This chapter is for my good friend livinlovinlettingo! CLARKADE JUST FOR YOU!

“How are you not freaking out?” Autumn whined, pacing around the room, adjusting the strap to prevent it from further digging into her shoulder.

“Because this is what Tate does. He love to vanish! When he’s angry or upset, he just . . . disappears,” Cade replied, typing on his computer.

“It’s all my fault,” Autumn shook her head.

“Will you sit please? You're being incredibly obnoxious.” Cade questioned, spinning around in his chair. Autumn paused, only for a moment, before sliding into the seat next to him. “Better,” he returned his attention to his computer. “He broke your arm Autumn. This wasn’t you getting tackled in the hallway or yelled at. This was hurting you directly. No one knows how long he’ll disappear.”

Autumn sighed, leaning further into the chair. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she fought the tears that were begging to be released.

“Did you finish yet?” Clarke wondered, stomping into the room with some files.

“Why am I looking up all these people?” Cade sneered.

“Because I told you to,” Clarke growled.

“You sound like a mother. ‘Because I said so!’” Cade replied in a mocking tone.

“You sound like a five year old,” she slammed the files in her hand onto the tabletop. “Always complaining.” Cade snatched the files off the desk, tossing new ones in her direction. She caught them, glaring at the back of his head. Cade began to mutter under his breath. Autumn could make out a few things he said, and they were anything but nice.

“Clarke?” Autumn’s voice was quiet. Clarke’s eyes leapt from the file she was reading and to her. “Is he . . .”

“He’s fine,” Clarke lifted the corner of her lip, the closet to a smile Autumn had gotten. “I promise.”

“While were making promises, do you promise to see Ezra?” Cade asked, spinning around to face Clarke.

“What? Why?” Clarke raised her brow.

“You probably want to talk to him about getting the stick up your ass removed,” Cade sent her an arrogant smile.

“Go to hell,” Clarke rolled her eyes, charging out of the room.

“See you there, babe!” Clarke shouted a series of profanities, her voice slowly fading away as she traveled further down the hall.

“I think you guys secretly like each other,” Autumn nodded, wanting to take her mind off Tate. Cade glared in her direction, eyebrow raised.

“Are you stupid?”

“What? Some people are mean to each other when they have a crush,” Autumn shrugged. Cade began to gag.

“I’m going to throw up!”

“I totally ship you guys,” Autumn giggled.

“Shut up,” Cade wouldn’t even look in her direction. Autumn chuckled, her side hurting from laughing so hard.

“I got it!” She clapped. “Clarkade.”

“Clarkade?” Cade’s tone was serious, no laughter hidden behind it.

“Yeah! You and Clarke’s ship name! Clarkade! Oh, I love it,” Autumn laughed.

“I will break your other arm, woman! Don’t test me.” This only made Autumn laugh harder. After a few minutes of undisturbed laughter, she stopped. Wiping the stray tears from her eyes, she caught her breath.

“Surely, you can’t be serious?” Autumn waited, wondering if Cade understood her movie reference. Autumn was a sucker for movies, and Cade seemed to be the only one she’d talked to since she’d been there who ever had watched a movie.

“I am serious . . .” He held back a laugh. “And don’t call me Shirley.” They both chuckled. “Airplane reference, nice.” Cade complained about all the work he had to do while setting up a movie on one of the screens. Autumn and Cade ended up watching Dumber and Dumber.

Cade worked as they watched it, however, he didn’t hesitate to laugh at the hilarious parts. When the movie was over, Cade and Autumn spent ten minutes fighting over what to watch next.

Autumn wanted to watch Horrible Bosses while Cade wanted to see Tommy Boy.

“I can hear you too fighting all the way down the hall,” Jade strolled into the room. “What’s up?” Cade and Autumn glanced over their shoulders at her.

“We were debating on whether or not you owned a shirt that covered your stomach. I said no,” Cade looked to Autumn. “You owe me five bucks. I clearly won.”

“Oh ha.ha.” Jade scoffed. “I need to borrow Ms. Autumn here.”

“Please don’t turn Autumn into . . . you.” Jade rolled her eyes, ignoring his comment. She held her hand out to Autumn.

“Come come.” Autumn rose from her chair. Cade gripped onto her wrist.

“If she tries to get you to wear crop tops or booty shorts, you come right here. Do not let the punk rock look tempt you.” Autumn laughed at Cade as he let go. She headed toward Jade, who hooked arms with Autumn.

“How does it feel to have one arm?” Jade questioned, skipping slightly down the hall in excitement.

“Uh . . .” Autumn wasn’t sure how to answer her question.

“Sorry,” Jade shook her head. “I’m working on the whole being sensitive thing . . . But you have had a week with that thing. Are you a master of the sling?” Autumn howled in laughter, her side hurting as they entered Autumn’s room.

A single chair sat in the middle of the room. It was surrounded by a circle of cosmetic products, curling irons, clips, and bottles of mysterious hair products.

“What . . .” Autumn paused. “What’s going on?” Jade rested her hand on Autumn’s back, forcing her into the seat.

“For the next two hours, you are mine.” Jade bore a twisted smile.

“That sounded wrong,” Autumn giggled.

“You’ve been hanging out with Cade way too much.”

“What is all this for?” Jade plugged in the curling iron, impatiently tapping her foot.

“It’s a surprise.” Jade latched onto a chuck on Autumn’s hair, tilting her head as hard right as possible.

Jade was vicious. She curled Autumn’s hair for, what felt like days, but according to Jade was only an hour. Jade burned Autumn’s ear twice, nearly burned her scalp another five times, and pulled out a large portion of her hair.

That was only the start. Jade plucked viciously at Autumn’s eyebrows. She accidently stabbed Autumn’s eye with the mascara, managed to get lipstick smeared onto her front teeth, and broke two different brushes.

However, the torture ended. After three hours, Jade stepped back and grinned. She didn’t say a word, simply gestured toward the clothes spread out on the bed. Turning her back, Jade allowed Autumn to change in privacy.

When she had finished, she simply coughed to catch her attention. Jade whirled around, eyes wide in shock.

“You are . . . hot! Oh my goodness, I’ve created a sex symbol.” Autumn uncomfortably chuckled. Clarke burst through the door, face red as usual. She spotted Autumn and froze.

“Just who I was looking for. Way to take longer than you said,” Clarke sneered.

“I gave you an estimated time,” Jade shrugged.

"Come on," Clarke threw her head backwards, gesturing toward the door. Jade shoved Autumn forward. She stumbled out of the doorway, lights flashing in her eyes.

She was blinded, forcing up her hand. David laughed, clicking the button on the camera in his hands like a maniac.

"Will you stop!?" Clarke stomped her foot. David lowered the camera, a scowl on his face.

"What? I want to remember all this stuff!" He whined.

"How did you even get a camera? Did you steal it?" Jade wondered, eyebrow raised.

"No . . . I borrowed it," David snapped another picture.

"Can someone tells me what's going on now?" Autumn questioned.

"It's a surprise," David grinned, scooting over toward Autumn. He put on the biggest smile he had, causing Autumn to laugh as the camera snapped a picture.

"David! I'm going to snap that camera in half," Clarke warned.

"Come on Autumn, let's go before Clarke shoves David's camera up his-" she stopped herself, chuckling. Jade hooked arms with Autumn yet again.

"Where are we going?" Autumn demanded.

"Will you calm down? It's a surprise for a reason." Autumn glanced over her shoulder, Clarke and David trailing behind. David eyed Clarke, slowly lifting up the camera.

"Put.it.down." Clarke growled. David frowned, lowering his arm. Jade lead the group through the maze of twists and turns, ending at a familiar staircase.

Instead of going down, they went up. Autumn found herself breathless as they neared the top. They stopped at the final floor, Jade spinning around to face her.

She fixed any mistakes, bringing all Autum's hair onto her shoulders.

"You look hot. I did good," Jade bobbed her head with a proud grin.

"Whelp! Go through the door!" David shove her slightly.

"Have fun," Clarke smiled. Clarke actually smiled. "You look gorgeous."

"I knew you would warm up to me," Autum giggled. Clarke held her smile; gosh, she's still smiling.

David shoved past everyone, holding open the door and practically kicking her out. Autumn gazed in awe at what was in front of her. A path of lights stood before her. She began to walk down them, admiring the arcs covered in lights above her head.

The setting was gorgeous, something taken right out of a romance movie. Shuffling around the corner, she spotted Tate. He was rapidly adjusting his tie, standing behind a table.

“Tate?” Autumn called as she neared closer. His eyes went wide as he wiped the dirt from his suit.

“Hey,” he smiled. She reached the table.

“What’s . . . what’s going on?” Autumn studied the table quizzingly. Again, it was almost as if someone had reached through a television and pulled the scene that lay before her from it. The table was blanketed in a beautiful white table cloth with gold embroidery along the bottom.

Two candles sat in the middle of the table. One light swayed uncontrollably in the wind, ready to blow out any second. Two place settings rested opposite of each other, both of them containing two glasses, two forks, two spoons, a glass plate and a napkin.

“I uh . . .” Tate roughly ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Wanted to do something for you.” He paused, eyeing Autumn. “I uh . . . watched a bunch of those movies you were speaking about. Cade helped with . . .  well pretty much everything. I copied the movies, I thought this was uh . . .” Tate was beyond nervous, rambling over and over as sweat dripped down his forehead.

“Tate,” Autumn put an end to his long-winded explanation. “I love it.” Tate grinned from ear to ear. A flash exploded behind Autumn, whirling around she eyed David as he snapped another picture. Clarke leapt around the corner, latching onto David by his ear and forcing him away.

“Please, sit,” Tate tried to distract Autumn from the unexpected interruption.  She stepped toward her seat, Tate pulling it out for her. The moment she sat down, he scooted in the chair and snatched the dishes from the tiny table behind him. “I had to call in a few favors,” he began, setting the covered dish onto her plate. “But Cade said this was your favorite.”

Forcing back the top, Autumn showed her teeth. She couldn’t stop the smile, her cheeks dimpled. Before her lay the biggest slice of pizza she had ever seen.

“Oh my goodness!” She exclaimed. Autumn, who had gone from eating pizza practically every week to not having it for three weeks, was now eyeing a giant piece of pepperoni and sausage pizza. “How . . . how did you do this?” Tate set a piece on his plate as well before sitting down.

“I told you, I called in a few favors,” he smirked.

“This is amazing,” Tate watched as her eyes lit up. Autumn bit into the pizza, surprised at the taste. Sure, it wasn’t as amazing as the pizza she had become accustomed to. However, it was a very close second.

“You uh . . . look beautiful,” Tate wasn’t sure if he was out of line.

“Thank you. You look very handsome.” Autumn took another bite before adjusting the sling. Tate watched her with careful, yet painful, eyes.

“Does . . .” he paused. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” Autumn lied. It would hurt occasionally, however, she didn’t want Tate to feel guilty. The two sat in silence, Tate scarfing down his pizza. Autumn tried to start up a conversation after a few minutes. “So, which movies did you watch to get this idea?”

“Uh,” he scratched his head. “The Notebook, Pretty Women, The Vow . . .” He trailed on for a few minutes before he noticed Autumns expression; eyebrow raised and lips curved upwards. “What?”

“You watched chick flicks?” Now it was Tate’s turn to be confused.

“What’s a chick flick?” Autumn chuckled.

“It’s a movie basically made for girls.” Tate turned beat red.

“I uh . . . I didn’t watch them . . . you can Cade did all the-”

“Tate,” Autumn reached over and set her arm on his, giggling as she did. “I’m just teasing you. This is very sweet.” The corners of his eyes wrinkled as he smirked.

“It’s my way of saying . . .” he hesitated. “Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Autumn took her final few bites of pizza, awaiting a reply that took a few minutes.

“I do,” his eyes were on his lap. “I should have been in control,” he began shaking his head. “I should have taken care of you.”

“Tate, please don’t apologize for being you. I know you, Tate. You are a kind-hearted person who had a moment when you acted . . . human.” They only gazed into each other’s eyes, unsure of what to say to one another.

Autumn rose from her chair, her legs feeling like jello from sitting so long. Tate joined her, the two of them strolling around the edge of the roof.

“Where are we?” Autumn questioned, staring over the side of the building; it was a long drop.

“I can’t tell you.” Autumn whirled around to face him, leaning against the edge. “It’s not my rules. It’s the councils. They want this place safe and secure. And, to do that, only a few can know the exact location.”

“And who are the select few?”

“Me, Cade, Clarke, David and a few others who come and visit this place.”

“Visit, who visits?” Autumn wondered.

“People from other places like this one. They visit to talk with the council and all that crap. There’s also a few who come to visit family that were sent to other safe houses and stuff.”

“There’s more than just you guys?” Tate spun around, plopping himself onto the edge next to her.

“Yeah, there’s a few others places we keep in contact with but there’s not many that are still with us.”

“With us?” Tate forced a few strands of hair from Autumn’s shoulder.

“Most people have joined Kyra and her cause,” Autumn could tell this was a touchy subject for him, however, she found herself needing to know more.

“Why would anyone join her?”

“They don’t have a choice. It’s either die or be a part of their cause. You don’t have any other choice.”

“That’s awful,” Autumn frowned. Pushing herself off the edge, she sauntered back toward the table. Stopping just before it, she held her dress down and laid on the ground.

“What are you doing?” Tate hovered over her.

“I haven’t been outside in three weeks. I’m looking at the stars.” She patted the area next to her. Tate hesitated before resting next to her. “It’s beautiful.” She gazed at the star-filled sky, the moons luminous glow overwhelming.

She could feel Tate’s eyes on her.  Autumn enjoyed the crisp night. She loved the cool breeze that ran through the air. Autumn could remember lying in the backyard with her mother, enjoying the stars. That awful home sickness blanketed her.

“Can I ask you something?” Tate broke the silence, and Autumn from her thoughts. She peered at him. “Why me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why did you chose me? You could have drug anyone under that aisle, you could have saved anyone, hell you could have run away and saved yourself. But you didn’t. Why me?”

“I . . . I knew you.”

“You knew me?” He raised his brow.

“When I first saw you,” she turned her attention to the sky. “I just knew you. I don’t know what it was, but you looked so familiar. And the moment I saw you my heart stopped an-and . . .” she glanced in his direction.

“And?”

“I don’t know. I just had too. I couldn’t leave you.” She laughed, running a hand through her hair. “Oh god I sound nuts.”

“No, I-I understand.”

“What?”

“When you got shot, and Clarke was screaming at me to leave you. I couldn’t.” That gravity appeared again. Autumn’s heart was pounding a million miles an hour. It was, as if, any moment she would burst.

Tate scooted closer, moving in. Autumn wanted nothing more than for him to kiss her. They were so close, she could feel his breath on her face. At the last moment he turned away, eyes on the sky.

And Autumn’s heart broke.