All We Do ↠ Bellamy Blake

chapter seventeen

'I'm so scared of dying without ever being really seen.

Can you understand?'

David Foster Wallace

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Day Eighteen

"Loosen your shoulders, Skai-snacha," Orion ordered, using a cane he'd bought with him this time to gently hit her shoulder blades.

The first session had seemed serious but it was the next ones that showed Olivia how intense Orion could be about teaching. He'd bought her special gloves for her to use that were supposed to help her fingers. The one for her right hand only had fabric for the fingers she used to draw whereas the one for her left hand was completely fingerless. She had to admit, they made her feel rather badass but they did nothing to cheer up her mood.

"You've been coming to our sessions stressed out for the past two days now," Orion furrowed his eyebrows, "What's on your mind?"

The next day would be Unity Day and it had been stressful that morning trying to organise a party for it - which Bellamy had suggested everyone deserved. Of course he'd suggested that to Clarke because another factor contributing to her stress was the fact that he was hardcore avoiding her. It was no longer just avoiding her eyes but a full on, rather obvious, 'will change directions if you come my way' avoid. And whilst she was relieved she didn't have to see how the revelation had affected his feelings towards her, she did miss him and feel awful that he hated her so much that he felt the need to stay away from her.

Luckily, she'd had Orion's sessions to take her mind off it; he had been right when he'd said that archery could be relaxing. Not to mention, she'd been slowly prodding information about his life out of him, learning random tidbits about it - from random words in Trigedasleng to what his favourite food was. All of it managed to stop her from thinking about Bellamy and how she may have ruined whatever relationship they had.

"The fact I haven't even shot a single arrow yet," Olivia grumbled, "What if I'm awful at this and we don't know because I haven't shot a single arrow yet?"

Orion sighed, "Don't you trust me?" When all he gained was an unimpressed look in response, he rolled his eyes. "Fine, take a shot - but only when your shoulders are loose and-"

"-my breathing is steady," she cut him off, having heard him say it enough times. He took a step back as if to silently say 'go ahead', leaving her with just the target to pay attention to ahead. It was a simple cross drawn on the tree but it was enough. Taking deep breaths, Olivia drew back the arrow, making sure that she kept her shoulders relaxed. The string felt rough as it touched the corner of her lips and she insured that the target was in sight. Everything seemed to slow down for a moment and she felt like she could hear every rustle of the tree as she released the arrow, watching in awe as it flew from the bow and to the target.

The rush she'd gotten from shooting a gun was nothing compared to the rush she felt after she'd shot the arrow, her heart racing. The actual arrow had landed on the correct tree - which was relieving and wasn't close enough to the centre of the 'x' to deem the shot a great one but was much closer than she'd expected it to be considering the time she'd spent learning how to shoot.

Orion came over, smirking, "Feel better?"

Olivia could only nod, actually finding that she felt way better than she did before she'd taken the shot. "Can I do it again?" she asked, wanting to get the shot more precise and wanting to continue to perfect her technique. She could do better, she knew that - and for once, this was something where she wasn't being a control freak just for wanting it to be perfect. This was something that she could keep practising and perfecting without being classed as high strung.