🧡 Clouis One Shots 🧡

Bookstore

AU - no walkers, Louis moves houses and meets Clem for the first time

Rain aggressively fell from the sky, a sombre feeling engulfing the streets. Clementine stood in the store, sighing as she stared out of the large front window. The smell of new books and the warmth of the radiators accompanied her as she took her stand back behind the counter.

The store was empty and had been for hours, however Sunday mornings always have been underwhelming. Due to this, Clementine chanced a glance at her phone.

Nothing.

She let out another exasperated sigh as she closed her eyes, silently praying for a little excitement.

Working in the book store was only a part time job in an attempt to save up a bit of money; not for anything in particular, but just to feel more responsible as she'd grown up. She loved being able to treat AJ with Saturday lunches and after school movies using her very own money. Lee had been very appreciative too, with him saving for a new car. Considering she didn't actually have to do much, the job wasn't too bad.

But countless uneventful Sundays were starting to take a toll on Clementine and she didn't know how many more she had in her.

The clock let out a quiet chime, marking 12 o'clock.

Her stomach growled in protest before she sighed and went back into the back room, searching for the breakfast bar she didn't finish that morning. It didn't take long after finding it before she heard the chime of the front door.

"For fucks sake." she muttered, shoving the bar back into her bag.

She walked out the door of the back room, leading back directly behind the checkout desk. And directly opposite her stood a boy, no older than her.

His tanned skin was accompanied by speckles of freckles; his face framed by a long, nest of dark brown locks. Looking down at his phone, it was hard to see his eyes, but it was clear a dark, hazel brown glowed from beneath his eyelashes.

Before long, Clem noticed she was staring, clearing her throat to help break her stare. "Good afternoon, sir."

"Oh sorry, I didn't-" his eyes quickly lifted from his phone, a short, inaudible gasp cutting of his sentence. The girl who stood before him had the most gorgeous, short curly hair, tamed into two small bunches. Short bits of hair escaped her bunches leaving them to lay across her face. What stood out mostly were her eyes. They were a beautiful golden honey shade. "-didn't realise you were there."

"Oh no, it's fine." Clementine said, leaning against the till, "I'm not actually meant to be in the back during my shift."

The boy leaned over while lowering his voice. "Well in that case, I promise not to tell your boss."

"Thanks." she said with a light chuckle, "How can I help you?"

He sighed, standing back up right, sounding almost desperate, "Please tell me you've got some sheet music. I've been looking everywhere and I can't find a single place that sells any. Although I wouldn't put it past my father to move us somewhere where music is banned or something."

"You've just moved here?" Clem asked, eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Yes ma'am! Based yesterday evening."

"Well, welcome! And I can assure you music is most definitely not banned." Clementine said with a grin. "And you're in luck, we have a music isle."

"You're shitting me." he said with a look of genuine shock on his face.

Clem laughs, shaking her head. "Follow me."

"Gladly."

Whilst being lead by the young girl past rows and rows of some very uninteresting novels, he noticed the calming smell of fresh parchment help create a calming, homey feeling. Reading was definitely not one of Louis' passions, but he suddenly felt inclined to spend every weekend in the small store.

"Here we are, there should be a bunch of great stuff here." she said, indicating the isle in front of them.

"Thanks for the help," he looked down in search of a name tag, "Clementine." Very pretty name he thought.

"You're welcome..?"

"Louis."

"You're welcome, Louis." Clementine let out a small smile. "Well I'll just leave you to it, I'll be behind the counter if you need any more help."

He watched her walk back across the shop, leaving him alone in the isle. It was overwhelming seeing so many options and having to pick seemed almost impossible. And after a good 10 minutes and walking down the same isle multiple times, he was sure it was actually going to be impossible. Until he saw a singular, purple book, 'manuscript paper' written across the centre in cursive writing. He picked it up with a small smile before heading back towards the counter.

"Found everything you were looking for?" Clementine asked with a soft smile as he approached.

He placed the purple book onto the counter lightly, "For now."

With a small nod, she picked up and scanned the book. "Great, that'll be $7 please."

He pulled a ten-dollar bill from his wallet, handing it out in front of him. "Keep the change, for tip or whatever."

Clementine took the money with a giggle, raising an eyebrow in response, "You don't tip store employees."

"Touché."

She held back a smile as she placed the book into a paper bag, placing it onto the counter in front of her. "What do you play?"

"Piano, mainly." he said, a familiar warmth of happiness burnt in his stomach as it always did when he spoke about his passion. "But I offered to help some of the youngsters at my new school work their way around some instruments. Wanted to start off making a good impression, you see."

"That's so sweet." She smiled as he picked up the paper bag from the counter. "I hope you settle in well."

"Me too. Thanks for all the help,"

"Anytime."

"See you around."

He turned with a polite nod, preparing himself to leave the comfort of the bookstore. The sharp wind sent a chill down his spine as he snuggled deeper into his coat. Keeping the paper bag close to his chest, he walked down the empty street, soon realising his cheeks were aching, perhaps due to the constant smile that had been embedding into his face for the past 20 minutes.

Maybe moving houses wouldn't be too bad.

||Thanks for reading!!
This is a repost as this was originally planned to be the first chapter of a new story but I didn't end up updating it so I archived it. I kinda liked this chapter though so I thought I'd post it again on here, even if it's a little short.

Xoxo Jess