My Violet was back to being completely out of it. I ask myself if she had even slept anything until the very moment I walked inside her house and found her, completely naked and all spread on the couch with two fans pointing at body, that morning. I decided there and then that I wouldn’t let possible animosities between her, my sister and me keep hurting my girlfriend. Violet is always getting the short end of the stick because of me. I always had hated that, and I was more than done with it. At least until classes properly start and she can cool down in a classroom with air conditioner for most of the day, she’ll stay with me at my house.

The shower she took then helped, if only just slightly. Her pipes got warmed up by the latent heat in the walks, so a cold shower was more aptly named lukewarm at best.

Now, about four hours later, she was back to looking awfully red, an eye more open than the other—or rather, shut, and an unsteady stance. Asking for the teacher to turn on the AC didn’t help because once it started to cool down the room, the introductions were done and we had to leave, leaving us in the same predicament.

There was a bit of a silver lining though. With how messed up she was, she wasn’t noticing our classmates’ glances as we changed in the changing room after we met our new PE teacher. Funny how he looked more like a stereotypical Italian or French chef than a PE teacher, but ok. He had the most glorious moustache I had ever seen. Now that I think it, instead of a chef, he looks more like one of those old timey British boxers from the Victorian times.

Back to our classmates, I understood why they were acting this way, but it still hurt my feelings a bit, and if Violet was in her normal self, I can see her getting frustrated and calling them out on it. They were uneasy due to our sexual orientation, sure, I get that, but still, do they think we want to sleep with them all? That we’d ogle at their naked bodies as they change? It’s all the more ridiculous when they knew that we were dating! We were a couple, each standing right beside the other, what logic would it make for any of us to look at any other girl than the one we were dating? Or was it that they were waiting for us to start “making babies”?

Bah, they’ll eventually get used to it.

As long as Violet and I didn’t do anything that warranted such suspicions, we’d eventually be treated equally. I hope.

“I wonder if the water here is cooler than at home,” I heard Violet mumble to herself.

Mathilda heard her too and came to the rescue, offering the towel she had brought for Violet to dry her body and hair after cooling down.

Typically, she’d have refused since that meant her getting completely naked in front of others. Others that weren’t me, that is. Anyway, that would be her typical reaction, but these were desperate times for her, so she took Mathilda’s offer.

I returned the exact same gaze as we had been getting to the other girls, giving her a taste of their own venom, as Violet took out the last bits of cloth she had before wrapping the towel around her. Seeing their faces turning red under my gaze was kinda cathartic and well deserved. Not that they’d see all that much with how her hair covered the majority of her body when looked from behind. It was like a huge censor bar from the top of her head all the way to bellow her buttocks. She should let it stay that length until we were done with high school. I didn’t think it’d bother me, but my classmates made me realise, there’s a limit of how much I was ok with others seeing of her, and what a bikini covered seemed to be that limit. That also meant that I’d be changing my habit of showering at school too because Violet being Violet would most likely feel the same way, but her being her, she’d never tell or ask about it. We could always take a nice couple shower with plenty of cuddles once we get home anyway, right?

“I take it you’ll stay behind,” Mathilda asked as she too observed Violet stagger her way to the shower room.

Of course I would, Violet could barely stand and walk straight without me serving as support. I wouldn’t get inside with her, not only because we were at school, but also because it was a communal shower with no privacy whatsoever, so if she started to get handsy in her fuzzy state of mind… we’d be in a lot of trouble, that’s for sure.

Mathilda joked into my ear to keep it below a sixteen-plus rate. I replied with I’ll try and keep it in mind while playfully fanning myself before following after Violet.

She was standing with her hands on the wall, arms outstretched and head cocked back to receive the cold water directly on her face before it run down the rest of her body.

“Better?” I asked.

“I have no words,” she replied, rubbing her face briefly before going back to the previous position. “I’d stuff myself in a drum filled with this water for the rest of the day if I could.”

I chuckled and said she’d get all wrinkly if she did so. She chuckled and in turn said she’d just lie down on the ironing board and iron out her skin.

The walls and floor were all white, her hair contrasting sharply with it, but her skin wasn’t blending as much as it would before summer. How long would it take for it to go back to the same shade? I don’t think it will go exactly as pale—almost see-through even—but my guess is, around February, after a winter of staying inside, all snuggled with me under the blanket. Our first winter together. Our first Christmas together…

That would still have to wait a few months. Right now we could still hear the cicadas outside buzzing and other students clamour. The shower made me think of the rain, however, but if it was raining, there would be no cicadas’ melody nor students voices. We’d be here, alone and in silence with only the rain providing background noise.

It was a bit melancholic of a thought, and that along with my worries over Violet were giving me the urge to join her. I know I’m needy, but at times like this, it still surprised me how needy I could get. If only the others couldn’t tell I joined her because my hair would be damp too…

“Babe? Stay with me tonight?” I said, my voice sounding begging without me really aiming for it. I knew she was very weak against it, so I didn’t want to use that kind of voice unless she got too stubborn during our ensuing conversation.

“What about your sister?” she asked after thinking for a bit.

“Babe, I can’t let you stay at your place to cook alive. Besides, did you even sleep at all tonight?”

“…I don’t know,” was her dragged out answer.

“…Please, accept my invitation… I really don’t like how you’re always the one making sacrifices in our relationship.”

She shut the water off and run her hands through her skull, grabbing her hair like she was going to make a ponytail. She proceeded to squeeze out as much water as possible from the whole length of hair, a ridiculous amount coming out of it, before turning around and walking towards me. I handed her the towel she had hanged on the wall and our eyes met. She glanced over me, towards the door and back to me. I thought I had hidden it well, but she saw that I wanted to be touched by her. She caressed my face and leaned down for a long kiss once she was done covering herself.

“I really don’t think I sacrifice as much as you think I do,” she told me once our lips parted.

Not caring about getting wet, I hugged her, telling Violet how much I loved her. She got all flustered, telling me to not say and do these kinds of things with her unable to fully retribute. Yeah, I guess it was kinda unfair for me to get all touchy-feely when she was still drenched, but we really weren’t people to hold back in these cases.

Nevertheless, I asked again if she wouldn’t stay with me for the night.

“I will, I will, but please, let me go before I get you all wet.”

“Now you’re just being naughty.”

“Huh? How am I… I-I meant your clothes! Gee, why are you always like this?!” she cried out.

“Pfft, ah-haha! Because I love you, silly!”

I laughed for a good bit, but it died out as I saw the way she was looking at me. I had teased Violet too much and awoken the wolf inside her, and I was looking like a lamb to her right now.

“Babe, we are at school,” I reminded her, putting some distance between us. “We’ve got people waiting too.”

“I-I know that! Believe it or not, I have some self-control!” she huffed.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s something I love about you, but you can be full of surprises and quite carnivorous.”

“…Haah, let’s just go,” she sighed, not wanting to bother continuing this conversation. It looks like I escaped for now.

I really need to be more careful with how I tease her.

 

Coming out of the sports hall, we met our friends. They had patiently been waiting sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree, chatting about whatever it is that they usually do. We still didn’t know them well enough to make guesses.

“The whole gang is all gather now,” Mathilda said, sounding like she was making an impression of a Mafia character.

“So, we are in a gang now?” I asked, looking at Violet to gauge her reaction.

“Yup, we sure are,” Mathilda chimed, looking awfully proud. She readied a finger and started by pointing at my girlfriend. With a lot of reverence she started attributing to each of us a nickname. Violet was Momma Long-Legs, I was Devilish Smiles, Stephen got Pistol Fingers, Mathew was Bullet Dodger and Mathilda called herself the Madona. I now feel like watching a gangster movie, she said as she reclined on her seat.

Stephen and Mathew got very into their names, getting up and chasing each other, one trying to shoot the other with pew-pew noises and the one getting shot making dodges in slow motion with woosh sounds. Us girls had a nice laugh at them before Mathilda threw an invitation in the air for all of us to gather at her place and watch some movies.

“Will there be popcorn?” Stephen asked.

“The machine broke again, but we can always stop by somewhere and grab some bags. And what the heck, don’t you know that I don’t see a movie without popcorn?”

“Again? I fixed it not two days ago.”

“Sadly, yeah. It’s fine, I’ll just buy a new one. With how much work you did on it already, it’s more fixes than machine at this point.”

Violet—and me too for that matter—got curious about Stephen being the person repairing the machine. By the glow in Mathilda’s eyes I could tell it was one of the things that made her fall for him. The guy was a tinkerer, apparently having the knack to tear something apart and put it all back together without even consulting a manual. He started young, fixing the toys they had that stopped working for one reason or another.

I could see how she was so infatuated with that side of his. It was kinda the same thing about me and Violet. I always felt very attracted to her homey side of tidying the house, cooking and being a caretaker overall. Stephen fixed things, Violet fixed homes and hearts.

“Why are you telling them that?” he asked, getting embarrassed by so much praise.

“Because it’s awesome!” Mathilda said. “Seriously, you should start charging for it.”

“Don’t really see a point in that,” he said with a shrug. “You already treat me to a lot of stuff.”

“She meant others, idiot,” Mathew said, giving a friendly slap to the back of his friend’s head. “And if you do start charging for it, don’t accept the same kind of treatment you get from Mathilda, ok?”

“Why is that?”

“Yeah Mathew, why is that?” Mathilda asked, an undertone of a threat hidden in her voice, something her cousin picked up.

“For starters, they could get the wrong idea, and second, Mathilda might get worried about one of then playing with your feelings, right?”

“Do I have bad taste in women, is that it?”

In my opinion, yes and no. “Yes” because he got interested in Violet when she doesn’t like boys and “no” because Violet is an awesome person to have as a girlfriend. Maybe he’s just unlucky. And blind too, regarding Mathilda.

Was it possible that Stephen had feelings for Mathilda but wasn’t acting on them for the same reasons she didn’t, or was Mathew purely aware of her feelings and trying to help her push forward?

Hmm, interesting. Very interesting.

This all needed further observation, but if she was going to tease us, I think it’s more than fair that I tease her too from now on.

“Anyway, movie night. Who’s coming?”

Violet and I excused ourselves for obvious reasons. Violet had cooled down, but she was still looking a bit fragile and I’d stay by her side in case she needed something and for companionship. Mathew also excused himself, saying there’s an event almost ending in an online game he plays that he still wanted to grind some extra stuff but pushed Stephen to join Mathilda.

“Sure, I’m game,” Stephen said nonchalantly.

I remembered something and took out my phone. I sent Mathilda a particular text asking something about a previous talk we had at the pool.

She flashed her eyes at me before texting back that no, she still hadn’t done that thing of asking him for help in something and guiding Stephen by the hand.

“Well, there won’t be better time than today,” I texted her back.

She looked up at me again and I gave her a wink. The next person I looked at was Violet, who was staring at me, having realised something was going on, but having no idea what it was. It was hard to tell if she was jealous under such a tired expression, but I showed her the texts just to be safe. I’d tell her all about it later because I had the feeling she was even more in the dark about it than what I thought.