˖ ࣪ AGAIN, AGAIN, 𖥔 ࣪ ᥫ᭡
AGAIN. . . !

━━━━━ ( 024. real life )
✶ ・・❛ GONE. ❜

( ☼ )

"CLEMENTINE."

chris' vision is a blur of clementines hair as he chases after her in his own house, frustration filling his body the further they get from the bathroom she just came storming out of.

clementine ignores his call for her as he is hot on her trail. he resists a roll of his eyes, used to her not listening to him, and picks up his pace enough to grab her wrist. with the amount of times he has to pull this move growing every day, he spins her around to face him with quite ease. they lock eyes and his breath gets stuck in his throat for just a second. "clementine," he says first. "can you slow down for a second?"

"slow down?" she repeats as if in disbelief. "jax is at your fucking front door."

"yeah," chris replies, dropping his hold of her wrist and letting out a breath. "my front door," he points out, now using both of his hands to lightly grab ahold of her waist and move her to the side, completely clearing his path. "so i'll handle it."

chris expects nothing less from clementine when she quickly spins back around and catches up to him when he attempts walking on. "are you insane?" she exclaims, looking at him as if he's an alien as she storms alongside him. "it's going to be so much worse if you open the door."

"if only i gave a fuck, clem," chris chuckles dryly, not being able to find her serious. he glances at her face to see all the annoyance displayed on it and falters for a moment, narrowing his eyes. "what? in a rush to tell him how you were just all over me in the bathroom?"

"no, chris, i'm in a rush to get him the fuck out of your house," she deadpans, giving him a seriously unamused look that makes him feel as if he should really just keep his mouth shut sometimes. "so maybe if you'd let me talk to him, i can do that."

subconsciously, chris' tongue rubs alongside the inside of his bottom lip. how could she ever think it's that easy? "that's the thing," he exhales, pausing his walking and turning to face her as she does the same. "i can't."

clementine pauses, glancing back and forth between his eyes as if she wants to understand what's causing such hesitancy from him. she refrains from prying it out of him though, and instead presses her lips together. "its a good thing i'm not asking then," she says after a moment, catching him off guard until she suddenly begins making headway to the door yet again.

"clementine," chris sighs exasperatedly, catching up to her one last time as nick enters the room now as well. he had cautiously followed them through the hallway and was just watching everything go down.

"for fucks sake," chris groans at her lack of response and finally gets ahead enough to take a step in front of her and stop in his tracks so that she'll stop as well. she shoots daggers at him with her eyes and he ignores it to his best capability as they stare at one another. "letting you go out there is basically letting you go back to him," he tells her, a crease forming between her eyebrows. "and you're crazy if you think i'm going to let that happen."

clementine takes a few seconds to process his words as his perspective comes to view. slowly, a frown forms on her lips. "this isn't me going back to him," she tells him seriously, trying to convey the truth in her words with her eyes. "this is me cutting him from my life. just let me do that myself, okay?"

chris stares into her eyes, searching them for the assurance he wants and unsure if it's there. he wants to believe her, he does. it's just jax, and he can't shake this bad feeling he's had since nick came barging into the bathroom in the first place.

"i have a bad feeling, clem," he tries, wishing the words didn't sound so pathetic as she gives him a look.

"it'll be fine, chris. i learned how to zone out jax's screaming like a week into our relationship," she tries to make things lighthearted but evidently fails as chris' face only drops.

"do you even hear yourself?" chris says seriously, a mix of concern and anger swirling through his eyes that makes her expression fall. "don't do this shit, just let me go out there with you."

as much as chris wishes she wouldn't, clementine argues back. "i need to do this by myself, chris," she keeps her point consistent.

chris frowns, not knowing what to do when she's this stubborn. he looks past clementine and to nick stood over by the couch, leant against it as he clearly listens in on the conversation. when they make eye contact, nick instantly shakes his head as if to tell chris to remain stubborn.

he feels weak though, as he looks back to clementine. all he desperately wants is for her to be completely his again, and if this is something he's going to have to do to appease her, then he'll do it. since last night, he's felt like he's been in a dream, and he's trying to do as much as he can to not wake up yet. he doesn't want the bubble to burst yet, and he knows if he keeps arguing this with clementine, it will. swallowing the words on the tip of his tongue begging for her to let him go with her, he instead says, "you're going to come right back inside, right?"

"of course," she assures him.

"okay," chris sighs, lingering for a moment before ultimately stepping out of her way of the door. she gives him a small smile and he returns it to the best of his abilities, ignoring the sinking feeling in his heart that he's doing something wrong.

once the front door is shut and clementine is on the other side, chris let's out a large breath. he glances over to find nick now sat on the couch, giving him a wary look that he ignores. he walks over to sit on the other side of him and plops down, trying to ignore his own anxiety when he can't escape nicks side eye in his peripheral vision. within three seconds, he snaps his head over to him. "what?"

"nothing," nick says at first, shrugging whatever it is off like it's nothing. it's when chris drops it and looks elsewhere that nick speaks again, "you're just really gonna let her go like that?.. 'cause me perso—"

"nick," chris cuts his brother off immediately, irritation clear in his tone. he looks at him blankly. "shut up."

nick instantly raises his hands in mock surrender, clearly taking offense at his brothers snappy tone. once chris has looked away, nick crosses his arms and leans further into the couch cushion, mumbling something incomprehensible because of how quiet his words are.

"what, nick?" chris rolls his eyes, clearly hearing the sound of his brothers incoherent mumbles. "just say it."

"I SAID," he starts dramatically loudly just to get on his nerves before lowering his voice to normal, "you're a fucking idiot."

"how am i an idiot for doing what she said?" chris is quick to bite back, feeling defensive because of how much pushing it took for him to take this route anyway. "she said she'd come right back inside."

"yeah, and jax is literally a master manipulator, chris," nick deadpans, giving him a dubious look. when chris' only response is to stare at him, nick realizes he still doesn't get it and sighs deeply. "god, how stupid are you?" he groans before going on to explain when chris only blinks at him, "five minutes with him and i'm sure he could have her convinced that he's the victim, and you're the problem for getting in the way of their 'perfect' relationship."

"like she would buy into that," chris responds as if nicks point is absurd. nick gives him a look and chris feels defensive. "i'm pretty sure she's finally sick of him. what reason does she have to listen to anything he says?"

nicks lips twist to the side and for some reason, he breaks eye contact. chris gets a weird feeling and nick glances around the room as he says, "i mean we've all seen how aggresive jax is when he's angry right..."

"yeah?..." chris answers questionably, a frown growing on his face.

nick resists rolling his eyes at how slow his brother seems to be with this. he sits up slightly as he goes on, "i mean if even i get scared sometimes watching him yell at his own teammates," he starts, watching the way chris' eyes finally start to change as the gears turn in his head. "imagine how scared she gets when she does something to upset him."

"fuck." chris feels his own face turn white as he's suddenly on his feet.

nick is trailing a couple feet behind him when he storms over to the front door, but when it opens, it closes just as fast. nick furrows his eyebrows and chris turns back around to face him. "cars gone."

nick frowns, feeling his own chest sink for chris. "and clem?"

chris blows out a breath, walking past him. "gone."

for the second time, clementine's slipped from his grasp.

💌

hey guys i know ur not supposed to update or wtv when u leave wp (🙄🙄🙄) but i got bored and started writing again like a week ago and when i finished this one i was like i cant NOT publish an aaa chapter so yeah

we're not getting clementine pov for a while so say ur goodbyes now 😕 see u girl praying for u

also being active on this app is such a commitment so think of me as quit still😂😂😂😂 and just try not to be surprised when i appear in ur notifs every now n then thank u

THANK U SSOSOSOS MUCH FOR 20K THOOOOOO i appreciate it so much and i love everyone so much i think of you all every day i'm forever grateful

<3
jaden