So yeah, I renamed this from 'I Will Write Our Story in the Stars' to 'Under Your Skin'. I thought it was a little more fitting to this story.
…
Under Your Skin
Chapter Four
Violet turned the volume dial up on her stereo so that Dirty Little Secret was blaring out through the empty house. She jumped about, swinging her arms around like a lunatic, and shaking her loose hair around her head in time to the beat. She screamed the lyrics out, though her voice was drowned out by the music. When Violet listened to music, she listened to it loud.
She shimmied her way around her bed, kicking her legs out, before doing a roll across the mattress and leaping back up, shaking her hips dramatically. "MY DIRTY LITTLE SECRET!"
She knew she looked ridiculous. Her hair, curled crazily, was even more wild from all the shaking and musing she was doing to it, sticking up around her head in voluminous curls. Her fitted, spaghetti strap green singlet was twisted around her body, disheveled and messy, and her denim short shorts had ridden up her legs so they were even shorter than usual. They were her old clothes, reserved for hot days and time spent around the house, and she must look like she'd been drinking. But she didn't care.
Her dad was still at work and she had to whole house to herself. She'd finished unpacking the last of her stuff when she'd gotten home from school, and she'd placed her school books on her desk, opened at the right pages. Now she was just psyching herself up to actually do the work.
So, naturally, she'd put a CD into the player and had been listening to her latest favourite song on repeat for about five times now.
As the song winded down, she plopped on the bed, breathing heavily. Her forehead was slightly sticky from a little sweat and she had a huge grin on her face. Then she heard the knocking – though it was more like pounding – on the front door. She sighed, pressed the repeat button before padding her way down the hall to the stairs, then to the door.
She swung it open, bracing one arm on the doorframe and the other hand on her cocked hip as she stared up at the guy who was interrupting her god-awful rendition of the song. Violet could not keep a tune to save her life.
Kyle rolled his eyes, looking like the universe was playing some cruel joke on him. "Oh, I should've known."
The music was so loud, she couldn't really hear what he was saying properly, but she was still able to make his words out. Violet grinned like she'd won the lottery. She yelled over the music, "What's that? I can't hear you!"
He looked up at the sky like this couldn't be happening. Dramatic much? Violet knew this was, obviously, about the music. And the fact that it was a tad loud. But she couldn't help it – it helped her relax. And today had been an exhausting day. "Can you turn it down?"
"No." Then she closed the door in his face, smirking to herself. And, wait for it. The knocking – pounding – came again. Violet swung the door open, grinning at him. "What?"
"Turn the music down!"
Violet opened her mouth to reply, but her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out, seeing she had a message from Maddy. They'd exchanged numbers when school finished. Wanna hang?
Grinning, she typed a quick reply. Anything to avoid homework. Where?
She looked back up at Kyle, who was clearly annoyed. Perhaps it gave Violet just a little too much satisfaction knowing she could get under his skin so easily. But then, she was only teasing him. With the door open, it quickly became apparent just how loud the music actually was. She was going to turn it down. But first, she wanted to tease him a little.
"You live around here?" She poked her head out the door, looking both ways down the street, like there would be a sign that had an arrow painted on it, pointing to the house he lived in.
He rolled his eyes, pointing to a house across the street and further down. He leaned towards her so she could hear his next words over the music when it rose in pitch, "Yes! And we can hear your music all the way down there! At least play something else!"
She frowned, folding her arms defensively. "This song is good."
"Maybe the first ten times! After that, it's just a little irritating!"
She made a face. She didn't realize she'd listened to it so many times. She thought it had only been five times max. Well, six now. She sighed, holding her hand up in a wait right there gesture. She went back to her room, taking the stairs two at a time, and turned the volume down before going back down to him.
Her ears rang in its absence. Her phone vibrated again. Maddy. Diner?
I'll be there in 15.
"Happy now?" She asked Kyle sarcastically, her hands on her hips.
He looked at her suspiciously. "You're just going to turn it back up again when I leave, aren't you?"
Violet snorted a laugh. "If it was bugging you, then yes, I probably would. But lucky for you, I'm headed out now anyway."
He looked at her critically, his annoyingly intense eyes running over her appearance, making her feel uncomfortable because she was sure he was judging her, and lingering on her hair. "Maybe brush your hair."
She made a face at his patronizing insult. "Screw you."
He laughed and turned around, jumping off the porch and heading way down the street to his house. Violet almost couldn't believe he heard her music all the way down there. Then she shrugged, closing the door and heading up to her room to put different clothes on. She grabbed her phone, wallet and house keys, heading out the front door to begin the walk back to the diner. She'd passed it this morning when she'd wandered around, trying to make a mental map of everything. Summer Bay was hardly huge.
She shoved earphones in, bobbing her head to the music and picking up her pace. When she passed the house Kyle had pointed to, she saw him and another guy standing out the front, arms folded as they conversed with terse, somewhat strained faces. The other guy looked to a little younger than Kyle, and she wondered if that was Casey, from what Maddy had told her.
They glanced over at her as she passed, and she pulled one ear bud out, narrowing her eyes at Kyle as she called across to him, "What are you looking at, pervert?"
The other guy – Casey? – raised his eyebrows at her in surprise, his attractive features morphing into a slightly incredulous expression, before glancing at Kyle, who rolled his eyes. Was everyone in his family good looking? "I see you didn't try taming your hair."
"And give you the satisfaction? I don't think so. I don't want you thinking I actually listen to you. Work on your repertoire of comebacks while I'm gone." He just looked at her like he couldn't believe she was real. She rolled her eyes. "I hate having to carry the banter all by myself. Later, pervert."
And she turned away, continuing on.
It didn't take long to get to the diner. It was only a ten minute walk at the most, and when she walked in, she spotted Maddy easily, sitting at a table already. She glanced up when Violet walked in, and lifted her hand in a wave. Violet waved back and went to the counter first.
When the guy in front of her finished ordering, Violet stepped up to face the middle aged woman taking orders. Her brown hair was left out and her skin looked like she'd been living in the sun her whole life. "Hi, what can I get you?"
"Do you have milkshakes? Or, more importantly, caramel milkshakes?"
"We do. Just the one then?"
"Please," Violet nodded.
"What size?"
"The biggest one you've got."
The woman laughed, "Alright then." Violet paid for it, before shoving the change back into her wallet. "Take a seat and I'll bring it out to you."
"Thanks. I'll be sitting with Maddy," Violet said, figuring everyone in this town was on a first name basis with everyone else.
"Oh!" the woman blinked. "You must be the new student at Summer Bay. Maddy mentioned she'd made a new friend."
"Violet Jones," she said, sticking out a hand to shake. "You're Maddy's…?"
"Guardian while she's in Summer Bay. Roo. It's nice to meet you."
"You too."
"Well, I won't keep you then. I'll bring it out when it's done."
"Fantastic. Thanks." Violet wandered over to Maddy, sitting down next to her at the square table and looking around. "Roo's nice."
"Yeah, she's great."
"So, tell me everything about this town. What's good, what there is to do, where people hang out."
Maddy did. They talked about a lot of things really quickly. They were laughing so hard when Roo dropped off her caramel milkshake that she couldn't even take a sip of it until a good minute later, after she'd calmed down. They received some weird looks from other customers, but when Violet finished her drink, they got up and left, walking about as Maddy showed her around and introduced her to the locals.
Alf, an elderly man with one of the thickest aussie accents she'd heard in a while, Marilyn, a perky, older woman with a kind disposition, and the man she was dating, John. Leah and Irene, who also worked at the diner, among others. Violet's head was swimming with names by the time she begged Maddy to give her a rest.
It was a good break from her homework, but after they'd talked and laughed and given their own back stories, Violet sighed and said she'd better get home. She had to cook dinner and she still had that homework to do. So they parted ways and Violet headed home.
.::~*~::.
"I just think it'd be good to have a pet," Violet insisted. She sat at the small kitchen table, watching her dad eat the heated up leftovers from the dinner she'd cooked. It was late, and she'd been planning on going to bed when she heard his car pull up in the driveway, followed by the front door opening and closing. He was almost finished, and she'd spent the whole time badgering him about the injured dog she'd found. "I mean, you're at work a lot, and it's just me in this house."
"Oh," he laughed, taking a sip of water. "Now you're pulling out the sympathy card. I'm not saying yes, but if we got a pet, it'd be up to you to look after it and clean it and feed it."
"Thanks dad!" Violet beamed.
"I didn't say yes."
"But you didn't say no, either," she pointed out. "And I've been thinking, there's this animal shelter just out of town a bit, and I might volunteer there and at the vet, if they're looking for volunteers."
"Are you sure that's a good idea," her dad said, around a mouthful of mashed potato.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"You're going to want to bring home every stray animal that finds its way into that shelter. Are you sure you want to volunteer there?"
"Yes," she nodded, adamant. She enjoyed working with animals, and she figured she may as well do something beneficial while she was in Summer Bay. "I'm going to head to bed now dad. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
.::~*~::.
By the end of the week, Violet had gotten into a routine. She'd wake up and head to the beach, where she'd meet up with Tamara, who took a similar path to get to school. They'd go to the diner, and Tamara might get a coffee, or they'd get something for lunch, and then they'd walk to school together where they'd meet up with Maddy, Sasha and Spence at the lockers.
She'd have her classes with varying members of the group, and lunch would always start out with all of them, and then end with Maddy and Violet talking by themselves. After school, she'd hang with Maddy, occasionally Tamara, and sometimes Spencer and Sasha when they weren't doing something by themselves. Then she'd head home, sometimes exchange some snarky words with Kyle if he was around as she walked past, do her homework and cook dinner, and then watch TV if she had time.
It was a comfortable routine. A good routine. But the weekend was coming up, and she wasn't sure what to expect from it. She was contemplating what she would do as she walked home Friday afternoon, her head automatically coming up when she approached Kyle's house.
This time, though, Kyle was nowhere to be seen and instead, the blonde woman from the beach, Ricky, was at her mailbox, searching through it. Ricky looked up as Violet passed, and Violet shot her a wide grin, expecting to only receive a smile or maybe a couple polite greetings in return.
"Violet, right?" She asked, clutching her letters in her right hand.
"Right," Violet nodded. "How's it going? I didn't realize you lived here too."
She made a sound of exasperation, before making an apologetic face at Violet. "Yeah, you'd hardly know it lately. Did you want to come in? For tea, or coffee, or biscuits."
"Oh, thank you, but I don't want to impose."
"Please," Ricky said, and Violet's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the almost pleading note to her voice. "I'd really appreciate the company."
"Okay. Sure."
Violet followed behind her as she led the way, coming to a small patio that had doors on either side, but Ricky opened the one on the right, gesturing at the other door, explaining, "Heath and Bianca live there."
Violet nodded and stepped inside. The lounge room was right in front of her, then there was a wall, and behind it was the kitchen, which Ricky went right to. Just on the left of the door was a hallway that Violet figured led to bedrooms. "What did you want to drink?"
"Um…" Violet said, looking around the cozy house. "Juice?"
"Sure. Make yourself at home."
Violet sat down on the couch, sinking into the slightly older cushion and immediately feeling comfortable. Ricky came over and sat down beside her, passing her a glass of juice before tucking her legs under herself and sipping at what looked like tea. "Thanks."
She nodded, "Thanks for coming in. I just needed to have a normal conversation."
Violet quirked a brow at her as she sipped at the juice. Orange. "Why's that?"
She sighed, "The Braxton clan have been a little…overwhelming, lately."
Clan? There was more than just the two? Huh. Violet snorted, putting the glass down on the coffee table and folding her legs up on the couch, her body twisted towards Ricky. "Well, I can totally provide a normal conversation."
"I know," Ricky laughed. "The highlight of my day is when you yell insults at Kyle as you walk past."
"It is?" Violet asked, her voice full of disbelief.
"Yep," Ricky nodded, and Violet figured this woman could be a little sassy and headstrong herself. Like an older, blonder version of Violet. "He's a sweet guy, coming home every day to check on me when he should be at work, but it's driving me insane. I just wish everyone would stop harassing me and leave me alone. So yeah, I get a little kick out of it when you insult him, because it's what I want to do, but all I can manage is getting angry and telling him to butt out. He's just a typical Braxton. Protective of the people they care about."
"Huh. I'm pretty sure he wants to shove me under a bus." The annoying thing was, Violet knew she was missing something here, and it was killing her not knowing what it was. She had to restrain herself from asking, because Ricky had said she wanted a normal conversation. And it certainly wasn't Violet's place to ask seemingly personal questions.
Ricky snorted a laugh, nearly choking on the tea she'd just sipped. "No, no," she reassured Violet, like she cared whether Kyle was annoyed at her. Then again, in a way she did, because she liked teasing him. He'd brought it on himself. He should've just given her a beer that first day. Or at least, he certainly shouldn't have given her any ammunition by staring at her butt when he turned her down. "I don't think he hates you enough for that."
Violet shrugged, grabbing the glass of juice as the sound of shoes sliding over sand-covered wood stopped any reply she was going to make. Ricky sighed loudly as the door opened and Kyle and the other guy, who she assumed was Casey, walked in. They both had work clothes on; Kyle in his usual black jeans and shirt with the sleeves pushed up, and the other guy with a red and white gym singlet on and black sports shorts. They both paused when they saw Violet and Ricky sitting there.
Ricky sighed again, "Yes, I'm fine, and no, I haven't made a decision, now will you leave me alone? Don't you both have work to be doing?"
"What is she doing here?" Kyle asked, seemingly ignoring Ricky's questions and folding his arms defensively.
"I invited her," Ricky grumped.
"What are you doing here?" Violet retorted. "Don't you have work?"
She made an exasperated face at her, "I'm finished for the day."
"Convenient," Ricky grumbled. They both just continued to stand in the doorway, at a loss to the latest development that clearly put a hurdle in the way of their plans. Violet grinned widely, pleased that she was able to put a pin in their harassing Ricky.
She wrinkled her nose at Kyle, "Maybe you should take a shower. You stink."
Kyle looked at her in disbelief before looking at the others in an is-anyone-else-hearing-this kind of way. The other guy just nodded like she'd just confirmed something for him, "So you're the girl who's been giving my brother hell."
Violet lifted her chin up, "I'm a little offended you didn't figure it out the first time you heard me call your brother a pervert. How many girls give him hell?"
He snorted, "None. But you were a little busy insulting him last time for me to say anything."
"Well, that's true," she conceded to the point before sticking her hand out to him to shake over the back of the couch. "Violet Jones."
"Casey Braxton." He shook her hand, his skin warm as his much larger hand encased hers.
"Nice to meet you."
"Oh, so you're polite to him," Kyle asked, incredulous.
"He didn't stare at my butt, you pervert."
Casey turned to him like this was a new development, a huge, shit-eating grin on his face like Christmas, Easter and his birthday all landed on the same day this year. Smug and amused. "You got caught staring at her butt?"
"She practically shoved it in my face!"
"Are you blushing?" Casey cooed at his brother, laughing. His cheeks were a little pink, but Violet hadn't been paying attention before to know whether they were like that before or not.
"And I didn't shove it in your face! And what about that other time, huh? Did I shove myself at you that time, too?"
"I was saving your life!"
Violet just shook her head, "We've been over this. I don't believe you."
He just threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, turning and walking down the hallway just to the left of the front door, grumbling under his breath. Casey laughed after him, before grinning at Violet, "You really get under his skin."
"It's a talent I pride myself on. Plus, you know, it's a lot of fun."
Casey grinned at her and Ricky cut in, "Alright, time for you to go back to work now."
He rolled his eyes and mock saluted her, before leaving.
Violet drank the last of the juice, getting up and putting the cup in the sink in the kitchen, saying, "Thanks for the juice. Now that Kyle's here, I guess I better go. It was nice talking with you, however brief it was." She walked back out to Ricky, who nodded at her as she sighed, rubbing her face. Violet frowned, pausing by the front door, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm just tired. And stressed. And so sick of people expecting me to make a decision, like I'll just suddenly know." Then, absentmindedly, her hand drifted down to brush against her abdomen. She sighed heavily again, bringing the hand back up to shove hair off her face. It was a quick, smooth movement, but Violet's jaw dropped.
"You're having a baby?" Violet whispered, eyes going wide in awe. Ricky's head snapped around to look at her quickly, surprise flashing across her face, and that was answer enough for Violet. "Congratulations!"
'Thanks, I guess," she mumbled.
"You guess?" She asked, her voice dripping in disapproval before she could stop it. It really wasn't any of Violet's business, and she knew that. What Violet personally thought meant nothing. And then Ricky's earlier words made sense – a decision she had to make. About keeping the baby. "I'm sorry," Violet said quickly, looking down at the floor, her cheeks heating. "It's none of my business."
"It's fine," Ricky said, tense.
Violet bit her lip. "I don't know anything about your life or the circumstances surrounding it, but…but you have life growing inside you. Your baby, Ricky. Your precious, tiny little baby, so completely innocent, who loves you unconditionally right at this moment, is growing inside you and is relying on you to bring it safely into this world. You're giving it life. You're the reason it's coming into be. It's a miracle and it's beautiful and you're so lucky to be blessed with that."
For a moment, they just looked at each other. Then Ricky nodded in an acknowledgement that she understood what Violet was saying. "Thank you."
"See you later Ricky."
So, what did you think? Let me know.
I'm working up to the music festival stuff still. I know. It's taking longer than I thought, but I have future bits and pieces already written, so now it's more a task of just filling in the blanks.
And thanks so much to everyone who reviewed and favourited and alerted! I'm so flattered you guys are interested in reading this story! Thank you!
Review replies –
Teddy bear 007: Hahahaha! Oh my gosh, when I read your review, I had a flashback to that scene from Thor, where he wants another drink and yells "ANOTHER" before smashing the empty cup on the floor in the middle of the diner! Hahahaha! Hilarious! I'm stoked you want to read more! Thank you so much for reviewing!
Rebeccabraxton: Aw, thank you! I'm so glad the last chapter didn't disappoint! Hopefully this one didn't either! Haha, I'm glad you liked that she was making friends, and her bargaining and lying! I'm really glad you want to read more! Thank you so much for reviewing every chapter to far! It's really nice of you :D
Sheerio4ever:Thank you! I'm stoked you thought it was awesome! I know, their dating history is all over the place and crazy complicated sometimes, it's just ridiculous! But it's kind of funny too! Thank you so much, I'm really glad you want to read more! Thank you so much for reviewing!
Guest: No, thank you for reviewing! Giving up doesn't sit well with me; when people comment about it to me, it just makes me even more determined not to! Gosh, thank you so much! I'm really flattered it's your favourite story right now! Wow! Oh, there will definitely be twists, but not for a while yet, unfortunately. Haha, I can't tell you that yet (partly because I'm not sure who she'll date yet, and partly because in the end she's going to end up with Kyle – I just haven't figured out how she's going to get to that yet!). Thank you so much for leaving such a nice review!
Waterlooroadfan2012: Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed the chapter! I can definitely look in to that – did that happen in the show? (I didn't watch Home and Away a lot last year because of study, so I missed a fair bit!). Thank you so much for leaving a review!
Nicola: Aw, thank you so much! I'm flattered you think this story is awesome and that you love it! I'm really, really glad! Thanks so much for leaving a review too! It means a lot to me! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too!
Charlie: Thank you! I'm stoked you think this story has potential, and that you think I'm doing amazing work! Thank you so much! I'm really glad you're enjoying it and seem to want to read more! Thanks so much for reviewing again! :D
