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Her back was slammed into a cold bathroom wall, startled by the sudden impact she heard herself let out a breathy "Ouch."
Contradicting the smile on her lips at the close proximity of a body against hers, soft lips barely ghosting against her neck, and she could barely hear the other girl giggle at the impact, letting a small "Sorry," Come out of her voice, working back on the throat she had barely distanced herself from.
The girl meant to reply to this, but was caught off by her own noise falling out of her throat, her eyes falling closed at the impact. "Clementine" The other voice seemed to breathe out, "Clementine?"
She felt a hand much larger than the girl's tap her shoulder, "Shit, are you alright in there?" Another voice, not the girl's said once again.
She felt her own eyes fluttering open, finding that she wasn't up against a wall at all, instead her ass on the floor of an apartment foreign to her own. Trying to accustom to the loud sound of a speaker quite close to her backside, turning to the owner of said voice, and was faced with not the girl from her dreams, but Louis. "Shit, what the fuck?" Her head was pounding and the air around her felt suffocating. "What's going on?"
She could barely hear her own voice, hoping that the one she directed it to could hear her better than she could. Without getting a reply, she could feel her body being engulfed into the boy's arms. Instead of reciprocating though, all she could feel was it trigger a sharp pain in her side.
"Ouch, fuck." The boy's arms get off her quickly, frowning at her. "Why are we on the floor? Help me up." Not taking a second to hesitate, the boy stands straight up, offering a hand to help her stand up from her position.
She quickly recognized that she was at a party of some sort, it didn't seem to be huge, as there was a little under a dozen in the living room. Her own head was pounding, and more sharp pains shot up her side as she tried to stand. "We need to get you home, she's so lucky I didn't kill her on the spot." He then tried wrapping his own arms around her, walking her towards the direction of what she presumed to be the front door. Multiple eyes in the crowd staring back at the two of them, her eyes furrowed and shoved her face into her friend's neck, too tired to fight.
The air was freezing against her bare skin, just now noticing she was wearing nothing but a tank top and jeans, shuttering at the feeling and just wanting to go home and take as many aspirins as it'll take to get rid of this pounding in her head.
Before she knew it, she was being pushed into the passengers seat of a Jeep she knew all too well, the door being closed behind her. Louis got into the other side quickly. Instead of starting the car, he reaches into the backseat to get a small black sweater, which she could recognize as her own. He wrapped the sweater around her shoulders, the furrow in his eyebrows seemingly permanent. "Why are you babying me? I'm fine, Lou. I don't even know what the hell happened in there."
She looked at him, anger in her voice but her eyes still softened when talking to someone she felt so safe with. "I'm never letting you drink again, that's what's happening right now."
He said simply, turning back to put his seat belt on and insert his own keys into the ignition. "Louis." She warned, wanting an explanation so desperately, nothing being able to come together in her own head.
She could hear his own breath inhale, his voice coming out in a whisper. "Minerva." He started, not letting the other girl get a word in before continuing. "She and Violet were fighting. Quite loudly, and you were drunk and felt the need to instigate in something that didn't involve you, Clementine."
His sigh was caught in his throat, sounding like he was trying to keep his voice from wavering. Clementine kept her eyes on him, waiting for him to continue, wanting so desperately to know what she did.
"I can't tell you exactly what happened because I was in another room, but I heard yelling and someone said your name and I couldn't think before I came running." His voice hitched once again, "How can you talk to your fucking girlfriend like that?' Is what I heard you say before her fist collided with your stomach." Clementine's eyes widened at this, she couldn't tell if it was at what she said, or the fact Minerva fucking put her hands on her.
"When you fell to the ground, she kicked you. I just saw red and ran, you know? I pushed her away and that was it. I was so fucking worried. I think she left with Violet, I don't know."
The hazel-eyed girl didn't know how to entirely reply, just thankful Louis had been there, angry at herself for whatever she was trying to do. She breathed in, before replying, "Did she hit her?" She almost whispered, trying to wrap her own head around everything, scratching her own head in attempt to resurrect it from her own memory.
Louis hit a red light, and turned to face her, eyes still full of worry, but his face read nothing but disbelief; "Are you fucking serious, Clementine? I don't know. I don't think so. But look at you! What if I hadn't been there? You can't do stuff like that."
She flinched a bit at his accusing tone, his question was rhetorical, and she chose not to reply. His breath was steady again, turning back to the road he was driving town, softening his tone.
“I really don't know. I know you, and I know it's impossible to stop you when you plan on doing something, but anything could've happened, I know you were drunk. Shit, you're probably still tipsy now. But, you really need to stay away from them. They're just bad news all around. You don't have to listen to me, but you need to hear this from someone that cares a lot about you."
The car ride stayed relatively silent the rest of the way, Clementine let a breathy "Sorry," escape her own lips, just wanting to be home as soon as possible.
-
After about an hour of quite literally 'nursing' her back to health, Louis finally made his way out of her dorm at around 2:00 in the morning. Her roommate seemed to be out for the night, she probably told her the reason, but she couldn't care enough to remember.
She found herself laying on her side in her dorm room bed, facing the wall with her headache finally deciding to subside, thanks to the ice pack Louis had so kindly made for her. As fatherly as a friend he was, she knows how much he cares about her. And he knows she would do the same for him in a heartbeat, even if it annoyed her to no-end most of the time.
She could feel the bags form under her eyes, and her losing the battle to sleep. Her mind drifted off, finding it hard to get entirely comfortable with a heating pad, courtesy of Louis, poking her in the side. She wished she could remember what happened, what Minerva had said to push her off the edge. Even her name was enough to make her want to scream and yell.
No, Violet and her weren't the bestest of friends. But she was always kind to her whenever they were together one-on-one. The big picture was that Clementine was very fond of the girl.
Even if she wasn't though, she'd like to think she'd still step in between her and that girl. She couldn't even think of a time she saw them together that the redhead wasn't belittling her girlfriend in some kind of way. She wanted so desperately to know what Violet saw in her in the first place. She could do so much better. She didn't deserve that. Shit, nobody deserved that.
Every time she closed her eyes, she could see bits and pieces of the memory of earlier that night. Nothing quite came together, though. It had to have been bad though, for her to step out of her comfort zone to confront the girl she so passionately hated.
Even drunk, she knew better than to go near her. She wishes she was close enough to Violet to be able to just ask, to really understand why she won't leave her. To just shake her and tell her how important and worthy of love she is. It makes her head hurt to even think about how Violet still could leave with her.
She wants to say it wasn't her entirely being selfish and asking why she felt Minerva needed more consoling than her, but that wasn't entirely truthful. But an even larger part of her wants to know why she went after her even after she knows the girl had been screaming at her. She was always screaming at her. And that's just the times Clementine was around.
Minerva herself was never kind towards her either, feeling the need to butt in whenever she did have the time to talk to her friend. She’s tried to talk to Violet about it, but it always ends up in an argument between the two. As if Clementine’s worries were completely unjustified. Violet always seemed like someone that played by her own rules, and being worried about seemed like someone trying to interfere with her story.
A lot of people didn’t like either of them, as individuals or a couple. Shit, she’d be lying if she hadn’t tried to avoid contact with them at all costs in the beginning. On the outside, they seemed like the stereotypical ‘I don’t give a fuck about anything’ vibe, seemingly never in classes, rather out partying. Either arguing or making out when they were actually seen together.
She knows how she must’ve looked, trying to interfere in a relationship that’s so obviously toxic, and still trying to help. She would’ve punched her too.
And when she first had the chance to talk to Violet, she didn’t want to spend any extra time than she had to, speaking only in small phrases. She doesn’t even entirely remember how the two got on friendly terms, but she’s glad they did.
She let her mind wander for a while, her eyebrows staying in a furrowed state before the NyQuil was able to kick in.
-
To say she had a splitting headache when she woke up was an understatement. The blaring sound of her Iphone’s alarm ringing throughout her head. She felt around her bedside table to reach for the object, quickly hitting stop and eyeing all her notifications, her eyes barely squinting open.
A couple notifications from Candy Crush appeared, along with several missed calls from Lee and text messages from three others.
Louis: I’ll drive you to class in the morning. (sent: 2:37 a.m)
Louis: We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want. (sent 2:37 a.m)
Louis: If you ever need anything, I’ll always be there. Goodnight, Clem. (sent 2:39 a.m)
She was able to find it in herself to smile, sending him a quick good morning text, saving the thank you’s and appreciation for when he arrives in an hour.
She scrolls down further; finding her roommate’s message.
Brody: I heard what happened, sorry I’m not there right now but I made sure to drop off some Pepto-Bismol on the nightstand before class! :-) (sent 7:22a.m)
God, what would she do without them? She thought. She glanced over and sure enough, the medicine was sitting right next to where her phone had been, with a sticky-note with a heart drawn on the front of it. That’s really going to help, god bless Brody. She made sure to also send her a text back, thanking her and sending about a dozen heart emojis.
When she scrolled down a bit more, her heart sunk a bit, finally seeing who the third person was to send her a text message. She sighs, bracing herself for the contents within.
Vi: What you did was really dumb. (sent 1:36a.m)
Vi: I get what you were trying to do, but it wasn’t your place. She wasn’t going to hit me. (sent 1:37 a.m)
Vi: Just, get better soon. Okay? I’ll make sure Minnie gets an ear full. Goodnight. (sent 1:37 a.m)
Her heart sinks even farther if that was possible. That’s it? She expected as much, but she can still hope. She chooses not to reply, instead throwing the blanket off of her figure, shivering as the cold air hits her exposed legs, and turns to get ready.
-
She could practically feel their presence burning into the back of her head. Shit, they were so loud and obnoxious about everything that you didn't even have to see them because at the very least, you'll hear them.
Not even Louis' constant loud chewing could drown them out, it was quite literally driving Clementine insane. Smack. Slurp. Crunch. Smack. Slurp. Crunch. "Louis, can you cut that shit out?!" She finally exclaimed, taking her frustration out on the one next to her.
The taller boy froze in his position, Lay's potato chips in one hand, his textbook long forgotten at this point. She had yelled it so loud, a couple eyes around the library even turned towards the pair. She didn't care though, the smacking sound still echoing in her head. “Shit, I’m sorry Lou. I didn’t mean it.” She looks at him, immediately feeling bad about taking her anger out on the innocent.
"You good, Clem?" He's placing the bag of chips down next to him at this point, leaning towards his friend's side. Said girl now clenched the hand her pencil resided in, taking a deep breath so her annoyance can fade. "I'm sorry, Louis. Isn't the library supposed to be a place for studying? It feels like I'm the only one in here that fucking cares."
Her voice raising towards the end of her sentence, "Not fucking make-out point." Louis' eyebrows raised at the second part, eyes glancing towards the table behind them: A couple. At this realization, he offered her a small smile. "We can go to my dorm if you want." He offered, his voice softening. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before turning around and clearing her throat loud enough that the couple should’ve been able to hear.
If they did though, she was ignored.
It was at the point she took it upon herself to grab Louis’ textbook and close it since he wasn’t using it anyway, and slammed it down on the table behind them.
Louis’ eyes widened at this action, tugging on her shoulder, but her anger was too much at this point, looking at the two behind them. The couple broke apart, just now noticing the two’s presence. The two had been a pair of freshmen she didn’t know personally, but the fucking slurping sounds was enough to drive anyone insane. “Could you two get a room, please? Thanks.” The two stared at her in bewilderment, she doesn’t give them a chance to reply before swirling back around in her chair.
Her friend stared at her in disbelief, grabbing his book and smiling at the two, silently offering an apology. “Clem, what the hell?”
She didn’t know what was wrong, the fed up anger with Violet might have contributed. She knows she doesn’t have a right to be upset with her, but she just wants to shake the truth into her, but she’s too stubborn.
“What’s wrong with me, Louis?” She turns to him, slowly coming to the realization of what she’d just done, turning back to mutter an apology, but the two victims were already long gone. “Am I really this lonely that I feel the need to want to ruin everyone’s relationships?” She asks out of nowhere, confusion and worry written all over her expression, the boy next to her looking at her with an almost identical look.
“Where’s this coming from?” He asks, not taking his attention away from his friend. She sighed deeply, turning to face him a bit before replying; “I really need to talk to Violet, but I think she’s avoiding me.” She says, ignoring her friend’s question.
She can feel his body tense up next to her, letting out an exhausted sigh. “You’ve got to stop, if she doesn’t want to listen you can’t make her.” She’s frowning now, knowing full on well that he was right. She looks down at her own homework, now catching dust. She wishes, oh how badly she wishes. So many things, how bad she just wants Violet to listen. “I know.”
-
It’s been almost a week since Violet last texted her, she really couldn’t tell if she was being ghosted or not. She guessed if she had never replied, she can’t really put it on the other girl, but if she can’t bring herself to message her then it has to be put on something.
Her sides have finally stopped hurting fully. A small dark mark still there as a reminder remained, though. She found herself walking to a Starbucks near the campus. Louis was hanging out with Marlon today, so she knew better than to interfere on that. They seemed to hardly get any alone time together, she was genuinely happy for him. Plus, as much as she loved her best friend sometimes his presence can be very suffocating when he gets into his ‘worried older brother mode’, which she experiences at least twice a day.
So, she found herself towards the small corner of the restaurant, drinking a small iced coffee and being surrounded by her overly expensive textbooks.
She found herself checking her phone much more than actually engulfing herself in literature, her Candy Crush score suddenly being her main concern. As her eyebrows furrowed, and her tongue stuck out in concentration, she couldn’t help but hear a couple of voices over her shoulder.
She usually wouldn’t be this nosy, but the voices seem to get louder and she forces herself to put her phone down. She looks around, looking to see if commotion was going on. She was met with nothing but a bunch of college students surrounding her, doing the exact same thing she’d come to do.
The voices were too obnoxiously loud and she wondered for a moment if they were in her head, shaking off that possibility as her head turned towards the direction of the bathrooms next to her table. She looked around once again, before inching towards the door, listening in.
Fuck, when did she get this creepy? Eavesdropping on a stranger’s argument? Maybe she needed Louis’ brotherly voice around her more than she’d like to admit. As she got closer though, she noticed she recognized a voice, both, actually.
“Maybe if you fucking had time for me for once, this wouldn’t be a damn issue!” one of the voices shouted, so loud that Clementine really wondered how she was the only one to notice, or care. “I do, I do everything I can for you! Shit, I’ve cut off so many of my friends for you, Minnie.”
It didn’t click until she heard the name, it was Violet and Minerva in there. The same Violet that had been upset with her for interfering in their relationship. The same Minerva that bruised her fucking ribs.
“You don’t love me, Violet. Just tell me to my face. Then this can be over! Fucking admit it!” The last part was screamed so loud she flinched against the door, it actually startled her.
“What are you talking about?! I love you, Minerva. I love you so much I’d do anything to make you happy. It’s you that’s always-“
She was cut off by a loud sound, it didn’t take a scientist to realize that she had just been hit, slapped across the face to stop her sentence. Before Clementine even had time to react, the bathroom door flew open, revealing an extremely angry looking redhead. Pushing past her violently.
She didn’t have time to be upset though, finding herself running into the bathroom, finding a familiar blonde now on the ground, holding the side of her cheek, stunned in silence.
Clementine didn’t think twice before falling to the ground, lightly touching her shoulder to get the girl’s attention on her, the girl only flinched, shaking the other girl’s touch away from her. “Violet? Vi, it’s just me. Clementine? Do you need help up?” She says quickly, not daring to touch the girl again.
The blonde didn’t respond to the point that Clementine actually wondered if she had heard her. Her eyes found hers, seeing her eyes begin to fill with tears and blinking them away as fast as they dared to form. “Clementine?”
Her voice was small, barely above a whisper. Quieter than Clem had ever heard, the girl in front of her looked so vulnerable, so different from the Violet that always seemed so confident and emotionless. She was sitting here, looking for something in Clementine’s eyes, and she wishes she knew what.
“Yes, Clementine. I’m here.” That’s seemingly all it took, a tear fell from the girl’s eye and she lifted her arms around the girl in front of her, burying her head into the crook of Clementine’s neck. Silent sobbing coming from deep in her throat. She didn’t need to say anything, she let her arms wrap around her friend. Holding her while she violently cried.
She eventually was able to get Violet to stand up, walking her to the table she had been sitting at and gathering her things as quickly as she could, promising to let her stay in her dorm for the night.
-
Brody was out again for the night, this time she said she was spending the night with Sophie. Who coincidentally, was Minerva’s sister.
She closed the door behind herself as she let Violet in quietly, the two barely had spoken on the way back, the silence only filled with her quiet sobbing.
She didn’t say anything, Violet made herself comfortable on Brody’s bed, directly across from Clementine’s. She was still quiet, eyes locked to the ground.
Clementine really didn’t know how to approach this situation, having never been in this place. She made her way to sit on her own bed, not knowing if the girl was still comfortable with silence.
“We don’t have to talk about it.”
“I’m sorry.”
Both the girls spoke at the same time, looking at one another. She let herself smile slightly at the mistake, offering the other girl to do the same. Violet’s expression stayed the same, though. She looked directly into the girl’s eyes as Violet continued. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I cried on you, you really didn’t have to take me. I would’ve made it home, eventually.” Her breath hitched, closing her eyes slowly, waiting for a reply.
“Don’t be sorry, I couldn’t let you go back. Minerva is your roommate, right?” She saw Violet tense at the mention of her girlfriend’s (ex-girlfriend’s?) name. She nodded slowly, keeping her eyes cast down on the ground.
“I’ll have to face her eventually, staying here will probably get me into even more trouble. She’ll probably accuse me of cheating and I’ll get the same thing I got in the restroom.” She said, her voice wavering, now refusing to look at Clementine in her eye.
The other girl could hear herself gasp at this, eyebrows immediately casting downwards, furious at Minerva, upset with Violet for keeping this from her.
“You told me she wasn’t hitting you.” She stated sternly. Keeping her eyes still on Violet’s form in the dark room.
“She wasn’t.” She took another deep breath, lifting her eyes to meet Clem’s. “Not until recently. She hit me that night, the night after we left the party. Multiple times then, though. She seemed to want pretend I was you.”
Clementine’s eyes widened at this, anger boiling so deep in her stomach. “Violet,” She breathed, but Violet only shook her head. “That was the first time. She kept talking about what a bitch you are, how the only reason you even cared about her was because you wanted me,” she scoffed as she replays the night in her mind, laughing in disbelief.
“She spent the whole next day apologizing, how she was so wrong and would never put her hands on me again,”
“I was drunk, babe. I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
Her eyes closed, her breath hitching in her throat, trying to stop the sobs from escaping her throat. “In the stall today, that was the second time.”
Clementine didn’t know what to do, what to say, she was so filled with anger. She wanted nothing more than to hurt Minerva, hurt her so badly for ever touching Violet. For ever belittling her, there’s so much she wanted to do. “Violet, would you mind if I hugged you?” She just settles on asking, her voice also small. The blonde only shakes her head and opens her arms for Clementine to fit in, holding the girl for the nth time today.
-
Violet slept in Brody’s bed that night, the presence of her friend enough to comfort her into sleep. Having spent most of the day crying, sleep came easy to her. That, and Clementine’s comforting words and arms.
Clem’s alarm was enough to wake them both up, Clementine groaning and glancing over at the figure across the room, already looking through her phone. Violet looked up from the device, offering Clementine a soft smile, of which was returned.
“Good morning, did you sleep alright?” She asks softly, and Clem can only grin. “I’m supposed to be asking you that.”
She smiles, before replying “I did, how about you?” Violet looks back down at her phone, the smile fading as she sits up.
“I have to go.” She says simply. The brunette frowned at this, “Go where?” She asks, knowing full well what the answer was.
“Home.” She doesn’t elaborate, she looks around for her shoes, the only piece of clothing she discarded the night before.
“Are you going to be okay? Do you want me to come with you?” She asks quickly, concern making it’s way back to her face. “Minnie isn’t there, and even if she was you coming with me would only cause more trouble.”
She finds her shoes then, slipping on the black converse quickly and quietly, standing up to reach the door. “I’ll text you, Clementine.” She offers a smile, before closing the dorm room behind herself.
Clem knew better than this, but knows stopping her isn’t an option, she hopes Violet’s just dumping her and packing her stuff to change dorms. She hopes.
She reaches over to get her phone to reply to the dozens of texts she’d gotten from Louis, clearly concerned that he hadn’t heard from her last night. She can’t help but smile, texting him back and leaving out her friend from the story.
-
Louis picked her up later in the morning, neither of them had class this early, so they mutually decided to hang out in the library, as Louis had overdue work he needed to quickly get done. She hesitantly agreed, knowing she’d stayed up a bit too late the night before.
The two had found their usual table in the middle of the library, Clementine going through the new magazines on a nearby shelf, knowing full well that they were just full of lies. She can’t say they weren't amusing though.
About an hour into the session, she felt her phone vibrate, and she felt a hand grab her wrist as she reached for it, and turned to look at her friend in confusion. He shakes his head and just says, “If I can’t touch my phone neither can you.” He states matter-of-factly. Clementine only rolls her eyes, flipping the finger at him before picking up her phone. She smiles at the dramatic fake gasp he lets out; “Damn, it really be your own.”
Her smile falls once she sees the messages, reading intently,
Vi: Fuck, Clementine. I did it. Wasn’t pretty. (sent 11:44 a.m)
Vi: You can fully ignore me if you want, but I kinda really wanna hug you right about now. (sent 11:44 a.m)
Clem would drop anything she’s doing in a heartbeat for this girl, any time of the day. She types a simple ‘I’m coming to pick you up rn’, quickly asking Louis for a ride.
She’d hug that girl forever, anything to make her feel the love she so desperately deserved. For her.