(Clementine's Pov)
-Three Weeks Later-
I had been keeping an eye on Violet as she would just head over to the grave yard. Louis was still placing the blame on me for what happened. He would sometimes say I was to busy with Violet that I caused her to be distracted. At one point I yelled at him telling him to back off or I would smash his face in. It got him to back off and Violet didn't hear any of it because she would be in her room or in the grave yard.
I was currently over in the grave yard with Violet as she was getting up from the ground. she looked over to me and I smile a bit and so does she. But it wasn't the smile I was use to. It looked a little forced from my perspective. But I wasn't going to force her to talk about it if she didn't want to, the wound was still fresh, I mean even AJ wasn't happy, he stopped drawing, he stopped having fun and it was breaking me. Violet comes over to me and I look up to her a bit and then she would look back to the grave then back to me.
"Sorry uh, did you need something?" She asked.
"No, no I was just wanting to check up on you." I tell her and she frowned a bit and then she rubbed the back of her neck. I look to her as she did this and then she looked back to me.
"I'm fine… honestly I was like this when I heard the twins died, don't worry I'll be good soon." She tells me and I nod just a little at this.
"Well… you know I'm here if you need to talk." I tell her and she nods.
"Thanks, but it's fine… I think you should focus more on AJ… I uh noticed he hasn't been drawing anymore." She says and I nod at this.
"Well… is it ok if we go take the fort down? I mean it's cool if you want to keep it up it's just a suggestion." I say raising my hands up a bit and she chuckled.
"Yeah, we should… almost tripped on it last night." She says and I nod as we head to her room. We had gotten some of the blankets down and moved the chairs back in their spots. It was going good until AJ came in.
"What are you doing?" He asked and we both look to him.
"Um… taking down the fort." Violet says.
"Why? We made that." He says and I see the tears in his eyes. I was about to go up to him but I was surprised that Violet went up to him and got down to his level.
"I know but… we need to move on, it's hard I know, I know how you feel right now but… I can't… I can't look at it and think of him right now." She says to him.
"You're forgetting him?" He asked and I go over to them.
"No, no way in hell will we ever forget him, it's just… We just have to take it down, ok?" She asked him. I don't even think she really wanted to take it down but she felt like she had to. I look to AJ as he looked to me and I get down to his level as well.
"AJ sometimes we have to take down reminders, we have the memories but… it's not the same, sometimes seeing things that remind you of others makes people sad." I tell him.
"Like your hat?" He asked and I smiled sadly.
"Yeah, but it's a little different for me then the fort." I tell him and he nods. I knew he didn't really understand but he tried.
"Ok." He says and then he helps us take the fort down. We did say that if he wanted, he could still sleep in here on the top bunk, which he was happy about and he set up his blanket and pillow on the top.
"Where are you going to sleep?" AJ asked and I look to him.
"She can sleep in my bed." Violet says before I could speak up.
"Oh ok." He says and I nod and we finished cleaning up. When done I decided that Violet should get out of the school for a bit.
"So, uh… if you are up to it, we could get to work on that uh… water generator thing." I say and she looked to me then to the side a bit.
"Oh yeah sure, it'll keep my mind off things." She says and I nod and we go and tell Ruby, Mitch and Aasim what we planned on doing. Mitch and Aasim said they would come with us to help. We all left the school and headed to the river and Violet looked around a bit.
"You think we should dig from the bigger section of the river instead of here?" Mitch asked and I look to the river a bit.
"Yeah, it would be best to do that but we would have to do a wraparound… the water has to consistently flow and not stand still." I mentioned.
"That's fair, it would be a lot of work." Aasim says and I look at Violet as she just looked into the river. Mitch and Aasim were talking about how we could do all of this and I go over to Violet. I stand next to her and clasp my hands behind my back as we just stand near the river and then I would look to her.
"Hmm, we should think about getting solar panels." She suggests.
"That would be hard to do." I say.
"But would it be as hard as digging from the river to the school?" She asked and I have to think.
"Well, I mean solar panels are a bit tricky, if one breaks, they don't work, a storm comes through and covers one panel then it still won't work… but we could have them as a backup, just need to get a book on how to work and install them." I say and she nods.
"Yeah." She says and then we go over to Mitch and Aasim as we plan out how we were going to do this. They suggest we build something close to the river and if we have to build another building about midway through so the water can constantly move. We even planned to get another part of the river to head to the smaller part of the river where we catch the fish.
"That way we can get to the fish easier than having to walk all the way out here all the time… plus other animals would go to the closest water source." Violet explained to them.
"That's a great idea, oh if we do make this, we would have to but some of the water to go underground, that way people just passing by won't find it." Aasim says and I had to agree with this. We then put some markers in the ground so we could get the basic idea of what we are going to do and then set another few markers to where we would put the water underground. once we finished that Aasim and Mitch head back to the school and I noticed that Violet was still mapping out how we would get all of this set up.
"We would need lots of nails and head to those construction shops… get some saws and-." She was talking to herself and I was just listening to her. I look up to the sky a bit and saw that the clouds had gone grey and then I look to Violet as she looked around a bit, not noticing the fact that it was going to rain soon. It wasn't till I felt a few rain drops and then the sound of thunder before she looked to me and we looked to each other. We knew we wouldn't be able to make it to the school in time so we hurry into the old fishing shack just as the rain started to pour on down hard.
We ended up getting soaked anyway and I sighed as I take my hat off and I felt some water hit my face. I look to see Violet shaking her head and more water splashed on me and I laughed.
"Ugh, like a wet dog." She mutters and I laughed more.
"Well at least you aren't wearing pants." I mutter and she smirks as she lifter her leg up.
"Don't have to deal with them sticking to me like a second skin, unlike you." She says and I shake my head a bit and we hear the wind pick up.
"Shit, must be a really bad day today." She says and I have to agree with her on this. I went to go find something to help dry us off. Though sadly there was nothing.
"I can start a fire." She says as she points to the old fire place and I nod as I help her with cleaning it up a bit. any of the old twigs and debris we found in here we end up starting a nice fire and I take a seat near it to dry myself off as does Violet. We sit in silence for a bit and I look to her as I hear the fire crackle a bit. She looked to the fire a bit and then she would look to the window as the wind picked up some more. I could see some of the trees swaying from the harsh winds.
"So… uh… how are you?" I asked as I look to Violet. She looked away from the fire and to me and then she looked to the ground a bit.
"I'm fine… what about you?" She asked.
"Same here." I tell her and she nods and still looked to the ground. I felt a little awkward with this silence and I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Hah, funny how it rains today hu?" I asked.
"Yeah… hasn't rained for a while, which is great since we have those barrels set up to catch the rain water." She says and I nod. It was back to silence and I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Uh, has Louis said anything to you?" She asked and I look at her.
"What do you mean?" I asked as she looked to me.
"Well… he was talking about how Tenn's death was our fault and… I just want to know if he said anything to you about it… he was blaming me… hell he was even telling me through the door of my room." She says and I look at her.
"He's been blaming me for his death." I tell her and I see her hands as they clench into fists.
"…Fucking mood swings." She mutters and I look to the side a bit.
"I should have been watching the boys." I tell her.
"It happened, shit like this happens, it's not our fault Tenn even said it came out of nowhere, he has no fucking right to say anything." She says and then she stands up and I look at her.
"He acts like it's our fault, well it's not… the only thing that is my fault is not listening to Tenn when he… asked me to." She stopped and I look to her and I get up and go over to her.
"Louis just needs to back off, he was shit when it came to Brody's death, and now he's doing this again with Tenn… just let the boy rest in peace." She says and I hugged her gently. She didn't move her hands and I just hold her tighter. She lays her head on my shoulder and I feel her shake a bit, I thought she was cold so I pull back and take her over to the bed and we both sat down. She sighed a bit and then she rubbed her face just a little.
The storm was raging outside and I would look to the window a bit as the rain pelted it hard. I would look back to the flames in the fire place and make sure that it was still going. I don't think the rain would let up anytime soon, the last time I was in a storm this bad it would have to be a few years ago when there was even a tornado involved.
"Last time we had a storm this bad Minerva would sing to the kids." Violet says and I look to her a bit.
"It was nice… I mean her singing, it was nice… is it sad that I miss that part of her?" She asked and I think a bit.
"Well, no, it's not bad, it's great that you still have those good memories with her." I tell her.
"Well… what's a good memory you have?" She asked and she looked at me as she leaned her head to the side a bit.
"Hmm, let's see… oh I suppose one good memory would have to be… when Lee and I were on the train and he taught me how to shoot a gun for the first time." I tell her.
"Nice." She says and I laughed a bit.
"Only reason it's a good memory was because… well later on he trusted me to go to Crawford and I was a big help." I tell her.
"Right, you did tell me about that place, the whole wall of dead people and stuff." She says and I nod.
"Yep, in Savanna… you know I sometimes think that if my parents lived a little longer would they have been in that group? Would they still be alive right now?" I asked out loud and sighed.
"Probably." She says and I look at her.
"Or not… place was over run by Walkers." I say and I feel her put her hand on my back and I look at her.
"Think of the positive stuff, no moping allowed." She says and I can't help but smile and shake my head at this. My parents were already gone, there was nothing positive about that. But I had to agree with her on the thinking positive thoughts.
"Well how long do you think till this storm passes?" I asked and she moved her hand from my back.
"Hmm, maybe a few hours, though these storms tend to not always be in our favor." She says and I nod.
"I remember the cold rain while heading to Wellington with Christa… that was about a day before I met up with AJ's parents… not much a fan when it comes to rivers and such." I say and lay back on the bed a bit.
"Why is that?" She asked.
"Almost drowned in a lake for one… and the river kept pulling me under it was hard to swim… woke up by the bank of the river…. It's not that I don't like water, it's just… the fact that I could have died twice maybe three times from drowning I just… don't like going in them when I don't need to." I try to explain.
"What's with the lake?" She asked.
"Oh shit, I don't think I told you guys… or maybe I did… I don't remember, anyway it was after AJ was born, we had just lost Rebecca the day before, and Sarah… anyway, we were pinned down by these Russians, one of them was named Arvo… he was a stupid teenager, anyway we killed his whole group but him and then he said he would take us to a so-called safe house." I explained a bit and look to her as she looked to me.
"So we get to the safe house he told us about, and we have to cross this lake, well we didn't think it would be thick enough to walk on so we go at separate time space out a bit… Walkers come in behind us and Luke gets his leg caught with the ice breaking, Walkers are coming closer and closer, Bonnie tells me I need to help him because I'm lighter, so I do it, I promised I'd go back for him… anyway the ice breaks because I must have put to much weight on it, and I get trapped under with Luke." I tell her.
"Holy shit." She says and I nod.
"I get up to the ice, take my gun and start hitting it to break it, fucking Walker swims out of nowhere, almost gets me, then Luke grabbed it and pulled it away… He… he was dragged by the walker… there was no way I could get to him I was almost out of time myself… anyway I break the ice and I'm pulled out the water, freezing cold from the snow, water, everything… and that's why I don't like frozen lakes at least." I tell her.
"It didn't mess with your eye, did it?" She asked and I shake my head.
"I mean it was burning like hell and the makeshift patch kinda froze around it, but nothing to bad, they got me warmed up in time." I tell her and she lays back on the bed with me and we both look to the ceiling.
"Wasn't he the same guy that said to leave you at that Carver guy's camp?" She asked and I nod.
"Yes." I look to her and see her thinking and then she shakes her head.
"You were to kind… you went back for him even though he said to leave you after you got hurt because of him." She says and I shrugged a bit.
"I'm not a monster… just because someone was willing to leave me doesn't mean I'm going to leave them… I know how scary things can be, how people don't think when they are scared, or tired… and I know that Lee would have done the same thing… he kept me safe not even knowing me, he did so much for me even when I was a stupid kid… he came and saved me from that stranger… he could have left me if I was such and idiot." I say and close my eye as I think of Lee.
"I… I'm sorry I didn't think about it like that." She says.
"It's fine, sometimes I forget what he would do… that's why sometimes I have dreams where I'm back on that train, or back on the RV with him… and he talks to me… hell before I went to save you guys I had a dream with him in it… I didn't want to fail." I tell her.
"You have to be the kindest person on this planet right now." She says and I look to her.
"You're kind too you know." I tell her.
"Not like you… I wanted to kick Marlon out… I wanted to hurt him, he fucked up so much that it ended up hurting us… he gave away the twins, now they're dead, he killed Brody… I'm not a good person if I wanted to hurt him." She tells me and I laughed.
"You think I never wanted to hurt people? Violet, I have hurt so many people, I have gone after people for simple things, For gods sake there was a man begging to be shot because he was burnt to the point you could see the red from the heat on him, asking me to kill him, put him out of his misery and I just let the fucker die because he was part of a group that had AJ… I didn't give him any mercy, hell I even stabbed someone in the throat and let them choke on their own blood." I tell her and she cringed a bit at this.
"But those were reasons, you had a reason." She says to me and I shake my head.
"And you think the thought of hurting Marlon wasn't reason? He gave away your girlfriend and her sister, he killed your friend, trust me those are reasons." I tell her and she shrugged a bit.
"I just think it's because I had been in once place for so long I don't have a reason or right to think like that… I never had to do what you had to do." She tells me.
"No that's not how it works." I tell her and we look to each other. She moved her hand and placed it on my cheek and rubbed her thumb on it a bit. I keep looking at her and then she moved her hand away just a bit before I grabbed it and placed it back on my cheek.
"It's fine." I tell her and she nods a bit at this. I keep my hand on top of hers and then she moved a little closer to me and kisses me on my forehead. She moved back and I look to her and smiled a bit.
"Well, this is one good thing about being stuck in a storm." I joke and she laughed at this.
"Oh? Really now?" She asked and I nod.
"Of course… no one to bother us, the sound of rain is nice, don't have to hear Louis and his shit." I mutter the last part.
"Yeah… he still blames us for what happened." She says and then moved her hand away and looked to the ceiling.
"But he has no right to, he acts like it was intentional." I mutter.
"No, he doesn't have a right to… Kinda want him to know what it was like to-." She stops and then sits up.
"We could put him in that type of situation." She says and I sit up too.
"I don't think that's a good idea." I tell her.
"Why not? We basically set up a scenario for him, if he wants to act like he would have done better we show him that he's not perfect either." She says.
"Yeah, but it would probably make him angry." I tell her.
"So? Let him get angry, I'm going to make him feel like shit after what he's been putting us through, for fuck sake I even heard him blame AJ." She says and I look to her.
"He blamed AJ?" I asked and she nods.
"He wouldn't say it when you were around and I heard him tell AJ it was his fault too… I don't know why he didn't tell you." She says and I look to the door.
"…We need to go back to the school." I say as I get up but she stopped me.
"Not now." She says.
"Yes now, he is not going to blame AJ for what happened, he's only six years old, I am not going to have AJ feel the way I did when I was a kid, having to take care of others, have older people blame him like they did me, this ends now." I say and I head out the door as the wind picked up making the door fly open and the rain pelted my face. I hurry out just as Violet called out to me. I hurry to the school having to dodge a few Walkers and I hear Violet running behind me. I finally get to the school and get inside from the gate. Violet was right behind me as I hear the gate close and I run into the school.
"LOUIS!" I yelled as I bust in through the front doors.
"Clem not-."
"LOUIS GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!" I yelled as Violet grabbed me. All the kids came out including Louis and I was about to go after him but I was pulled back by Violet.
"What is going on, are you two ok?" Ruby asked.
"WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU GET OFF BLAMING AJ FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO TENN?!" I yelled and he looked to me a bit shocked.
"I uh… how did-."
"It doesn't matter how I found out, where the fuck do you get off blaming my boy for Tenn's death." I say getting angrier and he looked to me.
"Well, he could have-."
"What? Shot his gun off in a heard of Walkers? YOU WANTED US TO GET KILLED?!" I yelled and he looks to me.
"Well, it was Violet's fault mostly, Tenn was her responsibility." He says and I get out of Violets grip and grabbed Louis by his shirt.
"You have been nothing but a pain in my ass since I got here Louis, but to blame a god damn child? I HAD TO DEAL WITH THAT FOR EIGHT YEARS!" I yelled at him and I feel the others pulling at me but I wouldn't let him go.
"YOU WANT TO ACT LIKE YOU'RE THE FUCKING BEST THEN GET OUT THERE AND KILL THOSE FUCKING WALKERS RIGHT NOW IN THE RAIN, YOU GET BIT I'LL MAKE SURE YOU ROT AS A WALKER JUST LIKE I DID ABEL I DON'T FUCKING CARE!" I yelled and I get yanked back.
"Holy shit." I hear and look as the others looked to me with shock on their face. I look to see Violet as she held me back.
"Stay the hell away from AJ, you blame him for Tenn's death and I will make you suffer." I warn him and I look to AJ as he looked to the ground. I look back to Louis as he backed up a bit from me and I shake my head and look back to AJ.
"Get your bag packed." I tell him and he looked to me.
"Wait hold on." Violet says and I look to her.
"I am not going to have AJ stay here just to hear Louis blame him." I tell her and AJ runs off and I look to the others.
"You've been a bitch ever since you came back." Louis says and before I could do anything Violet pulled me back.
"Oh you want to see a bitch?" I asked him.
"You're acting like one now, don't act like you aren't." He says.
"I've always been one Louis, only thing is, I have a fucking reason to be one, you fucking piss ant." I tell him before I'm pulled back more.
"Ok stop this right now." Violet says.
"NO, HE BLAMED US FOR WHAT HAPPENED, HE HAS NO FUCKING IDEA!" I yelled at her and she looked to me sadly. I felt bad yelling at her so I take a few breaths and clench my hands into fists. I look to the others as they looked between us and I look to the ground.
"You… you aren't going to leave, are you?" Marlon asked. To be honest I was a little surprised that he was asking this. The others looked a little shocked at this too and I look to all of them.
"…Yeah, we are." I tell him.
"Wait, hold on think this over." Violet says and look to her.
"What's to think over? I'm not going to have Louis blame AJ for something he couldn't control… for fuck sake people die, Walkers sneak up on people, Lee was bitten by a Walker that was hidden, came out of fucking nowhere, and you know what he fucking did? He came looking for me… he had no one, no one fucking went with him because he showed that he was bitten, HE WAS ALONE AND SCARED AND…." I stop as I feel tears in my eye.
"I will not have AJ have to suffer like I did, especially from Louis." I say and I look to the teenager as he looked to me.
"Yeah, well you were probably busy making fucking goo-goo eyes at Violet-."
"WHAT VIOLET AND I DO IS NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUISNESS!" I yell.
"Wait… so you two are together?" Mitch asked.
"NO!" Both Violet and I yell.
"No, we aren't." I tell them and look back to Louis.
"Hold on, we need to get things settled, what the fuck is going on to make you three like this besides Tenn's death there is something more going on." Omar says and I glare at Louis.
"It's no one's business." Violet says.
"Seems like it is, if you three are going to be at each other's throats like this it needs to be talked about." Marlon says and I glare at Louis. We stayed silent for what seemed like hours but I know it was just a few seconds before I hear Violet sigh.
"We already talked about it nothing to talk about." She says.
"Well, if he's making accusations like this, I think it hasn't ben settled." Aasim says and I look to Violet a bit and take a breath.
"Violet and I got together around the time before the raiders came… maybe a week… when we were running from Minerva, Louis… started a fight with Violet and I just ended it, he was jealous." I tell them.
"Holy shit." I hear Mitch say quietly and I look to him then to the others.
"And you two aren't together anymore?" Ruby asked and I nod.
"No, we aren't together we respect each other's decision on not getting back together." Violet tells them.
"So, you got mad at them because you're fucking jealous?" Aasim asked as he looks to Louis who looked to him.
"No, no that's not…. Just why the fuck does she get to be happy?" He asked as he points to Violet.
"Clem said she didn't like relationships but yet she goes and gets in a relationship with Violet, who may I remind you has a girlfriend." Luis says.
"Minerva is dead asshole." I remind him and he looked to me.
"Ok so Minerva is a Walker-."
"She blew her own brains out dipshit, right after she shot at Violet she pointed that damn rifle at herself and pulled the fucking trigger." I tell him.
"She… she did that?" Violet asked and I looked to her. She looked sad at this and I looked to the side a bit then to her and I nod.
"Dear god." I hear and then look to the others then to Louis.
"And I've already told you, Minerva changed, no one is the same especially with a group like that, and Violet thought she was dead, and so what, I wanted to feel happy for once… For once, and so what I liked Violet, she was nice to me, she didn't keep asking if I would get with her, for fuck sake I was the one that kissed her first not the other way around." I tell him. I hear someone come in and I look to AJ who had come in with his old bag.
"That doesn't change the fact that you went with her, I asked-."
"And I told you no… I never want to be with you I never wanted to be with you, and I still don't… You kept pushing and pushing and it pisses me off." I tell him.
"She has a point Louis." Marlon says and we all look to him.
"What?" Louis asked.
"Look, if Clem and Violet wanted to be together you should have left them alone and pushed your feelings to the side, so what the new girl didn't want to be in a relationship with you, that doesn't give you the right to do what you did." He tells him.
"But they-."
"Are allowed to be happy with each other… but from what I'm hearing they don't want to get back together because of you." Marlon tells him. I have to admit it was a little weird that he was standing up for us let alone me.
"I just asked if Clementine would give me a chance." He says.
"And she said no." He tells Louis.
"But she-."
"Doesn't and never has to give you a chance." Ruby says.
"Are we going now?" AJ asked and I look to him.
"No, you're staying here." Violet says as she goes over to him and then she looked to me and motioned that she was going to take him to the room and I nod. She leaves with AJ and I look to the others a bit and shake my head then rubbed my head.
"You're soaked come on let's get you dried off and get some clean clothes." Ruby says and I nod as she takes me to one of the spare rooms. She went and got me a towel and some clean clothes.
"Hope these fit, they're Violets, she's in her room with AJ." She tells me and I nod.
"Thanks." I say quietly as I take my hat off and dry my hair as best as I could.
"…The fact that Violet was able to keep your guy's relationship a secret kind of surprises me… she's usually sappy." Ruby says and I look to her as she heads out the door. Once it was closed, I look to the towel and sigh a bit and change out of my wet clothes and dry myself off. I had gotten the shorts on before the door opened.
"Hey AJ is asking or-… well damn." I hear and look to Violet as she looked to me.
"The door." I say and she turns red and closes the door quickly and talks to me through the door. I had to roll my eye at this and I couldn't help but smile a little at her embarrassment. Though I think I should be the one that's embarrassed.
"I'm sorry I thought you would have been fully dressed by now… uh anyway AJ just wants to know if you guys are really leaving." She says.
"Just tell him not now… was stupid to say we would leave during a storm… I think we should all just sit and talk before I make a final decision." I tell her.
"Alright, we'll, just come to my room and then we can all head in the music room." She says.
"Will do… thanks for the clothes by the way."
"Oh yeah… do they fit?" She asked.
"… I need a belt for the shorts." I say. I mean they were cargo shorts.
"Alright I got a spare." She says and I hear her run off. I get my shirt on and once I open the door Violet was coming down the hall and she comes up to me and hands me the belt. I nod in thanks and put the belt on then follow Violet to her room. I see AJ sitting on the bed and he looked to me a little sad and I see tears in his eyes. I go over to him as he was sitting on the bed and I could see the tears in his eyes. I moved a bit and give him a hug and he hugged me back.
"Is it really my fault?" He asked.
"Fault?" I asked as he hiccupped.
"For Tenn getting bit?" He hiccupped again and I pulled back and look to him.
"No, no it was not your fault, it was no ones fault… why didn't you tell me that Louis said that to you?" I asked.
"I didn't want to bother you… you were helping Violet." He says and Violet comes over and crouches down next to me and he looked to her.
"You should have said something to either of us… though I'm to blame to for not stepping in, and I'm sorry AJ." She tells him.
"It's ok… Louis is being a jerk." He says quietly and I smile just a little.
"Yeah… he's just mad." Violet says and she put a hand on his shoulder.
"Why?" He asked.
"Well… lots of things… but we're going to talk this out." I tell him.
"Are we leaving?" He asked and I take a breath.
"No… at least… not now, just… let's go talk it out." I tell him and he nods. We all head to the music room where everyone was and they look to us from where they were seated. AJ, Violet and I go and take a seat near the fire place so Violet and I could warm up and dry off from the rain.
"Ok… so… I think you three need to talk… with us here so we can not only get an understanding but to make sure there are no punches thrown." Omar says.
"I wouldn't mind a fight." Mitch says as he crossed his arms.
"Not now Mitch." Ruby says.
"What? From what we were told Louis deserves to get a punch or two in the face." He says.
"Just… stop." Marlon says and I look to them.
"Ok… so you and Violet were together, then after the boat, Louis and Violet got into a fight, you broke it off with Violet and you two aren't together." Marlon says and I nod.
"So why the hell are you still upset Louis?" He asked the boy and we look to him. He doesn't say a word but only looked to his piano a bit then to us and he shrugged.
"I'm allowed to ain't I?" He asked.
"Oh for crying out loud." Violet mutters.
"You basically cheated on Minerva." Louis says.
"DUDE!" Mitch says.
"Well I'm right, Minerva was still alive." He says.
"So? Minerva was gone for a whole year." Marlon says.
"And we all thought she was dead." Willy tells him.
"It's just… I asked." He says.
"And Clem said no." AJ says and we all look to him.
"Why do you care if Clementine was with Violet? She makes Clem happy, I haven't seen her this happy in a long time." He says and I rubbed his back a bit as he looked to Louis.
"That's not-."
"Why isn't Clementine allowed to be happy? Why do you think you're the one that has to make her happy?" He asked and everyone was silent.
"Why did you blame them and me for Tenn's death? That's not fair to any of us, that Walker came out of nowhere, you weren't there either… why blame me?" AJ asked.
"Because Violet and Clem were probably distracted by each other." He says.
"They were getting cow catchers for us to use, you know nothing about that day, that's why you say probably… you just want to be mad at them because Clementine doesn't want to be with you." AJ says.
"Why does he have to be here? He's a kid." Louis says and I glare at him.
"A kid you blamed for Tenn's death, so he's allowed to be here." Violet tells him and I look to her a bit and then move my hand from AJ and I place both my hands on my lap.
"You should be glad Clem and I don't want to get back together, for gods sake Louis, did you learn nothing? Do you not listen? And for fuck sake you were the one that locked us in the greenhouse, you were trying to get us together." Violet tells him.
"No, I just said you two needed to talk."
"Bullshit and you know it, you just felt guilt, you have major fucking mood swings, one day you try to get us together next day you're pulling shit like his like a grumpy child." She says.
"Wait you locked them in the greenhouse?" AJ asked.
"I mean… yeah." Louis says.
"Tenn and I got blamed for that you dick." AJ says and I hear Violet stifle a laughter.
"Language AJ." I tell him.
"No, he got me and Tenn in trouble for that, Violet thought we did it." AJ says to me and I look to her.
"I did say I was sorry." She mutters and AJ looks to her.
"It's ok… I'm not mad about that anymore." He says and Violet looked to him and nods her head a bit.
"Look AJ you need to understand Clementine is a hypocrite, she said she didn't like relationships yet she goes with Violet? Even though I asked." He says.
"Did you know it was eating me up? I kept calling myself a hypocrite, I knew I was but for fuck sake Louis you need to understand you aren't going to always get what you want, so grow up." I tell him and he looked to me.
"You're telling me to grow up?" He says as he gets up and before I could Violet had gotten up and got in front of him. They just stood there looking at each other. Aasim and Marlon were ready to grab either of them if they started fighting but they didn't move. It felt like one of those old western movies I use to watch with my parents. Just two people staring down at each other waiting for one of them to back off first.
"Back off." Violet warns him and he glared at her.
"You're mad because I'm happy? You're mad because Clementine didn't want you? You're mad because someone doesn't want you? Grow the fuck up Louis, no one wanted us, that's why we are here, people abandoned us, get use to it." She tells him.
"Fuck you." Louis says.
"Fuck off, you can't get over the fact that Clem chose me over you, oh well, you fucking kissed her when she didn't want you to, you kept annoying her, you don't know shit about her." Violet tells him.
"Bullshit I know a lot about her." He says.
"Who was her friend when all this started?" Violet asked. Louis didn't answer her.
"His name was Duck, she thought of him as a brother." Violet says.
"How did she communicate with her parents before the dead?" Violet asked. Again he didn't answer.
"Her Walkie-Talkie." She says and he looked to me and I nod a bit and look to Violet.
"What was her mentors name? the one who helped her through all of this shit?" She asked and again he didn't answer. Honestly, he should have known the answer I talked about Lee a lot.
"His name was Lee, fucking Lee Everette, he use to be a history teacher at UGA, I know these things because I asked her, I let her talk to me, I didn't talk about myself, I asked her if she was ok, I asked her how she was feeling, I was there for her, not you." She tells him and he takes a seat but Violet still stayed up.
"What about AJ hu? what do you know about him?" She asked and he looked to AJ then to her.
"He loves to draw, he loves disco broccoli, he loves to play on the swing set, his favorite color is fucking blue, and he was Tenn's friend too… I took the time to spend with him as well so I could get to know him too not just Clementine, he's a great kid, and a fucking amazing shot… I know more about him and Clem then you because you never took the fucking time to listen or ask them anything." She goes off on him. Louis then looked to the ground and Violet shifted a bit as she comes back over to sit next to AJ and I.
I look to Violet as she glared at louis and then I look to the others. They look to Louis and then to Violet then back to Louis who still said nothing. We just kept quiet hearing the flames crackle in the fireplace and I look to AJ as he looked to Violet. Violet was still looking at Louis who had his head down. I take a breath and look to everyone as they look to me.
"I think we should end this right now… get something to eat and head to bed, Walkers might be covering the whole woods and we don't want anyone getting sick from the rain." Marlon says and I nod as I get up and help AJ. Violet gets up as well and so do the others except Louis who just stayed seated at the piano. Omar says he will get us when dinner was ready and I nod as I go take AJ to his room. Violet followed but stopped at her door. I feel AJ move away from me and I watched as he grabbed Violet's hand. I couldn't help but smile as she looked to him a little shocked and she looked to me and I smile more.
He pulls her to follow us and she follows without question. When he reached the room and I opened the door. AJ walked in and I tell him that I needed to talk to Violet for a bit but that we would be in. He nods at this and I closed the door and we moved away from the door and down the hallway more. She stopped and looked to me and I look to her a bit before I hugged her and she hugged me back. I don't know why but I just felt like I had to hug her. Or was it because I needed a hug? I don't know but I hugged her tighter.
I feel her hug me just as tight and I lay my head on her shoulder a bit. I feel her rub my back gently and I moved my head a bit and looked to her. She looked down at me and smiled a bit and I smile as well. I lean up a bit and kissed her cheek and then pull back. Her smile was bigger and I laugh lightly at this and she kissed my cheek.
"You aren't going to leave?" She asked quietly.
"Not now, if Louis doesn't stop then we are going to have to leave… I can't have AJ near that." I tell her and she nods.
"I understand… just know you can still come here whenever you want… the others would miss you." She says as she turned her head a bit.
"And you?" I asked and she gave me a side glance and she nods.
"Yeah… and me." She says and I nod.
"Knew you would." I say and she chuckled at this.
"Who wouldn't miss you?" She asked and I roll my eye at this.
"People who hate me I suppose?" I asked and she looked to me.
"Ok fair." She says and I nod. I look at her and I kissed her on the lips gently. She kisses me back and I fee her place her hands on my sides. I wrapped my arms around the back of her neck and deepen the kiss as does she. When we pulled apart she pulled me closer to her.
"… I love you." She says and I look to her a bit shocked and she looked to me.
"You don't have to say it back, I just want you to know how I feel." She says and I nod a bit. I hugged her and she held me to her. We then went back to the room where AJ was drawing at his desk and before we knew it, it was time for dinner. Violet said she was going to go grab our bowls for us. When she left, I looked to AJ and he drew some more. Showing me all his drawings and showing how much, he was improving. I was proud of him and I pat his head gently. Violet came back and we ate our dinner, we would bring the bowls back later but we just sat in the room for the rest of the night.
We got AJ to finally go to bed and Violet was heading out the door and I follow her. She doesn't say anything as we go to her room and she let's me in. As we laid in the bed listening to the rain as it hit the roof of the building, I lay my head on her chest as she had her hand on my back. I feel her move her hand up and down my back and I grip her shirt gently. The back of my shirt must have lifted up a bit because I feel her hand touch the skin of my back but she stopped. I move my head to look at her and she looked back at me. I kissed her and she kissed me back. I don't know how but we shifted in the bed so she was on top and I was laying on my back.
She looks to me a bit and I place my hands on the sides of her head and she looked to my shirt a bit. I feel her move her hand to my arm a bit and onto the scar I got from the New Frontier. She moved her head a bit and she looks down to the scar and then she looked to me. I move to sit up a bit and she looked to me as she backed up a bit.
"You saw a lot of my scars." I say.
"I'm sorry." She says.
"It's fine." I say and place my hand over the branded mark. I look to her a bit and then take my shirt off and she looked to me a bit. I look to her as she moved her hand and place it on the scar on my shoulder. She runs her thumb across it and I look to her as she looked at the scar. She then moved her hand down my arm and traced the long-jagged scar from a dog bite.
I know I told her about these scars but I never really showed her. She looked at the brand a bit and frowned at this. She looked to me and then placed a kiss on the scar. Then another kiss to each of my scars going up to the one on my shoulder. After she kissed that scar, she moved up to my neck and kissed me there. I moved my hands to the end of her shirt and she moved back and took her own shirt. I look at her and she looked to me and I pull her into another kiss and she kisses me back.