Misplaced Love

C. 20 - On Old Lovers and Vodka

"I am so ready to be back to New York, I've missed so much work." Bryant remarked as he brought his bags down to the living room.

Violet sighed and said, "I don't know, I kinda loved this place."

"Don't worry, this won't be the last time we're here. We actually plan to have our wedding here, just ironing out a few details." Luigi answered as he helped Pat with her luggages.

"Alright, everyone is packed and ready. We'll be dropping Violet off first since Anton needed to talk to her urgently." Pat announced as everyone headed for the garage.

Shoot! Anton, I haven't thought about him in a while. Violet thought to herself as she got into the car, not knowing that she was riding with Lucas instead of Pat and Luigi.

"Hey, stranger."

Violet was so in her head that she absentmindedly got into the other car, where Lucas, Joana, Bryant and the others are riding in. Pat and Luigi's car were already heading out of the garage, leaving her sulking beside Lucas.

"Hi." She replied muttering to herself something about being stupid and stuck with her ex for a 4 to 5 hour drive back to New York.

"Do you remember your bucket list? You were so crazy about it when we were in high school." He asked, chuckling to himself as he remembered how he helped her tick off some items off the list.

Violet smiled, thinking of their hot air balloon date, among the many memories they shared because of the list. "Of course, and I still have it, I actually haven't thought about it since I left."

"You know I had plans for every single thing on that list." Lucas bragged.

"What do you mean? I don't remember ever giving it to you permanently."

Lucas chuckled, "Yeah, you didn't have to, I took a photo of that list years ago. That's what you do for the people you love, Vi. You find ways."

His words stung, she knew he didn't mean it the way it came out, and when Lucas realized how his words may have affected Violet, he quickly apologized.

Violet shook her head, "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, I know you didn't mean it that way, I still cannot imagine what I must have put you through all these years. I'm surprised you don't hate me." She looked at everyone in the car, knowing that they can hear her. "How any of you must have felt."

Bryant nudged at her side, "Well, we certainly did not have fun, we actually thought we'd only see your corpse at one point." He joked half-heartedly.

"He was amazing to me, I mean, not at the first year or two, I hated his guts and was really looking for ways to get back home, until I didn't find a reason to." She replied.

"Like we weren't enough of a reason?" Joana scoffed. Annoyed at what she was hearing out of her close friend's mouth.

"No, no, I didn't mean it like that. It's just that Anton gave me enough of a reason to stay everyday. I figured you all didn't need me back so soon to bring back old scars."

"So why'd you even decide to show up now?" Bryant asked.

"It was time to come home, I wouldn't want to miss Pat's wedding for anything. And I wanted you all to see how much Anton has really changed."

"You're not making a very good case future lawyer." Lucas whispered in her ear.

Violet took a deep breath and sighed, "Guys, I know I have a LOT of making up to do, but please give Anton a chance too."

"I'll give him a chance when I see that he's worthy." Eric, her eldest brother answered.

This seemed to have ended their conversation on that topic because Lucas and Bryant began to talk about his Filipino roots and how they should all try Lumpia, a Filipino dish that his mom makes, everyone loves Lumpia, he says.