A New Verge

Love and Vulnerability

Clem was sitting in the grass with AJ, unable to stop staring at him. She was trying to memorize everything new about him. Currently, she was sitting in a tiny little white fence with him, one of the bunnies in the fence for AJ to chase and play with.

"AJ...that's a rabbit...can you say rabbit?" Clem asked, thinking back to a night where they were making hand animals, and Kenny made a rabbit with her. The ache and pain of losing Kenny was so real, she felt her breath catch for a second.

Gabe moved to sit down beside Clem, quietly squeezing into the fence and distracting Clem from her thoughts about Kenny. AJ looked to Gabe with curious eyes before chasing after the rabbit again.

"Clem!" AJ cheered, proudly, instead of rabbit or bunny. It resulted in a laugh from Clem and Gabe, Clem leaning back some.

"Someone is your biggest fan.." Gabe spoke,  chuckling some as he looked to Clementine and then AJ who was now petting his hands over the rabbit. But it was more like the boy was patting the rabbit. Clementine reached out, guiding his hand down the bunny's back.

"Yeah...He knows I'm the best, i guess." Clem spoke, enjoying this calm atmosphere. She smiled some at her tiny humor, Gabe quick to respond.

"That makes two of us." Gabe spoke, blushing like the biggest dork ever. Clementine laughed some at Gabe's nervousness. "I mean yeah...you're okay I guess." Gabe teased, Clem elbowing him in the ribs, which caused him to yelp.

"AJ, you should tell Gabe that he has a big head sometimes." Clem spoke, AJ babbling incoherently as the rabbit squirmed away and took off, jumping past AJ and into Clementine's lap. Clementine smiled, truthfully missing animals so much.

Clementine took a deep breath, holding the bunny and gently stroking her hand over the trembling animal. "I never thought I'd see an animal again...besides horses." Clem spoke, clearing her throat as AJ came over and sat in Clem's lap, petting the rabbit a bit more gently.

"Me either....I missed them...the softness of their fur. That's why when I saw Prescott had horses I was in shock." Gabe spoke, smiling some as he thought about this memory.

"Kate always wanted a dog, but my dad would never let her. It was funny then...but thinking back,  I realized just how different my parents were. Day in and out, Kate just wanted to make my dad happy. But he never wanted to try to make her happy." Gabe frowned at the thought. "When im a husband or dad someday... I never want to be like that. I never want to settle and be so unhappy." Gabe spoke, glancing away to cloudy sky now.

"I know there aren't a lot of people our age left but, Clem? I wanted to let you know that I really like you for you. Not just because you're pretty and my age, but because you're..a great person." Gabe spoke, swallowing some as he looked to Clementine and AJ who seemed clueless.

Clementine's gaze was down, sort of surprised at his confession. She didn't say anything, which wasn't particularly comforting for Gabe.

"I...I wanted to tell you..I would never settle for you...You're muy hermosa y inteligente..." Gabe swallowed, reaching to pull down his beanie down. He continued to talk, growing more and more nervous as he did so.

"You don't have to say anything really... I mean I know I'm a giant dork, and I have a temper and I---"

Gabe was cut off, mid sentence, Clementine moving to place her finger against his lips. "Gabe! Stop talking!" Clem spoke, but her words caused them both to laugh. She was smiling some, dropping her finger from his lip.

"I like you too, you giant dork..." Clem spoke, her cheeks filling with blush as she spoke to him.

Gabe began to smile from ear to ear, edging closer to Clementine. But Clementine wasn't moving closer to him.