Almost Unreal | Violentine One-Shots

Long Nights | Fluff

 'Looking windward for my compass

I take each day as it arrives

But these miss you nights

Are the longest'

- Cliff Richard, Miss You Nights

Violet wakes with a shudder, sitting up and quickly looking around the bedroom, it's bitterly cold inside her apartment, the chill she feels made even colder by the empty space beside her in bed. Violet misses Clementine.

Clementine had always had an eye for photography, she'd never be caught without a camera and once she graduated high school she had enrolled at a local Virginia college to fine tune her skills and kickstart her photography career. Violet and Clementine had been dating for two years at this point, hopelessly in love, they moved in together to a high rise apartment building not far from the campus so they could continue the relationship that had formed between them.

Outlined at the start of her four-year course was the two month exchange period at the end of the fourth year where students would attend another college that focused on the arts to learn new skills. The idea was that they would see new methods of teaching and explore new environments, ironing out any gaps in their knowledge before returning to their home college for graduation.

Both Clementine and Violet had largely forgotten about the exchange study until Clementine received a letter halfway through her final year stating that she would be moving to a college in California to finish her degree. The thought of Clementine being on the other side of America made Violet's heartache but nevertheless, she supported Clementine. She helped her pack for her trip, book her student accommodation, and when the day finally arrived Violet drove her girlfriend to the airport and kissed her goodbye. 

That was seven weeks ago now.

Violet gets out of bed and wraps herself in Clementine's dressing gown, secretly pleased her girlfriend forgot this article of clothing on her trip. One of the windows in the apartment is open and she feels the cold breeze blowing into her home, she wanders into the kitchen locating the open window above the kitchen sink. Stretching up she closes it before taking in the mess on the kitchen table. A collection of empty food containers and beer bottles stood there, a reminder of last night's get together with Brody, Marlon, and Louis.

In the day Violet was so preoccupied with her job and her friends that even though she missed Clementine, she could find things to do to take her mind off it. But as the nights drew close and her friends returned to their own homes she found herself lost in her loneliness.

Violet wanders back to into the bedroom and wonders if she should go back to bed, it would certainly kill time until the morning and take her mind off the ache in her heart. Instead, she picks her phone up from the bedside table and opens the door to the balcony. She takes a seat on the reclining sun lounger there and looks down over the city, her phone tells her its 2.17am.

Violet is always amazed how the city never sleeps, her apartment is on the 6th floor and from these heights, she can see the lights of cars and nightclubs illuminating the world below her. Somewhere on the street, a drunken man is shouting and from an apartment a few blocks below she hears a baby crying, yet Violet remains silent.

She unlocks her phone and checks the time again, it's 2.20am in Virginia so she estimates that it's around 11.20pm in California, she opens her texts to Clementine ever hopeful that her girlfriend may still be awake.

Violet: Hey sweet, are you up? x

She waits, desperate to see the three dots appear that would tell her Clementine is there but as the time passes nothing appears. She locks her phone again shoving it in the pocket of Clementine's dressing gown, she's disheartened.