Ardent ; h.s.

013

Robin

"Oh my gosh Vi these are beautiful", I held up the four articles of bright colored 'clothing' as I hugged her.

"Figured it has to be warm somewhere, or maybe an indoor pool", she wiggled her fingers towards me, quickly looking at the two bikini sets. I am of course grateful that she got me anything, I tend to find flaws about my body that I am not the biggest fan of, insecure would be the word. Especially after the winter seasons and not seeing my body as exposed as it is in a bikini, but I'll be okay, it's a learning process to become comfortable in your own body.

Self love is tedious and isn't as linear as we see it to be.

Violet and Jeff had came back a couple days after the snow had cleared up deeming it safe to drive again and changed into pajamas at her place before taking an elevator to mine. Jeff surprisingly got me a gift considering we have only known each other less than a month, and I wasn't quite sure if he knew too much about me. Lord knows Violet has told me more than enough about this man.

Yes I got him a gift.

As Jeff was occupied with using the bathroom Violet mentioned how nicely I decorated this year, I just used the made up excuse and told her that there was nothing else to do during the storm and decided to decorate.

Before Violet and Jeff showed up I made sure to clean and erase any evidence that there was more than one person here. So far everything seemed to be fine, I don't think they suspected anything and that's all I needed.

"So", Violet turned her phone off and looked at me, we sat facing one another on the couch, "all you did was nothing these past two days?".

Did she know?

Not trying to blow my cover I nodded, maybe pretending your life was on the line to protect a secret helped keep you from spilling anything nobody needed to know. I could never be a spy.

"Yeah, I mean I just watched a couple movies and decorated, nothing else really besides laundry", she hummed, something in me knew that she felt as if the place were off. "Where'd you get the tree?".

Well I forgot about that one. Violet has been here too many holidays to know I don't own a Christmas tree, at least until now. Great thing is, I didn't even know where the tree came from, I just walked in with my eyes closed that day and it was there.

Never got an answer about my tree question that day either.

"I got it when I went Christmas shopping, just kept it stored in the closet with everything else until now, I had the time to put it up so why not", I shrugged, looking back over my shoulder at the tree, hiding my nervous eyes.

"Looks nice", is all Violet said, she sounded convinced. Maybe it was the tree after all that made her feel off about the place, nothing else. Everything is normal, at least as normal as it usually is when it's just Violet and I.

Here's the thing, I'm worrying about nothing really, I mean if Violet is and stays completely oblivious to the fact that Harry was here I have nothing to worry about because again, she doesn't know.

Let's keep it that way.

Jeff however was a minor issue in my head, several what if's popping up in my train of thought. What if Harry told Jeff? What if Jeff already told Violet and she knew I was lying to her? It definitely wouldn't be the end of our friendship, but it is something 'major' she would've heard from me rather than her boyfriend.

You might be wondering why I don't want to tell Violet, reason is just for my privacy. Harry can do all he wants and tell Jeffrey, but if he hasn't said anything, why would I? I definitely don't need another thing Ernie, Janet, and Violet could hold over my head about Harry, then having them act like middle schoolers about feelings that cease to exist.