Green-Eyed | Violentine

Part Twenty- Two | You And Me, Always

"Now these I can handle," calls Clementine as she manoeuvres the kayak with confidence towards Brody.

"Huh?" replies Brody in confusion, she uses her own paddle to turn her kayak in Clementine's direction.

"Oh, yeah sorry, I forgot that you weren't with me and Violet this morning," says Clementine sheepishly as she runs her hands through her pigtails. "She's been trying to teach me how to paddleboard," she explains.

"Oh," says Brody in realisation, she laughs a little, "Violet loves paddle boarding, makes sense that she'd want to teach you"

Clementine rotates her kayak and turns to look at Violet who's a little closer to the shore with Louis, each of them small bobbing shapes in the distance. "Well I suck at it," she says with a laugh, "I like this though," she states as she places her oar on the top of the kayak while she rests for a moment.

Brody turns her head and follows Clementine's gaze; she smiles as she notes how the brunette's eyes light up every time her gaze falls on Violet. "You're really happy aren't you Clem?" Brody says in a soothing tone.

The brunette smiles and reluctantly looks away from Violet and back to Brody, "yeah, I am. It's so weird, when I was with Gabe I thought I was happy... but I must have just been getting by because it was nothing like this."

"I'm really glad," says Brody, "it's nice seeing Violet this happy as well."

There's a hum from Clementine in response and from the tone of the sound, Brody can tell Clementine is smiling through the reply. Brody looks out to the sky and the sun which burns hot above their heads before turning to look back at Clementine. The younger girl has turned and is slowly beginning to paddle towards the Louis and Violet,  two small shapes bobbing calmly in the distance.

-

"So, you down for some party games tonight?" asks Louis as he sits astride his paddleboard. Violet pulls her eyes away from the cool waters lapping over her legs and turns her attention to the boy.

"Yeah," Violet replies as she glances over her shoulder at Brody and Clementine in the near distance. "If we're not heading off till a bit later tomorrow, it would be nice to have a few drinks too."

Louis smirks, "well I'm sure I can find a game that will guarantee Miss Adlon has a drink. If we play never have I ever again... will there be some changes to your previous answers?" he says as raises his eyebrows.

Violet shoots him a glare as she furrows her eyebrows, "that's a nosey question," she states, though she can't help but smile at her best friend. "It'll be fun to have a good night tonight, especially considering we were all too tired to celebrate after dinner last night."

"Well most of us were too tire-" begins Louis, but he quickly stops talking after Violet leans over and pokes him with her oar, threating to send him off his board and into the sea.

"Okay, okay," he cries signalling a retreat from the topic. He looks at his waterproof watch on his wrist and covers his eyes from the sun as he scans the horizon for Brody and Clementine. "Marlon will be back soon; he'll probably want help with setting up the barbeque so we should think about getting back."

Violet reluctantly swings her legs over the paddle board and waves her arm in the air in the direction of the other girls. They note the gesture and begin to slowly paddle towards the shore.

"We'll have to come out here more often," says Louis as he notes Violet's sadness, she always gets like this on the last day. With only a handful of hours left before she returns to her normal life. Though Louis notes that since she's been with Clementine, Violet, in general, seems a lot happier.