CHAPTER 6
I stared at my reflection in silence stretching my ears to hear him thank her and walk into the kitchen. My stomach went from butterflies to twists and knots, making me feel sick and nervous. We haven’t been to a part together in an extremely long time. Granted, it is here at my auntie’s, but it is still a party and it has been an incredible amount of time between then and now. Tonight suddenly felt extremely important for me to definitely dress-to-impress.
Aunt Janine told them she would be right back, and I heard her walking up the stairs coming to my room.
“Violet, dear? Are you alright? You have been up here for quite some time, most all of the guests are here now,” she stopped in her tracks as soon as I turned to face her. The look of horror washed over her face. “Why are you so pale?” she asks, rushing to feel my head. I shook my head, unable to find the words.
“I’m fine, I think. Don’t worry, I’ll come down soon. You’ve worked so hard for tonight.” I pause. “You invited Drake Martin? Why?”
“Well, I heard he was back in town and I know it has been difficult for you two to reconnect so I thought a party would help break the ice. Is that what this is about? I’m so sorry, dear…” She dropped her hand and grabbed mine. Her eyes were apologetic as she stared back into mine. After another moment of silence, she whispered, “are you going to be able to join us downstairs, or should I inform them you are feeling unwell?”
“I think I need some more time, I’m not even ready. I’ll be fine, my stomach is just in knots at the moment. I feel like an elementary child who doesn’t know how to handle her emotions when being in the same room as her crush,” I muttered, letting go of her hands and folding mine. Aunt Janine laughed quietly and headed towards the door.
“Take your time, Violet. I’ll get everyone started on the food.”
I look back at my reflection in the mirror. A pale faced, grey-eyed brunette woman stared back. I purse my lips, glancing down at my make-up products hands still folded in my lap. I start with adding a few loose curls here and there around my head. I hear the door creek open.
“I’ll be down soon, Aunt Janine.”
“Well I was hoping you weren’t going to leave me hanging,” a cool, deep silky voice says. I almost burn myself from jumping quickly in my seat and jerking my head towards my door.
“Oh! Victor, you scared me!” I cover my mouth, then try to lower my voice. “Um…W-what are you doing up here? Why aren’t you eating with the others?”
“I do apologize. I hope I am not overstepping any boundaries?” He inquires, an irresistible grin spreading across his face. Great. I really won’t be able to get these knots and butterflies out of my stomach. “When you didn’t come downstairs I could tell your aunt was becoming slightly concerned and uncomfortable handing a house full of guests without you. I’ve come up to see if everything was alright. And as for eating, I wanted to wait for you.”
“Oh, yes, she’s already been up here. I told her I would be down soon. Just a slight delay.”
“Do you need any help?”
“No, but if you want to help her entertain the guests until I am down there, it would help the both of us out a ton,” I say, looking back into the mirror and daring to pick my iron back up. His steps are so quiet and light I didn’t hear him walk further in. This gorgeous angel suddenly took up the mirror behind my reflection, making me question if he was even there. If he was real. I finished the last curl by the time I looked up and stared back into his gaze reflecting back to mine. I spun around too quickly, making me feel a bit light headed. What is wrong with me tonight? He reached out and stabled me, grabbing my covered shoulders.
“Can I get you some water?”
“Water would be nice, thank you. I will see you downstairs.” He nodded and walked back towards my door. I shook my head and looked into my lip-gloss collection. I found a bold and sheen deep red and quickly applied my smoky eyeshadow.
I stood and walked a bit wobbly to the door. Victor was at the bottom of the stairs holding a glass of water. I awkwardly walked down the stairs, stopping on the last step and took the glass from him. It was refreshing. I couldn’t look at anyone besides him. Though his angelic features did give me slight anxiety, spending the day with him helped me with my horrible knots about tonight. His presence was comforting. He gave me a moment before stepping closer to me, leaning to whisper in my ear.
I could feel his cool breath on my neck sending shivers down my spine. “You look beautiful. Are you feeling alright to see the guests?” He pulled away, looking at me. I slowly nodded and stared back at him, dazed. He exhaled a slight chuckle, and helped me down the last step holding my elbow. I walked in then with him following close behind.
There was a room full of chitter-chatter, which eased me a little. As soon as we walked past the table to get a plate of food for ourselves, the room went silent almost abruptly. I turned to see all eyes were on me. Victor quietly cleared his throat and nudged me to keep filling my plate. My heart started thumping loudly, my anxiety building up. I looked frantically around the room to see where my aunt was, to no avail. ‘She must’ve gone downstairs for something,’ I thought to myself. Victor finished putting a few items on his plate and pulled a chair out for me at the table. He sat down beside me, nudging my shoulder once again. When I didn’t react, he leaned in and said, “Say something.” I cleared my throat.
“I’m glad you all could make it, I’m sorry for coming down so late. I had a late start.” Still, blank stares. I took a deep breath. “How is everyone? Are you excited for the plans we have tonight? We’ve picked out some games to play.” Smiles started to spread around the table.
“Violet! It has been far too long. How are things? We’ve missed you,” a lady with short greying hair said. Shelly is my aunt Janine’s best friend and someone who’s known me since a little girl. It was comforting to see her seated here.
“I am so glad to see you here! I’ve missed you guys as well.” I smile at her husband, Greg, seated beside her. His tired, aged face smiled at me.
Aunt Janine bounded up the stairs, ecstatic to see me chatting with our guests. Chitter-chatter slowly picked up as I greeted everyone – well, almost everyone. I didn’t even look at Drake. Usually, I am completely comfortable with him.
But tonight?
The night went smoothly – we played some card games, exchanged different candles and told each other what our plans were for the upcoming holidays. Once desert came around, everyone helped themselves to pumpkin pie and chocolate-chip cookies. Victor even got himself caught up in a conversation with my dad’s old friend, Steve, before my parents moved away to a small town in Wyoming. While everyone conversed, I stood on the side looking at the different candles that everyone had brought. The combination of scents was unbelievably overwhelming, but in a good way. I felt warm and cozy. I felt someone’s warm hand touch the top of my forearm and turned around. It was Drake.
“Hey-a Violet,” he says warmly. “We haven’t gotten to talk much tonight. I’m sure glad your aunt invited me, now we have a bit more of a chance to visit, unlike this morning.” He smiled.
“Wha– oh, yes, I know, a bit of a crowd you see. Though, it is nice you could make it. How are you?” I quickly ask, turning back around and continuing what I was doing. I hoped he would get bored and walk away. What am I going to say?
“Of course! So, what are you doing this week?”
“Just plan on going to the library, like usual.”
“I forgot about that part of you. So adorable. Glad to know you’re still the same old Violet.” He chuckles. I looked at him then and thought to myself what he just said. The same old Violet? Am I truly that boring, nothing new to talk about because I never change? He has so much to talk about because he seems like something changes for him every single day. But I’m comfortable in my ways. Change scares me…
I responded the only way I thought to in the moment lost in thought.
“Yep, that’s me. Boring old, little me…ha, ha…”
“You’re not boring. It’s nice to know things have stayed the same, for the most part. It helps me feel like I am back home, not too much has changed, the same comfort I had back in the old days…” he trailed off, looking at the apple cinnamon candle I picked out with Victor. Oh, yeah, Victor. Was he still in the other room visiting with Steve?
“I know what you mean. Things change all too much, too fast.” I say, watching him play with the candle.
He looks at me then, catching me staring and caught me off guard. I looked back at him when he didn’t say anything. He is the type of guy who can act as though he has no cares in the world and stays positive. If he is every serious, something must really be wrong to actually bother him. That is what I love about him. He cares about the things that matter the most and doesn’t let anyone put him down. The expression he had confused me, though. He looks peaceful, relaxed. I could tell something was on his mind though. He smiled at me after a moment.
“That friend of yours is here with you again I see,” he comments.
“Yeah, he helped Aunt Janine and I decorate after coffee today. If you hadn’t noticed, we went and replaced most of our old things. Well, really Victor did. He insisted on buying everything.”
“Victor? Your friend, right?”
“Oh, yes that is his name.”
“Right. That’s nice of him. I did notice. It looks great in here.” He looks behind him and lowers his voice slightly.
“How long have you two known each other? I don’t think I have seen him around before.”
“I know, I think he is new here. We haven’t known each other very long; we met in the library actually. We pretty much hit it off since then. Today was the first time we actually did something outside of the library. It turned into a lot more than just a coffee date, though.” I laugh thinking just how long this same day has been. I wondered why his interest in Victor led to him asking me so many questions about him.
“I see, well, early on still I suppose. He seems cool, I guess.” His tone and demeanor confused me. Was he…? No, no way. No way that Drake Martin of all people would be jealous. I mean, Victor is utterly handsome and no one can compare, but Drake…he’s different. He’s always gotten the girls on either side of him. I must be taking him in the wrong way because he never felt anything for me before.
“Would you like to meet him? I’ll go track him down. I forgot to introduce you two earlier.” I use that break in our conversation to head into the kitchen on the hunt for Victor. I didn’t really care if he didn’t want to meet him, the conversation was getting too weird. I didn’t like his body language, his tone. It was too strange compared to his normal self and I am really bad with handling situations like this with anyone. Besides, he has nothing to be jealous about. Victor was leaning against the counter still visiting with Steve – it looked more like Steve was the one having the conversation and Victor was too polite to walk away.
Victor caught my gaze and smiled, nodding slightly forward. I couldn’t help but grin too largely in return and waved to them. Steve turned and looked at me for a moment, before saying, “HEY!” and extended his arms out wide. I embraced him in a hug.
“How’re you doing there, pumpkin?” he asked, hand on my shoulder.
“Doing great here, Steve. Thank you. How about you?”
“Oh, you know…that shop isn’t going to run itself.” He owns a small builder’s shop with tools and tables that customers can purchase, rent, or use in-store.
“I’m lucky that I was able to see you here then!”
“Oh, I’ve missed seeing you for far too long, I wasn’t going to miss this chance for anything.” He chuckles. He looks at Victor who was staring at me with a sweet smile, listening.
“Well, it was great talking to you, my boy,” he says to Victor, patting his shoulder. Victor broke his gaze on me and smiled at Steve.
“Indeed. I look forward to visiting more.”
“Perhaps you can stop by in my shop if you ever find yourself needing to build; this old man knows a thing or two about tools.”
“I don’t doubt it; you will be the first place I look to. Thank you.”
“Alright, kiddos. Have a nice evening.” He walked over to my aunt. I looked back at Victor who was already looking down at me.
“Yes?” he asks.
“Hey, I wanted you to officially meet my friend from earlier, if you’d like,” I say.
“Alright. I have the feeling I am not his favorite person, though,” he chuckles to himself.
“He loves everyone. Don’t worry about it. Besides, how could someone dislike you? You’re like…perfect.”
“Dear Violet, I am far from perfect but I appreciate the thought.” His smile gets wider. “And as for loving everyone…I could be an exception this time.” I looked at him for a moment before rolling my eyes and gesturing him to follow. He didn’t hesitate.
Drake was still standing with the candles, holding two of them in his large hands. He looked up then, and greeted me.
Victor stopped a couple feet further than I did.
“Hello, my name is Victor.” His tone was even, calm. I looked back and smiled at him.
“Drake.” Drake’s tone surprised me. I turned back. His voice sounded strained, irritated, hard. What was going on with him? He was friendly earlier at the coffee shop when he saw him, but maybe that was him being a good employee.
This behavior was not like him at all.
“Nice to meet you. Violet here has told me a bit about you – how you two go way back into earlier school years.”
“Yes, we were best friends through those years. I could always rely on her to be with me through anything. It’s harder for us to do things now that I travel more, but I know that our relationship has never change and will never change.” He looks over to me, smiling. When he looked back at Victor, his expression turned hard again.
Victor grinned bigger. He was enjoying Drake’s odd behavior. “Sounds like you two have a nice connection.”
“We do.”
I cleared my throat to hopefully bring a lighter subject hoping to lift his attitude a bit, unsure what was causing him to be quite so sour and salty towards Victor.
“Drake, I see you enjoy those candles. Have you found any you like? You can take any of them, I don’t mind.”
Drake smiles at me.
“I really like this one – the apple cinnamon. I feel like you picked it out?”
“I did.”
“Great taste. I also really like the pine tree one.”
“Victor picked that one out. It smells great. Reminds me of Christmas,” I turn to look at Victor who wasn’t paying attention to us anymore. His attention seemed to be focused on my younger childhood pictures leading up to now. Aunt Janine likes to keep updated photos and since I am the only one who lives here, she has decorated the house in different rooms with numerous photos. The living room had the most plastered in it, though. He was moving his head slowly around, following the line and rows of pictures with his eyes. Drake spoke up.
“She sure has always been a beautiful girl…I remember that year when we built that snowman together, Violet,” he says, sounding like he was in thought. “I remember my parents had called me home because after we finished making it, I used my gloves, hat, and mask for the snowman so you didn’t have to be cold. My hands and face were so red they were concerned I would get sick. Too bad I didn’t get to be a part of this picture with you.”
“Oh, I remember that. Your face was so flushed! And your hands, I remember you telling me you couldn’t feel anything.” I smiled then, remembering that day oh so clearly. Victor stood silent, watching Drake curiously now, his smile fading. I pursed my lips when I saw this and made up an excuse to pull Victor aside back into the other room.
“Well hey, I’m going to go check on the other guests, it’s been nice visiting with you Drake. We’ll have to catch up some more another time.” I say, turning halfway in the other direction, pushing Victor’s forearm in my hand along with me.
“Oh yeah, of course. And yes, we should. Very soon.” Again, his tone sounded almost threatening, but not towards me. I looked up at Victor who stared back at him with the same expression from moments before as I pulled him to another room where nobody was in.
I turned to face him, releasing my grip on his arm.
“I’m really sorry about that in there…I don’t know why he was acting that way. Normally he doesn’t.”
Victor smiled. “I don’t mind, I think he was quite the opposite. Though, I do fear he has some green eyes towards me.”
“Green eyes? No, he has nothing to be jealous of. Seriously. Why would he be?” I shook my head in disbelief.
“Because I’m with you.”
His gaze into my eyes made it impossible to look away. I couldn’t break it. He was so intense, so concentrated. My heart began racing as he stepped closer, never breaking away. I felt him put his hand on my waist, pulling me to him. I gulped hard, and to my embarrassment, loudly. He didn’t smile, though. Instead, he had a very serious expression on his face. I was so close an inch forward would press our bodies together. He leaned down and stopped directly in front of my face. I could feel his breath hit my skin. It was cool, but the scent was nothing I have ever smelled before. It was – if smells can be as such – beautiful and captivating, as if it pulls me closer to him. He had a soft but firm grip on me though, so when I drifted forward uncontrollably he restrained me. He waited a moment in that position before he breathed the words quietly into my face.
“I would say he has a good reason to be jealous. You are beautiful. And you allow me to be this close to you, after so soon of meeting. It sounds like he missed his chance. So…” he breaks his glance, and I find myself not breathing, my heart pounding out of my chest as I look down to see his hand running down my arm to my bare skin of my hand. His fingers are so cold.
I felt a shiver go down my back, but not because I was cold. The texture is smooth like marble and cold but light. He brushed his fingers over the top of my hand like feathers. I couldn’t think of the reason why his fingers were this way because the next thing I knew, he carefully bent my head back to the side a bit and put his face in the inner side of my neck, only allowing his cold lips to brush lightly on my skin and stopped. This is the second time he was this close to me in one night, I thought. I felt more shivers run down my spine as he spoke in a deeper growl than before, slightly louder but unmoving and felt his lips against me as he spoke. It not a question but a statement in confidence, one he knew I wouldn’t be able to turn down, to think about.
“Why don’t you give me one.”