Violet was giddy after her evening with Roman, they cuddled on the couch for hours talking. She finally got up the nerve to trace the lines of his tattoo and was amazed by the intricacy of it and it felt amazing the way he was running his fingers through her long black hair. She slept late on Saturday, went to her MMA classes and then spent the afternoon running errands and cleaning and talking to her parents. Her parents retired to Florida three years ago and sometimes she missed them terribly, even her brother moved to be closer to them.

She arrived at Dean and Leslie's house bright and early Sunday morning for their weekly cook off. They were still brainstorming ways to hide veggies in different meals, Leslie was afraid Dean was going to keel over from high cholesterol one of these days.

"What about mac and cheese?," Violet asked, "A friend of mine says that she uses pureed cauliflower in her mac and cheese recipe and her kids and husband can't even tell the difference."

"Hmmm…." Leslie thought about it, "That could work, Dean loves my mac and cheese."

"I am sure there is a recipe online somewhere."

"Yeah, I was thinking of joining a support group for parents of picky eaters," Leslie said, "Don't laugh at me, Violet, I am serious! This man is the pickiest eater I have ever met in my life."

"Oh please, Les, he will eat anything as long as you make it. Let's get these quiches started, we can chop the broccoli really small and maybe he'll eat some by accident." Violet said unpacking the groceries she brought with her.

"Uhh, Vi? You have a lot of stuff there, how many are we making?" Leslie asked.

"Oh, um, well, I figured two for you and Dean, one for me and one extra," Violet started washing the veggies, trying to hide her blushing from her friend.

"Oh, I see, one extra, just in case you happen to drive by a certain Samoan man's apartment?"

Violet didn't answer so Leslie let it slide. They prepared the quiches and put them in the oven then sat down with some coffee.

"We hung out Friday night," Violet casually mentioned.

"And?"

"And what? He liked our chili."

"Ooooo, you invited him to your place?" Leslie wiggled her eyebrows at Violet and nearly choked on her coffee when Vi turned red.

"No! Jeez, Les, you are so horny." She said shaking her head, "He did kiss me though, nothing hot and heavy. It was sweet."

Just then Dean strolled in, "I knew I smelled food in here!" He gave Leslie and kiss and ruffled Violet's hair. "What are you two making?"

"Quiche," Violet said getting up to check if they were done.

"Quiche?! Men don't eat quiche!"

"And why not?" Leslie demanded.

"It's all floofy and girlie," he said. "It's not manly, not at all."

"Well, if that man wants to get any action tonight, he better be eating my quiche!" Leslie said.

Dean wiggled his eyebrows and smirked, "Oh yeah, baby, I'll eat your quiche. I'll eat it all night long!" He pounced on her and started kissing her neck.

"Ok, that's it, I'm outta here!" Violet said, "Bring mine to work tomorrow."

Roman was tired, Friday night was the best sleep he had in years, he felt so relaxed after spending the night with Violet. But then Saturday night was the worst night in a very long time. Every time he closed his eyes he was bombarded with images, it was all so real, he could hear everything, smell everything and he woke up with all the same aches and pains. It was after noon Sunday and he was still laying in bed with the blinds closed, he could hear his cell phone buzzing with text messages but he couldn't drag himself out of bed to go check them. He knew he needed to sleep but he was afraid to close his eyes, he knew the images would flood his brain again.

He knew he would regret it if he spent the whole day hiding in bed but he was too damned tired to get up. One more hour, he'd give himself one more hour, then at the very least, he would have to drag his ass to the laundromat.

Violet wasn't sure what to do with her unexpected free afternoon, why did her two best friends have to be so damned horny all the time? She sent a text to Seth to see what he was up to, nothing back, he was probably sleeping off a hangover. She sent a text to Roman, but no reply from him either. Oh, well, might as well go grab a cup of coffee and head home, not much else to do on a Sunday anyway.

She parked her car and walked into the local coffee place, it had the best coffee but was too far out of her way during the week to stop there before work. She took a spot in line and was debating between the hazelnut latte and the french vanilla cappuccino when she heard someone call her name.

"Oh my god! Violet! Is that really you?"

She turned around and was face to face with an old mutual friend of hers and Jake's, great, just great… "Oh, hi, Tammy."

Tammy gave her an air kiss on her cheek and started babbling, "I haven't seen you in so long! You look great!" She said as she adjusted her skin tight lime green sweater. "And oh, I saw Jake last night, we were at this party and let me tell you sweetie, he STILL has not gotten over you. He is pining away for you, you lucky duck you! He is a hot one!"

"Uh, yeah, well, thanks for passing on that info Tammy, but I will never get back together with Jake, so please don't encourage him."

"Oh, really? So, do you mind if I make a move on him?" Tammy asked perking up.

"Um, yeah, sure, whatever Tam, knock yourself out." Violet bought her coffee and one of those giant fudge brownies and got out of the cafe and into her car as fast as she could. So Jake was going around telling people that he still loved her. He was still playing games, she drove home and circled her block a few times, she tried to be rational, there were no strange cars around, no one on foot, it was perfectly normal, but she was too scared to get out of her car. She called Leslie and Dean again, still no answer. She called Seth and then she called Roman. No one was answering their phones. She drove around in circles for an hour, her coffee was ice cold and he had no desire to eat her brownie. Seriously Violet, just go home, Tammy is probably stripping for him right now anyway. Her cell phone started ringing, finally, someone was calling her back…

"Hi Seth, where the hell have you been?"

"Sorry, Vi, my phone died. What's up?"

Violet told Seth about her run-in with Tammy, "Ugh, Vi, that woman gives me the creeps."

"Tell me about it… So, anyway, now I am kinda freaked out about going home. You wanna get lunch or something?"

"Sure, give me 20 minutes and I'll meet you at that hot dog place, I could go for a loaded chili cheese dog."

Violet rolled her eyes, seriously, the men in her life were going to eat themselves to an early death. Between Seth and Dean they probably hadn't had a vegetable in months. She make a quick U-turn and headed towards what she liked to call "The Heart Attack Shack."

She giggled when she saw Seth, does that man even own a hair brush? He was wearing his gray sweatpants and, as always, a band tshirt. He gave her a big hug and they went inside to order.

"You OK, Vi?" he asked as soon as they sat down.

"Yeah, I mean, I was being paranoid, but still, I just needed to tell someone, you know?"

He nodded, took a bite of his foot long bacon chili cheese hot dog and cursed as he dribbled cheese down his shirt, "Fuck, I love his shirt!"

Violet laughed, "Ha! That's what you get for eating so much junk. When was the last time you had a vegetable?"

"Hey! I take vitamins!" Seth said trying to rub the cheese sauce off his shirt.

"Of course you do, are they gummies?"

"Uhh… I plead the fifth!"

Violet shook her head, "OK, so at least tell me what you did last night."

"Oh! Vi! I had a date! Aww, come on, don't look at me like that, this girl is really great."

"Tell me about her. Where did you take her?"

"We went bowling and then had drinks. She's cool Vi, I met her two months ago. Took me a month to convince her to go out with me."

"Please tell me you didn't take her bowling on your first date."

"Come on, Vi, give me some credit! Our first date I took her to dinner at that new Italian place downtown."

Violet was impressed, she heard that place was pricey, "Wow, nice, Mr. Romantic! Don't tell Leslie, she has been trying to get Dean to take her there and he refuses."

Seth laughed, "Dean is so cheap! I am sure Leslie can come up with a way to entice him, she always gets her way in the end!"

Violet rolled her eyes, "And I'm sure something sexual will be involved..."

"Oh Vi, you are just jealous because you aren't getting any! Just climb Roman and get it over with!"

"I cannot believe you just said that, Seth, wow…"

"Aww, come on Vi, don't be so sensitive."

"Well, thanks for meeting me for lunch Seth, but I think I need to head home now," Violet got up and started walking out, "See you at work tomorrow. Try to remember to brush your hair."

"Violet! Wait! Come on! Vi, I didn't mean it like that," Seth called after her, but she flipped him the bird over her shoulder and continued to walk out. On the bright side, at least he managed to distract her from Jake and Tammy…

Violet was furious with Seth, how dare he… I mean, whatever, Dean and Leslie have a healthy sex life and that's great, good for them, but they don't have to broadcast it all the time. And they all knew that Seth had no problems picking up women in bars for one night stands, not that he was disrespectful to women or anything, but he figured if they were both willing and they both understood it was a one night thing, then its OK. She wished she asked more about this girl, maybe she would be the one to end Seth's flings. Climb Roman…. I mean, really, how rude, maybe it was a little true… but it was mostly rude.

.

Roman finally dragged his ass out of bed around 5:00, it was much later than he wanted to lounge but he actually managed to fall asleep. He checked his phone and noticed two text messages and a missed call from Violet among the messages from Dean and his cousins. He immediately called her back, but she didn't answer, so he sent her a quick text message and then hopped in the shower.

As soon as he got out he checked his phone again, she wrote back, "Hey! No worries. What's going on?"

He grinned "Not much. You have any plans for dinner?"

He towel dried his hair while he waited for her response, what should he suggest? They already went to a diner and he ate at her place Friday night, his apartment was pathetic, he couldn't invite her over. Hmm…

"Nope."

"Wanna grab something?"

"Sure! Something healthy please, I watched Seth eat a heart attack hot dog for lunch!"

"I know the perfect place. Pick you up in 30?"

"Sure!"

Roman had just rung Violet's doorbell and was waiting outside for her to answer feeling unusually nervous, its not like he didn't hang out with her before, or take her out to dinner before, this was nothing new, right? He looked at himself, he was wearing black shoes instead of his ratty old sneakers, black Dockers instead of jeans and a grey polo shirt instead of a grey tshirt. Ok, maybe tonight was a little special, he hoped he wasn't rushing things.

Violet opened the door and he was mesmerized, she looked amazing. She also decided to dress up a little more than normal, she was wearing brown dressy pants and a low cut blue sweater. He had to resist the urge to look down her shirt as he walked past her into the house.

"You look great, Vi," he said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Aww, thanks Roman, you look really good too! Lemme just get my shoes and we can go."

They chatted on the trip there, Violet didn't even ask where they were going, normally she would, but she trusted Roman to pick a nice place. He pulled up in front of the very same Italian restaurant that she was talking to Seth about that afternoon.

Her eyes were wide as saucers when she looked over at him, "Roman? Really?"

Roman looked sheepish, "Um, yeah, I heard this place was good. Is it OK?"

"Of course! Dean will kill you though, now he will have to take Leslie here!"

Roman laughed, "Well, that makes it even better, now doesn't it?" He started to get out of the car and stopped, "By the way, when we get inside, I'm going to need you tell me what a heart attack hot dog is."

Violet giggled, "Only if you promise me you'll never eat one!"