and sighed in relief. "You scared me."
"I'll cover it and get the same thing." Bellamy smiled at the cashier and got out his wallet while the cashier went to make the second coffee.
"You don't have to do that." Clarke said.
"I know." He smirked. "But I needed an excuse to get you to sit with me."
"Why?" Clarke asked, skeptical. He only grinned.
"I have a business proposal." He explained.

***

Bellamy sat with Clarke at a nearby table at the shop.
"So, Princess," he started, "I think it's obvious our companies don't like each other. But I think we can both benefit from this sale by working together."
"I'm listening." Clarke said, taking a sip of her now sugared coffee.
"My boss never said I needed to make a profit on the house. Miller would pay me either way. So, we work on the sale together. Put the same amount of work in. I get my client, you get the money. Miller told me Polaris was struggling so I figured you'd be interested." He shrugged. Clarke thought about it. (A/N: In my mind, a Real Estate Agent is both paid by the client by a set number and given a percentage of profit made off the sold house)
"Sounds fair." Clarke nodded. "I mean, two minds are better than one. With us working together, we should sell twice as fast."
"So, we have a deal?" He asked. She paused.
"Yeah, we have a deal." Clarke nodded.

***

Ok, this did not go as planned. Haha.

I originally planned for them to argue and fight but I just couldn't do it! Lol. Bellamy is too charming and Clarke isn't so serious so... yeah... I'm not even sorry... haha

But anyway, I hope you liked it and I hope I did ok! Again, first Modern AU so this is more experimental and born out of bordom than anything.

Lastly, thank you for reading! Love you, Bellarke fam! Keep up our shit! (Haha) I'll talk to you next chapter! If not, in the comments if you wanna tell me how I'm doing!

Love,

T-Rex aka Queen of Bellarke

***