Read My Poker Face
A mentor of mine said one of my best qualities is that I’m genuine; however, I was told that resulted in being easily read and having zero poker face. If people can read me, they know how and where to hit, which isn’t good. How can I develop a poker face and be less easily read? Good question, K, and I can’t wait to hear what the readers say. Poker Face (in poker) An impassive facial expression cultivated to prevent other players from determining whether one's actions in the game are the result of a quality hand, or of bluffing. (Lady GaGa's song) similar expression used to prevent giving away one's motives, feelings, or situation. Can't read my poker face. Facebook is showing information to help you better understand the purpose of a Page.
- Can't Read My P-p-poker Face
- You Can T Read My Poker Face
- He Can Read My Poker Face
- Can T Read My Poker Face Song
- No He Can't Read My Poker Face Lyrics
- She Can't Read My Poker Face
- Lyrics Can't Read My Poker Face
After spending some time watching some youtube tutorials and reading some articles I have gather some information concerning Convolutional Networks and applied it to my situation:
- Regarding the batch size and learning rate I tried different values, a size of 32 with a learning rate of 0.0001 gave me the best results for the reduced data model.
- Adding a batch normalization layer in the CNN layer before the activation function prevents the values to spread from each other and this helps improving the performance and speed of the training process.
- A dropout layer before the fully connected layers. A dropout layer helps preventing overfitting which, since I am working now with a reduced data set, is easy to happen. Also Andrew Ng in one of his videos, explain that in neural networks that work with images, a dropout layer is used almost by default. It is a common practice.
Results for the model trained with the reduced dataset :
(ignore y_pred column, % is computed dividing right/ones)
To try and check all these improvements I used the reduced data for timing reasons. I improved about 4% the accuracy on the public test data set regarding to the very first model I trained. No bad. We can see that almost all classes have a better prediction with exception of class 6:Neutral which got 10% worse and class 1:Disgust which remained unpredicted.
The improvement is not amazing, but it is something. My guess is that two big issues are happening in here:
- Size of the training data is small.
- The model is too simple to learn such a complicated thing as facial emotion.
Before I move to a more complex CNN I will try these little improvement in on my model trained with the entire data set and see if they deliver a similar improvement.
Results for the model trained with the entire dataset:
(ignore y_pred column, % is computed dividing right/ones)
So good news! The changes I added on the reduced data set model improved the model trained with the entire dataset in a similar way (about 4%) . Again in this situation all classes had an improvement in their prediction (yesss! class 1:Disgust is not zero anymore :)) but class 6:Neutral lost about 10%.
Those are mi little improvements for now. I gonna get a well deserved coffee.
So I read a short Modern!AU strip poker Bellarke story on Tumblr and I thought 'you know, this would be really cool to write Season1!Au' but then my next thought was 'nahh, I'm sure it's been done a million times'. I mean, it might have, but when I went on A03 and searched, I only got one story and it's another Modern!Au. Therefore I feel it is my civic duty as a fanfiction writer to write this ;) I mean, a bunch of unsupervised teenagers with moonshine and playing cards? Strip poker is inevitable in this setting! Because this is already going to not follow canon already, it's just in an unspecified time during season 1 where a bunch of people who likely would have been dead by this point (Wells, Atom, ect) are still alive. Enjoy!
Jasper's wound was healing nicely, but it still didn't mean he was cleared for the sort of work he felt he should be doing. It was infuriating, feeling as though he was the one doing the least amount of work. The first day he'd nearly been killed, Clarke tried to reason with him, but it still irritated him. The fact it was the first day was what really was the worst of it, and since he'd been taken care of and sat around doing nothing while an almost-functioning camp went up right before his eyes.
He'd been doing menial tasks all morning, mostly sorting. Things, according to Clarke, wouldn't re-open his wound. He longed to go outside of these walls again, to explore and see the earth that he never thought he'd see. It was like when he was ten and he got sick over the first year he was allowed to join the Unity Day celebrations- sure, it was just going to be another year, but hearing that he had to sit in his bunk while Monty was out 'partying' put him in a sour mood for almost an entire six months.
By noon, he felt like he'd sorted every damn nut in the entire forest. So Clarke came up with another task; clearing out the dropship. She was worried for winter, understandably. A couple hatched-together pieces of wood wouldn't keep them from freezing, nor would a few flimsy tents and sleeping bags. He knew her intention was to begin to convert this into a shelter-one that would be obviously uncomfortably squished-but hey, she was kind of the boss, so he wasn't going to argue.
That was when he found the deck of cards. It was like finding a million dollars (not that money had any value here on the ground), but that's still what it felt like. He chuckled, glancing around to see he was alone, before shoving it into a pocket for his own little prize. He wondered who had put it there? Had it always been there? Or had the people sending them down figured if they didn't die, they might have some time on their hands to chill? Regardless, that one small treasure made the entire rest of the dropship cleaning feel a little better.
After he was done, he was given a break, and he excitedly spilled the deck on the ground of his tent, fingering through all the cards to make sure they were all there. It was a surprisingly new looking deck; the ones he had played with on the Ark were worn and taped together many times, or made of flits of paper. He never knew that playing cards could look and feel so nice. In reality, if he was on the Ark and had made this discovery, it would have been like finding a million dollars. A pack of cards, basically mint condition? Great stars, that could have bought him almost a new and better living square!
But he was on earth, he reminded himself, and everyone shared food and worked together (mostly). He was under no moral obligation to anyone to barter these cards away. They were his.
As expected, he all but threw them in Monty's face with excitement when Monty returned for his water bottle.
'Where did you find these?' Monty gasped, shuffling through them, 'I didn't think nice sets still existed!'
'Me neither.' Jasper said, brimming from ear to ear, 'I found them on the dropship in a hidden compartment.' He said smugly.
'You realize this might be from the Original Grounders, don't you? The ones that went up space originally?' Monty said, looking his friend in the eye.
'Maybe. I don't really care whose they were, since no one's come to collect in like 100 years.' He pointed out, taking one of the dusty cards and scrubbing away the layer of dirt with his sleeve. He was half-way through cleaning them.
'I can't even remember how to play most card games.' Monty realized, and Jasper threw his arm around him.
'Who cares? We can make our own!'
'Except poker, of course. I remember that.' Monty said, looking meaningfully at Jasper. Much of their transactions with drugs and the crowd that it attracted meant many poker games for prizes like a plant from Monty's garden or using a bag of weed to get a chocolate cake. When Monty and Jasper began, they'd been untrained. But by the time they'd been thrown in the SkyBox, the pair was an unstoppable team. No one, unless you were quite desperate, went up against Monty and Jasper in poker.
'Maybe we play again tonight.' Jasper said, 'Just for old time's sake. You know, Miller has a really nice jacket I think I want.' He said. Monty chuckled, sighing. It had been a long time since he'd been able to play, but he didn't think for a second their skills would be any worse.
'We don't want to make enemies, Jasper.' He said, 'Although the jacket is nice. We could just play to, I don't know, play.'
Jasper pulled a face, grumbling. 'What's the fun in that?'
'Getting to play again.' Monty reminded him, as he often did, putting him back into the sightline of what mattered. Such as he was sure when their birthdays came around, they'd be dead for sure. It was a miracle either of them were alive, and that they found a deck of cards.
'I suppose.' He gave a long sigh, 'I bet Raven's good at cards though. Maybe we finally will have met someone's that's actually a challenge.'
'I'll ask her to play.' Monty gave one last longing look at the cards before clipping his water bottle to his belt loop, 'Maybe our luck is turning, my friend.' He added, nodding to the cards. Jasper couldn't agree more.
As it turns out with teenagers, nothing intended to be a small event is truly ever a small event. Monty told Raven about it, who of course told Finn, who might have said something to one of the guards and well, after that the trail was impossible to follow. Jasper made a point to invite Octavia because he had the hots for her still, but then noticed Atom was slinking around and felt like he should add him so it wasn't so obvious and also Atom sort of scared him. Charlotte heard about it and both Monty and Raven told her she couldn't play (she was too young) and she left in a huff. Wells arrived likely to keep an eye on everyone, since he had taken it upon himself as a neutral party of morality, and secretly maybe he wanted to play too. John Murphy appeared because if there was ever any opportunity to make something off something, of course he was there, and he bragged that he had been really good at Poker back on the Ark, but no one really believed him.
Matters only got worse when Jasper pulled out Monty's bottles of moonshine and started passing them around, resulting in many people getting drunk.
'Are you sure that's the best idea?' Monty asked helplessly as he watched his stock vanishing before his eyes.
'We've had a rough couple of days. So what if we get a little drunk? I think we deserve some fun.' Jasper shrugged, taking the bottle back and taking a pull, wincing at the taste and offering it to Monty.
'I mean getting a bunch of criminals drunk.' Monty whispered in Japer's ear.
'Woah, careful with the language!' Jasper said, looking offended, 'Do you think we're criminals?' He asked motioning between them, 'For what we did?'
'According to the Ark-,'
'Shush.' Jasper, already slightly tipsy pressed a finger to Monty's lips, 'We're not on on the Ark. Besides, I'm sure most of the people here got locked up for stupid things like stealing a piece of bread or taking a space walk.'
'You think or you know?' Monty asked, but Jasper waved a hand. Dax always rubbed him the wrong way. He wasn't naive to think that everyone was wrongfully imprisoned, and he knew there were killers out there. If one of those people got drunk, who knew what-
'You worry too much.' Jasper announced, noticing Octavia had made it to their little impromptu poker room at the back of the dropship, 'Hey! O! Want some moonshine?' He left Monty sighing, but seeing nothing and no one misbehaving, let it go. Maybe Jasper was right. Maybe everyone really did need this night of just fun and relaxation. He took his own flask from his jacket pocket, where he kept his little stash of moonshine and gulped down three swigs. For the first time in years, he didn't want to worry about anything.
As it turns out, Monty and Jasper had far more competition than they'd previously imaged. It may have been both were a bit drunk and neither was making the smartest plays all the time, but they would realize later that the people locked up in the SkyBox had a type-the type that, like them, had played many games of poker to win black-market items. More than half of the people that showed up were almost as good as they were.
Clarke found the game when it was already well under way. Somehow, no one had told her. Actually, that was intentional, since almost everyone was under the impression she was a bit of a goody-two shoes. Finn wanted to tell her, but one look from Raven silenced him when he almost brought it up to her at the dinner line. Bellamy hadn't heard about it either, for similar reasons but different reasons altogether. He'd grown moodier and darker and not the fun 'whatever we want' he'd begun with. Now all he was concerned about was patrolling- true, a reasonable venture, but no one wanted their game shut down before it had run its course.
'Where is everyone?' Clarke approached Bellamy, asking him. The main camp was basically deserted and Clarke wasn't dumb enough to think that everyone retreated to bed early. These were teenagers with far too much freedom to do something sensible like that.
'I'm not sure.' Bellamy seemed a little surprised Clarke was speaking to him, since he was under the firm impression that she didn't like him. He was curious though too, and a little ashamed he hadn't really noticed until she brought it up. Now that she did, the camp was indeed eerily quiet. There were only the people assigned to guard duty with him- and they were the reject ones that no one liked anyway- and a handful of the kids under thirteen, 'The hell...?' He muttered out loud, realizing that everyone was really gone. He sighed, clicking on the walkies.
'Bellamy to Justin, has anyone left the camp?' After Justin fumbled with the buttons on the talkie- something both Clarke and Bellamy heard over the static, he responded.
'No, I mean, I don't think anyone left...I could be wrong.'
'Justin, your job is to guard the camp entrance.' Bellamy sighed into the speaker, dragging his hand down his face, 'Did they or did they not leave?'
'No?' It came out as a question. Bellamy angrily clicked the walkie off.
'That wouldn't make sense that the entire camp decided to up and leave. Even Justin would notice that.' Clarke said dryly, glad that the air-headed fourteen-year-old was Bellamy's problem and not hers.
'Oh, you'd be surprised.' Bellamy said, almost laughing, before realizing who he was joking around with. He sobered, 'But I suppose you're right.' He admitted, nodding to her, 'So where are they?'
Surprisingly, for a group of nearly thirty drunk teenagers, they were quiet enough that neither Bellamy or Clarke could hear them behind the dropship from the far left side of the camp.
'Let's go find them. They're somewhere, aren't they?' Clarke said, and Bellamy's eyes flashed.
'Us?'
'Well, yeah.' Clarke sighed, frowning. She hated to admit it, but half of the people followed what she said, and the other half what he said. She was beginning to realize that maybe they should work together, as horrible as that sounded, to bring the camp to peace and a sort of workable world. She still didn't trust him, she wasn't even sure she liked him, but in rare moments she'd seen him with his sister, and with Charlotte, and she could see deep underneath his perpetual frown, perhaps he was a good person. She could work with that and the rest would follow later.
'I...erm, I should stay to guard the camp?' He motioned back toward the wall, 'I mean, Hawk's annoying as hell, but he's better than Justin. But leaving the two alone to guard the camp together? That's like asking to be attacked.'
'Well, truth of the matter is, I have a bad feeling about where everyone is. And the guys don't listen to me, they listen to you.' His jaw twitched, 'And aren't you a little curious?'
'Oh, I'm quite sure you'd tell me where they were anyway, Princess.'
'Aren't you curious though?' She pestered, tilting her head, seeing that maybe he wanted an excuse to leave guard-duty.
'Of course I am.' Bellamy said quickly, narrowing his eyes, 'Will you leave me alone if I look around the camp with you?' He asked, 'Let me return to my job, you know that thing that people do around here?'
'I resent that. There's no one to save right now.' Clarke said.
'With everyone missing, you might by the end of the night. Common sense in this group...not there. It's how a lot of them got captured in the first place.' Although Clarke also resented that, she held her tongue. Because when she thought about it, she knew some really smart people like Monty, but they did get caught.
Clarke couldn't argue with that, she decided in the end. There may be a few shining examples of common sense, but the grand majority would grab a snake by its tail if she wasn't there to warn them.
They checked a couple tents first, but everyone left in the main part of camp didn't know where the rest was, or they were sleeping. Charlotte seemed to know, but she pouted and wouldn't tell them. They next checked near the food, thinking maybe they had banded together to pilfer a late night snack, but no luck there either. They checked the drop ship, but found all the rooms empty. Clarke was about to give up and believe maybe thirty kids snuck out of camp for some ungodly reason when Bellamy made a shushing sound.
'What? I don't hear anything-,'
'Would you shut it for a second?' Bellamy gave an aggravated sigh, 'Just...wait for it.'
So she did. And she heard it; the faint sound of laugher punctured by the occasional swear.
'It's coming from the area behind the dropship.' Bellamy proclaimed. That area they'd cleared away yesterday, thinking maybe they would create a smoke-house back there or even extend the drop ship, but she hadn't even thought to look there. She didn't even know that beside those that worked on it, anyone knew that area existed since it used to be fully of prickly plants and little shrubs.
When they came around the side of the dropship, they say their missing camp members all in a circle laughing and joking with each other, people that Clarke was pretty sure hated each other being all chummy. She even saw Wells in the circle, more relaxed than she'd ever seen him. When they noticed Clarke and Bellamy standing around, there were whispers of 'hide it' followed by frantic shuffling. This made Clarke extremely suspicious, but more than that she was deeply hurt she hadn't been invited to this little pow-wow.
So, she tried something new.
'Hey guys. Sup?' She asked, trying to seem casual and cool. A couple people gave her odd looks, and she knew she was failing. Jasper got up, brushing off and stumbling over to her.
'Ah, Clarke.' He hiccuped, throwing an arm around her as he greeted her. He smelled of alcohol, and she wasn't even sure where he got that.
'Is that Miller's jacket?' She asked, noting Miller shivering without one and Jasper wearing something different.
'Snazzy, isn't it?' He preened, 'But I'm sure Monty would rather be wearing this, if you know what I mean.' He said, nudging Clarke's side a little too hard.
'Oh, yeah...' Clarke laughed along with him but in reality had no idea what he meant.
'Clarke.' Bellamy hissed, 'What are you doing and what are they doing?'
'Poker, Blake.' Jasper answered, overhearing him, 'It's quite the fun time.' He winked. Bellamy straightened, frowning.
'Well, it's not-,'
'Bellamy.' Clarke said, stopping him, 'I mean, can we really close them down? No one here's supposed to be on guard duty, and everyone else was dismissed from their jobs earlier today...they can do what they want in their free time, right?'
'Yes, but,' Bellamy bit out, 'I don't think this is a good idea Clarke.'
'Well then I'll stay and supervise.' Clarke said, 'You can go back to your job you are so clearly concerned about. We found them.' She expected him to take off right then, but he just shifted on his feet, 'I'm not planning on drinking.' She added, rolling his eyes.
'I think we should shut them down.' He growled.
'They're all drunk. Drunk people aren't logical. THey'll hate you, and they won't remember why, but they'll hate you all the same tomorrow. It's not good for our united force of keeping them alive if they hate you.'
'You hate me.'
'That's different. And I don't, not totally.' She added, 'You don't have to stay. I will. What's the harm. Maybe this is a good thing.'
In that moment, he realized Clarke wasn't staying to supervise, at least not that she'd admitted this to herself, but because she actually wanted to. It was also in that moment he realized he was now responsible for what happened and that he too had to stay.
'I'm staying.' He sighed, glaring at her and the group of people. He got on his walkie, 'Hawk! You, Justin, Erik, Sincy, and Woods should start doing rounds. If you see anything, I repeat anything, don't hesitate to walkie me. I'm...' He glanced at Clarke, 'I'm caught up in something right now.'
'Yes sir!' Hawk's voice replied from the other end. He was still glowering.
'I'll let them play, but no more betting on things. I don't want the confusion of everyone being drunk and betting more than they think. It's a jacket now but it might be guard duty next or even their shoes and that would not only mix up my schedule but leave them unprepared.' He pointed out.
'That's reasonable, right Jasper?' Clarke nudged Jasper, getting the feeling he was the one who arranged this whole thing. He frowned for a second, but realized that this was as good as it could get, and nodded. When he told everyone the rules, there was a bit of groaning, but overall no one seemed to argue with him. They made room for Bellamy and Clarke, sending cautious looks at them, but let them sit within the circle nonetheless.
Jasper gave them a handful of wood chips. He explained they had a nice new deck of cards, but so many people came that they had to make due, and there were hasty scribbles on the mismatched pieces of wood. He also handed them a handful of acorn caps; the chips.
'What are we going to play now, though?' Jones asked, looking down at his cards sadly.
'How about,' Octavia sang, and Bellamy went rigid, noticing her here for the first time, 'Strip poker?' She winked in Atom's or Jasper's direction (they were both in the same general vicinity, it could have been either) but almost all the men in the area were now varying shades of red.
'Yes.' Jasper agreed a little too quickly.
'What? No!' Bellamy said, looking horrified his sister would suggest that, 'You know what, this was a bad idea, Clarke. I'm not going to do this and none of you will either.' He said, getting up angrily, presumably going over to drag his sister away. No one moved though, not even those most loyal to Bellamy. It seemed when they were all drunk, no one cared.
'Awe, you're never any fun Bell!' Octavia complained to him, 'Like seriously, I get that you have a rod as big as the Ark up your ass, but that doesn't mean you have to take our fun away!'
'I...I do not!' Bellamy blubbered for words.
'Then play, or else I'll just assume you're boring, like usual. You can just leave if you don't like it. We don't have to listen to what you say.' She announced, and a couple of people echoed words of agreement with her.
Bellamy opened his mouth a couple times, looking conflicted before he angrily sat down, glaring between both Clarke and Octavia now. Octavia looked highly proud of herself.
'How are we going to do this?' Monty asked, looking at his nice hand of cards, eyeing everyone, 'And if anyone's uncomfortable, leave now. If you stay, you agree to play and abide by the rules.'
Unsurprisingly, no one left.
'Well, we could play how I know how to play.' Finn offered up reluctantly, and aside from Wells or Bellamy, was the last person Clarke expected to hear say that. The group quieted, even those really drunk, to hear him speak.
'There's four levels of betting. Truth, which is the ante, dare, clothes, or super-dare. Best hand wins and the winner also gets to decide the truths and dares. Just plain old dares can be denied, but you have to do something like twenty jumping jacks. Super-dares can't, and anything goes with that one. If you win while betting a clothes or super-dare bet, you can put back on an article of clothing. Once you're completely naked, you're out. Pairs of things-like socks or earrings, count as one. So does bracelets in general-I see Harper has like five on, but that counts as one.' He said, pointing out Harper who was looking rather smug about her chances, until that.
'What happens if we win?' Murphy threw out, always looking to gain something.
'A handshake.' Bellamy grumbled loud enough for a couple people to hear, but Clarke spoke over him.
'A day off of chores.' She said and everyone perked up at that. She figured that was reasonable, and she hoped everyone would be drunk enough to forget she said that.
'What? No! I don't authorize this at all and-,' But everyone was already speaking over's Bellamy's denial, and he just gave up.
The first game started, and Clarke looked over to see Bellamy looked extremely uncomfortable, and no one had even begun taking clothes off yet.
'What's wrong?' She whispered to him. He glared at her, but sighed.
'I don't know how to play poker.' He hissed back, 'It's not like I ever really got a chance, you know. I didn't hang around black market people, I was a good kid.'
'I learned from my dad.' Clarke said, scowling at his implication, 'But I can help you if you want. I'm not bad at it.'
'I don't need your help, Princess. I'll manage.' He decided, the moment of truth and almost something between them gone.
'Okay.' She sat back, shrugging, 'If you say so.'
As it turned out, he did likely need her help.
If they'd been playing the alternative way Clarke had heard about, which was that the worst hand stripped, Bellamy would have lost two out of three times. He was an awful judge of when he should or shouldn't fold, seemed to not be able to read cues at all, and had no idea how to shield his wood chip cards so Clarke saw his whole hand each time. He played it safe the first time, probably just trying to see how it was played, and had to answer a truth. The second two times, he bet all the way up to clothes and had lost his socks and shoes.
He seemed immensely glad Octavia was good at poker, something he'd never thought he'd be happy about, for she hadn't lost a single article of clothing.
It was when in the fifth round (after Clarke started helping Bellamy without being too obvious, it was just embarrassing for him) that trouble came. They both, along with most of the group, bet all the way up to Super-Dare, and lost to unassuming Wells. He went to the storage of the moonshine and pulled out a full bottle. He dolled out the truths and the dares, and got to the group of people that went all the way up to the highest tier with a smirk on his face, a side Clarke didn't know existed.
At this point, Bellamy was just grateful he wasn't loosing another article of clothing. Nothing could be as bad as having to sacrifice something else; next might be his leather cuff he sometimes wore (thank god he put it on today) or his jacket, but after that he'd start loosing important things.
At least, that was his thoughts until Wells announced those that did the super-dare had to take turns sending the bottle around until it was finished.
On one hand, Bellamy wanted to protest it for he couldn't be under the influence while trying to keep these kids alive, but the power of arbitrary rules and peer pressure was especially intense tonight. Also, he'd promised to play by the rules of the game when he sat down, and he was a man of his word.
Clarke was nervous, since she'd never gotten drunk in her life and therefore was sure she was a lightweight, but didn't want people to think she wasn't fun. She was going to make sure that the next time something like this happened, she wouldn't be left out. She nearly spat up her first swallow of it, but after that, each swig got better and better.
She felt dizzy and a bit muddled by the time the bottle was done.
Can't Read My P-p-poker Face
The game continued.
Bellamy was not having fun because he was having fun. He had intended to go into this game and play it out of obligation, not for any other reason. But now that he had some alcohol in him, he was letting go a bit and people seemed more relaxed around him and he was having an awesome time and this was obviously terrible.
And he was down his undershirt and his leather cuff, and hadn't come close to winning one yet (despite that Clarke tried to help; yes he had noticed) and this was now getting dangerous.
Clarke, on the other hand, wondered why she'd never let herself go like this before? Well, the whole 'thing' with Finn was sort of letting go, she reminded herself, and that blew up, so maybe that was why. But this...this was different. There was nothing all too dangerous about it in her own mind, just playful fun. She'd lost her two pairs of socks she was wearing (her feet got cold), her shoes, and her hair pins. Those were pretty much lost in the mud at this point, and she wasn't sure she'd ever get those back. She still had three hair ties, but she was more cautious to lose those as well.
Sterling lost first. He was a risk-taker, and pretty smashed, and had bet 'clothes' on every single round. When he finally stripped his underwear off, he seemed past the point of shame.
'Well,' He announced, 'I guess I'm out.'
'Sterling, you can put your stuff back on.' Monty said, 'You can sit over there and watch or something.'
'Yeah, no one needs to see that.' Fox teased him from the other side of the circle as he tugged back on his boxers.
'Awe, you know you all like this.' He said, motioning to his chest, which had the beginnings of abs emerging, but tugged his shirt back on all the same. He climbed up onto the guard post, legs dangling just inches from where Mbge and Miller sat below him. He seemed not too upset to be out, and Clarke did have to admit, watching the madness was half the fun.
After he lost, the catalyst of other losses had been set off. Soon, the group of thirty to forty people was weeded out to something much more intimate. Some chose to stay and watch on the platform with Sterling, others chose to sleep because they knew they'd have a pounding headache in the morning.
Bellamy, despite the haze of the moonshine, had been playing extremely safely, and won one and hastily put back on his socks. The night was a little chilly out.
By the time it was midnight, there was just a handful of people left, and people that Clarke was more pleased to be playing against than the bigger crowd. They all had lost and won some, and so no one left was in a bad state of undress.
There was Octavia, with her pants, shirt, bra, jacket, and jewelry, much to Bellamy's relief, likewise for Raven, Clarke, Monroe, Harper, and Roma. Atom was still rather clothed, as was Wells and Finn. Monty, Jasper, Miller, and Mbge were on the point of no return, the next loss for them would be something significant. Bellamy was only a smidgen better, having his socks returned, and realized he still had a belt to give. Dax and Murphy both were missing their shirts, but neither seemed all too perturbed by it. Everyone else had lost everything, and regained it with.
If she was being frank, Clarke was terrified that she might actually get to the point where she had to lose something. No amount of alcohol could make her that fearless.
'Let's raise the stakes. If you fold, you take something off.' Jasper waved a finger around, and Octavia clapped. They were at an break, where the circle tightened itself and there were few enough players so everyone got to use the nice deck. Clarke ran her fingers over it in awe. She thought Wells' father owned the nicest deck on the Ark, being the chancellor, but clearly she'd been wrong.
The weight of Jasper's words finally clicked in her head.
Clarke looked at Bellamy, expecting him to disagree, but he just shrugged. She might have been mistaken, but maybe he was enjoying himself.
'Why not? What's the worst that could happen?' He said to Clarke, 'But uh,' He lowered his voice, 'Is this a good hand?' He gave up all pretense now that he knew how to play, or that it wasn't obvious Clarke was helping him.
Clarke smiled, a little glad he went to her for help instead of Miller or Mbge, and gave a wink that was for his eyes alone. She didn't want everyone else to know that out of everyone, he actually had a kick-ass hand and had a good chance of winning. Much better than her own chances, that was clear. But she hoped, since they'd developed a strange bond during this, that if he did win he'd go easy on her since she'd end up likely in the dare category.
No one folded, since now you were penalized if you did. You could only hope from here on out, unless you were extremely confident, to hover within the dares and truth levels. They ended up at the double-dare level, and it was a face-off between Jasper (the self-declared 'King of Poker' and Bellamy.) The smirk Bellamy gave when he realized he won against Jasper made Clarke feel a little funny, but a good funny.
'Lucky hand.' Jasper muttered, awaiting his punishment.
'No truths? Darn,' Bellamy said, rubbing his chin. If anything, the truths had been...revealing. Clarke knew certain people a whole lot better than she'd ever wanted to, but nonetheless, she couldn't deny the bonding that came with it. Some people were kind and asked things like what they wanted to be if they were still on the Ark, or favorite food. Some people were less forgiving and asked who was a virgin and who wasn't, and where you lost it and with who. The less forgiving ones basically only asked about sex, which was not all too surprising to anyone.
But Clarke could tell Bellamy had something much bigger planned. The glint in his eyes told her he was waiting to drop a bomb.
'All the Super-dares, well everyone, take off a piece of clothing.' He said, which is what everyone had been trying to avoid. There were some looks of betrayal his way, including Clarke.
He noticed her glance out of anyone else, grinning ear to ear, 'I hate to say Princess, but I sorta want that day off.' He said. It was a complete turn around from when they'd began.
Clarke took off her hairbands, and it might have been her imagination and lack of clarity, but Bellamy almost seemed disappointed.
Monty and Jasper looked at each other, sighed, and took off their shirts. Mbdge managed to wrestle his under-shirt off without taking off his shirt, an impressive feat. Miller took off his beanie, which to him was a significant loss. Both Dax and Murphy were only down to their boxers. The other girls remaining threw their jewelry into the piles along with Clarke's hairbands.
'I hate you.'
'I knew you did.' Bellamy grinned, but it was lighthearted, and he poked her side.
The next round he was not quite as lucky, and lost while Murphy won and put on Raven's shirt (she still had her jacket zipped over her bra), and pointed out that they never specified it had to be his own clothing. Clarke was pretty sure he did it just to get a rise out of her or Finn, and both was working. Clarke knew Murphy was the kind of kid that would make a fire and sit back and watch it burn; that was the way he worked.
Once again, everyone wavered in 'Super-Dare'. He was more merciful than Bellamy, which was a shock to everyone, and declared that they all owed him their lunch any time he requested it from here on out. He seemed pretty with it; he'd actually remember this, Clarke decided with a pout.
The game progressed a couple more rounds. She won once, and made everyone preform a dance with partners chosen by herself. Watching everyone- but especially Bellamy and his partner Wells- stumble all over the area was the best thing she'd seen in years. It was times like this she wished she had a video camera. She'd really only wanted to see those two, but everyone else had been amusing none the less.
She'd also not won a few. Luckily, the most she'd lost was her jacket, but she had to do some totally embarrassing things that if she was sober she'd never be caught doing, like letting Murphy give her a hair-cut or eating a fistful of dirt. Dax was out within two more rounds. Atom took an unexpected plunge and was out within four. Roma and Mbge both were out the next round.
At this point, even as a doctor, Clarke had seen far more genitalia than she'd ever wished to see. Wells looked as uncomfortable as she did, which was a small relief. Making him dance with Bellamy had been her punishment toward him, for letting her believe for all these years it was his fault her father died.
It was silly because it wasn't even something to be upset about, and the fact she'd been so awful to him about it killed her. But, it was a fairly large secret, and while she understood his motives, she had a right to be upset. Yet seeing him laughing so hard, like they used to when they were kids, made her realize that she did want to mend the bridge with him. They'd been so busy since her revelation, and she may have been avoiding him, that it had never come up. Maybe tonight she'd apologize.
'Yo, Princess, ante up or fold.' Bellamy said, knocking her from her thoughts.
'Obviously truth, ante.' She said, frowning. She didn't want to lose something else. As it were though, the game got stuck on the 'clothing' tier and Clarke was sure as hell she wasn't going to win. Bellamy wasn't either, and he was looking down at his own ensemble with cautious eyes.
Jasper won, as he won most of them, relieved since he didn't have much left on. They'd decided to make it sudden death; no putting back on clothes. What you had on now was what you got, so make your moves strategically in other words. It might have been that it was nearing two AM and everyone was not only tired but drunk, but also being so close to winning a day off of work and jobs was tantalizingly tempting. It meant that at this point, winning was prolonging taking something off. But, people like Monroe and Octavia and some other girls were in a good position where they started this new rule with most of their things still on. People like Murphy and Monty were in hot water.
It wasn't like before, when people grudgingly took things off all at once, but the eyes and the crowd followed each individual person with piqued interest, waiting to see what they'd choose.
Monty went first, taking off his belt. Miller followed in turn. Murphy grumbled, but took back off Raven's shirt, and she snatched it back with a glare.
'I would burn this if it wasn't the only shirt I owned,' She said, wincing, 'Ugg. Smells like Murphy.'
'You're welcome.' He said, giving a little bow toward her. Finn flipped him the bird, and then took off his jacket. Raven, as it were, managed to land on the super-dare instead of the clothing tier, and she had to give Jasper a back massage.
The next four people around the circle- Wells, Harper, Monroe, and Octavia- all threw their jackets down. Then it came to Bellamy and Clarke. Clarke cursed her unlucky stars she didn't have a jacket anymore.
'You first.' Bellamy said, 'Ladies first, isn't that the proper thing to do?'
You Can T Read My Poker Face
'Coward.' She frowned, and looked down at herself. Pants, underwear, bra, or shirt? She made the best choice available, and skillfully wiggled herself from her bra, and was very aware of all the eyes on her as she flung it in to the middle of the circle.
She turned to see Bellamy's face completely red, staring at the black lacy thing she'd just taken off. She gave him a cheshire cat grin.
'Your turn.'
He still had a belt to take off.
In his mind, he couldn't believe she'd done that. He thought for sure she'd, well, he wasn't sure what she'd do. The last thing he ever expected Princess Clarke to do was so casually fling her bra into the middle of the circle. He for sure hadn't expected to see it was lacy either. Was it just his imagination, or was it getting hotter out, because he was sweating through his shirt. He'd seen other bras taken off during this game, more than he'd likely ever see again in his life, but for some reason, Clarke's made him feel things he hadn't felt in a very long time. Damn, this was going to be a long game now.
Wells won the next round, and there was a smattering of where people fell. Jasper lost his belt, Octavia lost her bra (and in that moment, Clarke had to reflect how lucky it was that no one except Bellamy had a sibling, because he looked mortified), Finn lost his shirt, Raven lost her bra, and Miller lost his shirt. Clarke, Monroe, Harper, Bellamy, Murphy, and Monty all ended up on the super-dare.
'Well,' Wells examined the group before him, in contemplation. Perhaps if Clarke hadn't been in the group, he'd be doing something awful, she considered. Or he would anyway to get back at her for making him dance when she knew very well he hated dancing, 'I think I want you all to go to the stream right outside camp and jump in.'
There was a small silence. 'Fine, let's go. But to be safe, only the people who were dared.' Groans sounded around the area, 'You'll see us soaking wet when we get back!' He sighed in exasperation.
The six of them got up, wobbling a bit, and carefully slipped out of camp the back way, Bellamy stopping to grab his gun from his tent, just in case.
'Could you even shoot that straight?' Clarke questioned.
'I'm not sure.' He admitted truthfully.
The stream in question wasn't far, and much closer than the one Octavia had been attacked at that first day. It was smaller, but just as cold. Murphy and Monty wasted no time jumping in, clambering out shivering within seconds. Monroe and Harper started to wade in cautiously, wincing at the cold feeling, until Murphy nudged Monty, and they both helped topple the girls into the stream. They gave out little shrieks, but came up laughing and shivering.
'Your turn.' Monty turned toward Clarke, 'Or do we have to push you in.'
'We'll be fine.' Bellamy rolled his eyes, answering for both of them, 'Shall we?'
'Let's just get it done with.' She agreed, coming to stand by him on a rock slightly above the stream. She might have chickened out, had Bellamy not grabbed her arm at the last second, pulling her into the stream with him. She surfaced, gasping.
'Fuck, it's cold!' She said, paddling frantically toward the rock bed.
'Nothing like that to make you feel less drunk.' He agreed, pulling himself onto the grass, 'We should get back. We won't be lucky forever.' He pointed out, and returned to the main area. When he came back, and now was in the light of the torches, he wished he hadn't looked at Clarke...or her breasts, which were sticking out very clearly against her soaked shirt.
Clarke had no problem looking at Bellamy; his shirt was a little tight before, but now it clung to his chest in a way that left noting to imagination. Unfortunately, and she couldn't even believe she was thinking this, his pants did not react in the same manner.
In the next round, Clarke won. 'Pants' would have been the appropriate phrase to use for this round, since that's what almost everyone was forced to take off. All except Monroe and Harper, who chose their bras, and Jasper, Wells, and Finn who landed on the dare, that is. Bellamy was painfully aware that Clarke watched him, more than anyone else, strip off his wet pants. It was painful because of what it was doing to the lower part of him.
She made the dare people play a round of dirty charades with the peanut gallery guessing, and they couldn't move on until they got it right. Since everyone was still drunk, even the easiest one (handjob) took a laughably long time.
The next round, Harper won. She seemed quite pleased, and even though she was somehow still in the game, Clarke was pretty sure this was her first win. Monroe and Finn both lost their pants, and Monty lost his boxers, which meant he lost.
'I swear I'm usually better at this, Jasp and I were unstoppable on the Ark.' He said out loud as he redonned his clothes, 'Usually, I'm not drunk though.'
Everyone else landed on the double-dare, and Harper whispered something to Monroe, who laughed and nodded enthusiastically, stifling snorts. That wasn't a good sign. Harper went and stumbled around on the ground until she found the make-due wood chip cards, and searched through them until she had a small pile, and then shuffled them.
'Because of the obvious sexual tension in the room,' Clarke wondered who she was talking about,'I have four sets of cards. Pick one. Whoever's your match, you have to make out with them. Not just a kiss, make out.'
Bellamy and Octavia shot each other horrified looks, but Clarke was more than 100% sure that in that unlikely event, Harper wouldn't encourage incest.
'What? No.' Finn said but Raven shrugged.
'Hey, look, I'm fine with it. It doesn't mean anything anyway.' She pointed out, and he grudgingly agreed.
As it turns out, they had nothing to worry about. Clarke looked around at the remaining people-she liked girls as much as she liked boy, so out of everyone here, she was probably the calmest about the whole event. But she wasn't sure she'd like to lock lips with Murphy, that was probably the only one she was wishing she didn't match with.
She had everyone turn their cards to face everyone one by one. If a pair came up, those two had to go at it right then.
Miller turned around a club. Murphy turned around a spade. Each gave a breath of relief; Murphy that it was one less boy he'd have to kiss, Miller with similar thoughts to Clarke that at least it wasn't Murphy.
Raven swore as she turned around a spade.
'You're enjoying this, aren't you.' She accused Murphy and he just leered.
'Guilty.'
He Can Read My Poker Face
There was a chorus of 'oohs' as Raven surged forward, almost violently, to kiss him. He grabbed onto the back of her neck and responded with the same fervor. Finn had to grunt loudly to stop them, and Raven stepped back, glared as she wiped her lips and returned to Finn. Murphy grinned like an idiot, and Clarke wondered if he might have a crush on the fiery latino girl?
Wells turned around a diamond card next. Octavia turned around a club. She looked at Miller, and they both shrugged. Even though Miller clearly bat for the other side, she wasn't the worst person. Bellamy pointedly looked away, blushing when his sister kissed Miller. Had you not known about Miller's preference, you might not have been able to even tell.
Wells looked at the three remaining people. Clarke could tell from the look in his eye he hoped he matched with her; she knew he had a crush on her, once upon a time. She felt it would just be awkward to kiss him. Jasper and Bellamy were left. Jasper was nice enough, she knew he'd be a gentleman about it. And Bellamy...
She bit her lip hard. She didn't even want to get into that can of worms.
Jasper turned over a diamond card and both he and Wells recoiled back as if they'd been punched.
'C'mon, kiss!' Someone-maybe Roma-called from the stand. The roaring cheer that came after made the boys look sick. They hesitantly approached each other, screwed their eyes shut, and made contact with their lips. No tongue, just held it there until Harper announced it was good enough. They both spat and acted like they'd licked something poisonous afterward.
Clarke looked at Bellamy. She'd been so caught up with the glee of watching them kiss each other, she hadn't realized that it meant she was left with Bellamy. He clearly had, because he was avoiding her gaze.
'You two are the last left.' Harper said, coming over and holding up their matching heart cards. Bellamy looked at her, then shot his gaze back down to the floor. He was so embarrassed about it, not that she wasn't, but his was almost cute.
And that's when she decided to be the braver one. She pushed him back so he was leaning against the metal back of the dropship, and sat down in his lap, facing him. His eyes flashed with a million different emotions. She knew he, erm, entertained women in his tent frequently, so for the life of her she couldn't figure out why this was spooking him so much.
It wasn't that he didn't find her attractive, she could tell by the way he hardened underneath her. This gave her courage to grab the sides of his face and kiss him before he did it first. It took him a second, he was almost paralyzed by her touch, and she felt silly for making a big show of it, until his arms wrapped around her back, pushing him closer against his still very wet shirt, the other one tangling in her hair. He made a soft groan that only she was able to hear and she pushed down into his lap in an attempt to lure the noise out again.
And half-way through, he realized what was happening. He was making out with Clarke Griffin. Not even making out; more like humping against her in front of everyone. The girl he was pretty sure he couldn't stand. Not only did he realize how wrong he was, but he also realized how much he might actually like her. He was 83% sure these were his own thoughts and not the alcohol speaking.
Clarke, was having similar thoughts. Hers were far less confused though, her main point just surprised that he was such a good kisser. Also, she didn't want to stop kissing him.
They both seemed to become aware of their surroundings at the same time, most pointedly that they had an audience. They broke apart, Clarke climbing off his lap and coughing into her fist. Bellamy uneasily rubbed the back of his neck.
'Woah, totally hot.' Raven cheered, and a couple other people nudged either Bellamy or Clarke with similar sentiments.
Jasper won the next three rounds, making Clarke really think that perhaps he was the King of Poker. Murphy admitted he'd played both Monty and Jasper once during a truth previously, and that they'd totally kicked his ass and taken his stolen food, but Clarke knew Murphy liked a lot...even though he had no reason to lie about getting beaten.
Clarke had one dare, and lost her pants and shirt, leaving her in just her underwear. After very heatedly making out with Bellamy-her co leader for lack of a better term- in front of everyone, nothing could be as embarrassing. All the dares seemed a little lack-luster, although there were some she didn't participate in that were particularly cringe-worthy. Her own, the 7th round dare, was that she had to take another shot.
Octavia was out by the sixth round, and Bellamy could not have encourage her to dress quicker, slapping both of his hands over his eyes. He let out a sigh of relief that she was out and he didn't have to deal with averting his eyes to the entire left side of the circle so much.
Monroe got lucky and got two dare rounds, and only lost her shirt. Harper went in the same direction, but lost her pants and had two dare rounds. Wells lost his pants, had a dare round, then lost his shirt. Finn lost the round after what Clarke was now considering in her head 'The Kiss'.
'Do I have to take my boxers off?' he questioned.
'Do you think we all did it for fun?' Monty scoffed.
'Maybe some of you.'
'Nope!' Jasper said, 'Part of the humiliation of loosing is stripping completely.' Finn shoved down his boxers and then shoved them back up.
'Happy?'
'I was.' Raven winked at him.
Raven was by far the luckiest, and all three of the next rounds were dares for her.
Bellamy lost his shirt, which was still wet and he drained into a puddle in front of him, and then had two dare rounds.
Miller had two rounds of dares, and then lost his pants.
Murphy was also out at the 'The Kiss' round too. He stripped and waited a good minute before putting his clothes back on. Clarke had decided he had absoutly no shame.
'So Raven,' He said, 'If you like what you saw, you know where my tent is.'
'I have a boyfriend?' She motioned in between her and Finn. Murphy chuckled.
'So?'
Finn gave Murphy a black eye. No one stopped him.
Harper won round eight, and Clarke wondered if she'd been good at Poker all along, but waited to unleash her talent at the end. If that was the case, it was a very good strategy.
Jasper lost his pants, and Raven lost her jacket. Harper's win managed to squeeze Monroe and Miller out of the game. Clarke, Wells, and Bellamy were tied together with a rope and had to untangle it with the dreaded 't' word-teamwork. Harper also apparently had a secret skill of tying knots, and having to untangle it in her underwear was the slowest moment of Clarke's life. Bellamy nor Wells were much better, only in their boxers as well.
Round nine there were six people left. Harper had three whole items of clothing on, everyone else had one. Where the hell did she come out of, Clarke wondered.
Jasper won this round again. Harper lost her shirt, but she was still in. Raven and Bellamy both got dares. Clarke gracefully and almost excitedly striped her last bit of clothing before putting her clothes back on. She was really cold out here, and also, the game was starting to wear on her. Luckily, she didn't think they'd be playing much longer.
Wells also lost, and he and Clarke squeezed onto the platform with a lot of the other kids.
'Good game.' He said, the first time really talking to Clarke since the drop.
'Yeah, you too. I didn't know you were so good a strip poker!'
'Ugh, I can't even imagine what dad would say if he knew.' Wells said, turning a bit paler, 'Luckily, I don't think anyone will be repeating what happened here, you know?'
'Yeah.' Clarke yawned, 'On the bright side, we all know each other really well now. Bonding and trust and all.' She linked her fingers. Wells snorted.
'Yes, everyone should play a game of strip poker before with their co-workers before they begin their jobs.' He said sarcastically.
'Well, I'm not saying it works in every situation.'
'You'd be a doctor. Do you really want to play it with your mom?' Wells teased.
'Never mind I said anything. I regret that imagine in my mind!' Clarke shuddered. They turned their attention back to the next round.
Jasper won again, and the remaining three all landed on the clothes option. Harper finally reached the level that everyone else was, and Raven bowed out. She confidently took off her thong, her body imagine something she'd never been shy about. If Clarke had a body like hers, she wouldn't either.
Then it came to Bellamy. Clarke was very glad she was up here, hiding among all these people, so when she blatantly stared it wouldn't be as obvious. Or, she thought it wouldn't be, until he met her eye and winked at her. Her throat caught as he dropped his boxers, but he was holding her gaze so intently, she realized after she hadn't even seen it.
The last round was tense, between Jasper and Harper. Half the teens cheered for Jasper, the other for Harper. In the end, Harper won. Jasper shook her hand. Clarke had a suspicion that he might have thrown the last round, because he casually mentioned to Clarke later that he'd been doing nothing for a long time, so getting a day off of work wasn't even a prize to him.
'Okay, everyone, show's over. Time to go to sleep.' Bellamy announced, 'We still have to get up and get back to work tomorrow.' He said. No one complained, for the night had been far too fun to argue. Clarke couldn't believe everything that happened had occurred in the span of one night. It was unbelievable.
The pair stayed back to make sure everyone did get to bed, and ended up being the last two in the clearing.
'So, uh-,' Clarke turned, about to bid him goodnight, but he was inches away from her and grabbed her waist as he pulled her in to kiss him.
It was just like before, but this time, they didn't have an audience.
Clarke felt her back collide with the metal of the dropship, their roles reversed from where they'd been, except now they were standing. She felt his hands slide under her legs and hoist them up so she was straddling his waist, and he pressed into her enough to make her gasp at the friction between their two bodies. She heard him chuckle and she caught the bottom of his lip between her teeth, gently nipping at it. His hands gripped her harder, and he sucked on her neck. Clarke's own fingers played in his messy black hair, and she let out a breathless sigh.
'Bellamy.' She whispered, and his lusty eyes came up to meet hers, and there was the fear that she'd stop him. She had no plans to do so, quite the opposite, but the back of the drop ship was really hurting her shoulder blades, 'Maybe not here? Maybe my tent?' She offered.
He nodded, and picked her up. Her tent was near the drop-ship, so she could be close to those in need. But tonight, he was the one that needed her. He wouldn't recall much of it in the morning, but he did remember the emotions that came with it.
When he woke up in the morning, it felt like someone had stomped on his brain repeatedly, and he was really confused to where he was for a second. The mattress was much softer than his own, and as he adjusted to his surroundings, he realized it was Clarke's tent. His first thought was wondering how exactly Clarke acquired the softest bedding pad in the entire camp, but secondly, what was he doing in here?
As he was pulling on his pants and wincing, the night came back to him in short burts of color and laughter. As if the fact he wasn't wearing his pants or boxers wasn't hint enough, the fact that he had sex with Clarke was trickling back in moment by moment. It didn't suck, was his first surprise. Secondly, was that instead of getting up and leaving like he usually did, he stretched back out on the bed. It was a really soft mattress and his mind hurt like hell.
Can T Read My Poker Face Song
The flap of the tent opened, and Clarke came in carrying something.
'How much did I have to drink last night? I feel like shit.'
'I can't remember.' She admitted, 'But here, drink this. It will help.'
He took it without question, but couldn't even get the first sip down. It was by far the most vile thing he'd ever tasted.
'Holy shit, what is this?' He asked, holding the concoction at an arm's length away from him.
'Monty's hangover remedy. I promise, it helps.' She said. Begrudgingly, he sipped on it again, forcing it down. After a couple horrid gulps, he did realize his headache was retreating, very slowly, but it was.
'Well,' He grumbled, 'It's only fair that the guy that got us into that mess got us out. WHat's in this anyway?' He asked, setting the glass down on the ground.
'Heck if I know.' Clarke shrugged, 'He just assured me it wasn't anything dangerous. My head hurt so much that I would have taken anything he gave me.'
'Mhh.' Bellamy grunted, and laid back on her pillow, 'I didn't even know he was making moonshine. It should be regulated, nothing happened last night, but what if the grounders had attacked? We should get on this, maybe tell him to stop. Or, I don't know, maybe not. We don't have a lot of moral around here so perhaps the occasional celebratory shot wouldn't hurt. We'll figure it out after our headaches are gone I suppose.' He thought out loud.
Clarke seemed surprised. She scrutinized him. 'So what are we now?'
Bellamy assumed she was referring to the elephant in the room, or the fact that they'd gone from hating each other to passionately sleeping with each other, and now were utterly casual. He could have said that it was nothing, that they went back to avoiding each other. But he wasn't sure he wanted to.
'I don't know. Not dating, not yet. I'd be interested to see where this goes, however.' He said. Clarke titled her head, frowning.
'No, not...that.' She blushed, 'I mean, I'll put in pin in it for later, but I meant as leaders.'
Well, Bellamy felt stupid now.
'You said we like twenty times when you were thinking out loud. I don't think you meant the entire camp as 'we', but me and you as the 'we'.'
He blinked, realizing he had. It wasn't even something he'd realized was happening. It felt so natural, and even logical to talk to her like that, despite never having before in the truest of sense. He knew it was a sharp turn around, but maybe seeing the camp happy yesterday (and realizing neither he nor Clarke got the message, obviously because they thought they'd shut them down) or now not hating her, but whatever it was, he didn't have a problem occasionally handing over the reigns to her anymore.
'Yeah. Co-leaders.' He agreed, 'Isn't that what you wanted?'
'It is. I'm just...surprised.' She said, and shrugged, 'Drink the rest of that. We need to be as with it as possible, since I'm pretty sure half the camp won't be. You think we had a lot to drink? You should see Murphy. He's barfed four times in the last hour.'
Bellamy scoffed, 'He deserves it.'
'I'll meet you out there.' She said, and nothing more was said about their relationship. Perhaps it was better that way.
Outside, the sun was bright and shining and Bellamy realized with a bit of embarrassment that the guards on duty last night had never officially been sent off duty, and they were still blearily watching the camp. Bellamy gave them the whole rest of the day off, surprised none of them turned in instead of standing firm all night as they'd done. Little things like that gave him hope.
Everyone that had played last night looked awful, and all looked grumpy. He found Monty and Jasper groaning with their heads down on the sorting table. He clapped Jasper on the back.
'Maybe this will show you that as fun as alcohol is, it also isn't?' He teased.
'Why are you yelling?' Jasper asked, turning a glaring gaze toward Bellamy.
'I'm actually not. I'm taking normally.' Bellamy said, grinning, and patting Jasper again.
'Ughn stop it.' Jasper covered his ears. Monty sighed, looking at Bellamy.
'Cat's out of the bag now, I suppose?' He said, motioning to the last remaining bottle of moonshine left.
'Yeah. Clarke and I haven't decided how to handle it, but if anything, it's going to be regulated now.' He said. Monty frowned.
'I had guessed as much.'
The entire day of camp was spent with people dragging themselves around, everyone exchanging stories and laughing by the time their hangovers wore off, and generally nothing getting done. Perhaps a day before, Bellamy would have really cracked the whip. But today, he let it go, albeit he got annoyed when he had to continue correcting what sorts of things he'd done at the game. It was in teenager's nature to over-exaggerate the stories, and to him, they were wild enough telling the whole truth of it.
The days passed and he and Clarke never really identified what they were apart from co-leaders. In a way, perhaps Bellamy understood it. They needed to figure out how to lead these kids together without anything else fogging it. It was hard enough to do that.
But it wasn't all like nothing had ever happened. There were still times she'd reach out and clasp his hand in her own gently, or touch him casually, or even give him a chaste kiss. Without saying anything at all, she said quite a lot. And all the kids that had been present at the Poker Game had started calling them 'mom' and 'dad'; half with a smirk, half lovingly. And, that was enough for Bellamy, at least for now.
As for the dropship, more and more treasures began to emerge, shoved into rusty pipes or behind pieces of metal. Clarke was beginning to believe Monty's original guess that this dropship had been the vehicle to bring up some of the original grounders, and their goods had been left behind. After Clarke declared whoever found it could keep it (since most of it was just trinkets anyway), clearing out the drop ship went from the most annoying job to the most wanted job. He could see Clarke smirking often, her plans of turning the drop ship to a winter-ready home becoming more and more realized as people scrambled in the hopes of finding things from a world that was a 100 years before them.
It was a month after 'The Poker Game' and Bellamy and Clarke were lounging in the main area, watching the construction of the smoking hut go up. To prevent any more games, they figured it best to fill that area soon as possible. Monty was with them, planning out a garden that Clarke wanted to try to grow.
They'd accomplished a lot in this month, in Clarke's opinion it was because of the new combined strong front of their leadership. They were no longer banging heads on things to do and because of that, things had gone smoothly. They'd re-routed and created a bathing area within the camp from the stream she'd gone to during the Poker Night. The food collection was at an all-time high, and everyone was getting better at hunting in general. Even though there hadn't been any contact from the Ark, Clarke was okay with this. They were more than surviving now, they were thriving, and she planned to continue it that way. People did their jobs without question, and other than minor problems, there hadn't been any strife at all between the people in the camp. It was as though in that one magical night, everyone realized that they were here together alone and unless they accepted this and worked past it, they weren't going to survive. It was indeed the best team-building exercise Clarke would have never thought of.
Jasper was on the rotation for the drop-ship cleaning. He came bouncing out, an object in his hand.
'What did you find?' Clarke asked, and all the eyes were on Jasper, who had found yet another treasure. He grinned, slamming a black box down on the table. He unclipped the hinges, and opened it.
'Poker chips!' He said triumphantly, eyes gleaming, 'Anyone up for a round two?'
No He Can't Read My Poker Face Lyrics
So what did y'all think? I hope it held it to everyone's Strip Poker AU hopes and dreams :) If you liked it, please leave a review or favorite it! (Preferably a review!)
She Can't Read My Poker Face
Also, if you liked it, check out some of my other Bellarke stories. I'm beginning to amass quite a collection of 'em.
Lyrics Can't Read My Poker Face
Thanks for reading!