Absolutely Smitten

      Louis walked up to Clementine's door. Reciting everything that he wanted to say to her in his head. The date... the gift... it needed to go perfect. He stood there for a few minutes until AJ suddenly slammed the door open, making him jump back in a fright. The toddler didn't say a word as he ran out and down the hallway as fast as he possibly could, not even sparing a glance to the musician who stared at him in shock before entering the room"What's up with AJ? Little guy ran out of here like he was on fire."

Clementine put her hand up to her head, and Louis tried not to stare at the missing finger. "He just needs some space." She let out a sigh, watching Louis.

Suddenly Louis reached behind and scratched his neck. He tried to ignore her saddened face and moved to lean on the bookcase. "I was wondering... well, I can't help but think... You shot that raider who grabbed me, but you saw them take Violet, too. Which means you could have saved Violet and not me. Why... why would you pick me?" He let out a soft, self-deprecating scoff. "I mean, I wouldn't have picked me. Hell, I don't know anyone who would've picked me."

She shook her head. "I couldn't let them take you. You're too important to me."

Louis, at a loss for words, widened his eyes and looked at her. He averted his eyes and scratched the back of his neck. "I know I'm always teasing her. Trying to get her to do that one eye roll she does — you know the one? Where it's like, 'you're such a dumbass', she has to do a full-body eye roll," he said sadly before again gesturing with his hands. "I do it because when I actually manage to make her laugh, it's worth it," he turned to look at Clementine. "If I needed her, she'd be there. Meat cleaver in hand, ready to chop someone in half if it meant protecting me." He placed his hands on the dresser halfway through the sentence, pushing up slightly, despite being a lot taller than the dresser and not needing to do so, it just felt right.

Clementine took a few steps forward. "Hey, we're going to get them back, Louis," she said with a determined filled voice, her eyes not even wavering as she looked up at him directly.

"Yeah. Damn, right, we will," Louis smiled, grabbing his jacket and pushing off the dresser. "Actually uhm, that's... that's not the only reason I dropped by. Ruby's whole party idea kind of made me realize something," he pulled out the candle, sitting on the floor, right on the carpet, leaning one of his arms on his knee. It was weirdly comfortable.

"What are you doing?" she raised an eyebrow as she questioned him.

"Well, I figured since we might die tomorrow and never get to go on a real date..." he pulled out his matches, trying to light it, "we could... dammit... "the light finally lit, and he moved the match to light the candle. "Have one now..." Louis pulled out the pretzel bag, trying not to react to Clementine's smile. "I promise I'll keep it short so we can finish getting things ready for tomorrow. But, I mean, nothing's wrong with 'short and sweet' right?" realizing what he said Louis looked away. "Wait— that's not what... I— forget, I said that."

Crossing her arms Clementine's smile fell back on her face, more expressive this time.

The smile made him feel good, and he tried to hold back a squeal. "I just wanted to spend a little time with you." He paused. "You know, before everything goes down."

The short teen walked toward him to sit down. "What do you know about dating anyway?"

"Before we get into that, I made you something," he pulled out a necklace from his pocket on the inside of his jacket. "It's a C piano key— not an F, but... C, for, ya know... Clementine!"