-Violet-
"Mom invited Mark and his daughters over for dinner tonight." Gray muttered at breakfast Sunday morning. "Reason?"
I shrugged and took a bite of my pancakes.
Nic spoke after taking a sip of his orange juice. "Maybe they're finally going to tell us they're together." He suggested, "Does she think we'd be mad?"
"No." I answered, "But like I said before, it's her business not ours."
Blue sat his fork down and leaned on his elbow. "Can we go to the park? I'm bored."
"Did you do your homework?" I asked.
He sighed. "No, but I'm almost finished."
"Finish and we'll go." Then I looked at Gray and Nic, "All of us."
Gray just rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on, V. I have plans." Nic said with aggravation.
"Oh, come on, Nic." I said sarcastically, "When's the last time you hung out with us anyway?" I took the last bite of my pancakes.
Nic shrugged. "Fine. But you owe me."
"I don't owe you anything." I grinned, "But I love you."
The corner of his lips twitched and he smiled a little. "I love you, Loser."
"What about me?" Blue called out.
Nic laughed and looked at him. "We love you too, Buddy."
After breakfast, Blue left to go do is homework and myself, Gray, and Nic cleaned up the mess we made. If mom came home and saw this, she'd kill us. But she'd do it with love, so it wouldn't be too bad.
Nic and Gray dried while I washed, like usual.
Once we were finished, Nic left to cancel his plans and Gray went to get ready. I walked down the hall to my room to get dressed too. I'm glad I showered this morning when everyone was still asleep.
I pulled on a pair of dark denim skinny jeans and a black and white striped sweater. It was hard, but I managed to pull my hair back into a small ponytail because I was too lazy to do anything with it. It's grown quite a bit since I've started the internship. When I first started, I wasn't able to pull it back at all. Now I can get a small ponytail at least.
A pair of black boots concluded the outfit and I was ready to ago.
Again, too lazy to even deal with make-up.
"Hey, Gray," I walked out of my room to find Gray in the living room, "Did you take Mom to work this morning?"
"Yeah, I have to pick her up at three."
Blue came striding out of his room with a packet of papers in his hand. "I'm done." He handed them to me and I took them.
I scanned through the packet, seeing all the answers are filled in. Hopefully they're right and not just quickly scribbled down, which he has a bad habit of doing. I'll check it all when we get home.
Fifteen minutes later, Gray set Blue lose in the large field to chase pigeons. We promised him ice cream soon so it wouldn't be long until he came back to remind us.
He wasn't far from the other side of the wide paved walkway.
Nic took off after Blue, and Gray and I sat down on a bench.
"Are you still mad at me?" Gray asked quietly.
It took me a second to get what he was referring to. "No, Gray."
"I can't tell." He grumbled and fluffed a hand through his dirty blond hair, "I know you're still mad. I know you hold grudges longer than you want to admit. You're not talking to me that much, you've been avoiding me, and I just know you're still mad at me because of what happened with James."
I shrugged a shoulder. "You had no right to act the way you did. It's as simple as that."
"I knew you were still mad." He stated sternly, "After what happened with Reese—"
I jerked my head in his direction. "Don't you dare talk about him."
"It's been two years and you still can't hear his name. This is what I'm talking about, Vi. I'll do anything to keep you from going through that again."
It was taking everything inside me not to start crying. "Just stop."
"I need you to see my side."
"And I need you to see mine, Gray."
"I do." He grounded, "And I was there until you healed. I was there for Mom when she needed it. I won't stand around and watch that happen again."
I closed my eyes and shook my head. "It's unavoidable."
"Like hell it isn't."
My eyes opened to meet his dull gaze. "I used to think that too."
"What's that supposed mean?"
"Nothing." I said quickly, "I'm just saying I had your same mindset. After Dad left Mom and after seeing what it did to her, I felt the same way about it all. No, I don't want to go through what I did with Reese again. But I realized something last night...and it's that I'm tired of being afraid."
Gray looked away from me and rubbed his forehead.
"I know what you've done was only to protect me and I love you for it. But it also makes me angry. James is my friend and you had no right—"
"He likes you." Gray said, turning his head back to face me, "That's why I got upset. I went to school with him, Vi."
It shouldn't be surprising, but I felt a cool chill fill my chest and it felt hallow. That also meant James was in the same school as me too. But I had no idea who he was. We never crossed paths. Or if we did, I never noticed. "Then why did he act like he didn't know you?"
"Because he didn't. We never hung out. He was a popular kid, always surrounded by his friends, a new girl every month. Definitely not a person I'd want to be friends with. You'll mean nothing to him—"
"He's not like that—"
"People don't change."
"Yes they do." I retorted, "People change and grow all the time. But they only change if they really want to and not make a piss effort."
He was quiet.
I tilted my head and rested my cheek on his shoulder. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Gray. And I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I'm eighteen now and I just need space. If I need you to kick someone's ass for me, I know where you live."
Gray chuckled lightly and kissed the top of my head. "I love you too, Vi." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed me gently. "And I'll back off a little. You can't kill all my dreams."
I pulled back and playfully nudged my elbow into his side. "I'm going to kill all your dreams. Going to burn them so bad you can't even pick them up."
"Harsh much?"
"Nothing but." I rose from the bench and called Blue over.
He came running with Nic close behind. "Ice cream?"
"Yeah, what kind do you want?"
Blue touched his chin, thinking about all the ice cream possibilities. "Cookie dough."
"Okay, Gray and I are going to go get it and we'll be right back." I looked at Nic, "Do you want anything?"
He shook his head and ran back towards the field with Blue.
Gray and I walked across the street to get to the ice cream parlor. As we stepped inside, I was enveloped in a smell of sweetness that I could live in forever. Gray stayed close to the edge of the counter as I scanned the ice cream, searching for the cookie dough flavor that Blue wanted.
"They don't—" As I started to straighten, I accidently bumped into someone, their ice cream falling on both of us and I wanted to bury myself until I'm eighty. "Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry." I rushed, searching for napkins to help.
But she laughed and I managed to get a handful of napkins. "It's okay." She said, light laughter coating her tone.
"No, I'm such a klutz I swear—"
"Seriously, it's fine." She took the napkins from my hand and started wiping her arms.
When I looked at her, I had to do a double take.
Then I just stared at her like an idiot.
"You okay?" She asked.
I mentally shook myself. "Uh, yeah, sorry. You just look familiar."
She smiled and started wiping her shirt. "Maybe you went to my school?"
I ignored the ice cream seeping into my sweater at the moment. "No, I don't think so. Anyway, I'm sorry if I creeped you out and spilled your ice cream all down your shirt. Can I at least buy you another ice cream?"
"No, it's fine." She wadded up the napkins and threw them in the trash, "I'll just have my friend get me another one. He probably wouldn't care. If I tell him I spilled it, he'd act like it's no surprise at all." She laughed lightly.
"Sounds like my brother." I jerked my thumb in Gray's direction. I'm glad he came to help me. "Again, I'm so sorry about the mess. Wish I could get you a new one."
"It's okay." She smoothed a hand down her shirt, "My friend will be back soon. But thank you for offering." She lightly touched my shoulder and walked out of the parlor without her ice cream.
Holy hell, I felt so bad. But she said her friend would buy her a new one.
Gray finally decided to grace me with his presence while laughing at me. "I saw all of that in slow motion. I can't take you anywhere."
I wrinkled my nose up at him and grabbed more napkins from the counter. "You're an ass."
Someone that worked there came to clean up the spilled ice cream on the floor. And of course I apologized like eighty times. They said they're used to it. Kids come in here and drop their cones at least four times a day.
After a lame attempt at cleaning the side of my sweater, I walked up to the other side of the counter and ordered Blue's ice cream. The flavor he wanted was right up front but I didn't get to it because of what I did.
I paid for it and handed it to Gray. "I don't want anything to do with it."
Gray snorted and took it from my hand.
We walked out and walked back across the street. When Blue noticed us finally, he came running and took the cone from Gray's hand.
Blue muttered a thank you with a mouth full of ice cream.
Gray sat back down on the bench and Blue took off to get back to Nic. He walked instead of running so he didn't end up dropping his cone.
I was about to sit down finally, but it looked like today had other plans. All of a sudden, I was tackled to the ground and something was licking my face. "Uh, Violet." Gray choked on a laugh.
I opened my eyes, and Chaos was staring back at me. "Chaos?" I reached for his collar, looked at his tag and saw his name.
"Wait—Isn't that the puppy you saved?"
"Yeah, but he's not much of a puppy anymore." I didn't want to say yeah, I just saw him last night at two in the morning.
Chaos climbed off of me and Gray helped me up. "That means James has to be around here somewhere." I murmured and started wiping the grass off of me. Gray brushed his hands over my back to get rid of anything that decided to get stuck in my sweater while Chaos was standing on his hind legs against my thigh.
"Doesn't he know you're supposed to keep a dog on a leash here?"
"I'm sure." I breathed.
Chaos barked at me once and I bent to pick him up. "How did you manage to knock me down?"
"It doesn't take much, Vi."
I glared at Gray and looked at Chaos again. I scratched behind his ear and he licked my jaw again.
"There he is!" I heard a female voice and I turned around.
It was the girl I spilled ice cream all over. And James came jogging up beside her. We locked eyes for a moment until I looked away.
"And there he is." Gray droned. Even after our talk, he's still uneasy towards James.
They got closer and that's when it hit me.
She's Juliet. James's best friend. She's so much prettier than her picture. She looked pretty in the picture, I didn't think it was possible. "Violet." James smiled and hooked the leash back onto Chaos's collar.
"James."
"Oh, the girl from the ice cream place." Juliet smiled, "I didn't know you knew James." She then laughed.
"Uh, yeah. I'm interning for his dad."
"Violet, this is Juliet. Juliet, Violet." James introduced.
Juliet held out her hand for me to shake. "It's good to meet you, Violet."
"You too." I shook her hand and pointed to Gray behind me, "This is my brother Gray."
She looked at him and shook his hand too. "It's nice to meet you too."
Gray smiled I hope before glaring at James.
"So you're the one that spilled the ice cream." James grinned at me like it was absolutely no surprise.
My cheeks burned with embarrassment. "This shouldn't be a surprise."
"It's not." Gray piped in.
James laughed and Juliet swatted his arm. "Don't be an ass."
But that didn't stop him from laughing.
It didn't stop Gray either.
* * *
Dinner tonight was going well.
Mark sat next to my mom, a broad smile tugging at his lips. He looked at my mom and his eyes lit up.
They didn't even need to tell us something was going on. You could see it in the way they looked at each other. You could also tell he was holding her hand under the table.
But I ignored their not-so-subtle contact because it was too cute.
And I haven't seen my mom this happy in a long time.
Mark's daughters, Jenny and Alyssa, were sitting on both sides of me. Jenny was my age and Alyssa was sixteen. Nic looked too cozy with Jenny at the moment and it made me nervous.
Not that Mark was even paying attention.
Mark's height fit in with the family. Or at least with my brothers. His hair is dark, but there were a few strands of gray through out. The gray in his hair made him look like an intelligent man instead of older. His circular glasses were well placed upon the bridge of his nose. Mark is an intelligent person. I've always gone to him for math help if Gray couldn't help me.
He's a really good person too.
One of the best people I know.
After dinner, everyone escaped to leave Mom with the mess. She said her and Mark had it so I just shrugged and walked out of the kitchen.
Something else I noticed was Nic and Jenny have conveniently disappeared. Not sure how Mark's going to feel about that one. Shoot, I don't even know how I feel about it. I just know it probably won't end well.
Alyssa followed me to my room because she was left alone in the living room. I closed the door behind us and walked to my bed. "How do you feel about our parents being together?" She asked, sitting down at my desk.
"I think it's great." I smiled, "And it's about time."
She laughed. "I agree. You know he talks about her all the time."
"Well now we can see why."
Alyssa nodded in agreement, her long blonde hair falling against the side of her face. "So, how's that internship going? I'm going to look for one next year and I thought about going there too. I've heard great things about their internships."
"I really like it." My heart was doing a funny thing again, "Everyone I work for is really nice. Especially Claire Roedan. I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking into an internship."
"I'll tell my dad then. I don't want to end up working for assholes."
My laugh came out louder than I intended it to.
"We'll keep that part from my dad though." She laughed nervously.
* * *
Three taps.
Then a fourth clinked against my window at midnight.
I closed my textbook and climbed off my bed to go to my window. Considering how windy it was, I didn't think much of it.
Until I timidly opened up my curtains to see James standing a few feet away.
A smile curved my lips and I unlocked the window to lift it open. He stepped forward and leaned over the windowsill. "What are you doing here?"
"I've come to rescue you." He grinned, "Let's go for a drive."
"I have to be up for work early and I really don't want to get fired for being late." I teased.
"Your bosses sound like jackasses." He reached for me, "I'll have you back to your boring school work in a couple of hours."
Against my will, I glanced down at his lips longer than I should have. It was horrible how bad I wanted to kiss him again. "Fine. Let me get my shoes."
His smile stretched and I went to get my shoes. I slipped them on and went back to the window. I straddled the windowsill, ducked under the window, and swung my other leg over. James put his hands on my waist and helped me down because knowing me, I would've fell straight on my face. A mouthful of grass and dirt wasn't something I really wanted.
James sat me down on my feet and retracted his hands. He closed the window for me and we walked around the house. We got into the car and he slowly drove away like he had last night.
He drove down the back road and about a mile down, he parked on the side of the road. "Are you still having trouble sleeping?" I asked, looking down at my hands in my lap.
"Not really. Just wanted to see you."
The warmth of my cheeks blazed. "Lets climb in the back." I twisted my body fully to peer at him. "We won't get in trouble for being out here though, right?"
He cocked his head to the side, a smirk gracing his lips. "Not unless the cows get angry." He unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed over the center console to get in the back.
I followed suit and my foot got caught on the console. As I pulled, my shoe came free and I toppled into James's lap. I started giggling as I latched onto his shoulders to push myself up. "I'm sorry. I've just had a really...awkward day."
James chuckled, but didn't let me go. "It sounds like you've had quite the day."
I shifted in James's lap so my back was straight and I wasn't slumped against his chest. With a tad of reluctance, I placed a hand on his jaw and brushed the pad of my thumb over his chin. "It's definitely been an eventual one." I whispered.
His eyes were dark, but I could still see the faint blue within them. "I've thought about you since I dropped you off this morning." His breath caressed my lips delicately.
"Can...can I kiss you?"
James laughed once. "Please do."
I slowly bent my head down, letting the tips of my lips touch his. The urge in my chest felt like fire. The hand around my heart squeezed and I pressed my lips to his. His mouth parted under mine, returning the kiss quicker than I expected.
James slid his hand to the nape of my neck, holding me steady against his lips. His other hand stayed on my waist. "I thought you couldn't handle me." He muttered against my lips, reconnecting them without missing a second.
I smiled against his kiss. "I have two hands."
His smile matched mine and he kissed me again.
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I roughly edited this chapter because I just really wanted to get it posted lol, I was so excited. I had so much fun writing this, especially the end, hahaha. After this chapter tho, I'm probably going to start posting every other day so I can build up more chapters without the pressure. I start a new class tomorrow and I'm hoping it'll be an easy one so I'm able to write more.
And sorry I didn't get Jack in this chapter, but he'll be in a later one.
Please comment and let me know what you think? It means so much to hear feedback! AND VOTE IF YOU LIKED THE CHAPTER AS WELL. :))))))
Song: You Had Me At Hello by A day to remember (I've used this song before on my other story but I don't care lol. I love it so much.)