losttheright | (no subject)

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The whole idea had come about somewhat randomly while talking to Clarke. Molly couldn't even say, now, exactly what prompted it, but one thing led to another, led to talking about how the four of them should get together sometime, led to making plans to go out for dinner. It's only after the fact, getting ready to leave, that Molly realizes she's never actually done this before. She's gone out with groups of friends, sure, sometimes even with someone she was seeing, but never just the two of them with another couple, probably because none of the relationships she's been in before this have amounted to much of anything, or been all that serious, at least on her end. Nothing like this ever came up. Now, though, it just makes sense. Clarke has become one of the closer friends she has here, and she's liked Bellamy, when they've spoken, and, well, it's not like they won't all have anything to talk about. If anything, she kind of wonders if she'll be the odd one out, being the only one of them not from space in some capacity, which is such an absurd thought that she can't even be bothered by it. It's definitely not something she'd be able to say before.

Waiting in the lobby of the restaurant where they've agreed to meet, her head leaning absently against Lee's shoulder, she grins and straightens when she spots them. "Hey, guys," she says warmly. "I'm glad you could make it. Lee, Clarke and Bellamy; Clarke and Bellamy, Lee."

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They're on an actual double date. Octavia would laugh if she could see him now.

It's not that Bellamy feels uncomfortable, but he hasn't ever really thought this would be something he'd do. Dinner at a restaurant with another couple -- it feels like it's something that happens to other people. Normal people.

Maybe they've become normal people without him realizing it. Or at least they can pretend to be, and Bellamy can swallow down his guilt, not think of his sister, and have a nice time. He can try, anyway.

When they spot Molly, he returns her smile and walks over with Clarke's hand in his, more an anchor than anything.

"Hey," he returns, and when she introduces Lee, Bellamy nods and holds a hand out in greeting. "Nice to meet you."

It's frakking weird, mostly because he can't remember a time he's actually been on a double date. It's an understatement to say that he didn't have time before winding up in Darrow, but even before that, it hadn't exactly been high on his and his then-fiance's list of priorities.

But things with Molly are different, and his life in Darrow is different.

"Uh yeah. Likewise," Lee says, and shakes Bellamy's hand.

This is the kind of old Earth normal that makes it feel less like her life and more like one of those movies that they used to rewatch on the Ark. It's not something that Clarke had ever really imagined happening (maybe once or twice before the Sky Box, but never after).

Part of her wonders if she should feel a little guilty for being excited. The rest of her ignores that because it's normal and something that would've happened eventually. This is just carrying it out sooner rather than later. Twisting slightly, she wags her eyebrows at Molly behind the backs of the two men.

"Nice to meet you too," she offers to Lee after Bellamy's done. "So, how much longer do we have to wait? Or is our table ready now?"

"I think it should probably be ready, yeah. One sec," Molly says, taking her phone out of her purse just long enough to check the time, making sure it's not too early to ask about their table. When it doesn't seem to be, she moves away just to walk up to where the hostess is behind the counter. "Hi, we have a reservation for four, under Stearns?"

The woman checks her list, then nods, taking four menus and smiling politely at the four of them as she steps out. "Yes, right this way, I'll show you to your table."

Molly grins, turning to face the other three. "I guess we don't have to wait," she says. "Come on, let's go sit."

Bellamy can't help sizing Lee up, but he does it more out of curiosity than anything else. He likes Molly well enough that he wants to know more about Lee, and the few tidbits she's told him about Lee's past have left him with a few burning questions.

He returns Molly's smile with one of his own, and manages to take Clarke's hand as they head in, giving it a squeeze. "This is fancy."

"Yeah," Lee says, agreeing with Bellamy, and he starts to walk with Molly as they follow the hostess, "You remember that I'm still a student and not an actual lawyer, right?"

Though, this kind of place isn't unfamiliar to him. Maybe he and Molly don't do this very often, and maybe it's been a long time since he's been in a place this fancy, but before the attack on the Colonies, his family didn't want for much. He's seen the inside of more places like this than he can remember.

The place reminds Clarke of restaurants she'd seen in old movies or walked past here. She's been tempting by the sheer variety of places to eat before, but the boldest she's ever gotten is carrying out from one of the nicer places. Food still feels like a massive luxury.

It makes her feel a little uncomfortable, but that's never stopped her before. "It's a treat," she suggests with a smile, glancing at Bellamy and then back to Molly and Lee as they make their way to the table. "Next time we can eat hot dogs from a street cart or something."

"Deal," Molly says with a grin, laughing a little at the suggestion. Even when she knows in theory, though, it's a difficult thing for her to keep in perspective sometimes, the position she's in compared to people she knows. Her whole life has been like this; back home, it wouldn't have been anything to think twice about. Here, though the first couple years were kind of rough as she got used to fending for herself, without her family's money, it hasn't been different enough for her to think of this as anything other than normal. A bit more of a special occasion, maybe, but normal nonetheless. "This just seemed better than someplace likely to be so noisy that we wouldn't even be able to hear each other speak. I mean, that'd kind of defeat the purpose."

"You know just how to talk to me," Bellamy teases Clarke, and he pulls her close to give her a kiss on her cheek before falling back behind her as they approach a table.

"It's great," he tells Molly, standing back a bit to let her and Lee get to the table first. "Our version of this on the Ark would be cramming together in some corner of the station that was only a little quieter than the rest."

Lee has only heard bits and pieces about where Clarke and Bellamy come from, mostly in passing from Molly, and when she mentioned this dinner date to him, so Bellamy's casual mention of their life back home piques his interest almost immediately.

"So you lived on a space station before Darrow?" Lee asks, as they make their way to the table, and holds out Molly's chair for her to sit once they get there.

"Of course I do," she tosses back with an easy shrug and a smile, as she uses her free hand to pull out a chair for herself.

Casting a quick glance at Bellamy as Clarke intercepts the question. She knows from Molly that Lee also lived in space, the details sparse but similar enough to let her know that there's something familiar but not at all about the time. Life in space is difficult, but it isn't impossible.

"Yeah, not immediately before, but we grew up on a space station orbiting Earth. I heard you lived in space too?"

Molly grins up at Lee when he pulls her chair out, taking a seat a moment later, only just managing not to laugh. She'd known this subject would come up eventually — it's part of why she thought this would be a good idea in the first place — but she hadn't been expecting it quite this soon. Even now that it's something she's gotten used to, it's still kind of fucking weird when she thinks about it too much, not least because, somehow, it's wound up applying to a fair few of the people here she knows. Then again, just about everything about where she's ended up here has been unexpected, so maybe that in itself shouldn't be so surprising.

"File this under things I never thought would make me the odd one out," she says, teasing. "I've been in planes a few times. Great view from 35,000 feet up."

Bellamy snorts at Molly's response as he settles in, trying to remind himself that this is part of his life now. It's still difficult to put together their past and their present and remember that they're the same life.

"Hey, you have that on me," he points out, grinning at Molly. "I've never been in a plane."

"I did," Lee says, replying to Clarke, "But we didn't really have any other options."

After the attack on the colonies, there'd been nowhere else to go. They'd tried to put down roots on New Caprica, but it'd turned out be a catastrophe. After that, even they had found a habitable planet that wasn't Earth, Lee isn't sure any of them would have been quick to want to settle there.

Clarke nods her head, a slight frown tugging at the edges of her mouth. She understands that much, the lack of choice. Space is a lot less exciting when there are no other options.

"Same with us," she says, gesturing to Bellamy before taking her napkin and placing it in her lap. "No other options but space, I mean. Though airplanes seem like a nice middle ground."

She cringes before letting a self-deprecating smile replace her frown. "Okay, I could've picked a better phrase than middle ground for flying, I'll admit it."

"Yeah. Yeah, I think maybe you could have," Molly says with a laugh, albeit a warm one, simply amused rather than judgmental. "But still, the point stands." It's probably not nearly the same, but at least she has something to go on, even if it doesn't make much difference in a context like this. She's never even been all that interested in space before. Now, some part of her almost wishes she could experience it for herself, that there was some way she could do so here. "But, hey, it works. Not gonna get any closer around here, anyway."

Bellamy can't say he's ever really thought about flying. The fall to the Ground had been all the experience he could want for, and here, the ride up to the Kagura, the ferris wheels, they feel good enough.

"What, are there no planes here?" Bellamy asks. It occurs to him now that he can't really think of any time he's spotted a plane in the air. He's never had occasion to even look for one before, though.

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