Green-Eyed | Violentine

Part Twenty-Nine | Where Do We Go From Here?

Ironically, as if the weather decides to match the mood inside the car, it begins to rain.

Clementine tightens her knuckles on the steering wheel whilst worry twists her mind. The endless harassment. The slap. Minerva's warning. Clementine's trashed room. Violet at Minerva's house. Come to think of it, why was her girlfriend even at Minerva's house in the first place?

Clementine. Violet. Minerva. A thorn in their side that the two girls can't pull out.

The rain patters against the windscreen. The comforting sound of the falling water is disturbed only by the repetitive mechanical whirring of the windscreen wipers against the glass. Clementine goes to speak but she doesn't know what to say, so she closes her mouth and keeps her focus trained on the road ahead.

Violet bites her lip and lets her gaze fall on Clementine for just a moment. She then turns her sight back to the road ahead and watches the tarmac fall away beneath the speeding wheels. Violet looks around the car, on the floor by her feet are a collection of papers.

Violet catches a glimpse of a name on one of the files, Kaylee. Violet vaguely remembers seeing this girl around the university, effortlessly sweet and mature for her age, Violet's never heard a bad word about her.

The blonde turns in her seat and looks behind her into the backseat of the car where a suitcase catches her eye. The blonde forgets her worry for a moment as she turns once more to face her girlfriend. "Is this Mr Everett's car?" Violet asks, almost half expecting Clementine to ignore her.

"Yeah, I'm not the best driver, so I don't have a car of my own," says Clementine with a half-smile, braking late and hard for the upcoming traffic lights as if to prove her point. Clementine's face falls again, "when I saw that you were at Minerva's house I asked my dad if I could take the car. He'd just gotten back from picking up AJ and I needed to get to you ASAP."

Silence grows in the car between them and both girls become aware of the elephant in the room. Violet clears her throat and taps her shoe against the footwell of the car, as she closes her eyes she inhales.

"Minerva kissed me," says Violet as she dares to open her eyes and look over to Clementine. The brunette huffs out the air in her lungs and Violet watches as her knuckles turn white against the steering wheel.

"I know."

Violet holds her breath as she watches Clementine, her heart beats hard inside her ribcage.

"You've got her lipstick on your mouth."

Clementine's voice wavers as she speaks and Violet sees the glint of wetness in her eye as she tries to hold back her tears. The car holts at an intersection and both girls remain quiet. Clementine is aware that almost anything Violet says will cause her tears to flow, and Violet stays quiet as she doesn't want to upset Clementine when she has to focus on driving. As a result, the atmosphere becomes thick with tension.

Violet goes to speak a few more times but each time she finds herself at a loss for words. The ten-minute drive from Minerva's house to Clementine's seems to take triple the actual time, and Violet feels anxious as Clementine stops the car. The brunette brakes hard as she pulls onto the driveway outside her house.

Clementine sighs and looks to Violet for a moment before unclipping her seatbelt and exiting the car. Violet follows her girlfriend up the path, walking a few feet behind her. Normally they'd be holding hands. Violet lets her gaze fall to Clementine's fingers which twitch and tense by her sides.

Violet wishes she could rush forward and take Clementine's hands and soothe her, warm her palms and take all her worries away. She feels slightly better when Clementine reaches the front door and holds it open for Violet to enter.