~~~~~~Violet's POV~~~~~~
Today was the last day I was going to get to see Suzy for a week. I sigh and get out of bed. Realising the smell in the air was uncannily green tea, I raced towards my door and opened it a bit. I leaned around the door and then, I remembered: I had a hickie on my neck that needed to be covered up desperately.
I shut the door, pressed my back up against it and slowly slid down. I sat contemplating whether having my sister around was a good idea for a little while but eventually got up and sat at my black make-up table. I covered my arms and neck with foundation and then decided to do my daily make-up style. I grabbed my long, floaty and not-too-low-cut black dress with purple ribbons and puffy short sleeves (and the elasticated line was just below my chest region) along with black leggings underneath it. My hair was pulled into a high pony tail with a bobble and my skull-with-bat-wings hair piece clipped over the top. The purple strands were left loose and hung on the sides as usual, but I had to straighten them!
I opened my door so it was 1 cm ajar. "Hey, sis."
"Yeah? What do you want? Why haven't you come out yet? I made you green tea." My sister replied in a worried tone.
I ignored nearly all of the questions.
"Could you go grab my straighteners from upstairs please? It's nine 'o' clock so the guys should be up already."
"Go get them yourself." She snapped.
"I'm not done with my outfit yet, plus you left them upstairs so you go get 'em."
"Alright, Alright. Calm ya tits, midget gem."
"Hey! You have no authority to call me that!" I snap back as she went upstairs. The worst part of it all? I knew she was smiling about it. Moments later she knocked on my door in which I opened up a bit again so that the straighteners and heat protection spray bottle could fit through. I immediately slammed the door after receiving the items.
"They've been using them, ya know." Rose shouts from the living room.
"Excuse me? What now?" I call brushing through the purple strands and turning the straighteners on.
"When I went in Dan was on the sofa, ready, with straight hair."
"WHAT THE FUCK?! I'M GONNA HAVE A WORD WITH THEM!" I yell finishing up with my hair and turning the straighteners off and unplugging them. As I pass the cabinet and my eye catches the sight of my black leather pumps and eventually my bright purple lipstick. I grab the shoes and put them on. The lipstick that I also grabbed was applied and stuffed into my black leather fringe bag, in which I'd switched all of my items into the night before.
When I opened the door, Rose was waiting outside of my room with two to-go hot drink cups. "Sis, you look beautiful! Oh, by the way, here's ya green tea." She handed me a to-go cup and we headed out of my apartment. I locked the door after getting the key from her and headed up stairs.
I heard her mutter: "Barry's gonna like your adorable outfit!"
I instantly replied with: "Hey, it's not for Barry. It's for Suzy. Todays the last time I'll see 'er for a week ya know."
"Ah, right. But still, he's gonna get the wrong idea."
"Not if a fiery temper turns up at his door." I smirk.
"Uuurgh, V. You're so boring. Ruining every little bit of fun I've got left, you are." She sighs as we reach the door and I knock on it.
"Rose, do shut up." I turn to look at my sister as the door creeks open. I put my evil eyes into play before turning around and spotting Dan. I tried to stay calm but Dan with straight hair is the most hilarious thing I'd seen, while working with them, yet. My face shook in and out of laughter. In the next moment, I broke the awkward silence because I was laughing so hard.
"What's so funny, Violet?" He asks.
"You-" I begin. "You and your straight hair!" I calm down a bit and snigger. Barry turns up behind Dan with a confused face as I wasn't in his view.
"What's going on out here? Oh, hi Rose." Barry smiled.
"Hey, B!" She smiled. I turn up from around the corner with a calm face. How did I calm down that quickly?
"Good morning, Barry! Are you ready to go?" I ask in an upbeat tone. His jaw was inches close to dropping. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, you look stunning today." He replies.
"Why, thank you kind sir."
"What's with the fancy get-up?" Dan asks, completely ruining the moment.
"This is the last day I'll see Suze for a week. She deserves my effort after everything she's done for me."
"That attitude's come by surprise, sis! You weren't like that yesterday." Rose teases while the men step out and Dan locks their apartment door.
"For your, bloody, information, Rose." I speak through gritted teeth. "One: I was hung over yesterday. Two: Fuck you." A middle finger is stuffed into her face, it appeared to be mine.
"Look whose back to normal!" Rose spoke in a sing-song-y voice and I reply with a supressed groan.
I slowly and try-hard to be cheerful while I float down the hall with Dan (the slacker) by my side. Taking a sip of my green tea, he begins to quietly ask me a question.
"Hey, Violet. Are you always like that with her?"
"Dan, this is what you call Great-British/Geordie-sisterly-love. Yes, it's supposed to be like that sometimes. Of course, you don't quite know what it's like. Well, you didn't until now. It can get even worse considering everything we've been through. It's just a matter of time that determines whether it stays this way." I start walking faster, thus leaving Dan behind. I began thinking as Dan called for us all to slow down.
'Will we ever be able to act exactly like we used to? Probably not, considering I was still a kid and she was in her early teens before life went to shit.' I sigh as we all gather into the elevator. 'Who gives a fuck?! Not me. Nope. Notion not-giving-a-fuck is underway! Well, there's a couple of people besides us in here, so it's not the right time to tell them of my irrational hatred for elevators, now. I just feel so light headed when I'm in one. It's like I'm about to pass out every time, but I never do. Oh well. Just wait this one out.'
I lean against the handle bar on the small rooms left wall to save me from a little bit of the light headedness. My fringe hid my eyes in which held a distressed expression. 'One of these days, I'm actually gonna faint. But not today!' I wasn't going to allow defeat from an elevator.
I was fine, luckily. When we reached the lobby, I was the first to hurry out. Upon turning around, no-one else had considered getting out. I put my hands behind my back and a smile on my face.
Even though the smile wasn't forced, it didn't feel quite right. I dismissed my thoughts on the subject and waited. They thought I was some kind of sorceress due to the speed I got out of the elevator.
"How did you…?" Dan asked.
"I'm a magic owl, dude!" I smile. They all stare at me with confused expressions. My shoulders drop. "Magic owl… ya know." I sigh in disappointment. "Hoodini… No…? Okay." Pacing forward, I grimace at the humourless fuckers behind me.
Again, I was reminded of how my hair was slowly going ginger. 'Oh Jesus, I hope that beanie gets here soon. I hope it gets here in a three day period.'
Since Dan had some quick rounds to do after work, the guys took both of their cars. I felt as if I was gonna offend someone if I didn't chose them but automatically reminded myself that I don't matter, so it was impossible for them to get offended by that. And that they'd be more offended if I did sit in with them.
My sister and the guys were having another conversation, reminding me of how much more social she'd always been. I trailed behind the three older people. I considered my possibilities. 'If I go with Barry now, I'll help Dan on his rounds. I mean, it could be fun… but then he'll insist on buying me a late night snack… I'll just deny 'im. Honestly, who wants to be beaten up by someone 10 years younger than them and 1"7 smaller than them over a sandwich? Probably not Daniel.'
It took me a while to speak up as their conversation was surprisingly deep. Also, I had to work out what to say.
"Depression is powerful shit, I should know from experience. I wonder wheth-" 'Yes, Dan. I've been depressed almost every day of walking this earth since I was 13. I know what it's like.'
"Dan?" I decide that was the perfect time to butt in.
"-er… Yeah?" He turns to face me, while still walking.
"If you want, I could go with you on your rounds tonight. Ya know, to give you some company and an extra pair of hands if you need them."
"It depends on how you feel later on tonight, Violet. We're moving the stuff into the office today, so you mightn't want to. But thanks, for the offer." 'Of course I'm gonna help, Dan. It's not gonna be that tough, considering there's 1-2-3-4-5-6… 8 or maybe even 9 or 10 people on the job.' There was gonna be way more people than I expected.
Barry started heading off in the direction of his car. I felt pressured to decide who to follow. The blue eyed man slowly looked down at his phone, not paying attention to where he was going. My gaze was shifted to a car in which was headed towards him as he crossed the parking lot. Panicking, my brain recognised that he may not have enough time to react if I called over to him.
I broke out into a sprint an eighth of a second after that. I thought that I wasn't going to be fast enough, in which I despised myself for. I just reached him when I heard "BARRY, LOOK OUT!" from behind me. He turned to see the car headed his way and his blue eyes lit up like a deer in the same situation. At the millisecond before impact I crashed into his chest with my arms out ready to hug him… And that's when I started crying.
My grip was firm as we landed in the safe zone and his back—and my hands—scraped across the tarmac. 'V, what are you inaudibly crying for? You saved the dumb mother fucker. That's twice you've nearly been hit in the same damn car park.' Barry looked down at me, shocked and in a state of panic.
"B-be careful." I said soberly. "You're gonna get yourself killed." We sat up with a little bit of difficulty and noticed Dan and Rose trying to deal with the distressed people in the car. I looked down in relief and sighed.
Another unnecessary tear hit the floor.
I couldn't help but think that we could have lost him if I didn't step in when I did.
Barry breathed out with some force before getting up and then lending me a hand.
Dan and Rose came over to us.
"Dude, you alright?" Dan asked his bearded colleague/roommate.
"I'm A-Okay, man." Barry replied. I stood, with my head down, still in complete horror of what had just ensued.
"V, you alright, petal?" My sister asked and I couldn't find the words to respond or the strength to move.
I never find the courage to respond due to the planet—in my head—completely shattering after my single tear –still in my head– enveloped it's self around the earth and a massive explosion happened. This probably represented the utter state of shell shock that I was suffering from.
Barry put his hand on the top of my back and led me into the back seat of his car. Dan and Rose headed over to his car, hurriedly. My sister was probably muttering some complete, utter and undoubtedly otaku lovey dove-y shit—about Barry and I—that Dan wouldn't hesitate to agree on like this sick pervert I thought him out to be.
We began to drive to Arin and Suzy's place — for what I thought would be the last time— together, in absolute and utter silence.
The weather was still horrible but I could just about manage it today. The snow seemed inviting to me as I felt just as cold as the object in question when I did not respond to my sister and continue to act like she doesn't care after asking me about how I was holding up.
We all know that she does, in fact, care.
As he started up the car, my mind created images of the opposite out come and losing him…
No, Violet. Don't think about it.
You saved his life.
No one cares.
He cares.
No he doesn't.
Yes, yes he does.
Stop arguing with yourself, V. Get a hold of yourself.
I shed more tears as the silence ensued, each second more painful than the last. My chest began tightening with the shortage of breath, it was somewhat normal for me. I felt the same way after every time I'd sinned—raised catholic, stayed catholic—to an excruciating degree, so almost every sin I made. The car came to an unexpected, but completely normal (might I add), stop after I pulled my rosary from my bag.
I was a heavy believer, but no longer went to church or read the bible religiously (no pun intended). The bible was there to go to for life advice—yes, I let religion help me with issues that I could simply ask Suzy, Holly or Rose about—as I was terrified of bringing people into my problems and getting questioned too far into the matter.
The rosary was just to grip on to, the cross facing noticeably out. Just begging for the pain in my chest to stop. My fringe stooped in front of my face so that my fake perfect blue eyes were covered.
In the rear view mirror, Barry saw the tears trickling my face and said nothing.
He doesn't care. He saw it on your face and hasn't said a word. He really doesn't.
Moments later, my beliefs were brought to a halt.
"Violet… please… please, stop crying." He turned to me. "I'm okay. You know that, for a fact." Barry turned back and continued driving.
His words of attempted comfort hit me like arrows coming left-right-and-centre.
The rest of the journey went on like it started, complete and utter silence.
When we arrived, the first thing to happen was for Barry to get out of the front of the car and sit in the back. His awkwardness would have been hilarious if the mood wasn't so deep. His slid beside me and all of a sudden, I was pulled into his chest.
"I have 2 things… to say to you." Pause. "I'm stupid and uncareful." Long-assed-pause. One stupidly long assed pause, I'd ever experienced in my life, later. "And I'm sorry… so-so thank you, Violet. Thank you, for saving my life." I dropped the rosary and my arms wrapped around his torso.
"I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA LOOSE YOU! ONE MILLIMETRE BARR, ONE FUCKING MILLIMETRE AWAY FROM LOOSING ONE OF MY FAVOURITE PEOPLE." I cried while jittering like a mother fucker. We just stayed in the same tight embrace for a whole five minutes.
Most of my mascara was on his t-shirt and on my cheeks. It wasn't the first time that I'd messed my eye make-up up.
It didn't matter, all that did matter was that Barry cared so much that he hugged me! Right now, life felt like an anime- how ever badly written it may have seemed.
I put the rosary back in the bag and pulled out my concealer to cover up the mascara on my cheeks, Suzy couldn't know about this. Once I'd sorted myself out, I met Barry at the door where he waited for me. A smile was pinned to my face. When we entered Suzy, Arin, Ross, Holly and Mark (Along with another few people I didn't know) were all working hard, surrounded with boxes. I figured Dan and Rose hadn't gotten here yet.
One of the other unfamiliar people walked up to me and held out a hand. "My name's Graham, I'm your guys' lawyer."
I received the hand shake while thinking to myself: 'Wait. We have a lawyer? All I know is that we do need one, Arin and Dan get a little bit out of control sometimes. But, Jesus. When we have a lawyer, you should tell me.' "Hi, my names Violet. I'm a new colleague." I smile.
When our hands had been broken apart after the awkward 5 seconds of silence, I walked over to the pile of boxes where Suzy sat labelling them. Even though I felt bad for disturbing her, I had to- to know what I was doing.
"Hey Suze," I bend down to her level as she was sitting on the stairs' bottom step. "What do ya want me to do?"
"Oh, hi V. Arin needs help down in the office, with the games... considering there is a lot of them." She smiled.
"Just call me if you need any help, gal, you're looking a little pressured there."
"Thanks. You too." She replied before I headed down to the office. Arin was practically within a workout session as his movements were fixed to: Grab something from the shelf, bend down, put thing in the box, stand back up and repeat.
"Hey Arin." I began.
"Hi, could you gimme a hand?"
"That's why I'm here, after all." I smile. "I'm super excited to get the new office in place."
"I know but it's gonna take all of our energy to do it, though."
"It'll be worth it in the end."
"I know, its energy well spent at least."
"For most of us…" I mutter under my breath.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing."
We spent time just piling things neatly into the boxes without conversation. Eventually, Rose and Dan turned up and I gave them a face that said for them not to mention earlier on.
I soon got bored of the fact that only human sounds were occasional sighing, grunting and Arin complaining about the pain in his back, so I decided that turning life into a musical was appropriate.
My brain registered a random song that happened to be After Ever After by Jon Cozart. I began with the opening and from behind me, I hear Rose join in. It was amazing that we had the same music taste, even after 17 years.
We had some boxes to deliver to Suzy, upstairs, and the look on her face, after hearing the parody's lyrics, screamed 'I'm-traumatized'. The ending verses 3rd line in which portrays Belle's situation, the line being 'Bestiality'. I rose my arms into the air and sung it really loudly. It caused Suzy to be more traumatized and Arin to start helplessly laughing.
We started on the sequel to said song and at the beginning of the acapella, where the tune from 'Mulan's 'I'll make a man out of you' is used, the line 'I wanna be a man' is sung, Suzy goes from 'ordinarily-traumatized' to 'you're-ruining-my-childhood-traumatized'. Now, I just pretended not to notice, as did my sister.
The Cinderella portion of the song is my favourite part, as it talks about the princess getting thrown into a mental asylum, and it sends smiles to everyone's faces. Reluctantly, even Suzy's.
Another of the unknown guys walked up to me. He looked, about, 40 years old. "Hi, I'm Brian."
"Oh, right." I was slightly startled by him actually speaking too me. "Hi, I'm Violet. I assume you work with Danny, he talks about you a lot." I smile while shaking his hand and then pick up a box to take outside where a pile was already waiting to be packed in the cars. "Well met, Ninja Brian." I turn around and exit for a brief moment.
I giggled to myself, realising how stupid I sounded and the fact that I look 14 doesn't help. I sighed and moved back inside and down stairs to help Arin again.
Once we'd finished up with packing and given many, many boxes to be put in the boot and back seat of the car, Barry and I got in Mr Kramer's car.
I thought now would be the perfect time.
There was silence. Until I decided to start the ball rolling.
From my bag, I pulled a make-up wipe out and while wiping the foundation away I covered up the hickie spot on my neck.
"Hey, Barry." I awkwardly began. It was the type of awkward that you get in a secondary school love confession. Yeeaaaah, it made the already awkward 100 times worse.
I decided to be very awkward but up front. "I… I-I need to-urm-show you… some…thing."
"Umm, w-what is it?" He seemed pretty terrified but he had every right to be.
I began to tell him something, which would change his life forever, as we drove on to the freeway. "Urrm, I want to not be awkward about showing you this but… 1. I'm failing badly and 2. Well… ummm… As much as I hate to break your mind forever. I think you did something to my appearance."
"What in the fuck do you-?" He cut himself off because I craned my neck round to face him and showed him the love bite. "SHIET! I swear that was not me. I swear to god that was not me."
The intimidating tactics were brought to the metaphorical table.
"Why'd you seem so desperate, hmm, Barry? You look frightened there. You're practically sweating." I said inching closer and closer to his ear. Obviously, I intimidated him in a manner that didn't distract him from driving and cause an accident.
"That's because it's so hot in here."
"It's December. Unless it's because you're in a car with a hot chick like me, hmm. You know, the one you gave the hickie to."
"I didn't give you that… thing."
"You're talking about it like a monster. What're you tryin' to say?"
"Nothing like that." He tried with all of his will power, for me to forget the matter at hand.
"Stop trying to avoid it. I know it was you."
"Why'd you say that?"
"Because we got super-super-super drunk at that party."
His face went a shade of pink in realisation. "Well, why are you certain it was me?"
"Well, I can tell Dan liked Rose, plus your Jewish friend didn't get that mortal. Arin and Ross are married. And you were the only single guy at that party who I'm very-very-very fucking close to and shows that kind of interest about me."
"It could've been Mark." He protested and I pouted while tilting my head to the side.
"Well, Mark isn't an idiot who falls in love with anyone who isn't special and plus, he barely knows me. But you, on the other hand, could write a very embarrassing biography about me."
"Stop being mean to yourself cuz you know that's not true. And you did say we got super-super-super drunk-"
"We being you and me in particular. Mark was able to handle a sentence. You and I, on the other hand, could barely remember our own names. Never mind, forming a normally structured sentence."
Barry's face slipped into a bright red and his voice disappeared for a little while.
All of a sudden: "I-I'm sorry. All evidence points to me. And plus, Ross, Dan and Arin said we disappeared off into a corner behind the wall." I again remembered how I fell asleep while they were explaining it to me yesterday and decided to inform him.
"We did what?!"
"Weren't you listening?"
"A hung over as fuck girl needs a nap every once in a while."
"Fair enough."
"Look, I haven't brought any foundation with me so, we need a decent explanation for Suzy, Dan and my sister."
"You've got concealer, right?" Barry asked and I nodded. "Why don't you use that?"
"Because I don't want to use it all up and to cover something of this size and this colour, I will end up using it all."
"I'll give you the money to buy a new one."
"Barry, quit avoiding it. Plus make-up that isn't on my face is really fuckin' annoying."
"Well, you put it on your arms, I mean…"
"How exactly do you know that?"
"You've shown me the cuts on your arms it's not like they can just disappear."
"Oh… yeah…" I went quite as I was reminded about having to give myself another one as a punishment for the fact that I weirded people out at the party. It was something I felt I had to do.
I began slowly tapping the top of my right arm with my left hand while trying to hold back my emotions because if I didn't, I'd look completely useless. My face went stone-faced-sad as the mood just took a cliff dive. I blinked away any on coming salty tears that may have been there and looked out of the window on to the snow and slush covered sides of the freeway.
"Hey, have I just… urr- upset you?"
"It wasn't you," I began. 'You of all people, Barry, cannot see me like this. I can't let you try to stop me from doing the only thing that hurts me anymore. How else am I supposed to control my shitty self, hmm?' I cheerfully smiled while looking up at the man next to me to lessen the tension. "So, don't worry about it, alright?"
He didn't look so confident about just dropping my previous quick fire sadness. It scared me to think that he'd try and stop me and in the process- Barry'd get hurt.
'This isn't working Violet. He can tell, as just as much as anyone, that your trying to drop it. Don't be fooled by his caringness, it's not the truth.' I knew I'd stay strong by lying to myself about that.
We stopped at a set of lights and I moved my ponytail to my left shoulder. I ruffled B's hair and gave another of my fake reassuring smiles. That's when I heard a familiar voice from the car beside us. (The window was open because I am deathly weird and requested to keep it like that until we reached the 'Grump-Space'.)
"Yo, Barry. Sup, Violet?" It was Dan who smiled at us with Rose sitting in the seat next to him.
"Yo" I replied looking their way and smiling.
"Sup?" Barry replied.
"We meet again you old weirdoes." I joke.
"Hey! I'm not that old!" Dan remarked.
"And the 35 year old tried to get a very knowledgeable 25 year old to believe he is not old." I monologue in a sarcastic tone.
"Oh, just be quite." He mocked while smiling.
"Sis, what's that?" Rose exclaimed out of nowhere.
"What'd ya mean sis?" I start to frantically trying to roll up the window with my elbow.
"On ya neck… Is that a-? No way! Dan, do ya see that?!"
"What do you mean?"
"On her neck."
"Fuuuuck. Barry, you have some explaining to do." Dan joked.
I roll up the window after saying: "I have no idea what you guys are talking about, but the last one at the Grump-Space loses." I turn to Barry. "It's on green, drive. Now."
He obeyed quickly. "Well, that went well."
"Stop with the sarcasm, man." I growl.
Silence came over us once again.
~~~~~~Barry's POV~~~~~~
I felt completely awful and generally didn't feel right anymore. There was this awkwardness between a colleague and I that probably wouldn't go away for months from that point.
We drove down the rest of the freeway in another silence. The radio played in the background. Violet lay back in her seat and shut her eyes.
We nearly reached the second set of traffic lights when the silence was broken.
"Eww…" It was Violet as her eyes shot open. Her hands clapped over her mouth as if she wasn't supposed to say it out loud.
"What?" I replied.
"It's nothing, really." She diverted her eyes back to the passenger seat window.
"There's something. Now, spill it."
"The thought of you kissing me isn't at all pleasant. Dude, it's so wrong."
"That's… rude."
"Dude. It isn't, it's just my opinion."
"Yeah, it is."
"Oh shut up."
"Why is it so disturbing, then?"
"Well… You're a colleague…"
"Yeah."
"My sister and Dan know it was you and I'll never hear the end of it…"
I stopped at the next set of lights behind a few other cars. It then came to me why she might have been disturbed and I decided to have a little bit of fun with it.
"Is it because of my fluffy beard?!" I grabbed Violet's face after teasing her and rubbed my beard on the side of her face.
"Du-ude, gross. Stop touching me with that thing!" She wined trying to disconnect herself from my facial hair. "Yes, that's why it's so disgusting! Get o-off!"
"So," I let go of her face and put my hands on the wheel. "You hate my beard, hmm?"
"No, it's just not the best thing to fucking… I can't explain it. But, all I know is I find it really fucking gross to kiss. Don't shave it though."
"Why not?"
"You look 18 without it." Violet folded her arms, shuffling away from me. Somehow she seemed embarrassed to admit it. Violet relaxed into the same position she was in before she realized how 'disgusting' it was for me the kiss her as the traffic light became green and I continued towards the new work space.
That was the last conversation in the vehicle before we got there.
I pulled up in a decent space and Violet grabbed her bag and exited before me. She grabbed three of the boxes from the back seats and began walking towards the entrance of the office. Awkward much.
After following suit and going in to the office, I saw just how great of a space it was. Violet stood in the middle of the building, just staring, still with all three big boxes in her arms. No one aside from our manager, Brent, had gotton there at that moment. I only knew he was there after he appeared from around the corner.
V lowered the boxes down on the floor gently while still staring at the open space. I walked somewhere in front of her after setting my two boxes down and saw that her eyes had almost glazed over in amazement.
Brent stepped in front of her, waiting for Violet to snap to her senses.
The female jumped after realising he was there.
"Hi, I'm Brent, you guys' manager."
"Oh, hi." Violet put out a hand. "I'm Violet, but I guess you knew that already."
"I did, yes. Although, it's nice to finally meet you." Brent smiled. He released himself from the hand shake. "Now, we just wait for the others to get here."
"Actually, Brent. I have to get some more boxes from the car." Violet said before turning around and throwing her bag in to the corner.
"You won't be able to manage all of them." I called after her.
"You wanna bet?" She joked before leaving the building. I sighed and Brent chuckled.
"She's the independent type, huh?" Brent smiled and I nodded before exiting the Grump-Space.
When I looked at my car, while heading towards it, Violet was leaning over two stacked boxes in front of her. She pushed her fringe out of her eyes and I noticed the stressed look in her face. She saw me and instantly grabbed two more boxes and stacked them to make a pile of four. She swept them up and glided towards me.
For such a small women, she sure was strong.
Arin and Suzy parked near us and saw just as the box at the top began to slip. I didn't move in time to catch it, so the box fell on her shoulder and, on the way down, it hit her hip.
She squinted in pain but carried on. Arin watched as she gracefully put the box that she dropped at the bottom of the stacked pile in her arms.
Suzy and Arin only carried in a box each. "Hey, B." Suzy greeted.
"Hi."
"How the hell is she doing that? Please stop her before she pulls her back out of place." Arin grunted.
"Knowing V, she'll probably know how to put it back into place." I laughed and the married couple soon returned the laughter.
Violet left 1 of the boxes outside so that she could get through the doorway without another injury. I put it at the bottom of my stack while I past, to save her the energy. When she realised I had it, she just sighed and ruffled my hair while saying:
"Aww, Barry, you didn't have to. Be careful, you're gonna pull your back out with three boxes of that weight… Here, lemme get one off your hands." She jumped trying to reach the top of the pile, and after realising she was too short to reach, I lowered my arms a bit. "Goddamnit, I hate being short." Violet groaned.
Suzy and Arin smiled devilishly on the way past, like it was a suggestion to something. Once Violet had a box and practically kicked the ajar door open fully, we set the boxes down. Arin and Suzy went out to go and get another few from their vehicle.
Violet slouched against a wall and slid down it with her phone in hand. "Hey, B! Brent! Put the boxes around me so I can scare the living shit outta Suze and Arin." We nodded and did as she instructed.
We built up a wall in front of her and got into a position in which looked natural.
Arin and Suzy had come and gone until all of the boxes from the car had been unloaded before they realised that Violet wasn't in they're sight. Of course all the boxes that they'd brought in where stacked up from where we'd started.
"Wait, where's V?" Arin asked after leaning against the wall.
Violet creepily lead her arm out of a gap we'd deliberately made in the boxes, so she could breathe. Suzy jumped at the sight of it.
"Whose arm is that?" It was Ross, who spoke while walking through the door and carrying couple of boxes.
"Mine." A muffled Violet claimed. Ross' eyebrows raised like she was weird, she couldn't see him doing it. "Ross, stop with the flippin' eyebrows and put the bloody boxes down will you."
Was she some kind of psychic?
"This… This is gonna be… a tight squeeze." Violet giggled before snaking around the big cardboard cubes full of games and collectibles. Just as her head, arms and chest region surfaced, Ross lent out his arm for her to grab on to. Holly entered and watched Violet appear into the office, using her Aussie husband's arm to hook on to.
After Violet successfully got out of the cardboard box stronghold, Holly hurried Ross. "Come on, Ross. The dudes are waiting for us outside."
"I'm going too." Arin claimed and following Ross and Holly out. Violet leaned on the wall to the right of Suzy and looked down in a worrying manner.
I knew of some of the things that may have been running through her mind. She didn't realise her pony tail had fallen to the right side of her head.
"V, you comin' to get some air out side for a minute?" Suzy spoke once looking at her. "How 'bout you B?"
Oh, oh no. Oh shit.
"Yeah." I lazily reply and Violet lightly nods as her fringe falls in front of her eyes.
Fuuuuuuuck. Fuck this.
We all make it out side without a word. Violet sits on the low wall with her head still hanging low.
"What happened?" Suzy began in an accusatory tone. "What is that, V?"
Silence.
"Barry, can you talk to me about this or am I being ignored."
I look at her, pursing my lips. Silence, on Violet's part, still.
"I've been avoiding the word for a while but, screw it." Suzy paused for a moment. "Why has Violet got a hickie all of a sudden?"
I opened my mouth for a second but shut it, knowing Violet probably wouldn't be happy with a slap-dash explanation like the one I was about to give.
"What's this sudden silence for? Hmm? What's the matter, the pair of you?"
Stillness.
"Barry. Please, tell me what happened in that car. Please."
Violet suddenly got up and walked around to the side of the building after muttering: "Excuse me." The black hoodie she was now wearing (after finding it in the boot of my car and claiming it while we put the boxes filled with the classic games in the car) added some sort of extra sadness or worriedness about her.
Suzy kind of just raised her eyebrows as Violet turned the corner, as if to say: Did we strike a chord, bad enough for her to walk away?
I slowly paced towards her location and Suzy followed close behind. Violet was crouched and leaning on the wall behind her as her fringe covered her eyes and the hoodie's hood was half over her head.
Her head swung back and her fist slid out from inside the sleeve. It was all bloodied up so was the wall behind her. Her contained anger caused her to punch the wall, it was a better choice than punching Suzy but still, it wasn't good.
I saw her eyes from behind her dark fringe when she leaned her head back. They seemed to be fighting any sort of emotion. The afternoon sun shone on to our backs and the visible side of V's face. She leaned her forehead on her none-blood-covered fist before the clearly bloodied hand held on the wall pushing her up from the squat she was previously in.
It was clear to Suzy that she'd angered Violet with the way she'd demanded the truth. Violet shoved her hands in the unfastened hoodies pocket while looking up at the sky in front of us all. "Suzy," She was calm. "It happened on the night of the party. When we got super-fuckin' of our fuckin' faces. Trust in me that it won't happen again. That's another reason why I won't be drinking ever again. I apologise for punching the wall," She turned around with her head down and started walking. "But, sometimes… sometimes somethings gotta give. Plus, it's only a little scratch."
"But, Violet you could of just said. Yes, I'm still angry but now that I know you weren't sober, I forgive you." Suzy grabbed on to the back of the black hoodie.
"The way you came across said otherwise." V pulled herself away from Suzy's grasp. The short British female walked faster towards Arin and a moving guy who were struggling with a shelving unit. Her hands went from inside her pockets on to the furniture and Arin thanked her but said she didn't have to.
Suzy looked at me. "B, is this true? It happened at the party?"
I nodded. "She only just showed me the… mark while we were getting over here and Sherlock-ed her way to the sick truth, that it was me."
"I'm not mad, I just worded it wrong. I know she was nervous to show it to someone but, I think I should've seen it before you. When she skipped to conclusion a little too quickly like that, don't you think it's a statement? That maybe-" Suzy giggled when I abruptly interrupted her trying to stop her jumping to her own little conclusion.
"What were you supposed to say then?" We proceeded to also go and help the moving guys while I tried to keep my dignity intact.
Suzy couldn't help but surpass my question and ask her own while still smiling. "What's that matter Barry? I was only saying how V may like you."
"She does." I state. "As a colleague." In my head that was a sick burn but Suzy laughed it off like it was nothing. I couldn't help but start walking a little bit faster to salvage as much as my dignity I could in that moment.
Once the moving guys had left and we were all inside we got to assemble our new work space. Dan and Rose hadn't turned up yet. Violet sighed, stopped from working and pulled out her phone.
After a little bit of texting, she sighed again. "The stupid bitch is lost. Let me go find them." She left her phone on top of the cabinet and left without making any eye contact. Just before the door shut, Violet muttered: "They're fuckin' retardedly useless, but they already know that."
~~~~~~Rose's POV~~~~~~
Dan didn't pay attention to the SatNav because we were talking and laughing too much. In conclusion, I had to text my sister.
"Yo," I began.
"Yo, betch." She replied.
"So… Dan and me are lost."
"HOW?! HOW DAFUQ DID THAT HAPPEN?! LET ME GUESS, UR RETARDED." After I saw that message, I knew she wouldn't here my explanation so I gave my phone to Dan.
"Dude, chill."
"My sister does not say 'Dude' so I suppose you're gonna explain how lost you are Dan." Dan read out the message while raising his eyebrows.
"What should I say to her?" Dan asked vocally.
"That you fucked up but it was my fault."
"Okay."
Before he could reply we found ourselves reading an impossible message. "Oh, wait, I know. My sister was mouthing off too much and distracted you, D."
"How'd u know that?" Dan replied.
"Look, just tell me where you are, the guys are waiting for you."
"Umm, I'll send you a pic from google maps." I'd gotton my phone back from Dan at this point. I did as I said.
"Right-o, stay where you are. I'm comin' to get you useless shits."
That was how the text stream ended.
"She takes getting lost rough." Dan sighed.
"I've always been terrible with directions and her patients is very-urm-minimal. There was this one time where my parents were supposed to drop me off at a friends' house before her first time at cadets." I sighed.
"How badly did that go?"
"Well, I was sure we were going the right way but got lost. I started wining and said: "I wanna go home."
"This sounds-"
"She replied with something that I can never forget, not even if I wanted to."
"Go on."
"Well, she said: "We can't go home, were fuckin' lost. What did you do, like? Chuck bread crumbs out the fuckin' window?"
Dan immediately started laughing. "Oh my god, really?"
"It was in more of a shout-y tone but that was the first time she ever openly swore in front of my parents. Instead of being ashamed, after mah mam told her to quit it with the language, she continued to mouth off at her. V retaliated with: "Look, I'm not gonna fuckin' stop twatin' swearin' until the day that I mother fuckin' die. And you aren't gonna do a single thing about it, you uppity fucking whore."
"Wow, that women has a powerful mouth." Dan said and was taken aback.
"That was the first of many times Violet made our mam cry."
"Dude seriously? Daaaamn. She really didn't give a shit, did she?"
"My mam thought that V cursed us, ya know why?"
Dan shrugged his shoulders.
"Because that was June 20th. The car crash happened the same day, the next year."
"Wow, really?" Dan asked and I just nodded.
"My sister has always been the living, breathing Mona Lisa in my eyes because, for someone of her size, her attitude is big and she doesn't realise, her ego is small but in reality she shouldn't be able to fit it into her apartment, but as we all know she's not that type of gal. She's pretty but sees herself as 'just like everyone else' and even the ugliest mother fucker in the world is prettier than her in her eyes. Most importantly, she's worth a lot to everyone and only really special people can afford her. As a metaphor."
"Yeah, and she pretends like no one around her cares but she makes people care without even trying."
"She truly is a one of a kind work of art." I finish. "Even though, she's still really interesting. If we grew up together- fully- I'd see her as normal. But since we didn't spend any of her teenage life together, Violet has grown up to be an interesting individual. Oh,"
"What?"
"I don't think she'd like me saying this but, Violet saved my life by kicking the glass out of the car window and dragging me through, even when her legs had literally been shattered to smithereens. That girl doesn't like to be seen as the hero, yet, that's all she ever has been."
"Wow, she's—" Dan began.
"—really something else." We finish together and started laughing. We talked some more waiting for Violet to get to us.
She eventually arrived looking like hell on legs. It must have been a hell of a walk for her. Her eyes were expressing rage. This… This was gonna go swimmingly.
"I have walked for an hour in the fucking cold, to find two bloody lunatics who can't stay with the matter at hand." She was fuming. After leaning in the window, she marked the destination on the SatNav again and began walking away.
"What happened to your hand?" Dan asked as we noticed it had dry blood all over it.
"I want you guys, at the office, unpacking and making use of yourselves as soon as you get there. Rose, shut up. And I don't want to see any monkeying around." With that she moved away from our sight and Dan began driving. She was fucked off with us completely and Dan knew it better than I did.
Once we'd reached the office, Arin took the boxes from me while asking about my sister. "Where is she? I thought she'd come back with you guys."
"V stormed back in the direction of this place and told us that as soon as we got here, without monkeying around, we had to start working since everyone was waiting for us." Dan replied. "And she was really pissed about it."
"I've always been the one to be the reason that people end up lost or the one to get lost. " I ended. "Well, we'd better work."
Dan nodded in agreement before turning around and getting to work just as I did. Barry got his phone from his pocket and called a number.
We knew he called Violet as her phone went off. The ringtone was the best part: The full song of 'Wands' by 'The Midnight Beast'.
I adored this song and instead of dropping the call, Barry left it on as we all laughed. I began singing to it and acting dumb without even realising.
After the song ended, we all heard something that would completely change the happy mood into a what-the-fuck?-moment. My sister's voicemail played. That girl is nowhere near normal. I'm gonna say this slowly- My sister's voice mail is: Princess Molestia's Voicemail Greeting.
I was laughing silently, so just jittering with a smile on my face as everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at my sister's phone in complete shock-horror. Moments of almost silence ('almost' because I was sniggering) was broken by Dan moving his head fast towards me and asking: "What the fuck?" in the same manner as when he gets a pie to the face in the Game Grumps Christmas ads.
I dropped to the floor with a thud, still jittering to my heart's content, and drew the attention of everyone in the open space. All of the people looked to me for an explanation; considering I was V's sister, they expected it from me.
"What the hell was that? What in the- What did I just hear come from that phone?" Arin asked.
Once I'd finished up on laughing, I explained while still on the floor. "Well, that is from an MLP parody, thing." I gasp out from trying not to laugh. "Dude, she knows how much of a fucking whore I am. Molestia is my spirit animal. My god, give that woman a medal."
"What now?" Mark asked.
"Princess Molestia instead of Celestia." I said before Ross, who was closest to me, helped me off of the floor. I walked over to the phone and realised it was unlocked. I went into V's music files and found the sound bite. I played it again and looked in Dan's direction with a seductive look on my face as I mouthed it word for word.
Danny looked really uncomfortable as he was looking right at me at the time. Arin butted in at the right time. "We didn't exactly ask you to put it on again. Just what the fuck?"
I shrugged my shoulders, locked V's phone and began working again. As did everyone else.
~~~~~~Violet's POV~~~~~~
I was walking back to the office and I went to go and text Suzy that I was on my way back, so she didn't have to worry. That's when I realised I didn't have my phone. I checked my pockets and the hoodie pockets and had no result.
When I can't find something, the panic attacks start. The bad thing about being in the middle of LA, alone and having serious anxiety issues is that your friends aren't there to comfort you and you can't trust anyone else. So, it turned into an anxiety & panic attack. Trust me, it's awful.
The frantic breathing and constant worries in my mind left me with almost no control. I began walking really quickly as my heart was going at an even faster pace. It almost felt as if I wasn't allowed to breathe. There was no food in my system either, my energy was really low too and my stomach hurt super badly. I was dizzy and it truly felt like I was going to pass out.
'Well, if I am going to pass out: I may as well do it out of sight.' With that, I stumbled over to one of the darkest alleys in the whole street as normally as I could.
Yes, I did pass out. It was inevitable.
When I awoke, I was a little bit frazzled and didn't know where I was but soon got into the swing of things.
Stumbling to my feet, the anxiety and panic started up again. 'Man, the guys'll be wondering where I am. Fuck it, I should have remembered my phone, I brought this upon myself. Damn it.'
I darted over to the office even though my head was still pretty light.
A/N I apologise for all of the sudden POV changes. It just works better if there is.
~~~~~~Danny's POV~~~~~~
We were all starting to get a little concerned, it had been four hours since the majority of us had seen Violet.
She turned up in the entrance with a stressed out look on her face, like she was almost crying, and a loose fist over her heart. Violet slowly walked in and looked over to Rose and me, before immediately leaning down to one of the last unopened boxes. I noticed how much she was shaking in that moment.
Luckily, I wasn't the only one who noticed.
"Violet?" Holly asked. "Are you okay?"
After hearing Ross' wife, Suzy turned around. "V, are you okay, hun? What took you so long?"
She couldn't reply without the shakiness being obvious in her speech.
"I'm… I'm fine. D-don't worry about it. It's not like I was away for more than an hour."
"Dude," I replied. "You've been away from their sight for around about 4 hours. You sure you're okay?"
"Like I said; I'm fine so chill out. Stop worrying about me, Jesus."
I knew she wasn't because the Violet I knew would be on our backs about working and reinforcing that we were the ones who were late. Violet would be making her presence known and apologise for being late. She'd be looking for her phone, damn it! People who are okay, don't stay quiet and shake like something not right. Her phone would be her top priority. What was wrong with her?!
I put my hand on her shoulder and stated the following: "Violet, you're not fine if you're jittering like crazy, staying silent and most importantly, you'd be looking for your phone right now. You're not alright."
"Alright, I-I'm not. Don't worry. I had a little panic… /anxiety attack." She nodded unwillingly.
"You had a p-panic attack?! What happened? Did you get lost? Did someone scare you? Or what? Please, tell me." Suzy begged quietly.
"It's nothing to worry about, really. I just c-couldn't remember where my phone was and started with a panic attack… And then the anxiety struck knowing I knew no one in the street… And that's when…" Violet counted off of her fingers before trailing off. "I need to get my shit together, Jesus Christ."
Holly pulled Violet in for a short hug and once the small woman was free again she spoke once more. "And that's when I felt, a tiiiny bit dizzy, 'cuz I haven't had anything to eat for a while, and p-passed out. I'm fine though, I just wanna get this done. N-n-now, where's my phone." She tried standing but stumbled to the side. Her eyes widened as she tried to focus them. "Fuck, I'm dizzy again. I just have to stand up and walk in a straight line. Damn, you really couldn't make that whole thing up. Fuuuuuuuck, I'm super dizzy today. Holy fuck."
"We're lucky we've not got anything on that couch." Suzy turned to me. "Dan, help me get Violet over to the couch. She's not working like that. You hear me, missus."
"Dude, I'm f- Holy fuck the world is spinning. Dude, it sooo feels like I'm on a drug trip right now." Violet muttered. Suzy grabbed one of her arms and I grabbed the other. We led our dizzy friend to the couch. It was hard to take in. Just hours ago, Violet was happy and excited about moving into this new work space, now she can barely stand because she's so dizzy.
We turned our backs for about five minutes and began working again. When I turned back, she was no longer there.
"Where'd she go? What the fuck?" I question.
"Hmm? Dan, what'd ya mean? Ooooh, yeah. Where did she go?" Holly replied.
"That woman is impossible." Suzy sighed. I smile and step outside for a moment.
I had a feeling she'd be outside, and I was right.
Violet had somehow made her way towards her phone and out of the building without being detected. The woman was lying on the floor, flat out, while using her phone.
"Oh, dude. No way. I leave my phone for five minutes and a hot guy posts on Instagram. Couldn't you have waited for like five minutes…? Ooooh, MCR lyrics. Of course, the classic part of my favourite song. Why is 'I Don't Love You' a single girl's favourite song? No idea. When you go, would you have the guts to say, I don't love you, like I loved you, yesterda-hey-ay!' Man, you gotta love that song." She didn't realise I was there. Not even after I quietly laughed to myself while shaking my head. "Guuurl, you be lookin' fine… Goddamnit, Veela, you gotta stop being so perfect. Dude, you're so skinny, I wouldn't be able to fit in that. This is why I'm so self-conscious. Fuck this… Twitter, I need you! Oh, shit, yeah. I need video ideas, let's go stalk Grav3yardgirl. She's always got good ideas. Meh, I don't know. I'm not sure I like that one. Ooooh, snap. That fucking dress. Where can I get one my size… How much? Nu-uh. I'm not paying that much for something I could easily replicate."
Violet amazes me. It took her 5 minutes for her to notice I'd been standing there.
"Oh, umm. Sup, Dan? You come lookin' for me?"
"Yes, very much that. Why did you opt to come outside and lay on the floor? It's December."
"I'm well aware of it being December. I thought you were just as aware about how weird I am… Hey, just listen. I promise that I'll eat something when I get home. You know how I am, with the weirdness that is me."
"That second part made no sense whatsoever but I think I got it."
Violet giggled. "Can you explain something to me?"
"Sure what about?" I thought this was gonna be a serious moment.
"Why the fuck do fit-as-fuck guys wait until I'm away from my phone to post on Instagram. Like, jeez. What is with that?" But I expected too much from her. She sat up and leaned against the wall, I reluctantly ( because it was cold) joined her.
"I-I… I don't know. Maybe they're avoiding you." I joked before she elbowed me in the side and started laughing.
"It wouldn't surprise me. A lot of people like to. But they can't forever! Now, I have friends. Hence, I'm not being avoided."
"So… you passed out, huh?" I looked her in the face.
"Let's not talk about it. Okay?"
"No. You have to talk to someone about it. I'm not gonna let you keep it to yourself forever."
"Fine. Look, I haven't eaten in a good few days. I have drank stuff, just not eaten. Plus, I'm an anxious sloot. (A/N Arin's non-offensive version of slut is sloot. No, I am not talking shit, for your information… Sorry, I'm just feeling slightly sassy today! XD). As much as I hate being alone, Rose pissed me off and I'd rather not have you here everything I felt the need to say. It's not particularly nice, ya know."
"I understand. Next time—"
"—Take my phone with me, I know." Violet smiled. "Only a prick forgets their phone nowadays. What the fuck are we doing? We could totally be helping right now, but here we are, messin' on like idiots. Exactly what I told you and Rose not to do. Come on."
She stood up and held out her hand. I accepted it. For a woman of her weight and height, I can't stress enough about she's completely opposite to how you'd assume for her to be. When she pulled me up, I nearly fell on my face.
We stepped inside and noticed that all of the moving was almost finished. I heard Violet mutter: "Fuck" under her breath. "We were a little late, huh?" She asked while looking up at me.
"Let's just do what we can." I replied.
"Sure thing." With that, Violet went away and began helping people with the last of the boxes as did I.
When we'd done, most people left aside from Arin, Suze, V, Rose, B, Kevin, Mark, Holly, Brent and I. We thanked them for their help as they each separately departed.
"Nice job, guys. I'm really sorry I wasn't much help. I'm awful with keeping myself together." Violet sighed with her head down.
"We all have a fuck up occasionally. It's okay." Mark smiled.
"Thanks, Mark. Don't be butterin' me up with understandin', now. I did fuck up, and this time it was major. So, the only apology we should hear tonight is mine." V glanced up before putting a hand on her hip and waggling her index finger from the other hand at us. "I'm super cereal." She joked.
"Alright, Al Gore." Arin joked back. I began laughing hysterically because it seemed really funny to me.
"Dan, didn't you say you had some errands to run…? Or something along those lines." Rose asked.
"Oh, yeah. That's right. I'll be off now. See you guys."
"Have a safe trip, Dan." The ever hospitable Suzy replied.
"Wait up, Dan." Violet said as I walked out the door. "I said I'd accompany you, and I recall you saying you were cool with it."
"Yeah, hurry up."
"Just because you've got long legs doesn't mean to say I have too, ya know." Violet groaned.
"See you, sis." Rose said. "You too, Dan."
I smiled to myself as the door shut behind us.
"What are you grinnin' for? Are you fuckin' high or something?" Violet joked.
"You know I don't do drugs anymore."
"What's with the glakey fuckin' grin- Wait, why'd you say 'anymore'?" The short girl jumped back.
"I smoked pot when I was in my twenties and a bit into my thirties. Don't worry, though. I stopped a long time ago. Plus, you know Arin wouldn't work with me and Barry wouldn't live with me if I did."
"I can't look at you in the same way anymore… ever. So many bad bloody memories."
"Did I say something wrong?"
"Yes and no. I'm glad it's not 'anymore' but… it just reminds me of a good and hellish–how long ago was it now…?—3 year."
"What happened, exactly?"
"So after mam and Rose left, and my dad was off fighting, I spent 3 six month periods of being forced to live with my crack headed alcy bloody aunt and uncle. It was not a good time." She explained as we reach and entered my car. "They kinda beat me to shit and stuff. Man, they tried to kill me, dude. It was not pretty. Neither are my spaghetti arms, damn it."
I gave her a quick, and accidental, pitiful look. "I'm sorry for reminding you. I really am."
"You've no need to apologise, son. It was either now or when I look in the mirror. I've got a scar under my right eye, dude. It's just below the bottom eye lid." She said and showed it to me. "Broken glass, before you ask. Had to twat a bottle against a wall otherwise I would've been cornered and most likely killed. So, meh. I don't really care about apologies. I'm not gonna get one from them and it wouldn't matter anyway." The short woman smiled. "On the bright side, I'm always gonna be miles away from the idiots, and I have the privilege of a restraining order on my side." I cranked the vehicle and began heading to the first stop.
"Nice. I assume you got said restraining order with the help of your dad or something."
"No, I did it myself. No one else could prove it."
"You stood in front of a court?!"
"How else would I do it, you dummy? I was 16 and couldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. What else could I do, hmm? Any better ideas?"
"That's not what I'm saying. It take serious balls to say someone's abusing you."
"That's if you have no idea what you're up against. Plus, I used my teenage adorableness to my advantage. They wouldn't have done it if I hadn't have used the puppy dog eyes and made a few scenes about it and if I have to, I'll make a few more. If you want something so damn badly, you fight for it, you go to any bloody extent to get things to go your way. What would you do if you were in my position at that time?"
"I'd do everything I could to stop it."
"Exactly, I wasn't as shy as everyone at school thought I was. At least until I sent someone into a coma, involving a table and them pulling my hair to entertain themselves. But that's a story for another day. So. Where're we headed."
"Barry asked me to pick some stuff up and go to a couple of places for them."
"So, the run down is that he's too damn lazy to get some stuff himself and is using work as his excuse."
"If you see it that way then, yeah. Although, it's not quite like that."
"What is it quite like then?"
"I'm not sure whether I'm allowed to say, or if I even know."
"The look on your face just screams I-know-and-wanna-tell-her-but-Barry-the-asshole-said-that-I-shouldn't-for-a-non-suspicious-reason. Dude, I'm intrigued but I'll ask the man himself."
My phone's ringtone went off when I was driving. "V, could you get that for me?"
"Sure."
After a moment Violet reads it out loud. "Dude, she can't see what it is 'kay."
"Thanks."
"Now I really feel like asking him."
"You probably shouldn't after a message like that."
"Knowing B, it wouldn't and would surprise me if it was a fucking body pillow and he doesn't want to freak me out."
"You know, fine well, that he's not that kind of guy."
"I guess there is a fine line between secretive and just plain porno type shit."
"Why'd you feel the need to say that? I'm officially creeped the fuck out now."
"Your welcome."
"You're weird."
"When'd you finally realise?"
"Long ago but I'm just reinforcing it."
"Hey!"
"You said it yourself."
"But there's no need to rub it in, unless it's Barry 'rubbing it in' with the secret body pillow." She joked while creepily smiling.
"Please, just stop."
"On one condition." Oh Jesus lord.
"What is it?"
"You tell me why you were smiling earlier."
"Am I not allowed to smile?"
"Not when I know it's for a reason that you're trying to leave unnamed."
Here goes. "Well, umm…" I anxiously swallowed. "'Cause, your sister spoke to me."
Her head plummeted into her hands before she rubbed her face vigorously. "Aw no. Why? Why? Dear god why? Can I just cleanse my ears of what I just heard, please? I was not ready to hear that. I repeat: I was not ready to hear that. Oh, Jesus Christ why?"
"I feared you'd say that."
She began making fake crying sounds while croaking out the word 'why' every so often.
"Violet, it's not that bad. It's just-"
Violet cut me off. "One of my best friends and my sister! It's not something I can…" She sighed. "I'm sorry, Dan. That shouldn't bother me. And plus, most of the time, I freak out with things that don't bother anyone else."
"No. You're right. I should stop being like that openly until I'm sure. And I'm really not sure yet."
"Now I've heard it once, I'm ready for when you're sure. It's just something that I can't quite comprehend on a busy day like today. With the whole passing out thing. Aaaaand, other stuff."
"What do you mean by 'other stuff'?" I became sceptical.
"With it being my birthday soon, I've gotta prepare for it. I hate the fact that I have no other choice but to get old you know. Sometimes, I just… want to be 19 again. It was a good year, probably one of the best. Ah, yeah, being 18 fuckin' rocked… for the standard of an otaku." She stopped to giggle. Knowing she was happy was all I needed right now. After everything I knew about her, it just made her seem like she found the light at the end of the tunnel after hearing an anime girl giggle such as the one that I heard before me. "Just running around a building site, as project manager while my dad was away. Oh, it was amazing. Anyone who under estimated me got the finger and a good kick in the shin. I could do what I wanted, the house was mine after all." Violet smiled and looked at me. "I want to show you all it one day. Even Rose."
"That could be a good holiday."
"It could, but I suppose… It'll not be until I can handle going back and Marcel not waiting for me or sending me letters. It will have to wait."
I gave her a comforting look. "If the others don't know, they can't force you to. And, it's not like they'll have no sense of understanding… Hey, here we are. At the first stop. Wait in the car, I'll be right back." I say before pulling up and getting out.
"It's dark out, so just be careful. I'm sure Rose would want you to be safe too." She teased.
"Oh, stop." I snigger. "Wait right here, I'll be ten minutes."
"Yes, sir." V teased again while resting her head back.
I shut the door and began walking into the store. I checked the time on my phone. '6:37pm, huh? For how much we had to do, I was sure it would take until eight. Even with V's help.'
I went to the desk and waited until someone was on the other side.
"Hello sir, how can I help you?" They asked.
"I'm here to pick up a package for Mr. Kramer, he asked me to pick it up for him."
"Just let me go get it. I'll be back soon sir." The woman turned towards the back room. 'V would usually have texted me already… Nah, she's alright. Even she'd tell you not to worry about her, Dan. She's cool.'
I waited for a few minutes tapping my fingers, impatiently on the desk in front of me. "Here you are, sir." The woman had come back and put the box on the desk. It wasn't that big, I could lift it with no problem. "Now, if you could just sign here." She said turning around a form and pointing to a dotted line while holding a pen out.
"Of course." I replied and did as she said. After picking up the box, I thanked the lady and made my way out. What was in this exactly?
Violet was sitting in the passenger seat with a pencil an A3 paper sized note pad, minding her own business and I assume she was drawing as well. The scratching of the pencil confirmed of my suspicion.
I walked to the boot and opened it.
"And I call this masterpiece 'Chinnigan United'." The black haired woman smiled while ripping a page out. I smiled and realised Arin had something to do with the masterpiece.
Hopping back into the car, I saw 'Chinnigan United' waiting for me on the steering wheel. I jumped back after being startled by it. Violet was already back to drawing, sketching a head out.
"Jesus Christ, what is that?" I ask while trying not to laugh.
"It's me, you, Kev, B and Ross being trapped under Arin's many chins and Suzy's on top of his head. It's alright, isn't it? I mean, it's at the standard of fan art that is usually drawn for you guys. It's just a sketch but, I plan on drawing it properly on Photoshop." She replied while continuing to sketch.
I began heading to the second stop and Violet seemed to seep into the page, she was concentrating so hard. It sent me into realising when I saw Violet looking up at me from time to time.
She put her hand in her bag and began rummaging around. "Goddamnit, where-? I'm sure I put it in here. I'm so sure it's unbelievable… Shit! That's not what I was supposed to find." She pulled her hand out it now had a small gash in it.
"What do you have in there? Why have you been able to-? What?" I asked completely confused.
"I was not supposed to find that, like that either. Fuuuuck, dude." She wined. "God damn, bloody, dagger. Literally bloody." She pulled out a combat dagger. "How'd it get out of its case? How'd it get out of my apartment? I only carry it when I'm walking some place… Go… Go to hell, Rose."
I raised an eyebrow as we stopped at some lights.
"It's thoughtful that she wants me to be safe… But, why'd she go through my arsenal of combat weapons… I swear to god if she even touched- scrap that- saw it. I'm gonna be so pissed."
"You have an arsenal? What kind of girl are you."
"A dangerous one… Duuuude, if she bloody stole anything, she's goin' down… with this very dagger."
"Now I know you have a butt load of weapons… I'll pre-warn people to be careful."
"You don't have to, I don't usually carry this stuff. It's only if I'm walking at night. A girl with my figure is just a rape magnet these days. I wanna be sure I'm ready for that… if or when it happens… I don't have one of those yet, do I…? Nope. I'll have to wait though. If I want to get a licence and a bike." After speaking she sucked at the blood on her hand. I panicked.
"We need to get you to the hospital!"
"Nah-nah-nah, dude. Lemme tell you a secret: I don't have and can't afford health insurance, plus I'll fix it up in a minute. I'm f-."
"You're not okay."
"Yes... I... Am..." When any girl's words get far apart: you do as they say. Don't even question it. They want you to take them serious. I saw Violet death-staring into the depths of my soul. 'Jesus Christ, she's fucking scaring me now… She has a butt load of weapons and one of them is in her bag. Don't fuck with her.'
"O-okay."
"Sorry, Dan." What? What is she apologising for? "I come across a little… off-putting when I want something my way."
"It's alright. Don't worry about it."
"You don't mind being covered in blood, do ya?" She asked innocently.
"W-what?"
"On your head shot… I might have to turn you into Zombie-Danny, now. I've made a massive cock up." I breathed out after she looked down at the drawing of a head.
"That's me." I asked. I realised I may have offended her. "Why the long face?"
"I have a long face because I'm a poorly designed anime character." Violet retaliated. "Your face is pretty weirdly mapped out from the side…" Her head raised and she bit her lip. "Look straight ahead of you for a moment."
"Why?"
"Please, Dan. Stop playing difficult with me." I did as my told as her voice became stern. "I think… Hmm, what'd be the best one? Ah, yes, the 'Sigma 18-200mm Contemporary' with a super-light weight and a super-compact superzoom. It'd be perfect for a headshot."
"Wha?" I had no idea what I just heard.
"Oh, I'm getting technical with a fucking novice again… Talk about amateur hour." She teased and I smirked while a short satisfied breath escaped from my mouth. "I'm just thinking about my kinda stuff again. I'm pretty into photography."
"How into it are you?"
"I'm 'I have a degree' into it."
"Huh? A degree."
"Yep, but did I get a job involving it?"
"Yes."
"Before this, idiot."
"Well, no… I think."
"Exactly."
"Wait, does that mean Arin hired a photographer a couple of months ago when you could have saved us so much money."
"Yes."
"Son of bitch."
"Do I look male?"
"No." I said before gulping.
"You got the rest of it right. Mah mam is a right old bitch so… you're cool." She smiled and I breathed out.
"Oh, next stop… Like last time… stay here."
"Alright. I'll finish you while I wait."
"What?"
"Your headshot."
"Oh, okay. Don't forget about your hand."
"Thanks for reminding me." In that moment, I hoped she was fucking with me.
This time Barry asked me to go in and buy the stuff he'd listed down and given me the cash for. I wondered what he was planning.
I'd done my rounds and raised my eyebrows to the pricings of the (obviously-not-Barry's-taste) items in the process. When I got back to the car the Zombie-Danny wasn't looking at all shabby. Then her hand had caught my attention.
"You know, stapling it shut isn't gonna help. If anything, it's gonna do twice the damage." I shunned her handy work.
"Look, Dan. I'll do it properly when we get back. For now, this'll have to do. Why do you care so much, anyway?"
"That's what friends are for."
"I don't know much about friends. I'm still a novice at friendship, really."
"You know the basics and that's all that's needed. You're a great friend, Violet. If you were a song, I'd describe you as a tasty assed jam."
"Aww, thank you, Danny. You're so sweet to me! …Wait, was that your attempt of a pickup line?" She desperately asked.
~~~~~~Rose's POV~~~~~~
All who were still in the office peered at the clock and realised it was 10 to 8, we decided to gather up our stuff and go home.
Suzy and I hugged it out and said our goodbyes, and the guys did too.
Barry and I sat in his cars' two front seats, obviously, I was on the passenger side.
"Your sister's very weird." Barry spoke up after we began heading home.
"Tell me about it. She always said, you're more likely to leave a mark on the world or leave an unforgettable memory with someone forever if you're weird as all fuckery. She used to say the most weird and deepest things out of nowhere. Always was a weird kid, and she still is a weird adult."
"It's agreeable."
"It's more than agreeable, mate. It's true." I smile while picking the dirt out from my nails. I knew Barry was a more quiet type who liked to keep himself to himself and I couldn't shake the feeling that my sister was the same. But from my point of view, as her sister, I was never all too sure. All I know is that I've been the more chilled sister.
Barry stayed silent but a smile grew on his face. I couldn't quite tell what the smiles purpose was.
"Soo… How's things?" I ask trying to make conversation. Silence scares me.
"What does 'things' mean? Be more specific." Barry replied. "You're worse than Dan with silence. Just putting it out there."
"It's only because were both extroverts."
"What are you trying to say?" He jokingly mocks. "Am I not social enough for you?" 'Jesus Christ, stop sounding like Violet for 2 minutes. She's rubbed off on you. You've known her for too long. And that isn't good for your mental health.'
"Oh, shut up. By 'things' I mean, like, in general… life, ya know?"
He raises an eyebrow. "Well, it's good… right now. With everything that's went on." 'Go on.' I thought eagerly. "And I'm in good living conditions." 'Aha, keep going.' "And, I've met new people…" 'Aaaaand?' "Such as yourself." 'Aww, c'mon bro. You can't even talk about my sister.'
My face dropped into a disappointed stature. "What's that face for?" 'Violet, I swear to god. Stop rubbing off on him.'
"What face?"
"Goddamnit Rose. Just like your sister, you never tell me what's going on in your head."
I gasped as my head rose and an open-mouth smile appeared on my face. 'Aaaaaah! Oh my god! Violet if you knew what I knew, you'd be super happy, sis.'
"Rose, what the fuck? You look like a perverted anime character. What going on in that head of your-? I don't want to know, actually."
I just smiled for a bit longer and let my face relax.
More silence ensued. That's when my phone went off. It was my mum.
A/N | I apologise for how long you've waited for this chapter, but it is rather long for just one chapter. Don't you think?