Chapter 27

~~~~~~~~unedited~~~~~~~~

"1...2...3, lift!" With tight lips and a grunt, Addison uses all her strength to lift the large log in her hands, backing to where the pile her and Liam have been stacking the fallen debris from the storm. Liam raises a concerned brow, re-situating the log in his grasp effortlessly, "You got it?"

Addison barely moves her head in a short nod, afraid of losing her grip on the log, "Yeah...just move fast. It's starting to slip," she strains out quickly, feeling the logs' moist bark slipping faster from her grip.

"We're almost there," her best friend now says through heavy breaths, taking most of the weight off Addison's end.

They reach the pile just in time for Addison to finally drop the log, a relived breath soon following that escapes between her lips. Thank god..." she gets out, clenching and unclenching the cramping in her hands. "That one was heavier than the last, don't you think?" She asks through heavy breaths, looking at the boy.

Liam wipes the thin layer of sweat from his forehead, looking down at the log he rolled against another. "Yeah, yeah definitely heavier," he agrees with heavy breaths, too. "You should take a break. It looks like you need one," he gestures to her tent with his head.

Addison shakes her head, gathering up her hair, "No, I don't. I need this," she ties her hair off in a somewhat high ponytail, meeting Liam's eyes again.

He can see the mixture of hurt and confusion hidden deep within her brown eyes that speak more than the words she's saying. The way her posture is rigid, indicating something's bothering her. How her eyes bounce around camp with a far off gaze, like she's not even there with him. She needs the distraction away from what's been nagging at her; the carelessness of Octavia's action last night.

Addison understands it was to save Finn, but she was upset at the fact Octavia didn't consider the impact on everyone else if the Grounder didn't crack and give up the antidote. She wouldn't know what to do if that was the outcome.

"Addison..." Liam says softly, watching as her shoulders slump forward when she looks at the dropship across from camp. Her name passes right over her, like the wind blowing through her hair, "Addison."

She slowly turns her attention away from the dropship, hearing her name being sharply snapped at her. "Yeah?"

Liam sighs softly, now gesturing to the dropship with his hands, "Go talk to her." He tells her knowingly, "Because if you keep spacing out with that beat puppy dog look, I'll do it for you. Now, go."

The girl merely nods, facing the dropship with a nervous gulp. Her hands rub together, the sweating of her hands increasing, along with the rapid beating of her heart as she steps closer in Octavia's direction. She reaches the metal ramp and stops, taking a deep breath in attempt to calm her nervous, before slowly walking into the dropship. The raven-haired girl lifts her head from the headrest of the seat, locking eyes with Addison's jittery figure.

"I won't apologize." Octavia says sternly, leaving no indication that she's gonna change her answer.

"I didn't think you would," Addison sighs softly, walking further into the dropship with slow steps.

Octavia waits a few seconds before speaking, her eyes scanning the girl in front of her as she leans forward, "I'm not sorry for what I did," she says to the girl in a slightly softer voice.

The brunette releases a sarcastic breath, shaking her head, "Yeah, well, right before you sliced your arm you told me you were sorry, so..." she trails off, turning her gaze to the outdoors through the archway of the dropship door.

Octavia sighs heavily, "That's not the point."

"Then what is the point?" Addison raises her voice an octave and looks at the Blake girl, reconnecting their eyes, "Because from my point of view, you recklessly took a poisoned knife to your arm without thinking of who you'd be affecting if that Grounder didn't give us the antidote."

"I did it—"

"To save Finn." Addison cuts her off bitterly, stepping further inside the dropship.

Octavia scoffs, her tone coming out just as bitter as the other girl's did, "So you wanted Finn to die? Is that it?"

"I don't want anyone to die, but—"

"But what, Addison?!" Octavia's voice raises as she swiftly gets to her feet and inches forward with each word. "You would've rather me not do anything and let Finn die? Let me live with the guilt of knowing I could've done what I did and saved his life?"

Addison remains silent, staring up into Octavia's fierce green eyes, who's in turn, stare down into Addison's deep brown ones. Despite the tension flowing through the air, the brunette's heart picks up at such a speed she didn't know it could beat, the feeling of the other girl's warm breath tickling her lips just before it bounces off. Their faces are closer than what they were when the two had talked about running away.

At the remembrance of the topic, she begins wondering if they'll ever do it, now that there's a chained Grounder in camp. Instead of pondering over it, Addison musters up the words to finally reply to Octavia's previous words. "If you're not careful enough, you'll die. You're just lucky your selfish act didn't backfire, Octavia Blake." Addison practically spits out the last sentence, the anger she began feeling starting to seep through her somewhat calm exterior.

The girl's dark brows lift, stunned. "So I'm selfish, now?"

Octavia's even more bitter response bounces off every crease and crack in Addison's lips. The brunette groans in frustration, tossing her hands in the air with a shake of her head, "You know what? I'm done talking about this," she says quietly, using all the strength and will power she has to move away from the girl. She turns her back towards Octavia and marches out of the dropship before her temper could get the best of her, and before she says or does anything she'll regret.

A hand grasps her arm, spinning her around, "No, we're not." Octavia says sternly, but Addison can pick up the almost desperate tone hidden behind the tone she used. "I'm not finished, because..." she trails off, averting her eyes everywhere but Addison's in order to come up with the right words. Addison patiently waits, her heart pounding in her chest and her stomach twisting in knots, like she's gonna be sick from how nervous and anxious she is to hear what the girl has to say. Octavia finally releases a breath, the words coming to her, "Addison, I..." she trails off again, shaking her head in frustraion.

"You...what?" Addison asks in a soft tone, the anger she was once feeling quickly disappearing.

Just as Octavia's lips part, another voice enters the dropships. "Addison—"

The voice cuts its' self off, his lips forming an 'o' and blue eyes widening at the scene. Their faces were back to being inches, centimetres apart; Octavia's hand clasped too comfortably, in Dawson's opinion, around Addison's forearm and her other hand resting on the lower part of the brunette's waist.

The girl's eyes snap to the boy's, each girl holding different emotions in their eyes. Addison merely looks him up and down with distaste before inching further in Octavia's arms, Dawson's jaw clenching at the gesture. She feels the hand that's on the lower part of her waist move further up and tighten.

Addison's jumbled nerves go through the roof, her head shaking from the even more tense and now awkward air. She releases a low and almost inaudible sigh, looking up at Octavia, whose eyes stay locked on Dawson. "Octavia," she says softly, gripping the bottom of her jacket to get her attention. The Blake girl slowly looks down at her, her green eyes immediately softening. "We'll talk later, ok?"

Octavia merely nods, turning her attention back to Dawson, who remains planted like a statue at the entrance of the dropship, continuing to watch their interaction, and Octavia, closely. Addison goes to move, but Octavia's firm grip remains, the brunette's lips unconsciously curling into a small smile.

"Hey..." she whispers, their eyes meeting. Addison can't help the growing of her smile as she gestures to Octavia's iron grip, "In order for me to leave, you need to..." she trails off with a small chuckle under her breath.

The corner of Octavia's lips curl, her eyes blinking rapidly in realization, "Oh...right," she breathes out awkwardly, releasing Addison.

She holds her smile, chuckling softly, "It's fine. Later, ok?"

Octavia nods, and the other girl takes her leave, the smile that once graced her lips disappearing when her and Dawson's eyes meet. The coldness her body feels makes her long for the girl's touch again, but she ignores the desperate ache and quickly jogs down the ramp, hoping to get out of sight before Dawson follows, but of course, things never go accordingly.

Her boots barely make it a few steps onto the soil before he's in front of her, blocking her path. With a heavy sigh, she plants her boots into the ground, rolling her eyes. "Addison, we need to talk, please."

"Yeah? Get in line," she deadpans in a bored tone, scanning for an escape route.

"I'm serious." His tone makes her look up at him, taking note of the desperation in his blue eyes.

She internally groans, his own beat puppy dog eyes striking a soft spot. "Alright, fine...make it quick," she crosses her arms.

"I truly am sorry, about last night with Bellamy. Going with him and Miller to get the Grounder," he says quickly, afraid if he spoke too slowly she'd get bored and walk away. "He came up to me and asked for my help, but I didn't know with what until it was too late. I swear."

Addison chews on the bottom of her lip, studying him to find any trace of him lying, but she can't. After a brief moment of silence and looking into his pleading sad eyes, and gives him another chance as she gives into his apology with a slow nod. "Okay... I believe you, Dawson." She answers quietly, and before she knows it, lips press against hers.

Addison freezes in shock, her eyes widening and her heart completely sinking. She doesn't know why her heart sank as low as it did; maybe it was because some of the delinquents were watching, but she didn't care if they or even Liam are. Dawson's lips move away from hers and, on instinct, she looks to her left, meeting the one person's eyes she doesn't want to be looking into right now. Octavia.

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Just a filler chapter, but......stuff's happening. It took me days to figure out which direction I want Addison's, Dawson's and Liam's character to go and how to intertwine them within the story and show with the other characters. Hope you guys enjoyed and are having a good night/morning !