Rawr, I'm back, with the sort-of conclusion to the awkward sort-of cliffhanger I left you on :)
I'm not really sure how people will react to this sort-of conclusion, but oh well, YOLO and stuff (and yes, I hate me too now).. Thanks for the reviews too guys and gals, you never fail to make me smile :3 ~nellen x

"I'm sorry!" Flora squeaked, breaking away with tears in her eyes. "I can't! We shouldn't! I have to go!"
She grabbed the keys from his hand, footsteps echoing as she ran down the street.
"Flora! Wait!" Clive called, sprinting after her. The kiss had shocked him, sure, but not necessarily in a bad way. He just had to talk to her.
"Flora! Flora! Please!"
He ran on, skidding to a halt as the door to her house slammed before him. Fists banged against the wooden frame. "Please, let me in..."He sighed, falling to his knees on her doorstep, desperately fighting off the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.
He sat there with his head in his hands for what felt like hours, finally leaping up as he heard the door click.
"We have to talk." There was a hint of urgency in Flora's voice, and Clive could tell she'd been crying. A lot. He nodded seriously, following her into the living room and sitting on a sofa opposite her. An awkward silence loomed in the air around them. Flora sniffed tearily, and it almost killed him to not wrap his arms around her waist, kiss her head and hold her until the crying stopped.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, still fighting off tears of his own. "This is my fault."
"It's not," her voice was barely audible in the silent room, "I just- I don't know what came over me. I'm the one who should be sorry, because this is my fault. And I know exactly what you'll say, that if I hadn't taken you in last night or out for coffee the day before we wouldn't be friends but we would, except I'd feel like a horrible person."
"But it's true," he sighed, burying his head in his hands again.
"It's not. I'm just messed up at the minute."
"You're not," he murmured, looking up from the floor, knowing what he had to do. "If anyone here is messed up, it's me. I'll go back to the streets. We'll resume normal lives, pretend we never met again."
"No!" She exclaimed, quickly covering her mouth. "I-I mean I couldn't, I'd feel awful. B-but we could forget today happened..." She gasped happily, having seemingly found a solution to the problem, "yes! Let's just forget that I kissed you! Okay? Okay. We're just friends."
Clive just nodded silently, unsure of how to react. He knew the was doing the best thing by agreeing, the best thing for them both, but something inside longed to say no. To tell her that he couldn't, that he wouldn't. Nothing would make him forget. He gulped, closing his eyes for a few seconds.

"Yeah, okay, friends," he nodded, trying not to sob as she hugged him again.

"So what was wrong?" Clive mumbled, buried beneath a mountain of blankets. A cup of hot chocolate quivered in his hands, and he sipped at it slowly.
"There- there's this girl, in one of my art classes," Flora began, wiping her eyes on the back of her sleeve, "and she hates me. Like seriously, as in wants-me-dead-and-buried hates me. I don't even know why, but she does. And she talks behind my back, and she bitches to my face, and she makes snide remarks about me which she knows I can hear. And today, we had a huge assignment to practice for, and she had gone to class earlier, and when I got there, she had hidden my supplies! She deliberately sabotaged my work!" She wailed, downing the last of her own hot chocolate and snuggling further into her own blankets.
Clive bit his lip, and slowly edged his way along the sofa they shared until his arm snaked its way around her shoulder, "Well she's just jealous. Just ignore her."
"I've tried," she sniffed.
"Well, if that doesn't work, tell someone."
"I can't, because they'd just tell me to stop being immature and to deal with it like an adult," her voice cracked with swallowed tears, but Clive continued nonetheless.
"Have they told you that before?"
"... No."
"Then there's no reason to say they will," he pointed out carefully, "I mean, if I was in their position, I'd think it brave of you to try and sort things yourself, but braver to admit you couldn't."
Flora looked up at the boy, a new gleam of curiosity in her eyes. "You are trying to be nice, aren't you?" She whispered, a tiny slither of awe creeping into her voice. "Like, you weren't joking."
"Of course I wasn't," Clive frowned, a little hurt that she hadn't believed him, "I genuinely am trying to be better."
"You were already good enough."

Clive couldn't fight the shy smile creeping onto his lips, as Flora snuggled sleepily into his side.

Oh, and as much as I really really don't want to, I have to go back to school again tomorrow ;_; and this may mean slightly slower updates, because high school is not shy when it comes to homework. Like seriously. Waaaah :(
Anyhoo, thanks for reading, and remember to review! And to any of you who're back at school after a holiday of sleeping and eating and reading and enjoying not being at school, I share your pain.

~nellen, who is far too happy in her pyjamas to want to wear a blazer and tie. :/ xx