No More Rules Who: Clementine and Skylar Where: Clementine’s house When: evening
Skylar left Nic and despite the residual high he wandered back to his house to shower and change clothes before heading to Clementine’s. Once he got to her house there was a clear hesitation on the porch, not knocking right away because he wasn’t sure how to go about things. Or what he would say. For a good few minutes he stood there, trying to decide and eventually he gave up, knocking anyway and hoping she was home.
She was about to leave, flustered as she ran around her living room looking for her shawl. Once she found the soft, cream-colored fabric she'd crocheted years ago, she threw it over her shoulders, covering the denim sundress she wore. The sound of the knock stopped her, confused at who might be coming to the house at this time when most people were probably already at the event and in full swing. Clomping toward the door in her worn in brown cowboy boots, Clementine opened it to see Skyler and the surprise was evident. Somehow she hadn't expected him to be here, which was strange, but she was aware that she'd been trying to distance herself from the situation that her rule had created. Except now the situation was staring her right in the face. "…Hey," She said, giving a smile after she realized it was rude to just stare at someone for so long.
Her staring at him like she’d seen a ghost was probably a bad thing. That did bring to mind the question of if there were ghosts, and Skylar was pretty sure he knew something about that, but it wasn’t sticking at the moment and he could feel his mind start off down a path that wasn’t a real path and he had to drag himself back to Clementine, doing his own bit of staring. “Um, hey.” He looked at her then around. “Were you leaving?”
“Was gonna head down to the party. Are you..going that way? We could walk together,” She said, pulling her shawl closer over her shoulders as she looked up at him. There was still something about him that had her smiling, something she couldn’t help despite the fact that she’d royally screwed over her friend where he was concerned.
Skylar made a face. “What party?” he asked. No one had told him about a party. Then again, he wasn’t sure when someone would have told him if it hadn’t been Nic earlier today. “I was coming here to see you. Talk to you. Both of those things.”
“The hoedown?” She asked, stepping outside to close the door behind her and look back up at him. “Is this a...walking to the party kind of talk or a sitting on the porch kind of talk?” He was also a little high, she could tell, but that didn’t really bother her. She did wonder if he only wanted to talk to her when he was high, though, but she let the thought pass.
He was coming down off the high, but yeah he was mostly still there. “I’m not sure. Maybe we should sit?” Because maybe he wasn’t sure about the party just yet. And he’d never been to a hoedown so god only knew what that was and would entail. “I thought we should talk about the deal.”
Great. The deal. She wanted to talk about the deal too and at the same time, she didn’t want to bring it up again. Nodding, she started for the porch stairs and sat on them, waiting for him to join her. “You want to go first?”
Skylar hesitated for a moment then dropped down next to her. “I...I’m not sure I’m as clear as I could have been on what we agreed to. Or...why.”
“...Ok. Well I’m not sure I should have made a rule. I think I made the wrong one. It wasn’t right of me to try and get you to stop kissing Kenzie.” Even though she was still jealous at the thought, but it wasn’t fair to Kenzie at all. “I think..maybe I should revoke my rule.”
Skylar frowned a little, looking at her. “So...what does that mean?” That served to make things all the more confusing. “Does that mean I need to revoke mine too?”
Clementine shrugged a little. “I don’t know. Don’t think so. I just...it was really wrong of me to do that to Kenzie, even if I want it. It’s just not fair.” Running a hand through her hair, she looked back over at him. “If..the feeding thing still concerns you, I’ll still do the giving blood in a bag form, like we agreed. I...jumped on what you were going to say, though.”
Skylar listened, looking at his hands instead of her and wishing he was maybe a touch more sober than he was. He was having trouble following her thought process. “So you want it, but you aren’t going to ask for it,” he tried to put together. “It’s dangerous….the feeding thing. That’s the biggest thing.” Plus it made him jealous, but he didn’t voice that part because that wasn’t the important part.
She thought on that then shrugged. “I don’t know. I...it just wasn’t fair for me to ask that of you, of Kenzie. You and I aren’t...we’re not exclusive or anything. “ This conversation was so awkward. She felt so awkward. She sighed after a moment. “I should have thought more about Kenzie’s feelings, your feelings…”
That might have answered one of his questions though. “So we’re not exclusive. I don’t...are we anything?” That seemed important to know, and he didn’t sound upset one way or the other, just actively curious.
“...We didn’t talk about it. I didn’t...I pushed that on you. I made it a rule and we didn’t even talk about it. I don’t even know if you wanted something like that, I just made it a rule. And that wasn’t fair…” She said, looking back at him as her spirit dropped. This conversation was not fun, not like the one in her kitchen where his hands were on her hips. “I don’t even know how you feel about it.”
Skylar was still frowning. “How I feel about what?”
“About being exclusive.” Clementine turned to face him, trying to catch his eyes. “About us. Do you want to be a thing?”
Oh that. Skylar looked back at his hands and thought about it for a moment. “I like you. I’m just not good with things.”
That was easier to digest, hearing that he liked her. She liked him too, but she prefered things. After a moment, she ended up reaching for his hand to hold it. It felt nicer, more grounding, with something to hold. “...Maybe we just...Maybe we take away the rules and see how things go? There’s no pressure on anyone then…”
Skylar looked at her holding his hand and almost just agreed completely because as always, he was a pretty capable of getting caught up with whoever he was with at the time. But he needed to focus, which had him nodding, but then shaking his head. “What about Kenzie?”
This was harder to say, but she wouldn’t feel right if she didn’t say it. She took a breath and then shrugged. “If you like Kenzie, then...like Kenzie. It wasn’t right of me to say that you shouldn’t. “
“And if I like both of you,” Skylar prompted because he did like both of them. For different reasons.
Clementine shrugged again after a moment, a sadness filtering in. “I guess it just comes down to who you want to be with, then. I’m...a monogamous kind of girl. And until you figure it out, then we can hang out and be friends.” She tried for a smile but it was sad and she couldn’t change it. “You need to do what’s right for you, Skyler.”
Skylar didn’t like that smile, and how sad it looked. Or what she was saying. “Um...okay. I guess that works.” It didn’t sound as good as he would have hoped, but he really wasn’t the boyfriend type either. “I like the idea of hanging out.”
She watched him for a moment and squeezed his hand tighter. "I like the idea of more too, but for me... It's got to just be me. And if it isn't just me for you, it's not fair for me to ask more of you. You know?"
Skylar like her squeezing his hand, but he supposed he got it. “I’m sorry.” It just wasn’t a thing he was good at doing. He wasn’t never meant to be a permanent anything. It also meant he needed to figure out what the hell Kenzie really wanted. “Are you mad?”
Clementine shook her head. "I'm not mad. I'm sorry too, that for me it has to be this way." She watched him again for a moment. "I like you, Skyler, so I just want you to do what's best for you. And I hope you know what that is soon."
He sighed and looked out towards the walls of the dome even if he couldn’t see them from where he was. “What’s best for me isn’t an option,” he mumbled, since his best choice was usually leaving. “I’ll see if I can figure something out. But you’ll still work at the greenhouse right?”
Work at the greenhouse. Around Skyler. That sounded like a lot of fun... But she had told she would help and after a moment, she nodded. "Yeah. I'll still work. I'll see you there tomorrow?" She asked, standing up and taking awkward steps toward her door again.
Skylar looked up at her, nodding. “Sure. I’d like that.” At least he’d get to see her. It might be weird, but he’d get to see her. “Aren’t you going to the party?” he asked, pointing away from her house, and the opposite direction from where she was headed.
Clementine turned, her hand on the door handle, and shook her head. "Changed my mind. Not really feeling up to it. You should go though. Maybe you'll see Kenzie."
He didn’t like hearing that, jumping up from the steps. He didn’t want her to miss the party, or say things like that. There was a moment of hesitation before he crossed the space between them, tilting her chin up and kissing her in the same movement. It wasn’t a long kiss or a very heated thing, but it was sure, because he was sure he wanted to. When he pulled away he shook his head. “I’ll probably just head home. But I wanted to do that. Before I didn’t get the chance to.”
Clementine was stunned, shocked as he kissed her. Hadn’t they just been over this? She didn’t have a chance to really kiss him back before he was pulling away again and his words made her sadder. “...Sky, you always have the chance. I’m not taking the chance away from you. You just have to decide what chance you want first.” Opening her door, she started to step inside. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I always wanted the chance. Just…yeah.” Skylar shrugged and smiled. “Good to know what it’s like.” He took a step back, watching her before nodding. “You will. Looking forward to it already.” Skylar waved once more before jumping down the stairs and starting back towards his house.