Things Happen ✔️

Eighteen

The "Illness"

Luke has been helping the past couple days to walk and today he helped me before he had to go check traps with Kenny and Duck.

"Alright, Clem, do you think you can do this by yourself?" Luke asked me from the doorway. I was standing I front of the window all the way across the room from him.

"Yeah. I'm not scared, I think I can do it." I nodded, confident. I felt a sharp shooting pain on the side of my stomach. It felt tight from the inside and I also felt bloated. I ignored this, and went back to trying to walk.

"Okay I'm right here and I'll hurry and catch you if you start to fall." He reassured me.

I nodded and looked at him. His eyes met mine, then he blushed. I smiled and blushed red also. I looked down at the ground and watched as I lifted my foot off the ground and took a step. I did the same with my other leg, then continued to do so. I didn't realize I had made it all the way across when I looked up and saw Luke smiling. I lunged at him and hugged him.

"I did it!" I exclaimed.

"Yes you did, kid. You did amazing." He told me as he wrapped his arms around me. I looked up at him and smiled.

"Thank you for helping me, Luke." I said to him. His face flushed an even deeper color of red and he looked away from my eyes.

"No problem. I'm here for you any time you need me."

I pulled away and grabbed his hands. "Luke I need to tell you something before you leave." I looked down ready to confess my feelings for him. I've decided he needs to know because there's obviously something going on between us. He blushes every time he sees me and his nervousness radiates off of him and onto me. I think I love him.

"Okay, shoot." He smiled.

"I don't know how to do this..." I chuckled. He raised his eyebrows and smiled. "I guess I've been kind of nervous around you a lot and my heart races and my stomach flutters like it has butterflies in it, and I guess I'm trying to tell you that I think I like you more than just friends." My words flew out of my mouth and hit him right in the face. My face was hot and red, and as I had spoken his grew the deepest red possible.

He leaned forward and grabbed my chin, then snaked his other arm around my back. His lips softly touched mine then pushed harder against them. The shock passed me, then I grabbed the back of his neck and pushed up against him. I kissed him back, then Kenny yelled at him from downstairs.

We pulled apart, both smiling. "I guess I should probably go." He chuckled.

"Yeah Kenny will be pissed if you don't go down there soon." I laughed.

Luke turned around, but stopped at the top of the stairs and turned back around. "See you later?" He questioned.

"See you later." I waved and smiled. He smiled back before running down the stairs.

I stood there for a second before walking out of my room and over to the railing on the stairs. I looked out into the living room and saw Nick sitting on the couch fiddling with something. I need to make amends with him because we're going to have to deal with each other for a long time before one of us dies.

I was about to walk down the stairs when I had to stop because I thought I was going to puke. I must be getting sick or something. I'll talk to Carlos later.

I trudged down the stairs and looked at Nick. He looked at me, his eyes sad. I walked over to him and sat beside him.

"Nick, we need to talk." I said to him without looking at him. He was writing something on a piece of paper, but he crumpled it up and put it in his pocket.

"Clem, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." He started to cry and grab my hands. I looked down at our hands, then up at Nick. There were tears streaming down his face.

"You almost killed me, Nick!" I pulled my hands away.

He lunged at me and hugged me. "Clem, words can't express how sorry I am, please forgive me." He cried into my arms.

"Nick I'll forgive you, but we aren't going to be together anymore." I told him. "We can be sort of friends I guess."

"Sort of friends is okay for me, as long as you just forgive me." He smiled and wiped away his tears. "I love you and I always will. You being happy is good enough for me."

The nausea overtook me and by the time I knew I was going to puke, it was too late. I leaned over and puked on the ground. I wiped my mouth and held my stomach.

"Clementine are you okay?" He asked me, worry in his eyes.

"I've just been feeling so sick lately. Can you get Carlos for me?" I asked him.

He scrambled to his feet, "Yes, I'll be right back with him." I closed my eyes and what seemed like forever, a hand touched my shoulder and a familiar voice sounded out.

"Clementine are you okay?" I looked over and saw Carlos. I smiled and nodded, just glad to see him. "We should get you back to your room. Can you walk?"

"Yeah." I nodded. He helped me up and led me to my room where Nick followed.

I sat on my bed, Nick stayed by the window biting his nail, and Carlos bent down beside me.

"How have you been feeling so I can diagnose you."

"Well, I've been nauseous and I only puked once." I said to him.

"Let me see if you have a fever." He felt my forehead and cheeks and furrowed his brows. "Luckily you don't have a fever. What are some other things you've been experiencing?"

"Well earlier when Luke was helping me walk, I felt a sharp shooting pain on the side of my stomach, and I felt bloated and my inside feels tight." I told him.

"May I feel?" He asked.

"Sure." I stood up and he placed his hand on my stomach. He pushed a little on it.

"Does this hurt?" He asked me.

"Not really."

"Well your stomach does feel bloated. Are you on your period?" He asked.

"No, I haven't got it yet for this month I think."

I looked over at Nick who's eyes were wide. I then looked down at Carlos who was looking at the ground.

"Have you and Nick had unprotected sex?" He asked me straightforwardly.

"I think so." I said.

"Can you lift up your shirt just a little so I can look at your belly?" Carlos asked, clearly angry.

I nervously did as told. It was poking out a bit making me look not so skinny and starved.

"Yeah she's already showing, Nick. You've outdone yourself on this one taking advantage of a young girl." Carlos was almost yelling at Nick.

"How can she already be showing, the last time we had unprotected sex was before I—" a tear slipped out of his eye and he quit talking.

"Well she was already really skinny before and we were all starving. Some girls can start to show around two months."

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked them. Carlos looked back at me and smiled. He pushed me down onto the bed and kneeled beside me.

"Clementine, I think you may be pregnant."