Chapter 3

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"Looking for someone?"

Addison snapped her gaze to theirs, and she grinned. "Liam!" he matched her grin. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck while Liam's wrapped round her waist. Liam lifted her up, leaned back, and spun. Addison squealed, "Liam! You know I hate that!"

Liam laughed and placed Addison back on her feet, "It's good to see you again, Addie."

Addison's smiled remained, her teeth visible, "It's good to see you too, Lee."

Clarke walked up, eyeing Addison and Liam before her eyes landed on Addison. "We need to go. Are you coming?"

Addison nodded, unwrapped her arms from Liam's neck, and proceeded to the group. She'd have plenty of time to chat to Liam. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait," Liam grabbed her arm and pulled Addison to a gentle stop, "going where?" his thick brows lifted.

Liam flickered his confused gaze between his best friend and the blonde-haired stranger he knew as Clarke Griffin. "To Mount Weather," Addison lifted a singular brow, "Were you not paying attention to what happened earlier?" Liam's silence said it. She sighed, "Of course you weren't . . ." she moved her gaze elsewhere, elsewhere happened to be the forest. "Were you exploring?"

Addison met his gaze, and Liam nodded. "Yes but that's not the point. If you're going to Mount Weather, I'm coming too."

"Liam—"

"Perfect," Clarke interrupted. "The more hands the better," she elaborated after Addison gave her a disapproving look. Clarke shifted her attention to Lima and waved for them to follow, "Come on. We're wasting time." She then left to catch up with the others.

Addison buried her hands deep into her jacket pockets and grumbled, "Fine. Come on."

She and Liam walked side-by-side as they silently trailed behind Octavia and Clarke. Octavia leaned over to Clarke, "Before you get any ideas, Finn's mine."

Unaffected, Clarke replied, "Before you get any ideas, I don't care."

Addison fought to contain the laugh that threatened to spew between her lips. She moved her gaze to the fallen tree in her and Liam's path as she carefully stepped over it. The last thing she wanted to do was trip and make a fool of herself. Lifting her eyes back up, Addison halted. Innocently, she flickered her doe eyes between the pair of judgy eyes that belonged to Octavia and Clarke.

Addison shrugged smally, "What? It was funny." Clarke's rolled her ocean eyes before she continued the trek. "And before you say anything . . ." Addison pointed to the youngest Blake, " . . . I'm not interested. So knock yourself out, gorgeous."

Octavia smiled, shook her head, then picked up her pace, soon joining the boys and Clarke. "Someone's gotta little crush," Liam drawled from beside Addison. She scrunched her nose and, using her good fist, punched Lee in the shoulder. "Ow! What was that for for?"

Liam rubbed his shoulder while Addison chuckled, "Oh come on, you big baby," she met his gaze, "it wasn't a hard hit."

Liam sighed, "No, but you have boney knuckles, which hurts a lot more."

"I can't help that," she shrugged, and picked her pace up too. "And as for the whole crush on baby Blake, I don't," Addison wished her words were as true as her crush on Octavia.

Liam skeptically eyed her. He knew the truth. "Uhuhh .  .  ." he drawled. "Then why'd you call her 'gorgeous'?"

Addison avoided his gaze, and annoyingly replied, "I can't give people nicknames now?"

"You can, but not one like that. Because .  .  ." Liam grunted, and ducked under the branch Addison had been able to walk right under, " .  .  .  that means you like them, or you're a couple." Liam used his cocky, yet playful tone. Addison could practically hear the smirk.

She rolled her eyes and clenched her teeth, "I don't have a crush on her."

"Then why are you getting all defensive and mad?"

Addison scoffed. She didn't want to fight on the subject any longer. "What's it matter if I did? She seems to be into boys. Not girls, Liam."

"You're into both. Maybe she is too? You never know," he shrugged, then nudged her shoulder with another one of his teasing smiles.

Addison shoved him off the path, causing Liam to chuckle. "Not gonna happen. Now shut it," she snapped once they closed in on the others, but more specifically, Octavia.

The small group of seven wakes in silence, looking around the forest in amazement; except Clarke, who kept checking the map, and completely ignored the forest like she'd seen it a hundred times. They came up to two parallel cobblestone like walls, their tops covered in bright green grass and purple flowers.

Finn picked one of the flowers and turned around to Octavia. He brushed her hair back and tucked the beautiful flower in her raven locks, and they smiled.

Goggles and his friend stopped in their tracks and watched the interaction. "Now that, my friend, is game," Goggles told, who Addison assumed, is his best friend, based on their interactions thus far.

She walked in-between the short cobblestone walls that reached just above her waist, averting her gaze to her boots in annoyance and slight jealousy. "Not crushing, huh?" Liam whispered in her ear from behind. For her response, she jammed her elbow in his gut, and he groaned, holding is stomach. "Seriously, Addison?"

Addison smirked over her shoulder before she walked past Goggles and his friend. The friend inspected the purple flower identical to the one on Octavia's hair, "That, my friend, is Poison Sumac."

Octavia immediately brushed it out of hair, like it burned her hair. "What? It is?" the two friends laughed quietly from her reaction, and Addison chuckled under her breath too.

She eyed the flower on the forest floor that once stuck between Octavia's strands of hair. She plucked it from the ground and twirled the stem between index and thumb, examining the flower. She then brought it to her nose, inhaling the smell of it. It smelt sweet, sweeter than anything she smelt on the Ark, or even the hour she'd been on Earth.

"You would think a poisonous flower would smell bad," Addison pulled the flower from her nose, but kept her eyes on it. "But it doesn't."

"What are you doing?" Octavia rushed. She grabbed the flower out of Addison's hand and quickly disposed of it. Addison's brows knit, "It's poisonous."

"The flowers aren't poisonous," Goggles's friend informed."

Addison smirked, "See, not as poisonous as you thought." Unamused, Octavia shot her a look as they continued walking. Addison chuckled before she asked the boys behind them,"So, if they're not poisonous, then what's the purpose of having the word 'poison' in the name?"

"I don't know," Goggles's friend shrugged. "They're medicinal, calming, actually." He still inspected the flower.

"That's not confusing of anything," Addison mumbled.

"His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark," Goggles informed.

She knew his friend's face looked familiar. The boy is Monty Green. Nearly every trip Addison made to Agro to steal medical supplies, specifically pharmaceuticals, he was there. She'd seen him helping his family grow the stuff she'd taken the previous night.

"Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?" Clarke hollered in annoyance. She was way ahead of the group, and her expression was just as annoyed.

"Come on, Clarke," Finn said from the other side of Octavia. "How do you block all this out?"

"Well, it's simple. I wonder, 'why haven't we seen any animals?'. Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us," Clarke tried to get through Finn's thick skull, again. She darted her gaze between the group before looking around, "Sure is pretty, though. Come on."

Clarke turned back and continued the trek. "Someone should slip her some Poison Sumac." Octavia commented.

Addison chuckled under her breath. She glanced at Octavia, only to find her flirtatiously smiling at Finn. "Good one," Addison grabbed Octavia's attention, and her smile widened. "Clarke's wrong about there being no animals though," she said once they've continued behind Clarke.

Liam came to Addison's unoccupied side, "And how would you know? Did you see one?"

She shook her head. "No, I heard them." She softened her voice at met Liam's curious gaze, "Birds."

Liam's eyes softened; he knew how much her mother loved them. When Liam came to the Anderson compartment, which had been very frequent, Addison's mother had educated the duo about the different bird species and go on and on about how "lovely they sound". Addison's father never failed to laugh at his wife's obsession, but he enjoyed the smile it brought to her lips.

Liam remained quiet while Addison averted her gaze to the ground. She watched her boots make contact with the dirt as she stuck her hands back in her jacket pockets. She twitched, feeling uncomfortable as she could feel a pair of eyes on her. Dying to see whose, Addison glanced over her shoulder and met Monty's.

His brows furrowed in curiosity and confusion that's also written all over his features, like he'd been trying to figure out if he knew her or not.

"I got to know what you two did to get busted," Finn's voice snapped Addison from her daze on Monty as Spacewalker spoke to him and Goggles.

Addison broke her and Monty's intense stare and catch Octavia's gaze for a quick second before she averting her die eyes to Finn. "Sumac's not the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean," Monty replied.

Liam playfully nudged Addison, "We should've stole some of that."

Addison chuckled quietly, met his brown eyes, and answered just as quiet, "If only." She moved her gaze to Clarke, who's still ahead of everyone else, "That could've solved so many problems for those types of days," she muttered under her breath.

Liam draped a comforting arm over her shoulders, "Hey—"

Thankfully for Addison, Goggles cut her best friend. She did not want to have this conversation right now, or ever preferably. "Someone forgot to replace what we took."

"Someone has apologized, like, a thousand times," Monty said.

Finn shifted his gaze to Liam, "How about you? You've been quiet."

Liam removed his arm from Addison's shoulder and looked over at him, "Busted for stealing." His answered was short and quiet, like he'd rehearsed it a million times. Addison was convinced, and her suspicions about his crime had been confirmed.

"Ah . . . ." Finn drawled. "And you?"

Addison met his eyes, and when she did, something she couldn't place changed, and everything seemed to soften. From his eyes, down to the way his shoulders relaxed; almost like he thought she'd been someone else for a moment.

She sighed and shrugged, brushing the ludicrous thought off, "That's what I'd like to know." It was quiet. She had no intention to talk about her arrest, especially in front of Liam and the group of strangers.

Finn snapped out of it and nodded before he looked forward again. Goggles smiled, "How about you, Octavia? What'd they get you for?"

Addison moved her gaze over to Octavia as Octavia's playful and flirtatious expression fell and harden slightly. She sighed smally and picked up her pace, "Being born." Then ran up to Clarke, who's looking at something.

Addison's eyes widened once she found what they've been staring at. She smiled and breathed out, "No way . . ." She looked at Liam, who smiled too.

Finn walked up to Clarke and Octavia, followed by Goggles and Monty, and lastly, Liam and Addison. Liam knelt behind Octavia and motioned for Addison to come forward. Her smile widened as she knelt beside him, but it disappeared; she couldn't see because of Octavia's arm.

She sighed softly and caught Octavia's attention by accident. Octavia bent and lifted her arm up, smiling softly as she motioned with her head for Addison to come forward.

The corners of Addison's lips tugged up that matched Octavia's smile as she ducked under her arm and watched the deer. Octavia's arm laid across Addison's shoulder and kept her hand on the branch for support by Addison's head.

A rush of warmth shot through Addison's body. She felt nervous all of a sudden, and her heart increased its beat. She shook the nervousness off as best she could and set her hand down to keep balanced, only to accidentally find Octavia's knee instead of the soil she tried blindly aiming for.

With flushed cheeks and wide eyes, Addison quickly retracted her hand. Embarrassed, she quickly whispered, "Sorry."

Octavia chuckled quietly under her breath, "It's okay."

"No animals, huh?" The smile was evident in Spacewalker's voice as he mocked Clarke.

Addison used her shoulder to nudge Octavia, still keeping most of her attention on the grazing deer, and whispered, "Told you she was wrong."

Octavia playfully nudged back that pushed Addison slightly forward, and Addison chuckled quietly, her attention now on Octavia.

All pairs of eyes moved to Finn as he inched toward the deer. A twig snapped under his foot that spooked the deer. It's head snapped up in full alert before it looked directly at the group.

Addison, along with the group, gasped in fright and surprise. A second head grew from under his left ear to the side of his first head. On instinct, Addison grabbed Octavia's jacket, her doe eyes still wide.

Addison jumped, startled by the arm that snaked from behind her. She glanced over Octavia's arm and found Liam, who grabbed her right hand in comfort. Always the protector, she thought, and smiled. She gave his hand a squeeze and watched as the deer scurried deeper into the forest.

"Well that's something the Ark never taught us," Addison breathed out loud enough for the entire group to hear as it broke the silent air. At her comment, the group erupted in soft laughters, Addison soon joining.

She met everyone pair of eyes in shock, yet excitement coursed through her veins from the experience.

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