L: Baby where are you? I miss those lips of yours
C: i'm walking into school right now!
L: I'm on the football pitch, Lee and AJ are here too. Meet me here
C: on my way
Clementine tucks her phone into her back pocket and jogs around the large building of the high school. Bruiser had just dropped her off in the parking lot. Admittedly, she found it difficult to detach herself from Lexi - but she managed.
She could hear the audience's chatter from the car park and the noise grew louder as she approached the field. Now, she could hear the repetitive singing and cheers from the group of pretty cheerleaders in front of a row of bleachers.
A lot of people came to watch the match, more than Clem thought. She knew that Louis was already under a lot of pressure, so this wouldn't help him.
Clem stops and looks around, trying to find her star player - or anyone she knew at all.
Just as she's about to step forward, a pair of muscular arms wrap around her.
"You looking for me?"
She recognised the voice that seeped through his wide smile, and she releases a small sigh and turns around to face him.
"Yes, I was." Clem smiles, gazing up at the handsome man's freckled face. She loved that cheeky toothy smile he does.
Louis had on his famous football kit and boots with the metal studs on the bottom. His dreadlocks were tied up with a pink elastic that used to belong to his girlfriend. A thin gold chain hung around his neck, like it always is.
Clementine grips his top and balls her fists, luring him closer. She could feel his warm hard chest under the thin material of his top.
"I missed you at school today," his strong arms wrap around her waist.
"Sorry about that. I was helping Bruiser get a new dog," she grins.
Louis cocks an eyebrow.
"Bruiser, hmm."
"Don't get all jealous again, Lou. Please?"
"I'm not jealous," he chuckles, tightening his hold on her small waist.
"Sure, and the sky isn't blue."
Louis' mouth opens in a toothy grin, his chocolate eyes squint.
"Actually, it's grey today."
The brunette simultaneously sighs and rolls her eyes, making his heart beat quicker.
"Oh my god, whatever. I love you, good luck out there."
Clem lets go of his shirt and starts to walk away from him, towards the bleachers.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
She turns around to see Louis approaching her with a mischievous smirk.
"To find my dad and AJ to sit with," she raises an eyebrow.
"Did I say I was done with you?"
In one swift movement, Louis lifts her off her feet and holds the undersides of her thighs. She lets out a squeal and a giggle then wraps her toned legs around his waist.
The dreadhead smiles and chuckles deeply before pressing his lips against hers. She rests her hands on his broad shoulders and returns the gesture with a smile stuck on her face.
"Louis!!"
Their lips part and Clem places a soft kiss on the tip of his freckled nose.
"You have to go, Lou. Good luck and be careful." she hops down from his arms and pecks his lips with hers.
"I love you dollface," he cups her face tightly, squeezing her cheeks together and mushing her lips. He chuckles and kisses her again.
Clementine hits his chest lightly and spins on her heels, making her way to the bleachers.
She wanders around the front of the stack of crowded rows, searching for her relatives. It was noisy on the field; people were talking, cheerleaders were chanting, drums were banging. She had only been there for a few minutes and she was already getting tired and pissed off.
She finds them on the fifth row up, on the set of bleachers that the cheerleaders were prancing in front of.
Sat with Lee and AJ, were James, Brody, Violet, Minnie, Mitch and Aasim. Brody and Mitch seemed to be in a deep conversation with the short afro-boy. However, all their attention turned when Clem came over.
"There you are! We were worried that you would be late."
"Nah, I wouldn't miss this." she scoots over and sits between Lee and AJ. Mitch, Violet and Brody were sat on the row in front of them.
"Is Louis gonna be playing?" AJ beams up at his older sister with wide eyes and a big smile.
Clem ruffles his hair and giggles, "Yes, dude. You'll see him."
The little boy leans up against her side and looks out on to the green pitch with hopeful eyes. Clementine was equally as excited to see her boyfriend perform, but she kept it bottled inside.
"Man, I'm tired." James sighs and runs a hand through his dark hair.
"Hmm, I wonder why." Brody smirks and nudges him.
"Yeah, we saw who you were with last night." Violet smirks too, with her eyes narrowed.
James rapidly turns his head, switching his gaze between them.
"SnapMaps," the girls admit in unison. James groans.
"I thought I disabled that?!"
"Well, obviously not." Brody rolls her eyes and looks out at the pitch, trying to look for her blond boyfriend. "Guys, it's started!"
Clementine nudges James' leg.
"You better tell me all about it tonight."
~~~
The game is about 3/4 done.
AJ had barely said anything throughout the game, he mostly just stared with amazement. It was like he was watching a worldwide famous footballer play right in front of him. Clem had to admit, she enjoyed watching too.
Her star-player boyfriend looked amazing on the field. Over time, his shirt got stuck to his sweaty muscular body and made his toned chest and hard abs more defined. A couple of dreads fell out of the hair tie and were left loose. And she wasn't the only one that was swooning.
The group of cheerleaders kept giggling and swiping their hair extensions over their shoulders whenever he looked anywhere near them, which was a lot because Clementine was sat on the bleachers behind them. They even started to chant out the letters of his name whenever he scored a goal, which was a lot.
It annoyed her, but she didn't let them get under her skin.
"Damn, he's really good isn't he?" Lee chuckles, watching as the dreadhead takes control of the ball with his feet yet again and skillfully - and quickly - dribbles it towards the goal.
"Shhhhhh!!" AJ stands up on his seat and watches with wide eyes.
Louis dodges opposing players who were trying to challenge him and quickly carries on his way. Approaching the white goal, he held his breath as he aims his shot within a split second then follows through. Flinging his leg out in front of him with all his strength, he belts the ball at lightning speed directly at the goal.
It goes in.
"YEEEEEEEEEAAAHH!!" AJ shouts at the top of his lungs, his small fists in the air.
The crowd cheers loudly and the cheerleaders giggle and spell out his name in a song again. Fellow players on the pitch clap their hands a few times and nod approvingly. Clem smiles and giggles at their reactions.
At the same time, though, a pain twists sharply in the man's stomach.
A pain so extreme that it makes his knees buckle and an entire wave of agony overcome his body. He falls to the floor and leans over, grabbing tight fistfuls of fresh grass and groaning out. He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to catch his breath.
Due to the crowd cheering and talking, no one except people near him could hear his groans of pain. From afar, it just looked like he was tired and proud of his goal.
Clementine straightens her back, closely observing her boyfriend with her eyebrows gently furrowed. She knew something wasn't right.
Marlon sprints over to him and squats down, placing a pale hand on his back.
"Yo, Louis! Are you okay, can you hear me?"
The blond leans closer to his best friend and hears his painful groans and laboured breathing, and his quiet reply of 'no'.
"What's hurting?" he pats his sweaty back.
It takes Louis a few seconds to answer.
"My stomach.." he groans with a fragile voice.
"Like where you were stabbed?"
Louis holds his head in his hands and leans forward, resting it against the ground. He nods.
"You shouldn't keep playing, Louis. Come on, I'll help you to the side and you can go to the hospital." Marlon sits up and tries to hold his best friend's arm.
Louis stays still and shakes his head, refusing.
"Try to sit up, come on I know you can do it."
Slowly, the dreadhead lifts his head from the grass and grabs a hold of some again.
"I can't.. my dad is here, and my assessor.." he lets out a painful hum and opens his eyes.
"Your assessor?" he carefully puts an arm around his waist and tries to help him stand.
"For my scholarship.."
Louis slowly stands up and furrows his eyebrows and tenses his jaw tight, holding in any more painful sounds from escaping his mouth. He didn't want another confrontation with his dad, therefore had no choice except to pretend he was absolutely fine.
The game continues nowhere near as flawlessly as before.
Louis scored no more goals and hardly ever got the ball in his control again; and every time he did, someone tackled it from him. He limped around the pitch and even stumbled over another player because he got dizzy, the pain in his wounds only grew more and more unbearable. He often held his side and bent over, thinking he was going to vomit or pass out on the spot.
At the end of the game, Louis flashes a glance at his dad on the sideline and notices a dangerous expression on his face that he had never encountered before.
~~~
"Okay, tell me everything. Right now."
James giggles on the other side of the phone.
Clementine is currently laid on her bed in a jumper and a pair of pyjama shorts, her curly hair is tied back in a low ponytail and her baby hairs beautifully sculpted her cleansed naked face.
It's late at night and she had just tried calling Louis for the hundredth time, or at least it felt like it. She couldn't find him at the end of the football match because Brad had whisked him away already. She had left him messages and tried to call him, but he didn't answer to anything. She knew there was something wrong on the field, and the unknowing of how he was now was depressing.
So she called James to hopefully distract her.
"Well, what is there to tell? Charlie invited me to his place and we got talking for ages.." his voice trails of and it was evident that he was smiling his lips off.
"Then?" she draws her voice out and cocks an eyebrow.
"Then.. you know..." James does the same with his voice, confirming the burning question that Clem had in her head.
"Oh my goooddd!" she giggles and squeals with a high-pitched tone.
If it was even a touch higher in pitch, she would've missed the sound of the front door knocking.
The short girl gets out of bed and slips on a pair of fluffy blue slippers before making her way downstairs. Lee and AJ were in bed, so the hallway and downstairs were empty. She keeps her phone up to her ear.
"But you cannot tell anyone - especially Brody and Violet!"
"I won't, don't worry." she giggles.
"If they find out, I'll never hear the end of it."
Clementine grabs her keys off a hook beside the door and unlocks it.
"Yeah, yeah. I know how they are." she pulls the door open and freezes in place.
Stood in front of her, was a tall muscular man wearing a black hoodie and a pair of gym shorts and a thin gold chain around his neck, tucked into his hoodie. His dreadlocks were still tied up with the pink elastic, a few strands hung loose. His stood slouched lazily, like he was exhausted.
His handsome freckled face held a heartbreaking expression, he was not his usual charming and comedic self; he was pained, and lost.
His chocolate eyes were glossy and under them was red and wet with tears. On his right cheek was a big harsh red mark, and a cut running through it. It was a mixture of dried and soggy blood on the cut, due to his watery eyes wetting it.
The man's tired eyes drift and meet hers, breaking her heart completely.
"Charlie's mum is really nice, too."
"Clem?"
"Clem, you there?"
"I have to go, I'll call you back." she quickly hangs up and puts her phone down.
Their eyes reconnect and her heart shatters all over again. Seeing him like this was a whole different kind of pain that she had never felt before.
Louis notices her hesitation and silence and looks down.
"I-I know it's late, I'm sorry." his normally-cheerful voice now sounded quiet and fragile.
Clementine steps closer to him and captures his big hands in hers, gently squeezing them.
"What happened, Louis?" she whispers, looking up at him and trying to meet his gaze.
He inhales a shaky deep breath before speaking.
"I fucked up during the match and an assessor for my scholarship was there," he starts, his voice was deep as he explained.
"You got hurt, that wasn't your fault."
"Apparently I proved that I wasn't good enough, and the guy is gonna send off the assessment and a video to discuss over."
He lifts a sleeve up to his eye and wipes it, accidentally wiping a crust of dried blood off the cut on his cheek too. He winces at the sore pain. Clem brings a hand up to his face and carefully cups his cheek.
"Who did this to you?" she whispers, noticing as more tears well up in his tired eyes and begin to trickle down his cheeks.
"My dad.." he sniffs and his voice breaks, "he got really angry. He and my mum started argu-uing so I left." his voice hitches and more tears escape his waterline.
Clem lets out a small hurt breath and cups his face with both small hands now. He didn't deserve any of this, it's all too fucked up for him to handle by himself.
"I don't want to go back Clem, h-he's going to hurt me again. He never listens to me, he doesn't care about me. I-I feel like.. like I'm trapped a-and I can't get out and I-"
She quickly pulls him closer and wraps her arms protectively around his neck, squeezing him in her warm embrace.
"Hey, it's okay. Come here, Louis. It's okay, shh.." she calms him down with a soft gentle voice like silk.
He holds her waist in his arms tightly with his face buried in her neck. His eyes close and he releases a relieved sigh against her warm skin. Minutes later when he breathing returns to normal and his heart has soothed, he speaks again.
"Can I stay h-here, with you? For a few days?" he breathes out, his voice tired yet desperate.
Clem nods, bringing a hand to his hair and rubbing her thumb against his scalp, sending relaxing chills down his back. A sigh leaves his mouth and he tightens his arms around her.
"You don't need to ask, silly. I love you," she whispers in his ear before placing a soft kiss there.
A small smile tugs at his lips. Right now, those are the exact words he needed to hear.
~~~
aww ): sad boi hours.
my holiday was alright ty but yea sorry this took fecking years to write and it aint even good. i have SO much personal stuff happening rn and i have a lot to do and trying to juggle it all is a lot. i really do appreciate you all being patient and not wanting to kill me.
i love you thotties xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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