𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

I never was
the best to you
-Gracie Abrams

⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙⁺˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧͙

I ask Frankie her thoughts on meeting up with Tenny later. She kind of just wrinkles her nose and leans against her desk. "So, you two are like together now, then?"

I shrug. "I guess so."

She frowns. "It's kind of fast, isn't it?"

"You're telling me that I move too fast?" I drop to my chair.

"Well, yeah—I mean, it's one thing for me to, but that isn't really your style, Vio."

I cross my arms over my chest. "You don't know everything about me," I argue. "I've been in relationships other than Dalton, you know? I've been with Tenny, before...so I'm not exactly jumping into anything new."

She shrugs. "uh, okay...yeah, I guess not."

"So, do you want to hangout with us or not?"

"Yeah," she says, and she shakes her head like she's clearing out her doubts. "Of course, if you want us to hangout, then that's what we'll do."

"Thanks," I say, even though she doesn't look very excited. And then I sigh. "Well, it's Wednesday, so I have to meet with my aunt, remember? But after we can all get together, maybe head to the Union or something?"

"Sure, Vio." And there's a tone in her voice that sounds like irritation, but again, I try not to read into it. I try not to read into anything too much, these days. It makes my life easier, and that's exactly what I want right now: ease.

I grab my bag from the desk and head out of the room, across campus to the run-down building where Emily's office resides.

Pine-scented air freshener smacks my senses, reminding how much I didn't miss this place. Emily looks startled, her head shoots up from her notepad. She uncrosses her legs and leans forward as I take a seat on the couch.

"Violet, I'm so glad you came in today," she says. "I was concerned, after you missed our session last week."

"Oh, yeah." I brush the hair from my face. "There was just a lot going on, last week."

"Okay well, let's unpack that." She's crossing her ankles, again. Smoothing the notepad back over her lap. I sigh,

"I mean, everything's fine now, but I was behind in some classes, and work was busy, and then me and Dalton broke up, which upset me for a while, but I got through it, and I'm feeling a lot better now."

Emily frowns. Her lips are thin and mostly, it's just her forehead that creases, but it's clear something troubles her. "A break up sounds like a major life change; I think we should talk about this more."

"Well, like I said, I'm okay with it now. It hurt for a while, but I think it was for the best."

She nods. "And that could be so, but the decision to end a relationship can produce some serious emotional dysregulation. In your case, those emotions can be heightened ten-fold, so let's break this down."

In your case. My jaw tenses. I know what's coming. This is getting turned on me. Because Violet can't cope in a regular matter. Violet has abandonment issues, stimming from childhood. Violet behaves like an addict. Violet couldn't possibly have grown from her past—she's forever stuck in her ways.

"Has something I said upset you, Violet?"

I stare at the ceiling. My leg is bouncing, up and down. My throat burns from pine-scent. "I'm not upset," I say, but my tone suggests otherwise. "I just feel that you aren't hearing me when I say I've moved past it—I'm in a new relationship, and I'm happy, okay?"