Don't Trust Me- 3Oh3!

Ark parties were the worst. Especially the ones that other teenagers held. They would press up against each other in some dark, crowded storage closet over on Walden and grope at each other with the Walden teenagers until late. Then, they would stay out until curfew or sneak back to some Walden apartment to hide out until it was officially time for curfew to end. Illegal alcohol exchanged hands almost as much as kisses exchanged lips and Clarke almost wished that she'd never followed Claire into the party.

Claire was the typical bored Phoenix girl who would drawl things like, "The Walden boys are just so much more interesting, you know. They've like, experienced things. They, like, know things."

Clarke knew that the Walden boys knew how to pin you up against a wall and have you screaming their name until somebody came and caught you and threw you into the delinquent pin. But she'd followed Claire anyway, knowing that she needed something away from the knowledge that the Ark was dying. Her parents were too busy considering the information to even realize that she wasn't in her room. That she wasn't in their apartment. That she'd snuck out the door as soon as dinner ended, hiding into a Phoenix supply closet so that she could slide out of her scrubs and into the little black dress she'd traded thirty credits for in the market. Claire was in a little blue number and Clarke lost her in the crowd as soon as they got there. Clarke knew she wouldn't see Claire again and she wondered how much trouble she'd get in if she tried to sneak out before the curfew was lifted and she was caught. The truth was, she'd probably get a slap on the wrist and handed back to her parents with a warning.

"Well look at the princess." The voice purred it into her ear and she whirled around to see a boy that came straight out of every cheesy romance novel that the Ark had saved for some unknown reason. Those faded yellowed books existed right next to the Shakespeare in the library. He was tall and dark and freckles painted his nose. His dark hair was slicked back but she could tell that it would probably have curls if it was let loose.

"I'm not a princess," she said flatly, a little louder than she normally would have to be heard of the music.

He just smirked down at her. "Princess down out of her tower. Are you going to make the escape worthwhile, or are you going to risk your reputation just to stand in the corner and watch everybody else dance?"

"Look, I…"

"We're all here for some kind of reason. Might as well dance," he cut her off and she realized that he was right. They all needed some kind of escape. They floated thousands of miles above their home. Above the place humans were meant to be in an artificially sustained system that was dying and would be dead before their children were ever born.

"You're…"

"Talk with your hips," he ordered with a laugh. His long fingers grasped at her hips and he pulled her closer, pulling her hips to his. And, for just that second, Clarke let go. Clarke began to move to the music, music she'd never danced to in her life. She let Tall Dark and Handsome lead her in a swaying movement, back and forth, giving and taking. His dark eyes never left her face and she felt like she'd melt under his gaze. It was too intense for any girl to survive.

He leaned close as the music dipped and pressed his cheek to hers so he could whisper in her ear, "Do you trust me, princess?"

"No," she said definitively. "And you shouldn't trust me either."

"Good. That's how I like them."

Then, his lips claimed hers and, the dancing was lost in the rhythm of their lips against each other. It was her first kiss, and it was damn good. It was pressing and urgent and the most important thing in the world. He bit her a couple times, drawing her lower lip into his mouth and tugging at it until she opened her eyes and found his own staring down at her. He wanted her to see what lust looked like. His eyes were so dark that it wouldn't have mattered if his pupils were dilated. She wouldn't have been able to tell anyway.

Slowly, she found herself backed up against the wall, pushed through the crowd without ever breaking contact. He was good. Too good. In the back of her mind, she thought loud and clear, do not let him get under this dress. But he never tried. They were in the dark for hours, hips rocking against one another, lips locked, bodies dripping with the sweat that left puddles on the floor. Then, when she didn't think she could stand another second of his lips on her without breaking apart, he pulled away and whispered, "I don't trust you; you don't trust me, and I'm not making the trip to Pheonix right now. Another time, princess."

He pressed one last chaste kiss to her lips, and he was gone in the crowd, leaving her feeling way too empty and way too bothered. After that, she didn't bother to stay for Claire or to worry about getting caught. She slipped out of the storage room and into the too cold air of Walden. She made her way back to the supply closet where she hid her scrubs and, when she was stopped by a guard on the way back to her apartment, she told him that she'd been at the hospital checking on a patient, and he walked her to her door to make sure that she was safe.