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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Before she knew it, a month and a half had gone by. A month and a half with little hope.
Clementine dressed in old clothes, and wandered around the house like a ghost, or at leas ta shell of herself. Laticia tried to intervene, offering to take her shopping. She went with her, but it only made her feel more discouraged. Shining a bigger spotlight on what she was missing in her life.
To make things ironic enough, Laticia unknowingly took her to the mall where she once ran into Zico, before he invited her into the rest of their lives...
Even Ernesto would make comments, telling her she should 'find a hobby', or 'get some exercise.
But it wasn't until she spent another meaningless afternoon in the summer heat, that she found an opening for the ending of her boredom.
As much as she didn't want to admit, she still thought about Zico. A lot. All the time. How could she not? It was like she couldn't help it.
She thought about how when nothing was happening in her life she would always wish to fall in love - spice things up. But then whenever she was in love, she was always angry. Unfulfilled. There was never enough of whoever it was that she would get hung up on.
This time was no different, except it was worse. Because her love for him was somehow both out in the open and condemned now, so that it wasn't like she was moving in secret, and it definitely was not loving in the open.
She was lying on the couch, watching the water droplets on her glass of Coke fall down to meet each other. Thinking, if only that could be them. Her, Zico, colliding down the line.
So she couldn't help but perk up when Latricia and Ernesto started talkingly mindlessly about themselves, talking about a party. But not just a party, but a party in the old, abandoned sanctuary of what used to be a practical Daime church.
Clementine knew the word sounded familiar, but it wasn't until she figured out why she knew it that she jolted up in the chair as if hit by lighting.
Daime - the 'religion' Zico talked to her about. His trips dedicated to the search of something ephemeral.
Always chasing the next high. She sighed, you and me both, she thought to herself.
"Tell me," Clementine began, talking to the both of them, "when is this thing?"
"Uh-uh, chiquita, you're not going. Not again, not in this state," Latricia spoke with a certain worry in her voice.
"Relaxxx," cooed Ernesto, "I think a little fun would do her good."
"What are your intentions?" Latricia eyed her as if interrogating a criminal.
Clementine find't want to think that Latricia could see right through her, and tried to make up something plausible.
"My intention is just to get out of the house. Breathe a little..." Clementine said as nonchalantly as she could.
"See! It would be good for her," Ernesto exclaimed earnestly.
"It's tonight," Latricia said, but then quickly adding, "but you didn't hear it from me!"
She didn't know why, but she just had a feeling he would be there. And it was unlike her going out and searching for him like this, but she knew that if she did, she'd have him cornered.
She knew him. Felt him. He may have been served from her life, but not their connection. From what she gathered from Latricia and Ernesto, this was exactly the kind of place she'd see him in.
And then what? She didn't know, but she felt she needed to do it to gain some sort of clarity. She still had so many questions, girlfriend or no girlfriend, she felt that she had a special sort of claim on him in the most innocent way. But it felt cosmic. Spiritual, almost.
