A History Of Violence - Violentine AU

Chapter Twenty: Happy

"Clem, come on. We gotta go." Violet called down the hallway.
She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. By her watch's account, they were close to being late if they didn't leave soon.
"Ok, I'm ready." Clementine said, stepping into the entryway, "but first, what's this?"
The brunette held up a beige hat with a devious grin on her face.
The lettering on the front of the hat read 'women want me, fish fear me'.
"Oh, that... Louis got it for me as a joke a while back." Violet explained with a chuckle.
Clem laughed and put the hat on her head, turning from side to side slowly as if she were modelling it.
"How do I look?"
"Like a huge dork." Violet laughed.
"Awesome, because that's what I was going for." Clem retorted coolly.
Violet paused for a moment, her eyes flicking from the hat to Clem's grinning face.
"You're not actually gonna wear it are you?" Violet asked.
"I might."
"But will you?"
"You know what? Yes I will."
She pulled the brim of the hat down, tightening the fit over her mass of hair that flowed out from under the cap in a halo of brown.
Violet rolled her eyes and stepped closer, draping her arms around Clem's shoulders.
She smiled coyly and pushed the brim of the hat up with one finger.
Clementine placed a hand against her cheek, gently brushing the blonde's face with her thumb. She leaned in, tilting her head slightly to the side and Violet did the same.
She brushed her lips against Violet's, feeling her gentle breaths against her face.
"Ok, I'm ready!" AJ shouted from his room, loud enough to make Violet and Clem jump.
He ran out into the hallway and stopped, cocking his head at the sight of them.
"What are you doing?" He asked, confused.
Clem's face became flushed, Violet looked closer in complexion to a tomato than her usual, pale self.
"Uh... nothing." Clem stammered, not letting go of Violet.
"Wait, you guys are kissing aren't you?" He asked, accusatorially.
"Wha- no, we were just... hugging."
"We totally were kissing, AJ." Violet laughed.
"Ew." AJ screwed up his face and chuckled.
Clementine gave her a quizzical look, she smiled back and planted a quick kiss on her cheek.
"We should probably get going." She said, waving clem and AJ over to the door.

"Just stop over there." Clem said.
Violet pulled over on the curb next to the apartment building.
James was sitting on the steps out the front and stood up when he saw Clem's car.
"Hey, guys." He greeted, opening the door and sitting in the back.
"Hi, James!" AJ said enthusiastically.
"Hey, AJ."
James smiled and ruffled AJ's hair. He buckled his seatbelt and Violet took off towards their destination.
"So... how have you two been?" James asked tentatively, in a hushed tone so that AJ wasn't privy to the question.
He leaned forward between the two front seats.
Violet knew exactly what he was asking about. The traumatic events of the last month were burned into her memory, vivid images of Joan stalking her with a knife in her own home, of the smear of blood and brain on the wall when she was shot. It wasn't something that was easy to forget.
Sometimes she'd wake up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, her heart racing, recalling what had happened. But Clementine was always there to comfort her, which helped.
Although she didn't show it much, Clem was suffering too. There were times, Violet noticed, that she would go quiet and stare off into the distance. Her breathing would quicken, her hands would shake, just barely enough to be noticeable. She would flinch whenever they were watching a movie and a gunshot happened unexpectedly.
Most of the time Violet snapped Clem out of these episodes, she would claim to be fine. Violet knew what she was doing, hiding her trauma so that she could stay strong.
Clem had been lucky avoiding criminal charges. The judge had ruled that the statute of limitations meant she couldn't be tried for her actions as a teenager. There was also not enough evidence to connect her with the robbery, Joan had covered her tracks well in that regard. Despite all of their good fortune, they were both still struggling with the aftermath of it all.
"We're... we're doing a little better than we were." Violet whispered back to James.
"I can't imagine what it would have been like, for either of you."
He put a reassuring hand on Clem's shoulder.
"You know I'm always here if you need me. Same goes for you, Violet."
"Thanks, James. It really means a lot." Clem said, giving him a tired smile.