Clive Dove

This Is Excitement

Chapter Seven

"You're welcome," Clive muttered, rubbing the back of his head in annoyance. "Always nice to see my help was appreciated,"

Flora stood up, anger filling her. "How dare you! I still haven't forgiven you, and I never will!"

Clive sighed. Here we go. To his surprise, Flora didn't say anything else.

"But… I owe you for saving me… so… I guess we're even now,"

Relief flooded over Clive and he smiled slightly, before turning to leave. Flora followed him like a lost puppy.

"Where are you going?" she asked, curious.

Clive shook his head. "Home. Where are you going?"

"With you!" proclaimed Flora, waving a hand in the air. Clive stopped mid-stride.

"No," he stated bluntly. "You are going to find the Professor, and then you are going to leave here and never come back,"

Flora walked along beside him in silence. He doesn't want me here. The thought stung her a little, but what hurt most was the tone Clive had used. It was cold and annoyed.

"Sorry," she murmured, head down.

"You've done nothing wrong, Flora,"

His words surprised her. "But… I was weak. I made you save me. If I hadn't been in that position you wouldn't have had to, and we wouldn't have met,"

Clive turned around and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I'm glad we met, Flora, but it's dangerous here. I'm sorry, but you have to leave, for your own safety,"

Flora sighed, fiddling with a few strands of her hair, avoiding his gaze. "Right. Nobody ever thinks I can handle dangerous situations,"

"That's not what I said," Clive protested, mind wandering to where the Professor actually was. Knowing the Professor, he'd be searching the ruined city top to bottom for Flora. Maybe it was safer for him to keep her close to him.

"I understand," Flora replied dully, turning to walk away. Suddenly Clive grabbed her arm.

"No," he whispered, "Don't go and leave me on my own again,"

Clive's head was down, and he was avoiding eye contact with her. Flora suddenly felt a surge of compassion toward the teen. Sure, he had done terrible things, but didn't he deserve a second chance?

She moved closer and his grip on her arm slackened. "Are you okay?' she asked quietly, fixing her brown eyes on his blue ones.

"Yeah." He replied slowly, "Sorry about that. You can stay, if you want,"

Flora smiled lightly. "Of course I'll stay! It'll be fun, right?'

Clive rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "That's definitely one way of putting it,"

The two walked on in silence for quite some time, although often they would glance toward each other and their gazes would lock, which often ended in the two looking away quickly, embarrassed.

Therefor, they were both relieved when Shipley came into view. The postman frowned at Flora before turning to Clive.

"Why did you bring her here?" he asked, as Clive sat down and grabbed a piece of bread, tossing half to Flora.

"Cause I wanted to, Shipley," he answered, relaxed. "I'm allowed to have friends, right?"

Shipley muttered to himself and then looked from Flora to Clive before sighing. "I guess you are. I presume you warned her this place is incredibly dangerous?"

"Of course I did, but she insisted," Clive said, wincing slightly as Shipley took the cloth off his wound. Flora gasped.

"What happened to you?" she asked, horrified.

Clive bit his lip, then laughed. "Bombs. I nearly died, but I'm okay,"

"Right…" Flora sat down without another word and began to eat the bread, looking around the house they had set up camp in.

After Shipley had finished redressing the wound, he checked Flora over, but there was no sign of any damage.

"That's good," remarked Clive, strangely happy he'd managed to save her. "She'd be no use if she'd been killed,"

"You're… strangely upbeat today," Shipley noticed, glancing briefly at Clive before returning to Flora.

"What can I say? I was just born this way," Clive grinned, before sighing and lying back. "Where's Flora planning on sleeping?"

"She'll have to share," Shipley stated. "So I guess it's up to her who she wants to share with,"

Flora didn't eve hesitate to answer. "Clive,"

"Thought so," Shipley nodded. "Well, I'm turning in for the night. Have fun you two,"

Shipley left shortly after, apparently tired.

"I'm beat." Clive yawned slightly, "So I'm going to bed too. Are you coming with me or what?"

"Yes," she replied, following him.

Clive climbed into bed and Flora lay down beside him. He put his arms around her, and was asleep almost immediately.

Flora wasn't so lucky, and found herself lying awake, thinking. But the one thing stuck in her mind and made her smile.

She felt safe when he held her.

A/N;

Arriann Dove

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