˖ ࣪ AGAIN, AGAIN, 𖥔 ࣪ ᥫ᭡
AGAIN. . . !

━━━━━ ( 005. real life )
✶ ・・❛ STUCK. ❜

( ☾ )

"WHAT THE FUCK DOES it matter to you?" jax scoffs in response to matt, anger becoming more and more clear on his face even though it was already easy to tell he's fuming.

"it doesn't, just figured you'd be a decent human being and learn to actually respect women by now," matt rolls his eyes, clearly unbothered by him as he turns to look at clementine. "sorry your new boyfriends such a dick, clementine."

clementine just stands there and continues biting at her nails, not even attempting to respond with anything because jax is right there and she doesn't want to make him more upset than he already is.

"oh, of course you would fucking say that," jax exclaims, taking a step towards matt as he just blinks at him. "i bet you're still convinced chris is better for her."

clementines eyes clamp shut in annoyance. chris this, chris that, can everyone just shut the fuck up for once?

matt scoffs, "chris has nothing to do with the fact that you're just a dick."

"yeah alright," jax chuckles dryly, taking the same step he took forward back and crossing his arms. "why don't you go back to your brothers and that one friend of yours and tell chris that it's over? he's already lost and he needs to fucking accept it."

matt's face scrunches up. "are you seriously talking about clementine right now?" he questions from his wording. "she's a person, not some sort of object, oh my god."

clementine is right here.

as clementine stares at her feet silently, jax rolls his eyes in response to matt. he steps over and grabs clementines wrist, her then looking up at him. "let's just fucking go, clem," he says, annoyance clear in his voice.

clementine just nods absentmindedly as he already begins dragging her away. she feels some sort of pain as he leads her back to the gym and once she looks back at matt still standing by the bathrooms, she's sure it's coming from her heart. the eye contact they make is the type of eye contact you make with a stranger and clementine hates that. she quickly looks away and just follows jax.

WHEN CLEMENTINE GETS home from school, she sighs as soon as she shuts the front door behind her. what a long fucking day.

jax continued to be a dick for the rest of the day and it just soured clementines mood more and more. she drove herself home after dropping bianca off. bianca didn't bother to try and start too much conversation because she could tell she was upset, but she made sure to give an 'i love you' before she went inside her house, which clementine appreciated greatly.

clementines kinda glad, just a little bit, that jax is mad at her because she hates getting rides from him. she lives in an apartment and he lives in a really nice house and although he never says anything, she can tell by his expressions that he doesn't approve. it's not like clementine can help it, it just makes her feel shitty.

as she walks through the living room, her dad in the kitchen notices her and calls out a, "hey hun, how was school?"

"pretty shit," she responds straight forwardly. her and her dad have always been close since her mothers been out of their life for a quite a while now. it's just clementine, her younger sister tiana, and their dad. it's been like that since clementine was seven and her dads always been laid back so she doesn't ever bother changing her language around him. he doesn't care.

"wasn't that boyfriend, was it?" he calls back, making clementine groan loudly as she goes through the hallway to her room. she opens the door, sets her backpack down against the wall, takes the time to get her shoes off and throw them inside, and closes the door. she makes her way to the kitchen where her dad is with a sigh.

her dad hates jax, doesn't approve one bit. he says he hates his father as well.

he loved chris though, was always so supportive. clementines pretty sure he went golfing with his dad once as well.

shut the fuck up, clementine, she instantly scolds herself mentally once she realizes the comparison she made.

once she's made it to the kitchen, she sits on one of the two bar stools behind the island counter and sighs. "it was the boyfriend," she responds dreadfully, resting her chin on the palm of her hand as her dad looks back at her from where he was rummaging through the fridge.

"well, you know i don't like the damn kid anyway, 'tine," he says, closing the fridge and walking to the opposite side of the island counter. "what's he doing now?"

her lips twist to the side for a second before she begins to talk. "he's just being a dick. like i got paired with chris for an art project so i had to talk to him and jax found out and he-"

"woah, slow down there for a second," her dad cuts her off, raising his eyebrows at her once she sighs and shuts her mouth. "you talked to chris? ex-boyfriend chris? jimmy's son chris? chrissy boy?"

clementine sighs so loudly. "yes, dad."

"ah," he responds, pausing for a second before speaking again, "he apologize for christmas yet?" he asks, knowing all about the subject since he was the one who had to comfort his daughter when she came home crying.

clementine frowns at the topic. "no."

"you don't need him then," her dad clicks his tongue, giving a small hand motion with it.

"i know that," she responds.

"you don't need this jax boy either though."

she falls silent.

her dad looks at her for a moment longer before sighing. "alright, i've gotta pick T up from her yearbook club meeting soon but until then, i'm gonna head back to my room and snooze a bit since i've got a shift tonight," he tells her, talking about his job.

"okay," clementine nods in understanding, giving him a small smile before feeling something rub against her ankle. she looks down to find her cat socks nuzzling on her foot and grins wider before picking him up. she brings him to her lap and pets him gently, her dad just watching with a chuckle before beginning to walk off.

"make sure you don't let him crawl all over the counters!" he calls out from the hallway.

"i won't!" clementine lies as the cat jumps onto the top of the counter. he's just too cute, she can't shoo him off.

she's had socks for almost a full year now but she still treats him like a baby. he's a completely black cat except for having white paws and a small white patch on his back that clementine thinks looks like a heart.

the name comes from the white on his feet. chris came up with it.

clementine sighs to herself and stands up, walking over to the fridge to find something to eat. she finds prepackaged cookie dough and decides on making that. she used to love creating her own recipes and perfecting what she thinks to be the best chocolate chip cookie but she settles for prepackaged dough now, not finding the same interest she had in it before.

she pulls out a tray to cook the cookies on and sets it on the island counter next to socks. she reaches to the stove to preheat the oven and turns back around to the island counter.

she glances over where socks sits on the counter watching her with a tilt of his head, and begins to frown. he sits on a noticeable, faint koolaid stain on the counter. it's been there since forever now, the stain just never wanting to come out with the cleaning supplies she uses. although it was made months and months and months ago, she still remembers exactly when the stain was made. the memories still as clear as ever despite how long it's been.

CLEMENTINE STANDS IN FRONT of her island counter, an absentminded smile present on her face and her hair tied back with a claw clip. she's mixing cookie dough as taylor swift unashamedly plays from the alexa on the counter.

socks is in the living room with tiana. he plays on his cat tower as she sits on the couch watching a gravity falls episode.

although tiana yells at clementine every five minutes to turn down her music so she can hear the tv more, clementine feels at peace. it's a saturday and she's decided to stay home, to just enjoy the comfortability of her house.

unbeknownst to her, her phone set away on a counter to charge, blows up repeatedly with messages from her friends who are about to barge into the apartment unannounced.

two minutes pass and the front door in the living room barges open, clementine instantly looking up to find her boyfriend leading his brothers and astoria into her home. her face instantly washes over with relief, happy to not find some creepy intruder storming in.

chris instantly grins once he sets his eyes on his girlfriend in the kitchen, beginning to make his way over to the room immediately as everyone behind him isn't in as much of a rush. matt, who was the first behind chris, glances at the tv. "oh, we're watching gravity falls?" he raises his eyebrows, instantly taking a seat on the recliner chair. "i'm so down."

"it's the episode they find about the other stan," tiana tells the boy with a dreamy grin. she's got this ridiculous crush on him, she may be seven and he may be seventeen but who cares! age is just a number!

"oh shit," matt responds as nick takes a seat on the empty couch, glancing over at astoria right before she begins to sit next to tiana. "grab me a blanket while you're up, stori?"

astoria sighs so ridiculously loudly but grabs a blanket from the small basket anyway, throwing it at him aggressively before taking a seat next to tiana. "what's up, T?"  she gives clementines younger sister a smile.

tiana just shrugs and smiles before looking back to the tv. clementines friends have always gotten along with her sister and her father, they're practically apart of the family. it's no surprise when they come over unannounced.

chris makes his way to the kitchen, instantly heading for clementine who just steps away from the counter and tilts her head at him. "clem, clem, clem," he says, wrapping his fingers through two of her jeans belt loops once he reaches her so he can pull her closer to him. "hi." he grins.

she can't help the grin that forms on her face as well from the sight of his. she loves how happy he always is to see her, she could never get sick of his smile. "hi, chris," she responds, loosely resting her arms over his shoulders and connecting them behind his neck. "thanks for letting me know you were coming over," she says sarcastically, his grin not faltering.

"i actually texted you multiple times," he tells her pointedly before grinning more nonchalantly as he jokingly adds, "had to give you enough time to get the other boyfriend outta here, yknow?"

she rolls her eyes amusedly. "oh yeah, of course," she agrees. "i really appreciate it."

"mhm," he hums, grinning wider again just from staring at her face before focusing on the taylor swift playing from the alexa and gasping. "woah, you didn't listen to taylor swift with him, did you?"

clementine almost laughs before catching herself and continuing her act by putting on a frown. "yikes.. i did."

he clicks his tongue and begins to shake his head in mock hurt. "c'mon clem, that's our thing."

"i know, i know," she sighs nonchalantly.

he pauses for a moment, thinking of something to say before ultimately giving up and sighing. "okay yeah, i've got nothing," he says honestly, clementine grinning at him amusedly. "can i please kiss you now? i've missed you too much."

"we saw each other yesterday, chris," she deadpans, his smile not faltering and her ultimately grinning as well. "you can always kiss me."

he beams at her, as bright as ever before leaning down and pressing their lips together. clementine smiles through the simple kiss, holding back a giggle as simultaneous groans from the living room come as soon as their lips meet.

"DISGUSTING," nick says the loudest.

chris grins through the kiss, flipping nick off behind clementines back and listening as he instantly scoffs. "there is a child in here, you sickos," he says as if they've committed a vile crime.

chris ultimately pulls away from his girlfriend, rolling his eyes playfully. "shut up, nick," he calls out, looking down to clementine and smiling at her without a care.

"that was gross," clementines sister, tiana suddenly says. clementine turns to watch as she crosses her arms and lets out a huff.

"you're not gonna think it's gross when you're in love, tiana," chris tells the little girl pointedly, crossing his arms as well. all he gets in response is her blowing his tongue at him and he instantly scoffs like an offended toddler.

his attention goes elsewhere though as clementine takes a step away from him and back towards the counter, rolling her eyes amusedly. "you sound like a mom."

chris' jaw instantly drops in offense. he begins to say something, but ultimately stops when he feels something rub against his feet. he instantly looks down, his face lighting up and gasping once he finds the cause. "socks, my man!" he exclaims, clementine grinning as he reaches down and picks the cat up. "holy shit, he's grown so much."

"i know," clementine sighs, stepping forward and petting his head as chris holds him. "i refuse to think about the fact that he won't be this small forever."

"lowkey makes me feel like a dad," chris tells her seriously, her giving him a questionable look before beginning to laugh. "listen, we found him together and we basically adopted him so he's practically our child."

"chris... he's a ca-"

"wait..." he trails off for a second, attention going elsewhere as he seemingly focuses on something else.

"wha-"

"no shhh, clem," he cuts her off. she rolls her eyes and tilts her head at him, waiting for him to address whatever he's talking about. when he looks back at her though, all he does is hand socks out to her. "here, take socks for a second."

she sighs but grabs the cat from his hold anyway.

"okay baby, shh. listen. this is my favorite part," he tells her. her eyebrows furrow for a moment before she finally realizes he's talking about the song playing from the alexa right now — paper rings by taylor swift. her face instantly grows into an amused one as he makes fake drum sticks with his hands. "one, two, one, two, three, four," he sings along with the lyrics right when the part comes.

he sways his head back and fourth to the beat of the chorus now and all clementine can think about is how much she truly loves the boy. he had only listened to a minimum of two taylor swift songs when they started to date, but after he found out clementine liked the artist so much, they would only ever listen to her music. he even has favorites now, all because of clementine.

"okay, okay," clementine ultimately sighs after admiring how pretty her boyfriend is, crouching down for a second to put socks down. "you're distracting me. i'm supposed to be making cookies," she tells him once she stands straight back up.

chris snaps out of his trance of bopping his head to the beat and raises his eyebrows when he turns to the counter and actually finds the mixing of cookie dough. "woah, what the fuck? why did i not even notice?"

"dunno," she shrugs, resting her hands on the counter and looking back at him. "now leave me alone so i can finish making this dough," she tells him jokingly.

"okay wow, fuck you," he instantly grows offended, clementine just rolling her eyes. "that is so rude."

"don't take offense to it, you know you'll get the first cookie," she tells him, tilting her head slightly.

he sighs and nods, "alright, i'll accept it," he agrees before taking a step forward and trying to quickly get a swipe of the cookie dough on his finger before she can stop him.

"chris!" she exclaims, instantly slapping his hand away and ultimately being too late as he already took some of the dough. he gives her a shit-eating grin before eating the dough he got on his finger. "go away!" she groans.

"alright, alright," he gives in once he's eaten it, turning around and opening the fridge. "do you have pepsi?"

"nope."

a dagger etches it's way right through chris' heart. "ouch, clem," he shakes his head like he's in pain, closing the fridge door in a matter of seconds. "what have you got then?"

"i don't know... koolaid?" she answers questionably, not even sure herself. she takes a swipe of cookie dough on her finger and tries to pinpoint what's wrong with the dough as socks jumps up onto the counter.

chris opens the fridge door again and now pulls out the premade jug of koolaid, looking back and noticing clementines slightly focused expression. "it's just a little too doughy," he answers for her.

"yup," she instantly nods. that's exactly it. "you're right."

"i know," he sighs nonchalantly, earning a slap on the elbow from clementine. he chuckles quietly as she begins to pour more oil. he sets down the koolaid jug next to the bowl of dough and turns around to grab a cup from a cabinet.

once he returns to the counter, clementine is already beginning to mix the dough again. chris starts to open the koolaid jug but he keeps his eyes on the bowl of dough, ready to attack and grab a finger of it again when she's not looking. he slowly opens the jug as he waits for clementine to be distracted and once she steps away for a second to put the oil away, he quickly swipes some of the dough.

"chris!" clementine scolds, instantly noticing him doing it once she returns.

he just laughs. "stop being so protective over the dough, clem," he tells her, beginning to reach past her to try and get more as she instantly scoffs and tries to push his hand back. "LET ME SEE THE DOUGH," he raises his voice in an exclaim as she pushes him back.

"NO!" clementine instantly fights back. "I'M NOT GONNA HAVE ENOUGH FOR COOKIES IF YOU KEEP EATING IT, YOU IDIOT!"

the two begin to playfully fight each other as chris pitifully tries to get more cookie dough and clementine defends the bowl. the bowl begins to move on the counter from their relentless fighting for it and all of a sudden, chris' elbow goes too far back on the counter as he reaches for it, and it bumps into the koolaid jug.

the pair both freeze their movements and turn their heads to watch in horror as the open koolaid jug tips over and immediately begins spilling all over the counter. socks, who was sitting next to it, instantly retreats to the opposite end of the counter.

frozen for a moment, the two just watch helplessly as it pours out all over the island counter.

and then, there's a choked laugh.

clementine instantly turns to chris.

"i am so sorry," he says seriously although he's covering his mouth to prevent laughter from spilling out.

"chris," clementine says, him turning to her and trying not to laugh. "it's not funny," she tells him although she's beginning to resist the urge to laugh as well just because of his amusement.

"i'm sorry," he says again, now shaking his head as he's laughing completely. "i'm laughing right now, but i am so sorry. i'm so fucking sorry, baby, for uh. . ." he can hardly even get it out, "spilling koolaid all over your counter."

clementine just watches as he laughs, completely amused now as well and not caring about the mess all over her counter just because he's laughing. it's got to be one of her favorite sounds in the entire world and although the situation isn't that funny, she's laughing as well just because of him.

"holy shit," he covers his mouth again, finally grabbing the koolaid jug that was still spilling out and setting it upright. he glances down at the floor and shakes his head. "it's on the floor too," he laughs, stepping away from it and leaning against a different counter to just look at the mess. "help, i am so sorry."

clementine just shakes her head as she laughs, glancing back up to the counter as socks is now stepping in the red koolaid mess. "socks, noooo!" she exclaims with a gasp although she's just laughing more now.

chris instantly bursts out laughing even more. "socks' fucking.." his words trails off for a moment as he gestures to socks' white paws, trying to think of a name for it. "socks are red," he eventually gets out through laughter, now actually on the floor against the counters from how hard he's laughing.

"chris, oh my god," clementine giggles, falling back next to him on the floor as well as they just laugh at the situation instead of attempting to clean it up right away.

nick and astoria eventually come in to inspect whatever the fuck is going on and just grow even more confused than they were in the first place. "are you two.. genuinely okay?" astoria questions, looking at the pair laughing on the floor.

the two just burst into even harder laughter.

CLEMENTINE BLINKS REPEATEDLY to snap herself out of the old memory that plays through her head like a vintage black and white movie. she looks to socks on the counter and frowns. by the tilt of his head, it's almost like he's thinking about the different time as well.

chris would be so surprised with how much socks has grown now.

she instantly catches herself and shakes her head repeatedly. she needs to stop. she just needs to stop.

in the heat of the moment, clementine turns on her heels and heads for the hallway. she gets into the smaller closet and grabs cleaning supplies, now going back to the kitchen with a determined look.

she looks to the old red koolaid stain that has never actually come up and clicks her tongue. she is going to get this stupid little fucking reminder of him out.

so, she begins to scrub and scrub and scrub all the while she waits for the oven to preheat.

a few minutes pass and when a ding comes from the stove to tell it's preheated, clementine takes a step back and looks at the stain.

it's still completely there, just a tad fainter.

clementine instantly rubs at her temples, a feeling of dissatisfaction washing over her. she's tried to get it out multiple times before, she doesn't know why she thought this time would be any different.

the koolaid is just stuck to the counter, no use even trying to get rid of it anymore.

clementine refuses to accept that though.

💌

flashbacks 🤗🤗🤗🤗

it's 2am when i finished writing this 🫡 too lazy to proof read though so i'll do that in the morning before school so yeah... ur probably here after i've left for school so hey good morning

<3
jaden