My Synlet
Chapter 7
Over the next few weeks Violet found that Buddy was hanging around much more than usual, she even insisted on making breakfast when she got the chance, usually it was before Lorili would wake up, she found talking to Buddy one on one was much easier now, even fun. She got to know Buddy as Buddy, not anyone else. She picked up on a few of his quirks that for the strangest reason, she found adorable. She found that he really did have a great sense of humor and he was learning just how to make her laugh. She learned about his tragic past and from her studies in collage about psychology she understood how he could go from Buddy Pine to Syndrome- which he profusely apologized for- back to Buddy Pine and how he was trying to reinvent himself as Brandon Pinewell. And she found it irresistible that whenever he opened up, she opened up, the friendship was growing rapidly. One day Violet was drinking coffee reading a magazine and Buddy was chatting about an invention and suddenly stopped, trying to find a word, which didn't happen often, Violet guessed the right word then finished the sentence for him only briefly looking up from her magazine with a smile. She was figuring him out, she knew it, he knew it. But he had also had her figured out as well. And so far they liked what they knew.
But she was running out of reasons to stay, for some reason she just couldn't come right out and say why she really wanted to stay, she just couldn't admit it, not yet anyway. She was at the point where she didn't need the boot for her leg, she really was all better, her powers had come back to full strength she had minimal pain now, she was putting her full weight on her leg but she was starting to love it here, she adored Lorili and Buddy was becoming an addiction that she didn't want to admit she had either.
One day they were making dinner together, she went get something on the other side of him, she touched his back to brace herself as she reached for it and he stiffened up. She acted as if it was nothing, or perhaps it was 'accidental', while he tried to shrug it off. He looked at her for a half a moment, trying to read her, trying to figure out if she did that on purpose or if it really was an accident. The way she acted almost led him to believe it was an accident except she had a tell, well two of them, a certain look in her eyes and her change in breathing. He chalked it up to him reading into this too much and that he should just let it slide.
Dinner was lovely and after tucking Lorili into bed they made their usual walk down the hallway together, whispering about the events of the day, the hallway was large enough that they could walk side by side comfortably and then some. He stopped just outside her door but instead of making his usual gesture he opened the door for her. She smiled at his act of chivalry and he made some comment about the curtains needing to be changed. She was surprised at this but replied that they were just fine, just the way they were, that everything in the house seemed to be just right if not just a tad over the top. Buddy tilted his head at the remark, not knowing how to take it exactly.
"Well what would you change?" Buddy asked.
"Me? Oh...well...actually now that you mention it, I probably wouldn't change anything, except maybe adding an indoor swimming pool..."
" Another one? What's wrong with the one I have?"
"You have one? Where?"
"I thought I told you about it, the day you stopped wearing your boot."
"Funny, I must have forgot."
"Well I can show it to you tomorrow if you want."
"I would really like that." Violet responded with a warm smile. Then Buddy's face fell, it's like he wanted to ask a tough question but couldn't find the words to start. He looked at the floor, putting his hand on the back of his neck as if staving off a tension head ache, Violet stared at him for a moment, dreading what he would say next. He looked up at her and saw the dread, his face softening and he let go of whatever he was about to ask and simply said "Sweet dreams Vi" and shut the door behind him. Then she realized something, he had never simply called her 'Vi' before, it was always Violet or sometimes he wouldn't use her name at all when it was just the two of them. Usually it was only her family that called her Vi.
The way he said it tho..it had a different feeling, a different meaning, it was deeper, stronger perhaps. She felt as if a string around her heart was being pulled, directly toward him. Then all of sudden she was crying, she couldn't explain exactly why but something in her head clicked, she wanted to stay because...because...she was falling for him, every smile, every quirk, every laugh, every little piece of him she learned or could figure out, was suddenly so precious to her. She came to realize and accept something that if it had been told to her 6 years ago she would have been horrified to find out. But now, the very thought got her heart to race and a smile to plaster across her face along with a bright blush to flash upon her cheeks. She liked him, plain and simple, she wanted to stay not only for Lorili- but because of him, she didn't know how else to explain it, she no longer felt like a prisoner, those feelings went out the window a long time ago. But she was having a few feelings of overstaying her welcome, she didn't want to leave, not yet anyway. She came back out of her room and caught sight of him walking slowly down the hall. She tried to softly call after him.
"Buddy wait!" He stopped dead in his tracks and turned around surprised, it was dark in the house, but he was at the end of the hallway, the light of the moon coming in thru the garden that was in the middle of the house, bathing everything in it's light. God he looked gorges. She came almost running up to him.
"What's wrong Vi?" Buddy asked, looking at her like something was seriously wrong. She came up and put her hand on his shoulder and then put her head down, trying to regain normal breathing. Her hand was shaking slightly and he bent over trying to hear if she was talking. She looked up at him and asked.
"What were you going to ask me?" She looked pained at the question but like she needed to desperately tell him something but was afraid to actually say it. He tried to read her expression and she could tell that he was pained by what he was about to say. He took a deep breath and with a lot of courage asked in a low husky voice.
"I was..just..wondering how long you were going to stay. You seem to be healed but..I just want to know."
Violet without hesitation answered him.
"As long as you will have me."
"What?" He asked, almost in disbelief.
"I...I...don't know how to say it other than that."
"But why? I don't understa.." He was cut short by her closing the distance between the two of them and quickly standing on her tiptoes, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. She did all of this so fast, she had wanted to do it for a while, she had dreamed of doing it for even longer. And now she had him, but he didn't kiss her back, he didn't dare move or breathe, he just tensed up again. She felt like such an idiot. She let herself down and didn't want to look at him, she was suddenly so embarrassed that she did something like this, especially since he had made no real invitations for anything even close to this. All of a sudden she felt his left hand come to cup her cheek and bring her head up to look at him, tears welled up in her eyes. He looked at her in wonder and awe with a small smirk in the corner of his mouth. He stroked her cheek with his thumb and pulled her close again. Now he was kissing her. He had not had a chance to prepare himself for her actions the first time and he froze out of fear he was delusional. But now- he ignored the fears he had before and embraced the moment. Suddenly he found his other arm was around her waist, pulling her up to her tiptoes again, her hands making there way up his chest and her arms finding their way around his neck again. They just stood there like that for a while, both content to just..be together. His hand had moved to the back of her head, holding her close to him. It's like she was his drug too, his secret addiction that he craved to be filled but afraid to say or do anything about it before. But now...all of those fears were melting away. All that mattered was staying in this moment, with Violet, his Violet. She deepened the kiss first, he followed suit. But a sudden storm broke their moment as they looked around, Violet was bewildered as to how the storm could have come so quickly and out of nowhere, lightning seem to strike near the house and she jumped.
"Where did this come from?" She asked, looking at Buddy who turned to her and answered.
"Hold on, I will be right back..." He made a B-line for Lorili's room. Violet followed out of curiosity. But when she glanced out of the windows she noticed the storm seemed to be small but powerful, and directly... over... the house...that was odd...
