Then I find the biggest pot I can and put the books in there.
Someone starts to knock at my door.
My heart slams inside my chest, fearing the worst.
Is it Declan? Is he here to hurt me now? Or is it Mama Dae? Did she send someone to hurt me? Or is it Mac…
The knocking keeps going.
I stand in place, consumed by fear.
“Jolie, it’s me.”
Only Violet’s voice could penetrate the door and come into the kitchen and sound like she’s standing right next to me.
I race to the door and open it.
She’s carrying a bag in each hand.
“Did you kick my door?” I ask.
“I needed to knock,” she says. “You look like hell.”
“Thanks for that. I just got out of the shower.”
“I brought treats,” she says. “Let’s get that broken heart of yours fixed up.”
“No, Violet…”
“Shut up, Jolie,” she says.
She walks into the kitchen and puts the bags down. “What the hell is this?”
“Law books,” I say. “I was going to burn them.”
“Burn books?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Why?”
“That’s… whatever. I brought alcohol and ice cream.”
“I have both here,” I say.
Jolie opens the refrigerator. “Oh, this crap? That’s just fruity stuff. No way. You need real alcohol.” She slams the fridge and opens the freezer. “And mint ice cream? Are you kidding me?”
“What? It’s good.”
“No,” she says. “You need chunks.”
She shuts the freezer and empties out the bags.
Three bottles of vodka. And three containers of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. She opens the silverware drawer and takes out two spoons.
“Let’s do it,” she says.
I shake my head. “I don’t want to.”
“You have to,” she says. “You called me crying twice over Mac. You begged me to stay away.”
“Yet you’re here.”
“You haven’t told me what happened.”
“Yes, I did. Our lives are too different.”
“That’s crap,” she says. “Let’s go.”
She grabs a bottle of vodka and a pint of ice cream and walks away.
I shut my eyes and sigh.
I grab a bottle of vodka and pint of ice cream for myself.
Violet snorts and then coughs, sending ice cream flying across the living room.
“It burns!” she cries out.
“Have a drink, it’ll help,” I say.
She waves her hands at her face. “My brain is freezing up.”
“Take a small bite next time.”
“But it’s soooo fucking good,” she says.
She licks the air and laughs again.
She’s had more vodka than ice cream, if you can’t guess by now.
As for me… I’m doing okay.
I’m in my favorite spot on the couch and that’s good enough for now.
Violet calms herself down and takes another drink.
She points at me. “Talk to me, Jolie.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. I was wrong.”
“About?”
“Everything. You know how you were wrong about Liam?”
Violet frowns. “Oh. That bad?”
I shrug my shoulders. “There’s a lot you don’t know.”
Kind of like… everything…
“Don’t give me that,” she says with a laugh. “I’m not stupid, Jolie. They’re all bad guys. Mac is probably the worst. Right? And let me guess… the reality of it all caught up to both of you.”
“Yeah,” I say.
Okay, you know more than I thought.
“Oh, and of course you were fake kidnapped too…”
“Okay, Violet,” I say. “Sorry for saying there’s a lot you don’t know.”
“So what happened?” she asks. She moves next to me on the couch. “Is it just the difference in your lives or what?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Things just exploded in a bad way. My father’s been having an affair.”
“Oh… Jolie…”
“I think my mother has been doing the same. Not as long though.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah,” I say. “Everything hit at once, Violet. My father is involved in some bad stuff. He’s going to end up in trouble. Or dead. My mother doesn’t care. And she told me to choose between her and Mac.”
“What did you do?”
“I chose Mac. Of course.”
“And then things went bad with him?”
I nod.
I swallow hard.
I don’t want to cry.
I really don’t want to cry…
Violet leans toward me and puts her head to mine. “Oh, Jolie. Fuck. That’s a shitty thing to have happen.”
“Yeah,” I whisper. “Welcome to my life.”
“Can’t you talk to your mother then?”
“Why? She’s going to do what she wants. Live her life the way she wants. I don’t want her threatening me over someone I love. Fuck that.”
“Okay, that’s a good point. Fuck that then. What about Mac?”
“What about him?”
“You know you can still talk to him, right? There’s no way he’s going to just ignore you.”
“I don’t know,” I say. “What if he does? What if this is it… for good?”
Violet inches away. “You have to know what you want then. What you’re willing to do and go through. These guys are all… I don’t know. Is it worth it?”
I don’t answer the question because the cliché thing for me to do is yell YES at Violet and then burst into tears.
So I decide to change the subject.
“Aside from that, I have to figure out what I want to do with my life.”
“So law school is done for good?”
I nod. “I don’t want it anymore. I probably didn’t even want it to begin with. It was just there. Forced on me. Now that I know the truth, I don’t want it.”
“So take some time off and enjoy life,” Violet says. “If you can’t live here, stay with me. We’ll live together. We’ll find a place together.”
“And, what, just live off of…”
“Who cares?” Violet asks. “We’ve earned it.”
I laughed. “We’ve earned it?”
“I don’t know. Screw it. Let’s have some fun. We can go somewhere else. Start over. Find a new beach. Wear skimpy clothes on the beach and enjoy guys that want one thing from us because we only want one thing right back.”
“That sounds like what you want, Violet.”
“I’m just giving suggestions,” she says. She pauses for a second and then looks at me. “I think I’m drunk.”
“I think you are too.”
“No… I think I’m…” She swallows hard and looks around. Then she stands up. “Yeah…”
“What’s wrong?”