“Dude, what if you could talk to trees?” Bellamy’s voice asked into the silence of the darkness around me. Opening my eyes, I can’t help but chuckle at the shaggy haired boy beside me. I wanted to ask what, but Lincoln beat me to it, lifting himself from the ground next to Octavia across from us. Even in the darkness of the warehouse, I can see the larger man’s shoulders rise and fall with laughter.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asks Bellamy, receiving laughter from the group before laying back down in the circle that we’ve somehow formed under the broken sky-light window above us. “Who the hell asks questions like that?”
Bellamy joins in with the laughter, his fake laugh over exaggerated above the rest before he speaks again. “I mean seriously though…. Like what if you could communicate with trees? What would they say?”
Turning my head to the left, I feel my breath bounce off of the boy’s cheek, meeting my face again as it returns to me. “They’d tell you to stop smoking so much,” I laugh to him, kissing his cheek before looking back up to the stars again.
“Fuck off, Sky Princess.” Bellamy chuckles, shoving an elbow into my ribs before reaching his hand over to mine, grabbing my hand. At first, I thought it was a weird gesture, but within moments, I could feel a weight lifted off of my shoulders-- as if everyone had joined in.
But when Lexa grabbed my hand from the other side of me, something was different. Her thumb grazed across mine, etching circles on my skin before changing direction.
It’s only been two weeks since Azgeda tried to ruin our group. It’s been two weeks of arguments and shouting fits. It’s been two weeks of screaming and tears. It’s been two weeks of ‘What If’s’ and ‘Fuck You’s’, but tonight was different. In the cool May air, I exhale slowly closing my eyes again as I feel Lexa’s hand, warmly wrapped around mine. Listening to the breathing of the group around me, I can feel all of our anxiety and all of our anger disappear-- if only for tonight.
Tomorrow would be a new day with new challenges, but for today, I’m happy to just simply be here.
To be here with them.
and to be here with her.
Tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow will be hard. Tomorrow we will begin our recon mission for Lexa’s brother.
But tonight…
Tonight we’re here.
And that’s all that matters.