Chapter Text
Clementine bit into her lip as she watched them, not releasing how hard she was biting until she felt the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. She wipes the blood away and instead begins to fiddle with her earrings. Clutching her drink tightly in her free arm, eyes still fixed at the sight in front of her, Minerva and Violet were drunk, and they were dancing.
She shouldn’t feel like this; Violet and she are friends and have been friends for years. Clementine has fought off her blooming feelings for the blonde the longest time, pretending that she doesn’t stare at Violet when she’s not looking. That she doesn’t trace the curvatures of Violet's face with her eyes. Stare deep into her eyes and wonder how someone can have such beautiful green orbs. Pretending that she doesn’t hate Minerva right now for being so confident, so sure of what she wants and with no worry that she’ll embarrass herself trying to get it.
She wishes she could take Violet’s hand, caress her cheek and pull her close into a kiss, closer than she’s ever been to anyone else before. But unlike her confidence in everyday life, she’s shy when it comes to her feelings. She’s worried that she’ll be rejected, and she’ll lose Violet as a friend as well as lose any chance to have her as a lover.
“Are you not enjoying my party, Clem?”
Clementine reluctantly pulls her eyes away from the girls and turns to face Louis who’s smirking next to her, hands on his hips. She takes a swig of her vodka and coke before responding “Yeah, I’m having fun” she lies through gritted teeth. Returning to her previous watch of the girls where she catches Minerva sling her arms over Violet’s shoulders drunkenly slurring along to the song blaring through the house. “It’s great to have a big get together like this” she mumbles looking down at the floor before gazing once more at the girl she’s so hopelessly fallen for. Louis observes her, following her eyes until he spots what she’s been obsessing over for the last hour.
“You know, if you like her, you should say something,” says Louis stepping in front of his friend and blocking her view, forcing Clementine to look up at him. Even though she’s shorter than he is, she looks slight, as though she’s cowering. Louis notices her eyeliner is smudged around the corners and wonders if she’s been crying. For the overly confident Clementine to be feeling so small she must be beaten down about something, He tries a reassuring smile.
“Look at them, Louis,” she says with a sigh. Louis casts a glance over his shoulder just in time to see Minerva wrapping her arms around Violet from behind as the two sway to the beat of the song. Minerva is tugging at Violet’s purple beanie trying to pull it down over her friends’ eyes, Violet’s laugh cuts through the music as she sloshes her beer trying to bat Minerva’s hands away.
“They’re just drunk, that doesn’t mean anything,” Louis mutters trying to make Clementine feel better in a scenario that was clearly making her feel worse. He silently scolds Violet for being so blind to Clementine’s obvious adorations. For letting herself get so drunk that she has her hands over anyone who comes near her, including Minerva.
Clementine takes in a deep breath lifting her glass to her mouth and downing the rest of her drink, she smiles at Louis and walks towards the cluster of her friends dancing in the middle of the room. She oh so desperately wants to walk over to Violet, to pull her away from Minerva and kiss her. Fuck the other people who are watching, fuck her nerves and anxiety, but she can’t bring herself to do it. Instead, she wanders over to Brody and Sophie in the middle of the room, giggling as they sing loudly to the song. They jump up and down against the beat; Clementine can’t help but laugh at how drunk they both are.
“Hi girly” Brody slurs wrapping an arm around Clementine and pulling her into a messy, uncoordinated hug, Clementine hopes Violet is watching. Sophie throws herself into the embrace with such vigour that she knocks the two other girls off balance, sending the three of them crashing to the floor in a fit of giggles. Clementine swears under her breath as she pulls herself back into a seated position feeling her head spin, both from the alcohol and coming into contact with the cold ground. She feels eyes burrowing into her, and as she tries to help Brody up, she notices Violet in the circle that’s formed around them. She is definitely watching Clementine now.
“Okay guys” Louis calls to the group as he turns down the music watching the spectacle unfold on the dance floor in amusement. “I think some of us need to sober up a little” Sophie sits up, brushing the dust off her dress as she unsteadily gets to her feet, also trying to persuade Brody to get up. Brody is hysterically laughing, lying flat on her back as she traces her fingers over the wooden floor. Clementine can’t help but once more feel jealous, this time of Brody’s lack of inhibitions. For someone, so anxious Brody is entirely free and happy right now, and although she’ll have a killer hangover tomorrow, she’s living for tonight. Clementine wishes that could be her, maybe she should get another drink.
Suddenly a hand appears in front of Clementine’s face, and she quickly looks up to see who is offering to help her off the cold ground. It's Violet. She’s obviously drunk, but she’s still smiling at her, Clementine can see it in her eyes as well as on her lips. Fuck, she’s so effortlessly beautiful. Even though she’s only wearing a white cropped shirt hidden under a dark grey flannel with ripped jeans, she looks like a goddess to Clementine. Clementine’s face flushes with colour, and she hopes that it’s dark enough that Violet can’t tell she’s blushing. She looks for Minerva, but the redhead is nowhere to be seen Clementine exhales, she’s glad.
“Well?” Violet questions, flexing her fingers to hurry Clementine along. The brunette takes Violet’s hand, feeling how soft her skin is, relishing the feeling of their hands being connected even if it only is for a mere moment. In her drunken state Violet pulls harder than she needs to sending Clementine crashing into Violet’s arms, their bodies connecting in a thump.
“Steady” Clementine teases finding the courage to speak up as she balances herself. She notices that Violet is staring straight at her small smile playing on the corner of her mouth. She holds her eye contact, determined not to be the first to look away. Violet’s body is so warm, and Clementine is so aware of one of her friends’ hand on her lower back, the other one knotted with her own between their bodies. Clementine dares to breathe, watching the girl she adores close her eyes as she sways to the quiet hum of noise in the room.
Opening her eyes, Violet glances at Clementine’s outfit, which is much more elegant than her own. “You look pretty tonight” Violet mumbles her voice soft and low now that Louis has quieted the music. All of a sudden Violet seems to revert to her shy sober self, and though Clementine is sure she’s still drunk, she muses over how loud she was being when dancing with Minerva and how quiet she is now. Pouring out her thoughts in a voice so small that only Clementine can hear.
As they sway together, Clementine finds the courage to rest her other hand on Violet’s waist. But leaves her other hand between them, interconnected with Violet’s fingers, she doesn’t ever want to let the blonde go. The brunette looks down at her simple black dress, skin-tight with a deep V exposing her the top of her cleavage; she blushes once more.
“Thanks” she responds with a smile, but she pauses before she tells the blonde that she wore this dress specifically to catch Violet’s gaze. Something that had worked just as she’d hoped it would “Where’s Minerva?” she said lazily feeling the vodka begin to numb her senses as she relaxes in her friends’ arms.
“Probably gone for a smoke, who cares anyway.”
Clementine was quite surprised to hear Violet’s tone as she talked about a girl she was happily dancing with suggestively only minutes ago. Then again, she was equally surprised that she was now the one in Violet’s arms. Maybe drunk Violet was the total opposite of her sober self, confident, happy to dance with people and air her inner thoughts. The two girls once more made eye contact, and Clementine found herself getting lost in those green eyes. Sensing that the time was right Clementine once more held Violet’s gaze.
“Vi, I really need to speak to yo-
“It’s time for games all!” Louis cried out, cutting off Clementine’s declaration of adoration and effectively forcing the two apart. Violet pulls away from Clementine to make her way to the other teens, now clustered on the floor and sofas. Louis began to deal out drinks, apparently throwing aside his earlier statement about sobering people up. Clementine sighed, it seemed that she’d missed her chance and she felt flustered.
She ran her hands through her loose hair, pulling free the tangles that knotted between her fingers. Finding some courage left inside her from the remnants of the alcohol she began to walk towards the group. She's intent on spending more time with the blonde before the sun breaks through the night. A door opening to her left catches her attention, and she halts in her steps, watching Minerva enter the room blowing a plume of smoke from her lips as she scans the room, obviously looking for Violet.
Clementine stands still and watches as Minerva picks up her pace, practically running to the group and sitting next to Violet, drunkenly slinging her arms around the girl’s neck as the blonde rolled her eyes at the contact. Jealousy once more threatens to overcome Clementine, and with a huff, she marches towards the group determined to win back her girl.