Survival Love: A Gabentine Story

Chapter 7 "Staying Here":

Clem's POV:
I woke up the next morning in sweat due to another nightmare I had: I shouldn't be surprised seeing as how I usually have nightmares every time I sleep. I'm a bit fucked up to be honest. I looked underneath me to see that AJ was still asleep on the bottom bunk. I then began to remember what he said last night about wanting to have a home here. He's wanted one for a while and that's something I wanted for him as well. But I don't know if we can trust these people. Marlon seems cool and respectful, but it could be just an act even if he saved us. Violet seemed a little aggressive when I first met her but to her credit it was the first time she ever saw me. And Louis! Holy fuck do I already hate him. With his constant flirting and treating me like I'm some kind of object for him to win. God what a fucking asshole. And he seemed so nice I first. The only one that I truly trust is Ten and that's because he's just a little kid AJ's age.
But the again at the same time, I'm starting to think that I'm just being paranoid like I usually am. With the exception of Louis, everyone has actually been pretty good to us. I mean they saved our lives when they could have just let us die. Maybe we can trust these people but I'm not a hundred percent sure yet. But AJ is right, we should at least give it a chance and if it ends up biting us in the ass then will just leave and find something else. But we should at least give it a shot. That also means I should probably let Marlon know that we'll be staying. I then began to quietly climb down the ladder so that I could go outside and find him without AJ waking up. I managed to make it to the ground as AJ only tossing and turning when I accidentally made the floor make a creaking sound. I then walked towards the dresser where I left my jacket as I put it on and started walking towards the door. As I made it to the door I heard AJ wake up and say, "Clem, where are you going?" "Shit." I whispered to myself as I turned around to see him rubbing his eyes. "Oh good morning AJ. I was just... Going to talk to Marlon." I said to him as he got off his bed. "Why?" He simply asked me. "Well because I think you were right last night. I think we're done running away from everything and we need to settle down somewhere. So I'm going to tell Marlon that we are staying here and make this our home." I told him as he went from tired to straight up excited.
"Really?!! You really mean that... We have a home now?" He asked as I simply nodded. You got so excited he hugged my waist super tightly as it hurt a little but not too much for me to acknowledge it out loud. "Thank you Clemmie! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" He said sounding overjoyed. "You're welcome goofball." I said as he let go of me and gave me a raised eyebrow. "I'm so happy that I'll let you get away with calling me goofball this once. Just this once." He said as I giggled and replied, "OK goofball. Well you stay here while I go talk to Marlon and see if I can help out a little around here. There is some food downstairs and I'll be back soon." He nodded at me as I gave him another quick hug and left to find Marlon. I walked outside as I saw kids working on the fence while others were tending the garden. I then spot Marlon planting seeds with Violet as I then began to walk over to him. I couldn't help but feel like someone was looking at me as I turned around and saw fucking Louis staring directly at my butt like the pervert he is. "Whooo!! Damn girl! You got a lot of cush for that tush." He blurted out in front of everyone as I just felt embarrassed. But I decided to ignore him and continue walking towards Marlon. "Hey didn't you hear me? I said you have a nice ass!" He yelled out again as I looked back and said, "Yeah I heard you along with everyone else here you sick fuck." before I continued to walking away from him as fast as possible.
I then approach Marlon who luckily couldn't hear what happened right now with me and Louis as apparently I took him by surprise. "Oh hi Clementine. I didn't expect to see you here. What's up?" He asked me. "Hey can I talk to you for a second?" I asked as I could tell he became a little nervous. "Uhh sure I guess that would be fine. Thomas take my shift. I'll be back soon." He said as he followed me away from the garden. "So what do you want to talk to me about? Wait a minute, this is one of those I'm secretly in love with you and I only tell you in private things right? Because I just met you and I don't feel that way so sorry if that's what this is." He said as I just raised my eyebrow and folded my arms. "It's not but that's kind of good to know. I'm glad you're not like Louis who is trying everything to get my pants even though I've only been here less than 24 hours." I replied as he let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah he can be difficult sometimes. He's kind of a ladies man who can't really talk to women that well. So I apologize." He apologized to me. "It's fine I can handle myself. But listen I was thinking that maybe we could stay here for a while if you'd let us." I told him as he smiled folded his arms almost exactly like I did. "Of course. You guys can stay here as long as you'd like. We won't mind." He said. "Is there anything I can do to help you guys around here?" I asked him. "Clementine you just got here. You don't need to be working yet." He responded as I unfolded my arms and put a hand on my one hip. "Really it's fine. I'm used to doing some hard work so I'm up for anything you have to offer." I said back as he had that look on his face that I could tell meant he knew I wasn't going to give up on this. "OK. If you really want to help we could use some extra hands on the fence. Go talk to Erika and get to work I guess." He said as I nodded and left to go help with the fence at Me and AJ's new home. Hopefully it will last this time unlike New Richmond.