Chapter 9: Out of Place (part 1)

Violet got out of the restaurant and spotted her father with that slut of a waitress down at the corner, waiting to cross the street. It was now or never. She hastened to the corner. As she was approaching, she spotted the puddle right before them on the street. Instead of stopping and saying something to him, she rushed past the two and jumped into the puddle, making sure to splash them. A smile came across her face as she heard the lady squeal.

"Hey! What's you're problem?" Peter called out.

Violet stopped at the other side of the street and glared to him. "I'm not quite sure. I might be a jerk though. Probably take after my lousy parents," she responded before turning and storming off.

Peter sighed and ran after her. "Violet!" he sternly called to her.

Violet stopped, but refused to turn and face him. "What?" she curtly asked, her arms folded. She just wanted to splash him. She didn't want to actually talk to him.

"What the hell was that all about back there?" he questioned through gritted teeth.

Violet scrunched her brow in confusion. "You seriously have no idea?"

"No."

"Tell me what you and little miss coffee and doughnuts are doing here," she demanded as she quickly wheeled around to him.

"Her parents live in Indiana. We were stopping here on our way there," he calmly explained. "We're thinking about getting married. Now tell me what that was all about back there."

Violet just stared to him with disbelief. "You walk right by me, intentionally ignore me, and still wonder what you did wrong? Are you being like, purposely stupid? Or are you really this slow?"

Peter sighed. "Look, I left you and Nora for a reason. I wanted to start over. I don't need you coming back into my life and screwing things up between Cathy and I," he explained.

"Yes, I'm clearly the one that screwed up things between you and Nora. I planted the naked man in the bed with her and then silly me, I undressed her, completely forgetting about the naked man," she shot back.

"Listen, just stay away from me and let this work," he ordered.

Violet just stood there, looking him up and down. "That won't be hard," she replied and then turned and walked back towards the apartment. She had more things that she wanted to tell him, like how bad of a father he is and how she hopes that this falls apart. Not now though. She was too infuriated. It was hard even knowing that he was still there. She was getting further from him, but it wasn't nearly far enough.

Ooo

Bob and Howard sat on the couch together while Emily went to get ready for the day. "How do you think they can do that?" Howard asked. They had just scene someone on tv do a card trick where the man knew the card that the lady had chosen.

"Probably a marked deck" Bob flatly replied.

Howard looked to him. "Well Bob, it would be dumb if the cards were blank. That doesn't explain the trick though," he responded.

Bob looked to him for a second. "You're, you're right Howard, it doesn't," he said and then went back to watching the show.

The door flew open and quickly shut with Violet rushing to the den. Bob and Howard both looked back. "I guess smiley's back," Bob remarked. He then looked down and checked his watch. She had only been gone a half hour. "I guess I'd better go talk to her," he noted and then stood up.

"I'll just stay here," Howard told him. After the Exorcist comment a few nights ago, he thought it best to stay out in the open.

"You, you do that. And let me know if you figure out that trick," Bob instructed as he headed back to the den.

Ooo

Violet sat on the edge of the bed and stared down to the ground. It wasn't hard for her to understand why her father had reacted the way that he did. His last marriage with Nora sucked. She had been saying that since she was a little girl. There was no way that he parents could have stayed together any longer. It was the way that Nora had ended it though that bothered her. Now, Peter was out there trying to completely start over.

Again, she had no problem with that. It was just the way that he had handled it. He cut her out of his life and ignored her. She was his daughter. Did it make her a spoiled brat to want her father to say hi to her? Even when she acted like she didn't want to be noticed?

"That was uh, some quick lunch," Bob stated as he entered the room.

Violet looked up to him. "I just ate before I left, how much food you think I can fit?"

"Well, if you uh, you think of something else to say," he began.

Violet sat there and sighed. "Same rules apply here as in the office?"

Bob shrugged. "Sure," he replied, nodding.

Violet sat there and stared to him for a moment. She had to go about this a certain way. She couldn't just come out and tell him that her father hurt her. "I enjoy sex," she flat out announced. "Haven't done it too much, but I have done it a couple times. I enjoyed it more the second time, I was a little drunk and less tight."

Bob uncomfortably stared to her. "Um, you, you wanna go with that?" he cautiously implored, taking a seat at the end of the bed.

Violet laughed, smirking to him. "You can't be that uncomfortable with it. It's not like you're a virgin because if that's the case your wife's got some 'splainin to do," she responded. "Anyways though, I used it to get back at Nora for chasing my dad away. Lost my virginity right in her bed. She walked in on us," she told him.

"And did that make you feel better?" he questioned.

Violet smiled as she nodded. "Yes actually. She was so damn awkward around me for so long. I really truly felt like I had gotten back at her."

"So, you're saying that you showed her that you could hurt her like she did you?" he clarified.

Violet nodded. "Yep." She looked down for a minute before looking over to Bob who was patiently waiting for her to continue. "For a man whose profession relies on talk talk talk you appear to be at a loss for words," she stated.

"I just, I uh, wanted to make sure that you were done," he patiently explained.

Violet smirked. "I'm never actually done. I still have to get back at my father you know," she informed him, almost menacingly.

"How, how do you plan on doing that?" he questioned, concerned.

Violet shrugged as she looked down towards the ground. "I don't know," she admitted. "What's equal to telling someone that you want them out of your life?"

"Did he tell you this right before he left?" Bob inquired.

Violet shook her head. "Nope," she sighed. "Just now. I saw him in the restaurant. He ignored me, I followed him, he told me that he doesn't want me around to screw up what he has with his little whore of a girlfriend."

Bob thought for a moment. "Maybe the best thing to do is, is to show him that you don't need him. You, you got rid of him before he got rid of you," he offered.

Violet considered the idea. There wasn't much else that she could do. "I guess that works," she responded.

Emily walked into the room. "Bob?" she called as she entered.

Violet turned and looked to her. "What do you think this is? Your house?" she inquired. "Knock first."

"My husband and I do own the place," she responded.

"Actually, you rent. It's an apartment. You can never own an apartment unless you own the building," Violet argued.

Emily just sighed, she had better things to do than to argue with a seventeen year old over living arrangements.

"Calm down. I gave you five bucks earlier," she told her.

"When?" Emily asked, going through the events of the morning.

"I slipped it into your purse. By the way, you're out of gum. I would get some the next time you're out," Violet responded.

"Why, why do you find it okay to go through Emily's purse?" Bob questioned.

Violet shrugged. "I didn't take anything this time," she stated.

Emily crossed her arms. "Yes, but you can't just go through someone's personal property," she informed her.

"Hey, I'm sorry, but if either of you randomly slipped money into my purse, I would be extremely happy about it," Violet said.

Bob stood up and walked over towards Emily. "Maybe we should just let it go," he suggested. He could see that she was pretty agitated as it was.

"Fine," Emily sighed. "I just wanted to tell you that Howard and Ellen want to meet us tonight for dinner. I thought we could tell them about the baby there," she suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea," Bob replied and then looked back to Violet. She was sitting on the edge of the bed playing with her hair. Even though she annoyed him, he did feel a little sorry for her. That was why he was about to do something that he knew Emily would not be happy with at first. "Can I talk to you a minute. Out, out there?" he requested, motioning towards the living room.

"Sure," she answered, picking up on the seriousness in his voice. She looked to him with concern before turning and leading him through the living room. Howard was still sitting on the couch and Emily really did not want to stand there explaining to him why he had to leave. It was quicker and easier just to go into the bedroom and close the door. "What is it?" she questioned.

Bob sighed. "I, I think we should invite Violet and her uh, her friend," he carefully announced.

Emily stared to him for a minute, trying to decide whether or not he was kidding. "Bob! You're serious," she responded, not sure what to think. It wasn't such a bad idea. It was just odd. She knew that Violet was hard to get along with at first. For some reason, she seemed to like Howard, but she wasn't sure how she and Ellen would get along. Besides that, this was supposed to be her night, and she didn't want it getting ruined.

"Now, before you get upset, I've, I've been talking to her and she thinks no one cares about her. I just, I just want to show her that we recognize her presence," he explained.

Emily sighed. "Okay, you can tell her to call the guy up and ask him. Just make sure that she behaves herself," she explained.

"How about you do it?" Bob implored. "She already knows that I know about her. It might mean more coming from, from you," he explained.

Emily nodded. "I'll go talk to her," she said before leaving the room. She and Bob walked out to see Violet sitting on the couch with Howard, attempting to show him the trick.

"Okay," Violet sighed. She sat facing him on the couch with the deck of cards in her hand. "Now, you're going to pick a card and I'm going to be able to tell you which card you have," she instructed.

Howard went ahead and picked one from the pile and looked at it. Violet then went ahead and looked down at the pile, studying it for a second. "Did you just pick the three of hearts?" she questioned.

Howard looked amazed. "Wow," he gasped. "How did you do that?"

Violet smugly smiled. "I'm psychic. I was able to read your mind. You were thinking about it weren't you?" she implored.

Howard turned to face Bob and Emily. "Have you seen this?" he asked.

"Amazing isn't she?" Bob implored. Knowing her, he figured that she had been using a trick deck.

"Mr. Borden?" she got his attention. "Why don't you take these over to your place and figure it out yourself. All the best magicians are self taught," Violet informed him.

Howard took the deck and headed for the door. "I'll be back in a little bit," he announced before leaving.

"Marked?" Bob implored as soon as Howard was gone.

Violet shook her head. "No. I just never shuffled them. All the cards were in order. I just counted the number of cards that were above the one he picked," she answered.

Emily walked over and sat down on the couch as Bob nodded and headed into the kitchen. "Violet?" she asked. "I was wondering if you and your friend would like to come to dinner with the four of us tonight," she invited.

Violet shrugged. "Sure," she responded. "When and where should I tell him to meet me?"

"You can tell him to meet you here at six thirty. We'll all go together," Emily answered. Truthfully, she did want to meet this boy before hand and see how the two behave together. Give herself a chance to prepare for what the night was about to be like.

"Okay, will do," Violet cheerfully obliged. She stood up and headed to the den to grab the phone number.

Emily offered Bob a smile. "You really are a sweet man Bob," she told him.

"I know."

"We might be paying for it tonight," she added.

"I know."

A/N
Yes, I know, I used a line from Jessica Lange. I just had to though. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter anyways.