Chapter 29

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

The deafening silence that consumes them had begun to eat away at Addison, the air between the two girl's thick with tension. She ever so gently dabs the damp rag back over the small gash on the palm of Octavia's hand, careful not to cause the girl any more pain.

A soft sigh escapes between her lips, brows knitting as she rechecks the wound to make sure it's stopped bleeding. "It doesn't look too bad, but I'd still, uh, let Clarke take a look at it," Addison informs, placing the rag next to the bowl of bloodied water.

"Ye-Yeah. I'll, uh..." Octavia clears her throat, bobbing her head, "I'll do that."

Addison gives her a short nod, chewing on the bottom of her lip as she grab the dry piece of fabric she tore from the now damp rag before it became damp. She begins to carefully wrap Octavia's, avoiding her eyes that she can feel watch her every move, like a predator stalking its prey.

Having had enough of the tension, Addison sighs out the girl's name to settle the dust, but she barely gets the name out. "I don't care," Octavia is quick to cut her off, the brunette's heart practically shattering into pieces.

Addiosn's lips press together, time and everything around her seeming to slow, and for the first time since meeting Octavia, she wants to be away from her--far away. Addison's increasingly soft and sad brown eyes begin to burn, the wrap on Octavia's hand being quickly finished and tied off.

"Don't forget to have Clarke look at it when she gets back." Addison reminds in a quiet voice, her back turning towards Octavia as she fumbles with the damp rag. She rings it out over the bowl of a few times, only sniffling when the water leaves the rag and hits the bowl, before draping it over an object she didn't care to pay attention to.

Without so much as another word, she spins on her heels, making a b-line for the exit and swipes her fingers under her eye to wipe the warm tear away.

Addison suddenly stops in her tracks, doe eyes squeezing shut; she could be practically deaf and still make out the name that fell from Octavia's lips so broken and disoriented that it didn't even sound like a name, or a word, at all. She's heard her name being called out by the same girl in the same tone way too many times in the last few days that she's met with another breaking point.

Anger quickly builds inside her petite frame, her low ponytail swaying from side to side against her back, "Don't say that 'you don't care' and then immediately call my name like you do," she snaps at the girl in a soft tone, a tear running down her cheek when she turns around and looks the Blake girl in the eye, "Make up your fucking mind, Octavia." Her tone changes to a snappier one, "Do you or do you not? Huh? Because I need to know, before you break me more than I've ever broke before," at the last sentence her voice cracks, the pain and sadness evident in Addison's orbs and expression.

She continues to hold Octavia's glossy and unreadable green eyes, her own words stuck in the back of her throat at the brunette's words. Addison merely scoffs, shaking her head and tries her hardest to fight the tears away, but she doesn't know how long she can fight them.

In the blink of an eye, Addison is spinning on her heels and storming out of the water tent in search. She ignores the other delinquents curious and weird looks, eyeing quickly bouncing around camp. Liam's head springs up from where he sharpens his newly made knife, immediately tossing the rock aside, and sticks the knife in his boot.

He runs up to her, grabbing her elbow with parted lips and an excited smile that quickly fades when she faces him. Liam's eyes and expression softens, "Addison—"

"Where's Raven?" she cuts him off meekly, a pleading look present in her eyes.

Liam immediately shoots down the question he was going to ask, his head nodding to where Finn's been for the past few days. "With Finn, but—"

Addison rips her arm from his grip, ignoring Liam's warnings, and enters the tent. Her eyes go wide, stammering over her apologetic words for interrupting Finn and Raven's intimate moment.

"Addison, wait!" Raven yells, jumping out of the covers that cover their bare bodies.

The young brunette simply backs out, barely reaching her own tent before her arm's caught in someone's grip. She sniffles, containing herself as she begins speaking to them, "Raven, it's fine... go back with Finn," she tells the older brunette with a shake of her head, keeping her back facing Raven.

"Like hell I am." Raven replies stubbornly, her grip releasing on the girl's wrist. "What's going on?"

Addison tilts her head down to the muddy path they're on, shaking her head. "Finn needs you—"

"More than you need me?" Raven cuts her off sarcastically, a soft scoff following. "What kind of—" she's quick to cut herself off, Addison slowly spinning to face her, her brows are barely being able to furrow at how quick she cut herself off.

"What kind of what? Friend you'd be if you let me be miserable by myself?" Addison scoffs sarcastically at her own choice of words.

"It doesn't matter what I meant. What matters is why you're so miserable... I thought you were getting better?"

She was getting better, then the moment in the water tent happened, but she couldn't bring herself to say any of that, the interaction being as fresh as the smell of Earth's air. The lump in her throat swells, a new wave of warm tears building behind her eyelids that squeeze close.

"Come here..." Raven whispers, pulling the girl to her. She wraps her arms around her shoulders, Addison's arms going around Raven's torso.

"God... I'm such an idiot, Raven..." she whispers harshly into Raven's shoulder, cursing at herself under her breath for even attempting to talk to Octavia.

Raven tilts her head a little to look down at Addison, "Who's ass are we gonna be kicking?" the corner of Addison's lips manage to tug into a faint smile for a couple seconds, her arms tightening around the eldest girl.

"Thank you," Addison says quietly with a sniffle after a short silence passes, re-situating her head on Raven's shoulder.

Raven's head lays back on the girl's head, nodding against her head. Addison sniffles, another tear landing on the girl's jacket with a soft thud. A long silence then consumes the two, Raven stroking her hair every once in a while, and Addison playing with the bottom of her bomber jacket as a calming mechanism. Minutes roll by, and silence is still passing between the two, Raven not once showing Addison a sign of leaving her alone.

"You need to sleep, Ads." Raven utters softly, her voice muffled against the top of Addison's head.

She immediately shakes her head, down-playing the idea. "I-I can't..."

"Addison..."

"It's not that easy, Raven. All I can hear and see is her," she whispers, exhaustion beginning to set in from the amount of tears that she's split in the last eventful hour. Raven remains silent, twirling the ends of Addison's hair between her index and thumb.

She finally pulls back, looking down into the girl's teary eyes. "What exactly happened, Addison?"

Addison sniffles, "She's confusing. That's all you need to know," she answers, moving her attention over Raven's shoulder.

Her heart hammers against her ribs, the bile in her throat rising once again--Octavia; her cheeks and nose match Addison's, except they're not as bright as the brunette's. "Come on... Let's get you inside," Raven pushes Addison gently to get her attention averted away from Octavia.

Addison lets Raven guide her into her tent numbly, the tent flap closing just as she looks at it. She slowly backs away from the entrance and further inside, staring at a particular spot near her small mound of blankets.

"I caught her in here the other night," she informs, eyes never leaving the spot. Raven's brow lifts as she shifts her weight to one leg, "Even after all this, she still managed to sneak in and make sure I wasn't having any nightmares of my mom and Avery," Addison finishes.

Raven strains to hear, but she caught it, both of her brows raising in surprise. "I see why you said confusing," she says with a confused tilt of her head. "Does she know that you know?"

Addison shrugs, finally tearing her gaze away from where Octavia was a couple nights ago to Raven, "I don't think so. When I caught her, I didn't say anything."

"Well, just... get some sleep, alright? You look like you haven't slept in a while, and I mean that as nicely as possible." Raven's comment causes a soft and breathy chuckle to escape Addison, a smile forming on the eldest girl's lips at the outcome. Addison sighs heavily, reluctantly nodding in agreement. "I'll stay with you, until your asleep, okay?"

Addison nods once again, settling down on her makeshift bed and wraps herself in the blankets. She lets her eyelids fall close, listening to Raven shift around to get comfortable nearby, and soon, the exhaustion sets in and her body falls limp into a deep sleep.