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The first time he had called her by that name after their first date at the music store, she was nothing but shocked and the echo of the name resided in her mind hours after he dropped her off home that night. It was by accident, or at least that what he told her, and nothing but a slip of the tongue that he seemed to never have under control. They were messing around in the store near closing, organizing the place while jamming to whatever played on the small radio sitting on the counter next to them. Only knowing each other for about a month now, the two were quite anxious about their feelings for one another and it didn’t help that they were some of the most awkward teens in Ericson.
“Where do the ones without color go? I don’t see a box for them anywhere up here.”
Louis peered out from behind the rack of CDs that he was messing with, hip slightly bumping the metal leg and causing some of the discs to fall open on the floor in pieces. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Clementine winced as she looked down at the damage she had indirectly caused, giving the frantic boy a sheepish smile that only calmed him down for a second before he went back to panicking. She slowly climbed down from the stool that she was standing on, bringing over the broom to sweep up the leftover that Louis couldn’t pick up with his hands.
“Thanks. If I wasn’t such a fucking clutz, I could have avoided that.” Louis sighed, restocking the racks with more copies of the broken CDs. “Luckily for me, Mattie ordered more of these than we needed, which means that my paycheck is saved.”
Clementine shook her head, returning over the discarded picks to put them in their respective places. “Oh no, the precious paycheck. I can’t wait for the day I hear back from the batting cages about the new mentor position, especially since my little brother wants to follow in his big sister’s footsteps.”
Louis remembered the curious little tyke that came with her the day they met, but since then he hasn’t really seen much of the kid. Not that he missed him, but the kid did manage to get a laugh or two out of him whenever he did see or hear from him.
“How is the little dude doing? Haven’t seen him in a while.”
“He’s adapting, as much as he can anyway. Met a new friend at the park yesterday, name’s Tennessee. A little weird if you ask me, but that’s coming from a girl with a prosthetic leg.” She joked, tapping the hollow part of her leg.
“Nothing sounds bad coming from you, darling,” he blurted. “But we better get back to cleaning before Mattie comes back from his break, we wouldn’t want him to spazz out now, would we?”
Clementine froze as she replayed what she thought she had heard slip from Louis’ lips over again in her head. Did he just call her what she thought he had called her or was it just her wanting him to call her that? The only reasonable answer to her question was that it had to be him because while she was impaired from the waist down, her hearing was top notch.
“Louis?” She inched closer to him, sharp glare piercing through him. “Can you please repeat what you just said?”
Silence.
“I s-said we wouldn’t want Mattie to spazz on us,” he staggered. “Right?”
Clementine rolled her eyes, hands stern on her hips as she stared the young man down. She knew what she heard and if this was the only way she’d get the truth out of him, then so be it. But then she thought about it for a second, would it really be a problem if he had called her darling? It didn’t bother her or anything, just stunned her because she wasn’t used to being called cute names like that by someone, especially someone she liked.
“Louis, you do know that the only disability I have is my missing leg, right? I can still hear perfectly clear if you’ve forgotten and to be honest, I don’t mind the name.” She assured him, reaching out to grab his hands in hers.
“Clem, are you sure you’re not saying this to spare my fragile heart? Because, if you are, then you are one ruthless woman.” Louis spluttered, a slight blush on his freckled face as he tried hard to avoid her determined stare.
Of course, he would doubt her feelings for him as she was telling him that she was okay with him getting closer to her on a personal level. His insecurities wouldn’t let him process the thought that she was genuine because nobody would take him seriously enough to mean what they say around him, but those beautiful amber eyes told him otherwise. He could see that she was serious with her words and he’d be a fool not to take the chance while he had it.
“I would be the biggest idiot on Earth to play with the feelings of someone I like, especially when they’re as handsome as you are.” Clementine whispered, twiddling with their joined fingers as she waited for him to say something more.
“You….think I’m handsome, me handsome. I’m handsome to you, wow, can you believe it? I mean, I always was the best looking out of all my friends but handsome is something I’ve never—”
“Louis, focus please.” She whined, bringing his attention back to them.
Giving her a sheepish smile, he brought her hand up to his lips as he gave her a small knuckle kiss before sealing the deal with a proposal. “Well, this handsome idiot would love it if you’d allow him to take you out for a night in town, picnic under the stars and all.”
She shrugged, a playful smile hinting at the creases of her mouth. “Why not? I have nothing better to do these days.”
She couldn’t believe that this was real, but the swoon in her eyes that reflected in his and their intertwined hands served as her reality check that this was, in fact, not a dream. Louis definitely just asked her on a date and she was not about to let the chance to move past first base with him go to waste. It was like she had said before to him, she would have had to be the biggest idiot not to accept the offer.
After all, she didn’t mind the idea of being his darling Clementine.