Violet
It took me a good ten minutes sitting in the coffee shop to catch up with the
conversation that took place with Levi. That guy is... weird.
Okay, he’s hot too.
What with his long hair and groomed beard. He’s the perfect example of a
mountain man and heck, I can’t help but like it. What woman wouldn’t?
When I finally make it back to the shop to finish out the day, I avoid my mother. She
is the type of person who could tell by one glance if something is going on with you.
I’m not quite ready for the insufferable interrogation that will come with “Violet met a
boy.” It’s one of the many reasons that I leave the past in the past, that I don’t bring
guys home and don’t venture out to meet someone new.
Mom will eat them alive.
And me in the process.
She means well, I think.
Dad could seriously care less. He is so into his own mind some days that I’m pretty
sure he forgets that I exist. I’m not saying that as a slam to him or a woe-is-me thing
either. All I’m saying is, when—if—I meet someone, I don’t think dad will have that ‘sit
down with the boy’ talk. You know, the one in all the romance novels, where the dad
polishes his shotgun and tells the guy not to mess with his little girl.
Yeah... that won’t happen.
When it hedges closer to six, I let mom know I’m heading out.
“So early dear?”
I pretend to look for a clock, “Oh, is it early? I had no idea...”
She looks me over, I stand still so she won’t see any squirming. “You never leave
before eight.”
Shrug. “Well, I was thinking about trying to cut back some hours.”
This has her perking up. “You going to do some sculpting?”
See, here’s the thing. I left this town when I was eighteen. I went to school in Denver
and majored in art with a minor in clay sculpting. I graduated on time, I had a job lined
up, then shit hit the fan.
Okay, it wasn’t that bad. But the gallery I had a job with closed down before I
could even step foot in the building. It was a serious low-point for me. I’m maybe a touch
sensitive when it comes to my career, and my heart, and well, anything.
Anyway, I came home, obviously. Mom and dad hired me to help in the shop which
was ideal for the summer until I could find another job. Problem was, no one was hiring.
I’d tried for months, a year even and no one. Not a single one returned my phone
calls or e-mails with anything positive.
Naturally, I continued to work in mom and dad’s shop until something came along.
One year turned to two, two to three and... you get the picture. I’m still here. Still not living my dream of sculpting like I’d wanted to.
“Um, maybe. We’ll see how the night goes.” At least this was a nice diversion from
what I’m really doing tonight... which, I’m still not sure what that is.
“Okay, my dearest. See you tomorrow.” With a kiss to my cheek, she sends me on my
way.
Coming home to an empty apartment is nothing surprising. Amy works her tail off for
her dad’s resort, so much so she is about to be named the manager at just twenty-six.
It’s impressive. She works hard for it too, there is no such thing as nepotism to
Clark Bradley, Amy’s dad.
We’d been through the same school systems all the way through college, she studied
hospitality just so she could be qualified to take over the job she was about too and
when she found out that I was also coming home to Aspen instead of staying for the job I
thought I had, she offered me the second bedroom at her new place for a discounted
rent. It was the only reprieve that I got when coming home.
Because there is no way to afford an apartment in Aspen on a shopkeeper’s salary.
It’s a popular little town— thanks a lot Tom Cruise.
I head straight for the kitchen, grabbing my go-to splurge of almonds, I know I’m
weird. I was raised by vegans and almonds were a no-go in my mother’s house.
Seriously.
Once I’m settled with my snack, my eyes on the clock thinking of exactly how much
time it will take to get back down to the shop without letting my mother know that I’m
going on a date, I start to think about what to wear.
Then, I panic.
~
Dressed in blue vans, skinny jeans, and a black tee with a sweater, I’m armed and
ready for the date. Something in my mind says to do some makeup or hair, normal things that I wouldn’t do, but since it’s a date I feel slightly inclined. However, since it’s not my thing, I decide the best thing I can do is just be myself. I know how to do them, I know how to contour my face and put on fake lashes, how to curl my hair or give myself a blowout. I just don’t do it.
My best friend and roommate Amy is the queen of that stuff.
She, from the age of six, has known how to do a better cat-eye than most twenty-year-
olds. That is mostly her mother’s fault. Given that Amy was destined— yes, destined— to
take over the resort, she was always given strict instructions on how to dress, act, behave and look.
Luckily, my mother always believed in the au naturel lifestyle. Aside from shaving—
because I definitely enjoy the feeling of a freshly shaved leg and armpit, not that I feel my
armpits because that would be weird— I also enjoy not having chemicals added to my
naturally dark hair and I think it’s been instrumental in keeping it long and soft.
With makeup, I briefly wanted to dabble in it in tenth grade, but what girl didn’t.
So I had Amy teach me some basics, foundation, mascara, lipstick. Occasionally I like a pop of lipstick, maybe mascara, but otherwise it’s about a million times easier to be without.
A throat clearing pulls me from my rambling thoughts and I turn to find Sebastian. He’s wearing that beanie again that for some reason makes him look even more handsome, his hair pops out underneath it but I can just barely see the shining glint of an ear ring in his left ear. His full beard is neatly groomed, and under his sweater at his neck, a pop of a colorful tattoo peaks out.
“Hey, Vi.” I hold in my grin at the use of a nickname. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy that he’s already given me one.
That is either a good sign, or a really bad one. Too soon to tell.
“Hey there,” I gesture to my clothes. “I wasn’t really sure what we were doing.”
He takes me in from my hair to my vans and gives me a grin that makes him much
more charming than should be allowed. “This is perfect.”
“Great!” I mentally chastise myself to calm down. “So? Where are we headed then?”
“I’ve got a great plan.”
~
“Oh no. No, no, no.” My palms immediately begin to sweat at the sight in front of me. I
swallow down the nausea that threatens violent emergence from the pits of my stomach.
Sebastian grabs my hand and pulls me over to a man standing by a wall of harnesses,
shoes and helmets of all sizes.
“Come on! This is epic, it’ll be amazing!” his excitement almost gets to me. Sebastian
looks like a kid in a candy shop as he takes what the guide is handing him and starts to
strap into a harness. I’m standing there, arms crossed and anxiety threatening to take
me out KO style and he’s just going about this like he does this stuff every day.
“Sebastian...”
He looks up at me, smile still in place. “What’s up? You okay?”
I shake my head. “I’m... sorry. I don’t think this is gonna work,” I laugh nervously,
unsure how to tell him I am so not the girl he’s hoping for. “I’m just gonna head home.”
His smile drops and he steps closer, taking one of my hands in his. “Wait, why?”
Embarrassed, my hand comes up to touch one of my red-hot cheeks. “This stuff just
kind of... freaks me out. I, uh, don’t think that we’re really gonna hit it off.” I give a polite
smile even though I’m horrified at how I’m having to behave.
He shakes his head slowly, his hand still holding tight to mine. “Hey, that’s not true at
all. I just thought this would be fun!”
“Maybe for most.”
Tilting his head, he assesses me. “Have you ever done anything like this before?”
“Uh, no. It’s just always kind of freaked me out.”
He bites his lip and looks to the giant rock-climbing wall behind me. Yeah, rock
climbing in theory could be a blast, I’m sure. Great exercise, great sights, but when it
comes to actually doing it? Nope. Not going to happen.
“Listen,” He starts. “I’ll be right next to you,” He grabs my other hand and stares into
my eyes. I get a little lost looking into his almost golden eyes, they’re kind of
mesmerizing. “We can go as high as you want but why not give it a shot?”
“I don’t think the attendant would like if vomit fell on him today.” My eyes widen when I
realize what my mouth just said without my brain’s permission.
Sebastian throws his head back and laughs loudly. I smile in response, thankful he’s
not totally grossed out by me. Yet. “Okay, well if you feel like doing that just give me a
signal and I’ll get us down quick.”
I eye him warily, shocked that I’m even considering this. “You’ve done something like
this before.”
His expression changes, I don’t know him well enough to know what he’s thinking of
but he says, “Yeah, kinda.”
“Hmm.”
“Come on... It’ll be fun. The adrenaline will take your mind off of any fear.” For some
reason, my brain and heart want to follow his lead. It’s unnerving how easily I want to
trust him and not only that but I find myself thinking how much I would regret not taking
this chance with him.
I’m just not sure if I’m only talking about rock climbing.
So with only a little reluctance, I take the chance.
“Sebastian, you are a really great guy—”
“Wow, thanks!”
“Really. Really, you are—”
“That’s seriously sweet, Vi.”
“Like the best, honestly—”
“Okay, now my ego is getting big.”
“But I sincerely think we are all wrong for each other.” She finally finishes what she
continued to ramble on and on about until she couldn’t speak anymore. We’re currently
getting suited up for one of the most fun activities you can do.
Paragliding.
Given Violet’s aversion to the rock climbing, and then the amazing result when she
tried, my newest goal of this vacation; experience as many adventures with Violet as
possible.
“Seriously, I can’t do this.” Her lips purse as she lets out another shaky breath.
I grab her shoulders and look at her, “Vi, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” I’ve
already got my helmet and harness on, years ago I did this and got myself certified and
thankfully, they still honored it. I was also thankful that I initially went into the building by
myself to get us signed up and set because they definitely knew who I was and wanted
autographs and pictures. After I gave them that, I pleading that they would keep it on the
down-low.
But as I strap Violet into her gear and she continues to take deep, gulping breaths I
sort of wish she knew the truth. Surely if she did she wouldn’t be as worried, she would
know that I truly knew what I was doing and how to do that.
“Sebastian,” Violet’s soft tone brings my attention back to her face.
“Yeah, Vi?”
“If I pass out, or die, or—” She shakes her hands and head, “Just promise that you’ll
find Amy, she’s my roommate and don’t, under any circumstances, meet my mother.
Promise?”
My first instinct is to of course ask: “Why not?”
“Just promise! Okay! She would probably ask if I died from too many orgasms or
something, alright?” Her admission bursts out of her and her face goes blank with shock.
The laughter cannot be held back. “Well,” I clear my throat. “We wouldn’t want that,
would we?” With a wink, I yank on her harness to check it.
“Wait, you didn’t promise me.”
My hands cradle her head, I look into her eyes which are a shockingly beautiful shade
of green and say, “There’s no need. I swear to you, I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Her eyes soften and her head starts to nod, but I don’t think she consciously knows
she’s doing it. Before she knows it, Dave, the guy who is helping us get off the mountain
we’re standing on top off has us strapped together, Violet starts running down the hill and
when the parachute is in a good position, I join the run and the chute lifts us into the air.
The mountains high above Aspen start soaring beneath us and the air hits our
exposed cheeks and I’m almost able to enjoy it until Violet starts screaming so violently
that you’d swear she was being murdered.
“You okay?” I ask loudly, its surprising how little you have to yell when you’re flying
through the air.
“I can’t do this!”
“Yes, you can, Violet! You already are!”
“Oh I can’t, I can’t—” I feel more than hear her gasp and right when I’m about to ask
she yells, “Holy mother! We’re flying!”
I throw my head back, laughing hard. “You didn’t have your eyes open, did you?”
“No!”
Then, she starts screaming again. This time, the joy exuding from her is infectious
and with another whoop from her, I join in. Flying through the sky, the mountains are
glowing with golden and orange leaves, the fall air is fresh, and the only thing that makes
this whole day perfect, is the woman I’m strapped too.
Flying through the mountains with that adrenaline that feels like home is comforting,
doing it with Violet is a first for me. I don’t normally do too many stunts that use two
people. I prefer to not rely on or have to be relied on by any one person. With her, I didn’t
hesitate. I didn’t question myself or wonder why I wanted to do this with her, or do
anything with her. Doing it without her wouldn’t feel right, now.
That thought should freak me out but instead I welcome them.
It doesn’t last as long as we would have liked and we’re landing what feels like five
minutes later. The adrenaline is still pumping through my veins, at least, that’s what I will
say later on when anyone who asks; why, the second you were unstrapped from Violet
did you spin her around and lay a big, fat kiss on her lips?
And I will promptly tell them to mind their fucking business.
Violet is a dream girl. Okay, so maybe I had to convince her to jump a little with me
but eventually she gave in, and I’d never seen anything as beautiful as the way she
nervously climbed to the top— yes, the top— of the rock-climbing wall and celebrated
with me. The best part was listening to her laughter as she repelled down the wall again,
the pure joy on her face is a picture I will never forget as long as I live.
And when I got to the bottom and she launched herself into my arms and well, I won’t be
forgetting that anytime soon either.
We’re currently walking down Main Street, ice cream in hand after our very
successful date of climbing and she won’t stop gushing about the night.
“Gah! I just can’t get over this! I’ve never, never done anything like that before! It was
so much fun! And to think, that has been no less than five minutes from me for most of
my life.” She giggles at herself. “Do you do stuff like that often?” She spins so she’s
walking backward, facing me while she talks. The smile on her face has her glowing with
excitement and I can’t stop thinking about how much I want to kiss her right now. I’ve
never felt an urge so strong.
“I’ve... dabbled in some things.”
“Like what?” She quirks a brow at me.
“Uh,” It’s hard to narrow something down for her. I’ve done just about everything one
can do. I’ve climbed mountains, I’ve snowboarded some of the most dangerous slopes,
I’ve bungee jumped off of famous bridges all over the world. I’m scheduled for a world
tour starting in January to do more of that stuff for events and videos to share with the
world. And yet, I don’t want to tell her that. I don’t want to taint this time I have with her
with her questioning who I am and what I do with how much time I’m really going to
have here, because realistically it’s not very long.
“Sebastian?”
I shake my head of thoughts when her voice hits me again, I look around to realize
I stopped walking and she has to walk back to me. “Yeah?”
Her head tilts, her vibrant eyes sparkling at me, and a small smile still graces her lips. “You okay? You went somewhere else for a minute.”
“Oh. Yeah, I’m good.” We start to walk again and I realize the ice cream cup I’m
holding is mostly melted, I find the nearest trash and throw it away. “Your question...
have I done stuff like that.” She nods and gestures for me to continue. “Yes, I do that
stuff often actually. Some would probably call me an adrenaline junky.”
Her eyes comically widen, and I laugh at her expression. I knew it would be something
that would probably throw her off a bit. “Seriously?”
“Yup.”
“Uh, huh. Okay. Well,” She tosses her ice cream in the next trash can and pats her
hand on her jeans before swinging them by her sides, she gives me a cute wink and
says, “It was so nice meeting you, but clearly this thing isn’t gonna work.” She spins on
her heel as laughter spills out of me, but she doesn’t get very far before I grab her hand
and pull her back into me. I’m still laughing as I hug her.
I put my hands on her shoulder and holding her away enough that I can see into her
eyes. “Violet, you are braver than you think.”
Her head starts to shake back and forth, “I’m really not.”
Smile still firmly in place, I give her shoulders a squeeze. “Seriously? Who was
the hot chick who just conquered a rock-climbing wall that went on the ceiling?” She
smiles when I copy the exact words she said to me.
Bashful, she ducks her head forward, her hair covering her face. “Me.” She mumbles.
“That’s right. You.” An idea sparks my mind, and I can’t stop the stupidly gleeful smile
on my face. “And you know what? We’re going to do something even better tomorrow.”
Her eyes widen, “What? No.”
“Yes.” I tap her nose, unable to help myself. “And we are going to have a blast.”