Parent-Teacher Conference

the Date

Clementine tried to push her encounter with Joan out of her mind.  She could deal with all of that stuff tomorrow, today she had a date. The first date she had gone on in a long time. The first thing she had done for herself since Lee had died, even longer than that if she was being honest. Lee had been sick for a while. Clementine had taken on all the household chores and taking care of AJ long before he had passed. But she pushed that out of her mind too, today was going to be a happy day.

AJ helped her clean up the inside of the house as soon as they ate a large chunk of the cake. As big of a jerk as Joan was, she was in no position to turn down free food. Clementine helped AJ do his homework while the young boy ate leftover pizza for dinner. One of the perks of working at a pizzeria, Duck would always let Clementine take home any pizzas that never got picked up or were made incorrectly, he knew she was struggling since Lee had died and tried to help the two out as much as he could.

Around 6:30pm the front door opened as Duck let himself in. He walked into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge grabbing some left over pizza, eating it cold. AJ waved at he him, "Hey Duck!" he yelled from the couch, not bothering to get up.

Clementine walked out of the hallway wearing a bath robe and drying her hair with a towel, she saw her old friend leaning on the island, "Oh, hey Duck, thanks for coming over!"

"I let myself in, hope ya don't mind." Duck smiled as he continued to eat.

"Of course not, that's why I gave you a key. Have you thought about what we talked about?" Clementine asked as she continued to dry her hair.

"I have." Duck sat down at a stool. "I'm here all the time anyway, I might as well live here. My lease is up at my apartment in a month. I'll move into Lee's room then. So I can help pay bills and stuff."

"Oh thank you Duck!" Clementine threw her arms around her oldest friend. "That'll help us out so much, you have no idea."

"It'll help me out too. Trying to start a new business is expensive." Duck patted her on the back before pushing her away, "Aren't you supposed to be going on a date in like, 20 minutes?"

Clementine glanced at the clock on the wall, gasping as she noticed how late it was, she ran into her bedroom to get dressed. She put on a skirt and blouse with her jean jacket over top. Walking out of her room she stood in front of the tv in the living room where Duck and AJ were watching cartoons.

"Hey!!" AJ whined, trying to see around his guardian.

"Hair up," Clementine pulled her hair up into a bun without tying it and moved her head around in different angles to show the boys, "or down?" She let go of her hair and shook it out around her head in thick waves.

"Up" "Down" AJ and Duck said at the same time. Clementine growled in frustration just as a knock came at the front door.

"Be good for Duck, AJ." Clementine said to the boy, getting a 'hmmm' in response, as she nervously ran her fingers through her hair, deciding to leave it down. She walked to the front door, taking a deep breath as she reached for the doorknob, heart racing as she turned it beneath her fingers. Slowly she pulled the door open, her face splitting into a grin when she saw the blonde haired woman standing, looking anxious on the welcome mat with her hands in the pockets of her black pants.

"Hi Violet, it's nice to have you knocking on my door this time." Clementine joked, trying to ease the tension.

"As much as I wish I lived in that mansion, no," Violet chuckled, scratching the back of her neck. "That was my friend Louis's house. You look really nice." Violet eyed the brunette quickly, her eye lingering on her thick ringlets, resisting the urge to reach out and brush them with her finger tips.