O.D.D. (Part 3)

Violet goes over to Tee's house after classes end. Tee, the four guys, and three of their girlfriends were all hanging out, while Tee crushed his friends in Mortal Kombat. The girlfriends all talked, too much, for Violet's taste. When they did, it was always about the most irrelevant shit or other people who weren't around. They were like hens, with which she simply never got along, because Violet refused to bow to any place in their pecking order.

Violet ignored them as best she could, but as her patience was wearing thin, she let slip, "The Mean Girls clucked and strutted about, trying to act superior." The others all looked at her. Annoyed as they were, none of them would get involved, they knew Violet's mouth would begin moving more, and they most certainly didn't want that. Yet couldn't resist getting their digs in further, by texting each other, from then on. Violet wouldn't let their gas-lighting bother her though. She just wanted to be alone with her boyfriend.

When he won another match, she pulled him aside and asked Tee, "You use to take me under the bleachers every lunch in high school to feel me up and make out. What happened to that guy?"

"OK, I hear you, I'm sorry I just got caught up with the guys, you know how they are." Tee responded.

Violet had an answer ready for that one though, "Yeah, all they do is play games with you. Sports in the afternoon, and then video games after that, long into the evening. You never make time for me anymore." She was never a fan of conflict, but there were times she had to say what was on her mind, and she did. "I want more than the leftovers of a weak teenage romance that takes a backseat to gaming with the boys." Tee looked at her with a blank expression, he wasn't having fun either.

After an awkward silence between them, Violet excused herself to the restroom. Instead of coming back to the room where everyone else was, after using the bathroom, she left. She was tired of being there and decided to go home.

On her way to the car, she was fumbling with her keys, trying to get them out of her bag, when Murphy's Law struck. An extra key ring, catches the corner of her phone. It snags the phone just right, to have it pull from her bag. She doesn't notice it, at first. She hears it though, and it sounds really bad. When she bends over to pick it up, the broken glass cuts deep into her finger. Violet examines the shard, and a tear wells up in her eye. Using her nails, she plucks it out with a whimper.

Her phone is badly damaged. The LCD screen is leaking through the shards of glass. Violet's phone was trashed, she screams out loud and tosses it into a nearby garbage can; then gets into her car.

She opens the glove-box and finds the old box of band-aides. "Thanks for the small favor, dad." She thinks out loud as she stings her finger with an alcohol swab she found in the box. The band-aide had Daffy Duck on it. They were left over, from when she was a kid and she skinned her knee on the boardwalk.

She drives home the same way she always does, but today there is a detour for construction. "Violet wanted to take the flag and pole from the guy waving it into the middle of the road, and shove it up his ass." She envisions it happening for real as she turns down the unknown street. She knows if she can just get back on track she can make it home without getting lost.

She drives a couple blocks, and keeps her anxiety at bay by distracting herself looking at the trees changing colors for fall. "It was like a rainbow, everywhere. Red, orange, yellow leaves, blue sky's, green lawns, and there it is, a purple Jeep. I need more rainbows in my life. This is fun. Yes, and there is the road she recognized to get her home." This calms her down enough to get her to stop talking to and about herself.

From there her night wasn't so bad. Her homework was light and she finished it quickly. Violet and her mom, Rose, have a movie night, before she heads to work overnight at the hospital. Pleasantville was one of her dad's favorites. They both missed him. He was like the painter, Mr. Johnson, played by Jeff Daniels. Whenever they missed him, Violet and her mother would watch it together.

They talked about her mom's day too. How she ran some errands, paid bills, and "I talked to your sister." Violet asked, "How's she doing?"

"Well, you know Lilly, leading with her heart, taking care of animals; Colorado seems to be doing her well and she misses you." Violet smiled. It was nice to hear that her sister misses her.

Then Rose listens to the story of the mean girls and tells Violet, "Good for you, don't ever listen to another voice but your own... and mine. Never be the person they try to tell you, you 'should' be, Vi, you keep on being you." After telling her about Tee, "He's gonna miss you when you're not around anymore, huh?"

"I doubt he'll even notice," Violet replies, "he's too busy with his homie dude-bro's to take any interest in me, anymore."

"I'm sorry Vi, but I won't be able to get you a new phone before Christmas." Her mom apologized, feeling bad for her daughter's rough day. Violet understands and nods.

When the movie is over they hug goodbye, just before she leaves for work. Her mom and late father were the only authorities she didn't rebel against, instinctively. The three of them had each others back for the last 8 years, their bond was strong. Lilly left for college two years ago, since then, it was just the two of them.

Violet finally ends her day with a cigarette, and heads to bed, thinking about her human desires. She vows to herself, Tee isn't going to get any more chances. She would normally stare at her phone for an hour before she fell asleep, so she skips that last part of her normal routine.