"I still can't believe Violet left without telling me goodbye... I understand it might have to do with transportation, but I don't see why that would've mattered! I wouldn't have let her leave, anyway!" Clementine complained, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Well, her dad is just an assho—"
"And now she's home with her family that she never spoke a single word about. They've practically taken my girl hostage. My girl! You know what that means? That means that she's mine, and not anyone else's!"
"Clem, I think you should r—"
"What if something happens to her, huh? What am I supposed to do? Just cluelessly wait around and hope that she even shows up when school starts up again? Fuck that, I need my baby girl!"
"That was adorable. Anyway, as I was saying, we cou—"
"I want to pick her up from her home... I don't want to miss her," Clementine breathed out, inhaling sharply and stifling a sob. "Louis, please..."
Louis stared at Clementine wide-eyed, his mouth hanging slightly open in awe. "Dude, are you okay?" The boy turned around and looked at Sophie, who was sitting behind them in the vehicle, "Is she on her period or some shit?" he asked, nodding his head towards the musician, "I don't think I've ever seen her like this."
Sophie shrugged. "Could be, don't really care," she said, "Too busy enjoying this bagel to even wanna think about her relationship anxiety. Plus, that was a really insensitive question to ask." She took another bite of her snack, humming in bliss as she did.
Louis rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Silence lingered it in the air for a few seconds as he took a left turn. "Do you ever stop eating?" the boy added, shaking his head, "I don't know what it is with you, but ever since like, three days ago, you've been eating non-stop."
"That's what you do when you're pregnant."
Louis stared at her much like he'd stared at Clementine before. "Bitch, what?"
"I'm joking, Jesus. I'm just hungry. Leave me alone," she huffed, grabbing another bagel as she'd finished the other one already.
Louis decided to ignore Sophie's overly loud munching on bagels and focused on the road again, looking at his sat nav for the directions. It's not like he really needs the sat nav to get home, but it helps him not have to worry about if he is indeed going the right way. Also, it shows when you're due to arrive, which would be in around thirty minutes. He looked to his right, and saw that Clementine had hidden herself inside of her hoodie, presumably to hide her tears. This is weird. I've never seen Clementine break down like this, he thought, focusing back on the road.
"Clem, don't you have that app on your phone so you can see where she is at all times? You know, because you're a paranoid piece of shit?" Louis asked, jabbing his elbow into her side, which resulted in her jumping slightly. A muffled 'fuck you' came from underneath the hoodie, and Louis suppressed a laugh. "You know, because if you do, we could always just go to her house and ask her parents if it's okay for us to take her to my place," he added nonchalantly.
"Yes! I need my baby girl!" Clementine yelled enthusiastically, immediately wiping away any tears left on her cheeks after she came out of hiding and grabbed her phone and opening an app called Life360. "It's only an hour away from here!" the brunette squealed happily.
"Put it in the nav," Louis said, a satisfied smile on his face, "Let's go get your girl."
"Why do you even have that app?" Sophie asked with a mouthful of Takis. Apparently, she had Takis too. "It's not like Violet's gonna have a side hoe."
"That's not what I'm worried about!" Clementine defended, her cheeks reddening over so slightly, "With her blindness you'll never know if she gets lost and wanders somewhere weird."
"Mhm, right," Sophie grinned, "Sounds like a bunch a' baloney to me, but okay."
"Fuck y—"
"Clementine, don't even try denying it," Louis interrupted, "We both know that you're super protective over her, and that's fine! You're doing it out of love, not because you don't trust her, and that's both okay and cute."
"...I'm not cute," the brunette grumbled, muttering a few more swears and hid in her hoodie again, zipping it all the way shut to the top of the hood and then leaned against the door, her head faced towards the passenger side window. Louis grinned at his best friend and that ridiculous hoodie. After Clementine came across a video of Billie Eilish getting her hair stuck in one of those hoodies, she'd immediately wanted one herself. And voila, now she does. It didn't take long for the musician to start snoring softly.
"Louis?" Sophie asked when she noticed Clementine had dozed off, putting her Takis on the seat next to her, "I've been thinking, and, you know, Mitch and I have been having sex regularly for quite a lot of time now and I kinda wanna spice things up, you know? What's like, something you can suggest to a guy that isn't immediately seen as weird? I'd ask Clem, but she'd drag me into a sex shop and start showcasing a bunch of differently sized and shaped strap-ons to me, and that's like, the last thing I want."
"Uh..." Louis said after a few seconds, "Why are you asking me?"
Sophie rolled her eyes. "Because you're a dude, duh?"
"Just because I have a male sex organ doesn't mean I can sense what kind of shit Mitch is into," Louis said, "You're better off asking Mitch himself."
"Dude, that's super awkward..." Sophie groaned, hiding her flaring cheeks in her hand palms, "Who does that?"
"I'll ask him for you!" Clementine said from inside her hoodie. Apparently, she wasn't asleep.
"NO! You really don't ha—"
"Too late, already texted him."
"CLEM! NO!" Sophie screeched, hitting the bulge in Clementine's hoodie that she presumed was the girl's head, "Tell him it's a joke!"
"Hey, chill out! I haven't texted him, I joked. I can ask him for you though, it's no big deal."
"Actually, never mind. I don't think I wanna know what he's into," Sophie said, shaking her head, and suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh no... what if he's into being pegged? Or what if he likes to be peed on? Dude, no! I can't do this, I don't think I could handle him liking to be peed on," she said, her breathing becoming heavy.
"Relax, Sophie! Mitch might be a hard-ass, but not that much of a hard-ass. It'll be fine," Louis said, soothing her by reaching his hand over his chair and allowing her to grab it. "Do as we practiced, long, deep breaths."
After some time, Sophie managed to calm herself down and went back to munching on her Takis. Fifteen minutes passed in silence, and then the silence was broken by a sound coming from inside Clementine's hoodie tent. The noise of the brunette making a call pierced the noiseless air and it was immediately answered.
"Yo, Clem. What's up?" Mitch's voice came from the other side of the line.
Sophie immediately threw her Takis to the side and started hitting Clementine as hard as her weak arms allowed, whispering 'fuck you, hang up on him!' to her countless of times.
"Not much!" Clementine answered, ignoring the dollar-store version of Chewbacca harassing her from outside her tent. "Just wondering, what are some of your kinks?"
"I enjoy being pissed on."
Clementine immediately ended the call, snorting loudly. The car remained dead-silent for five seconds and then Clementine burst out laughing. "DUDE, NO WAY!" she howled, "I can't!"
She cried of laughter as she zipped down her hoodie and started wiping the tears from her eyes. Sophie sat back in her seat, mindlessly staring in front of her and grabbed her Takis. She put a few in her mouth, but she kept staring right ahead. Clementine continued laughing louder than she ever had.
"Uh... Do you think she's okay?" Louis asked as he looked at the distraught redhead in his rearview mirror.
Clementine shrugged, exhaling her last laugh and grabbing her sports bottle filled with water, taking a sip. "She'll be fine, she's all over Mitch. I doubt this'll make her think any different of him."
The car remained silent after that, apart from the scrunching of Sophie's bag of Takis and Clementine complaining every now and then that the drive was taking too long and that she wants her baby girl.' Eventually, Louis ended up shushing her and the drive continued in silence.
***
"Voila, casa alla Violeta!" Louis exclaimed as they parked in front of Violet's trailer.
"You just mixed French, Italian and Spanish in one sentence, and the sentence was only four words. Sometimes I really question your intellect," Clementine sighed as she stepped outside the car, Louis following suit. Sophie stayed in the car, who was now downing her third bag of Takis and still mindlessly staring in front of her. She'll be fine, though, Clementine mused, ...eventually.
"Hey! You can say what you want, but I'm the one that managed to speak all those languages at once, I don't think that's you, was it?" Louis retorted, shoving Clementine's back, leading to her stumbling forward.
"Ik ga je moeder neuken als je je bek niet houdt," Clementine said, glaring at him.
"I'm sorry, what?" Louis asked, "Since when do you speak German?"
"It's actually Dutch, dreadhead. I have an aunt that lived in the Netherlands for twenty years and she taught me some of the... essentials," Clementine shrugged.
"And what did that mean?" Louis asked as he walked up the steps leading towards the front door.
"I called your mother a lovely individual that I aspire to be like her one day."
Before Louis could retaliate, the front door swung open and they were met by the sight of a very tall, blond man standing in the door opening. "Hey there!" he said with a bright smile, "What can I help you with?"
"We're friends of Violet's and we just came to see her and maybe ask if she wants to spend a few days with us," Louis told him, holding out his hand for the man to shake. The boy had immediately recognized him as Violet's dad, but was most surprised by the fact that he wasn't acting as an insufferable asshole this time. Violet's dad had recognized him too, though.
Violet's dad narrowed his eyes at the two kids in front of him. "She never mentioned that she was expecting friends. I'm just gonna have a... quick chat with her," he said, slamming the door shut instantly after.
Okay, that's odd, Clementine thought, I thought it'd be some abusive druggie, but he doesn't seem that bad. She shrugged and sat down on the floor crossed-legged and took out her phone and opened Piano Tiles and started playing it.
"You seriously play that stupid game?" Louis asked as he sat down next to her. "That's like, so 2015."
"It's for my fingers! I can't allow them to get stiff during this break, idiot," Clementine defended herself, rolling her eyes.
"You realize I bought a grand piano, right?"
Clementine's eyes widened and she clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Really? That's so cool! Yes! This is why you're my best friend," she said happily, hugging him, "Love you!"
"Hey hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves here," Louis said, "The only reason I bought it was because you threw a temper tantrum in front of my entire family during Christmas dinner last year when you learned I didn't have a p—"
"Blah blah, I can't hear you!" Clementine yelled, putting her fingers in her ears. Louis immediately jumped her and started a small brawl with her, prying her fingers from her ear.
"—When you learned that I didn't own a piano!" he yelled over her screeching.
"BLAH BLAH, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!"
"WHEN YOU LEARNED THAT I DIDN'T OWN A PIA—"
"Am I interrupting something?"
Louis and Clementine looked up like two deer caught in the headlights and looked up at Violet's dad, who had Violet standing by his side. They both stood up and dusted off their clothes. "No, we're good," Louis smiled, elbowing Clementine roughly in her side. She instantly responded by kicking his chin.
Then Clementine looked up and she spotted Violet and she forgot about having to taunt Louis and walked over to her and hugged her tightly. "Hey Vi Vi, missed you!" she said, burying her face in Violet's neck.
"I... missed you, too?" Violet said in a questioning manner. "What the hell are you two doing here?" she nervously added when Clementine had finally let go of her.
"We came to say hi, and also to ask if you want to spend the rest of the break with us," Clementine said, "But, since I am ridiculously awesome, your answer will obviously be yes, so it's up to your dad to decide if that's okay with him, too. So, Mr...—"
"You can call me Ethan," he said through gritted teeth.
"—Ethan! So, Ethan. Can Violet spend the rest of the break with us?"
"Well, it's really up to Violet over here! She gets to decide if she wants to spend the holiday with us, her loving daddy and her amazing family, or friends that she's known for maybe a few months at most. It's really up to you, isn't it, my dear?" he smiled, digging his nails into Violet's back harshly in a way that remained invisible to Louis and Clementine.
Violet tried to ignore the pain shooting through her back and gritted her teeth for a second, uncomfortably fidgeting her fingers and nervously looking back up. "I... I wanna be with my daddy," she mumbled.
"I know, baby girl..." Clementine sighed, "That's why I came to get you."
The brunette walked over and took her girlfriend's hand, hugging her tightly afterwards. Louis put his hands in front of his face to stifle the huge snort that had come out when he noticed Violet's dad glaring daggers at him. Before Ethan could retaliate, the girl around a foot shorter than him, dragged his daughter from his grip and outside towards the car. Louis tipped his nonexistent fedora to Ethan, muttering the words 'Was nice meeting you, m'lady' to him before scooping up Rosie and Violet's cane and then also making his way outside, slamming the front door shut behind him. He picked up the pace and ran towards the car, getting behind the wheel and immediately turning on the engine and driving away, ignoring Ethan's furious calls from behind him. I knew something was iffy. That guy gave me the creeps, Louis thought as he looked at the furious man in his rearview mirror, who was now wielding a baseball bat, Jesus, I think it's good we stole her away like we did. It stayed silent in the car for quite some time.
"You guys shouldn't have done that..." Violet said breathlessly as they made their way onto the highway, "He's gonna be so mad the next time he sees me..."
"Why?" Clementine asked, nuzzling her face into the back of Violet's neck. "He told you to choose and you did!"
"I said I wanted to stay with him..." Violet mumbled.
"No, you said you wanted to be with your daddy," Clementine corrected, "And that would be me."
"I cannot believe you sometimes..." the blonde muttered, feeling around her and then gripping the passenger seat. She climbed towards the back and sat down next to Sophie and crossed her arms. "I hate you right now, Clem."
"But you love me, right? I love youuu," Clementine cooed, placing her hand on Violet's knee, who just huffed and turned her head away from the brunette. "Violet, please? You love me, right? Please tell me you love me, or else I'm gonna throw a temper tantrum."
"I'd kinda like to hear that," Violet mumbled.
"Baby girl, please. I'm actually gonna cry," Clementine said through gritted teeth, tears brimming her eyes.
"Clem, you never cry," the blonde retorted.
"Violet, she's deadass about to cry, for God's sake!" Louis yelled.
"Seriously?" Violet asked, "No, don't cry! I love you, Clemmy. I was just giving you a hard time because I was mad but I'm not anymore! I don't want you to be sad! Com—"
Before Violet was able to finish her sentence, Clementine climbed into the back and hugged her tightly, snuggling into her and crying onto her shoulder. Violet listened to the sound in awe. "Babe, what's wrong?" she asked, "Louis, I swear to God. I might be blind but I'll fucking John Cena your ass if you did something to her."
"I didn't do anything! She's just emotional today, or something!"
"Clem doesn't randomly get emotional!" Violet said, "Clem, what's wrong?"
"Mhm... nothing anymore," the brunette said as she snuggled into Violet's side more, her tears seemingly having dried.
"Dude, this chick confuses the absolute shit out of me, and I have a cousin that body slammed her teddy bear into our glass coffee table and had to get twenty seven stitches," Louis said, shaking his head.
"What?" Violet asked confusedly, "Actually, never mind. I don't think I wanna know." She shook her head and kissed the top of Clementine's head, who hummed in approval. It stayed silent for a few minutes.
"So..." Violet said, "What now...?"
"I have a big ass hoodie," Clementine said, "I can use it to cover you up and I can licky licky your kitty kit—"
"Okay, I regret asking," Violet sighed. "Why are you such a nymphomaniac?"
"What? It's not like Sophie or Louis is gonna see," Clementine mumbled disappointedly.
"Sophie is here?"
"Yup, but she's been spaced out for about an hour now," the musician said as she poked Sophie's side, who remained unresponsive.
Violet shook her head quickly in confusion. "What, why?"
"Well, we found out that Mitch enjoys being pissed on."
Violet stayed silent for a second. "Excuse me?"
"Yup," Clementine shrugged, "I mean, it's kinda my fault that we did, but I'm not about to admit that to her. Besides, we've done shit a lot kinkier th—"
"I've heard enough!" Louis said, cutting Clementine off, "You can stop there, thank you."
"Shut up! You're the one that asked me, a girl, what size condoms you should buy! Like, how the fuck am I supposed to know?" the musician retorted, wrapping her arms around Violet's neck and kissing her temple, just because she felt like it.
Violet let out a wholehearted laugh. "Louis, you didn't actually do that, right?"
"...no."
"Jesus Christ," Violet mumbled, turning her head towards Clementine, "How did you react?"
"I told him I could get on my knees and take a quick look f—"
"Again, I regret asking," Violet said disappointedly.
"...if it means anything to you, I did end up buying the right size," Louis mumbled.
"No, Louis. It doesn't mean anything to me," Violet told him, shaking her head, but failing to hide her grin, "Good for you, though."
The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful, the only thing really causing any uproar being Clementine trying to engage in make-out sessions with Violet. Maybe, just maybe, this 'corona-vacation' wasn't going to be as bad as it seemed at first.