Clementine had become a wild child. Born in America but raised abroad, she now had little regard for the expectations of high society. But her reckless ways eventually catch up with her when she is kicked out of college in New York City and forced t...
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When the ceremony was done, everyone scattered, and Clementine just sorta stood there. A little lost, and not sure what to do next.
She felt a little tap on her shoulder, already knowing who it was before she turned around, Zico was standing behind her.
He looked smaller than usual, though nothing really changed about him physically.
"You look good," he said, hands in his pockets.
She was having a hard time deciphering him.
"Your speech was really wonderful," she finally said, deciding to adopt a casual, polite tone.
But the undercurrent of everything that had ever happened between them was too strong to not get caught up in.
They both started speaking at the same time, then paused and Zico motioned towards her to go first.
"I wanted to thank you," she said, "for what you did." Zico perked up, like a dog who was just patted and told he was getting a treat. "They say if it wasn't for you.."
They both looked around the room al little awkwardly. The irony of the situation was not lost on them.
Finally, Zico cleared his throat. She wasn't going to scold him for leaving, but he did't seem like he was going to apologize either.
Then, Clementine watched wide eyed as they were approached by a group, with crazy girl hair in tow....girlfriend? Date? Clementine got angry all of a sudden, what kind of game was he playing here?
His eyes widened too, and he looked at Clementine a bit pleadingly before turning to them.
It was the crazy haired girl, with another girl friend in tow and 2 other guy friends of his.
They all nodded to each other, and Clementine stood there silently. The crazy haired girl peered at her momentarily, then proceeded to act aloof.
I was here first, thought Clementine.
Expecting the worst, Clementine braced herself. But she was relieved to see that the group only came to say their goodbyes to Zico. They told each other see you later and then left. And nothing out of the ordinary happened between Zico or anywhere else.
Maybe the fortune teller was right.
But she didn't want to hold her breath, and yet, once again it felt like it didn't really matter what had happened in the past. In the present now, they were there, together.
He ran his hands through his hair, and there it was, happening again. Her visceral reaction to him.
She bit her lip, and thought of something to say. Anything.
"What happened?" She finally asked him. Even though she was actually referring to so much more, she nodded towards the whole scene.
"It's complicated," he sighed, nodding for her to follow him, they took a few steps outside and lit a cigarette. Exhaling, he said: "Ed was...stubborn. Loyal to a fault. And some bad things happened. He was just, unlucky I guess. He was in an accident. But we have reason to believe, it....wasn't."
Clearly, there was so much more that he wasn't saying, but she wasn't about to press him harder for it.
Just as before, in the happier times at the plaza and the cafes, there were many other people, nodding and waving bye to him as they were leaving. He seemed to know everyone, connected to everything.
Finally, as he finished his cigarette and stomped stout into the ground, Clementine mustered up the courage to ask him, "why did you invite him?" She blurted it out a little more suddenly than she wanted to.
He looked at her for a moment, and proceeded to light another cigarette, chain smoking.
"Why did you come?" He asked her in response.
She could feel an irritation seeing up inside of her. She did't know if it was the heat, or the day or him or everything altogether.
"That's not an answer," she said.
Then the fortune teller 's word came back to her loud and clear, you have all the answers inside you.
A rebirth.
They both looked around, and she could send that this was heavy energy, even for him.
"Shit, I don't know if I can stand this any longer," he said.
"Can we please get out of here?" Clementine asked, and he nodded.
This time, though, they meant it and needed it. Not in a flirty, motive driven way. They needed to escape, together.
