The air grew chilly as the sun began to set; AJ could feel the cold nipping at the skin underneath his jacket. He was unable to stop the shiver that shook through his body. Of course, Clementine took notice of this and draped an arm around his shoulders.
"Cold?"
The boy nodded and snuggled closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She rested her head against his and sighed, a puff of fog escaping her lips. She took a look at the rest of the group, all sitting around the dying fire-pit. Willy was fiddling with a rock, digging a small hole in the dirt with its edge. Ruby and Aasim sat holding hands and staring into the sky, occasionally pointing out clusters of stars. Violet lay on her back and tapped her foot to some imaginary beat.
Despite the chill biting at her, she couldn't bring herself to interrupt the peace; she wished the cold could freeze her in this moment forever. Besides, getting up at this point would be a challenge. In hindsight, it wasn't very smart to sit on the ground when you had one foot.
Clementine's thoughts were interrupted by a soft pressure on her hand. She turned to her left and met Louis's gaze. He smiled at her then glanced to their interlocked fingers.
"You're freezing." He murmured, pulling her hand up to his chest in an attempt to warm it.
"You're observant."
"Sure am." He snorted.
Louis dropped her hand and scooted closer to her. He opened his jacket and tried to wrap it around her. It didn't do much to fend off the cold, but Clementine appreciated the gesture and leaned into him.
AJ whined in protest when her warmth left him.
"Sorry, kiddo." Clementine giggled as she pulled him back to her side.
Louis chuckled.
"Hey, if you're cold, I got two sides." He winked at AJ as he pulled the other side of his jacket open.
AJ smiled and crawled over to the older boy; he latched onto his side and became engulfed in the warmth of the coat.
The trio looked up when they heard a sigh and the shuffle of someone standing up. Ruby grinned down at the sweet sight of the three of them huddled together.
"We all oughta turn in for the night. Only gon' get colder." The redhead rubbed her forearms in a futile attempt to warm them up.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Clementine agreed, reluctantly pulled away from Louis and stretched.
"Little help?" She asked the boys, holding her arms out for them to help her up.
"'Course, your majesty." Louis winked as he grabbed one of her hands.
Clementine rolled her eyes. AJ giggled and grabbed her other hand.
She grunted as they hoisted her up, and she held onto Louis for support while AJ picked up her crutches. The young boy placed the crutches underneath her arms, earning him a small smile of gratitude.
"Night, y'all." Ruby smiled after them as they headed for the dorms.
When they reached their bedroom, AJ opened the door, ran in and plopped down on his bed. He relished in the warmth of the blankets that encircled him. The boy looked over to Clementine and Louis who were still standing together in the doorway.
Clementine pulled Louis down and briefly pressed her lips to his. AJ still didn't understand why they did that. It was kinda gross...
But when he saw the small smiles on their faces as they pulled away, that thought left him. It couldn't be gross if it made them so happy, right?
"You can stay, y'know," She told him softly. "We still need to finish planning the interior of our house."
"Hmm, you're right," Louis walked past her, stepping into the room and put his hand against his chin in mock thought. "It is gonna take a while to plan out all 915 floors."
"914."
"Right."
"915 floors is way too many, Louis," Clementine said with an exasperated look. "Don't be stupid."
"You're right. I'm sorry." He put his hands up and shook his head in defeat.
She quickly broke character and burst out giggling, and, of course, the sight of her laughing brought a huge grin to his face. He sat down on her bed and patted the spot next to him, motioning for her to sit with him.
Clementine followed him into the room, pushing the door shut with her elbow. She sat beside Louis and propped her crutches up against the bedpost. She met his gaze and smiled.
"So..." Louis wrapped an arm around her hips, causing her to blush and glance away. "I'm envisioning a lime green and bright yellow interior," He waves his free hand around dramatically as if he's visualizing their dorm room decked out in neon. "What do you think?"
"Um, are you joking?" She asked flatly pulling away slightly to glower at him.
"No."
"We are not painting the walls neon green."
"Can the furniture be green?"
"No!" She laughs.
"Can the carpet be green?"
Clementine rolls her eyes. "I think red and blue would be better."
"Ah, patriotic," He chuckles as she elbows him. "That's nice, but you know mine's better."
"You wish."
"C'mon, Clem, you're not gonna let me have my dream house?" Louis pouted.
"Not if I have to live in it."
"Well, it wouldn't be my dream house if you didn't, now would it?"
Clementine looked down at her hands, trying to hide the blush that crept onto her face at those words. Damn it, why'd he always do that? It was impossible to argue with him; even jokingly.
He smirked at her; he loved seeing how flustered she got. "I'm just sayin'. Green is clearly the superior option."
"Nope. Not convinced." Clementine shook her head, still trying to wipe the redness off her face.
"You agree with me, right, AJ?" Louis turned to the younger boy across the room.
AJ didn't answer; he was laying with his back to them.
Clementine and Louis were suddenly worried; AJ usually loved getting in on their silly games and fake arguments.
"AJ?" Clementine called to him. No answer.
"Hey," Louis stood up and walked over to AJ's bed. "You alright, little dude?" He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Huh?" AJ rolled around to meet the concerned looks of the pair. "Oh, yeah. I'm ok. I was just... thinking." He sat up, revealing the toy in his hands. Disco Broccoli. AJ stared at the toy with a ridiculous amount of concentration.
"You havin' a staring contest with him or something?" Louis chuckled and sat next to AJ. "Hate to break it to ya, but he's wearing sunglasses, so he's probably cheating."
The joke got a snicker out of Clementine, but AJ seemed unamused.
"No, I'm not. But even if I was, he wouldn't cheat."
"Oh?"
"No, Disco Broccoli's cool." The little boy grinned.
"Oh, Hell yeah; he is." Louis playfully nudged the younger boy, making him giggle.
"The coolest." Clementine agreed.
"But..." AJ looked down in thought. "What is Disco? Like I know he's broccoli, and I know what broccoli is, but... what is Disco?"
Clementine thought for a moment.
"It's, like, a type of music. Or dancing."
"Another one?" AJ was astonished. How many types of music could there be?
"Oh yeah, there's lots of kinds." She smiled at his enthusiasm.
"Well, what's Disco sound like?"
Before anyone could answer, AJ continued on excitedly:
"I bet it's cool! Like Disco Broccoli. It's gotta be the coolest kind of music there is!"
The girl nodded. "It is pretty cool. It sounds like... Um... How do I-"
"Woah now, you can't just describe Disco," Louis interjected. "You gotta hear it, AJ. You gotta feel it pulsing through your soul." He theatrically clutched his chest.
AJ raised an eyebrow at him, unsure of whether or not he was serious. He looked back to Clementine, and the amused look on her face confirmed that he was, in fact, just being Louis. So, AJ laughed.
"Wait here." Louis said with a wink as he rushed for the door.
"Louis, what are you-" Before Clementine could ask, he was already halfway down the hall.
AJ gave her a questioning look, but she only shrugged.
"Louis is kinda weird sometimes." He remarked.
Clementine snickered. "Yeah, little bit."
"It's fun though. I love Louis."
"Me too, kiddo."
The pair in the room jumped when the door suddenly flung back open after a good ten minutes.
"Are you guys ready to fuckin' boogie?"
Louis burst into the room decked out in the most stereo-typically Disco clothing he could have possibly scraped together. He had his shirt tucked in with every button on top undone, and he wore a pair of over-the-top, blinged out sunglasses. And who could forgot the big fake afro wig atop his head? Why the Hell did he have that?
"Oh. My God." Clementine put her hand over her mouth.
AJ instantly burst out in laughter at the sight of the teen in the doorway.
"You look kinda like Disco Broccoli!" He muttered between giggles.
"You're crazy." Clementine shook her head, trying not to bust out in laughter herself.
Louis lowered his sunglasses a bit and winked at her. "You love it." She did.
"What's that?" AJ pointed at the object in his hand.
"This," Louis held up a record and began walking toward the gramophone by Clementine's bed. "Is the next surprise."
"Oh, it gets better?" Clementine asked sarcastically.
"Hell, yeah, it does." Louis changed out the record and cranked the handle. The Disco music blasted throughout the room. "This is Disco, AJ. Stand up."
AJ hops off his bed, absolutely bounding with excitement.
"Alright now, this move is a classic. This is the one Disco Broccoli does. Ready?"
AJ nodded and watched as Louis pointed his finger up to the ceiling then back down to his hip over and over. The younger boy couldn't stop laughing as he tried to mimic the move.
Watching Louis and AJ dance had Clementine doubled over guffawing. She'd never laughed so hard in her life; tears sprang to her eyes and her stomach hurt. She closed her eyes and clutched her abdomen, trying to remember how to breathe. She looked back to the boys after a second to find them doing a new move. The girl wiped the tears that were blurring the scene and looked on fondly. Louis got so into the new move that he whipped his afro wig off. AJ guffawed as it fell to the floor.
How could she have gotten so lucky? After all the bullshit she's been through, after literally almost dying , she's here. She's here laughing with her two favorite people in the world.
Louis settled down for a moment, pulled off the ridiculous sunglasses, and looked to Clementine. She gave him a loving look, and he glanced down, seemingly pondering something. When he met her eyes again, a mischievous grin had spread across his face. He stepped closer and extended a hand to her.
She looked puzzled as she stared at his outstretched hand. "Uh, what are you doing?"
"C'mon, Clem. We're not gonna leave you out." He grabbed both her hands.
"You want me to get up?"
"Yeah."
She shook her head. "Are you crazy? I can't."
"I thought we already established that I am crazy. And that you love it." Louis kneeled down in front of her and smiled softly at her. "Please? I got you. I promise."
"You can do it, Clem." AJ encouraged from behind the teen.
She silently stared into Louis' pleading eyes for a time before sighing. How could she say no to them? "Fine. I-I'll try."
Clementine couldn't help but match the adorable, elated grins that overtook the boys' features.
"But if you drop me, I'm beating you up."
"That's fair." Louis nodded and stood up. He took her hands again and gave her a reassuring smile before pulling her up against his chest.
She wobbled for a second and gripped onto his shoulders like her life depended on it. Once she regained some balance, she took one hand off of Louis, the other still resting on his shoulder.
"See? You're fine." Louis wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her and kissed her cheek. "Now, let's see them moves, Clem!" He shouted, taking the bedazzled sunglasses and putting them on her.
"I feel ridiculous." The girl snickered.
"Aw, come on now. You just need a lil' help to get started."
Louis repositioned himself behind her, keeping an arm around her waist. He took her hand and guided it into the air and back down to her hip. She couldn't stop the laughter from tumbling out. When he let go of her arm, she continued to do the motion herself. AJ ran up in front of her and copied her dance. Louis joined in as best he could while still holding her up.
"Woo! Get it AJ!"
AJ intensified his dancing at Louis' praise. He tried another one of the moves the older boy showed him. He called it 'the sprinkler'. Clementine clapped her hands to the beat of the music playing in the background.
"Go, AJ! Go, AJ! Go, AJ!"
Louis joined in the chanting, swaying with Clementine as they watched AJ Disco dance his heart out.
A sharp knocking on the door startled the trio out of their Disco-high.
"Uh-oh. We're in trouble now." Louis remarked sarcastically.
He helped Clementine sit back on her bed before he walked over to the door and cracked it open to see Violet glaring back at him.
"The Hell are you guys doing? I can hear you from the other hall."
"We're going to funky-town, Vi. What's it sound like we're doing?"
The blonde rolled her eyes, trying to hide her desire to laugh. "Seriously?"
"Yup," He grinned at her and briefly looked behind him to Clem and AJ who had continued dancing. "And hey, we always got room for one more." His tone softened to be more inviting.
Violet looked down awkwardly and scratched the back of her neck. "I-It's ok. I don't-" A burst of hysterical laughter from the room behind them interrupted her denial.
Both she and Louis looked back into the room to find AJ wearing the discarded afro wig. It was way too big for him and nearly covered his eyes. Next to him, Clem was laying back on the bed absolutely overwhelmed with laughter.
"I can't- I can't breathe." She squeaked out rolling onto her side and clutching her stomach.
"Louis! I'm Disco Broccoli!" The little boy yelled triumphantly to the door.
Violet couldn't help but laugh along with them. She shrugged. "Fuck it." She pushed past Louis and entered the music-and-laughter-filled room.
"Oh, shit! Now it's a party!" Louis exclaimed and reentered the room. "Show us what you got, Vi."
The room roared with mirth and music for at least another hour before the energy started to die down. AJ got tired first. He eventually plopped onto his bed to take a breather but promptly passed out. Louis, to the amusement of the girls, concluded that AJ boogied a little too hard. Violet excused herself shortly after.
"I think I'm all partied out. For, like, the rest of the year." She said as Louis walked with her to the door.
"Me too." Clementine muttered from her bed, getting a chuckle out of Violet.
"Night guys." She gave a little wave before walking off to her room.
"See ya, Vi." He shut the door after her then trudged back into the room.
Louis groaned and flopped down face-forward beside Clementine on her bed."Ughh, I wore myself out..."
Clementine snorted and snuggled up closer to him. She patted his back. "You wore us all out, Lou." She placed a kiss on his cheek. "But thanks for making us laugh."
He opened an eye to peek at her and smiled. "Thanks for laughing."