Nick & Violet

“Good God she’s gorgeous.” Nick thought to himself, followed by a sip of his scotch.
She was a pretty young thing dancing five feet away from his table.
He hadn’t expected to meet anyone interesting at this wedding, let alone at a rehearsal dinner without an open bar.
He noticed she had taken off her black high heels and they were now dangling off her fingers as she shook with the music. He also noticed that her black and white strapless satin dress was several inches longer than the club attire the rest of the girls were wearing.
She was clearly younger than him, maybe twenty three to his twenty six but the pearls around her neck said she knew how to behave.
Nick finished his scotch, the ice hadn’t even melted yet. He was about to walk to the bar for another when something else caught his eye.
The girl had a heart, maybe the size of a quarter, carved into her calf. It was a hell of a scar. And when she flexed the muscle below, it looked as though the heart were beating.
As he approached the bar, he noticed she was following him. The song had changed.
“Can I buy you a drink?” she asked.
“You took my line.”
“Let me guess, double scotch, neat.”
“On the rocks, but how’d you know?”
“That’s what I’m going to drink.”
“Alright, I’ll bite. But the next round’s on me.”
“You bet it is. But first, I’m going to step out for a cigarette.”
When she opened her purse to pay the bartender, Nick noticed the silver pistol under her wallet.


“So, are you here for Collin or Laura?” Nick asked as they lit their cigarettes.
“Laura. We were roommates in college. I’m one of the bridesmaids. And you?”
“Collin. I’m his cousin.”
“Are you in the wedding party?”
“Technically I’m an usher, if that counts.”
“Fair enough. I’m Violet, by the way.”
“Nick.”
She had a strong handshake, like someone who did it often and with purpose.
“Are you from around here?”
“Just moved actually, I was based out of Seattle but I travel a lot.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. I can’t stand being in one place too long.”
He also noticed the absence of a ring on her left hand.
“What about you, do you live here?”
“All my life.”
“It seems like a cool city.”
“Chicago’s great, if you know what you’re doing.”
“Well maybe you can be my own personal tour guide.”
“I might be able to pencil you in.”
Violet tossed her cigarette to the curb and pulled out a mirror to check her hair and lipstick.
“I need another drink.” She said, looking up.
“And I believe it’s on me.”
“I wouldn’t trust a man who forgot a deal.”
“Good.”



When the cab driver handed him the receipt, Nick stumbled out of the car. Then, he gently lifted Violet out of the back seat. She was humming Jingle Bells, for no apparent reason.
Nick carried her across the parking lot towards his apartment. One hand cradled her back and the other behind her knees. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and her head rested on his shoulder.
If fairies existed, Violet would be their princess. She was tiny, barely reaching Nick’s chest when she stood without heels. Her entire hand covered just his palm. But, despite her size, there was nothing child-like about Violet. She had the deep soulful eyes of a woman who had seen her share of shit.
“We’re almost there.” He whispered in her ear.
As they crossed the threshold of the building, Violet’s arms fell away from his neck and he tripped on his untied shoe lace.
Violet fell against the wall as Nick stumbled.
“What happened?” Violet slurred.
“We tripped. You fell.”
“Pick me back up.”
“Are you sure you can’t walk?”
“Are you calling me fat?”
“Christ, no, of course not.”
He leaned down to her outstretched arms and pulled her dress back down over her knees as he lifted her.
“You’re lucky the elevators are working.”
“Are we there yet?”
“Almost.”
“Okay.”
Violet laid her head back on his shoulder, her earring scratching the skin above his collar.
“Ouch!”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
The chime of the elevator startled Violet and she started to wiggle against Nick as he stepped inside.
“Stay still if you don’t want me to drop you again.”
“You stay still.”
“I can’t carry you home and stay still at the same time.”
“Home? I thought we were going to your house.”
“We are.”
The elevator stopped on the fifth floor, Nick’s floor, and he stumbled out and to the left two doors down to his apartment.
He leaned Violet against the wall as he unlocked the door.
“Now are we here?”
“Yes.”
“Can you put me down now?”
“Well I can put you down here or you can wait until I walk over to the couch.”
“Fine.” Violet sighed.
When he lowered her to the couch, she closed her eyes.
“Do you want some water?”
“No.”
“Okay, go to sleep then.”
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
As he walked away, he heard her unzip her dress.
“Hey Nick?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for everything.”
“No problem.”
###

“Nick?” Violet whispered
He pulled his eyes open, Violet, wrapped in a blanket from the living room, was standing next to his bed. Her pale skin looked neon white in the dark. Her long black hair, taken out of its ponytail hung over her shoulders and her eyeliner was smudged under her eyes.
“What?”
“Can I sleep in here?”
“Just go to sleep, Violet. I don’t care where.” Nick mumbled back.
“Thanks.”
She tiptoed to the other side of the bed, dropped the blanket to the floor and slid under the covers, naked, next to him.
It hadn’t been a long time since Nick had last had a woman in his bed, but it had been a while since one had done any sleeping there.
“Are you okay?” he asked, partially out of concern and partially as a distraction.
“I was cold.”

Nick awoke to the sound of the shower running. As he sat up, he dreaded the inevitable hangover but it wasn’t a horrible as it should have been. The vitamins she pushed in his hand before their night out must have actually worked. He’d only taken them to humor her.
The shower shut off and the curtain rattled open. Violet exited the bathroom with one of his blue towels swallowing her small body.
“Morning.” He smiled.
“I hope you don’t mind the shower.”
“Not at all.”
She perched herself on the empty side of the bed, swinging her legs up next to his.
“Still on for breakfast?” she asked, leaning back.
“You’re going to make an honest man out of me—this is the longest date I’ve ever been on.”
“I do what I can.”
He reached over and wiped a stray drop of water from her forehead.
“I’m going to guess you don’t have a spare change of clothes hidden in that tiny purse of yours.”
“True.”
“How do you want to play it then?”
“Can’t we just stop at my place on the way?”
“I don’t drive.”
“What?”
Nick shrugged. No one he knew had a car unless they traveled locally for business. Paying for parking was not something he wanted to add to his bills.
“Too expensive and the traffic is a pain in the ass. The train takes me everywhere I want to go. Or, as with last night, a cab.”
“That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.”
“It’s pretty standard here.”
“Another thing to get used to then.”
He wondered where she lived, what kind of car she drove. But it wasn’t the time to ask.
“We can just eat in.”
“Okay. You’re going to have to tell me how to get home eventually, though.”
“All in good time. You need some food in your system first. Go wait in the kitchen while I throw some clothes on.”
“I slept in your bed naked but you want me to leave while you put on some pants?”
“Suit yourself.”
Nick threw back the covers. He might just keep this one.
###
“So, if you’re going to keep sleeping over, I feel like I get to ask about the gun in your purse.”
Violet peered up at him from where she lay on the pillow.
“So ask.”
Nick rolled his eyes. She was impossible when she wanted to be.
“Why do you keep a gun in your purse?”
“Some bad things have happened to me. Now, I like to be prepared.”
It was a stock answer. This wasn’t the first time someone had asked her about it. And she wasn’t about to give him any more details than that. He knew this because she rolled away from him, pulling the covers up around her shoulders and covering her face with her hands when he tried to lean in for a kiss.
“Well, as long as I’m around, I won’t let anything or anyone hurt you.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Violet mumbled from behind her tiny fingers.
“Okay, okay. Good night, Violet.”
“Good night.”
Nick had just started to fall asleep when he heard Violet start to whimper.
“What’s wrong?”
“Get my pills out of my purse.”
Her breaths were too shallow and coming too fast. Her pupils were huge. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Nick opened the bag and dug frantically around the lipstick, chewing gum, matches, wallet and that damned pistol until he found three pill bottles.
“Which ones?”
“The blue ones.”
Nick looked at the bottles. Green pills, white pills, blue pills. He tossed them to her.
“Open them.”
He fumbled in the field of sheets for the bottle, snapped open the cap and poured them into his hand. The pills rolled around his palm.
“Here.”
Violet’s hand shot out and with shaking fingers, she tried to grasp a single pill.
As she swallowed it, Nick went to the bathroom to get her a glass of water. It appeared as a courtesy, but really, he needed a minute to recover.
“Water.” He said, handing her the glass.
“I can see that.” She snapped.
“Can I ask what that was?”
“Which part? The panic or the pills?”
“Both.”
“I don’t sleep well.”
“Apparently.”
“Is there anything else I can do?”
“Do you plan on keeping me around?”
“Yeah, as far as I know.”
“Then I’ll explain everything you need to know in the morning, okay?”
“Okay.”