"Violet what's the occasion? You're in a really good mood."
Instead of replying, Violet turned to her smirking classmate. "It's because I mind my business Jordan, there's just this joy that comes with minding your business." She nodded with a serious look, staring at the sandy haired guy whom she had attended the same secondary school with.
"Pfft." he scoffed. "As rude as ever."
"As busybody as ever."
Jordan laughed, shaking his head before jogging up to his friends who were waiting up at the entrance of the room. Although Jordan and Violet attended the same secondary school and were in the same class, they had never been close. As Jordan noted before, Violet was in fact in a good mood as she looked forward to seeing Deon on the evening. A smile graced her lips as she left the lecture theatre, making her way to Professor Mathew's office.
"Hello." Professor Matthew smiled fondly at his student.
"Good evening professor." Violet waved.
"You should get some rest, you had a long day."
"No I'm fine," she smiled. "Your students want to know what date the test will be next week."
"Let's go for Wednesday."
"Not Thursday sir?" Violet smiled sheepishly.
Professor Matthew smirked, he was used to this tactic and he let it be because it was one of the privileges of being a course rep. "Did you hear me say Thursday?"
"I'm pretty sure I did," she smiled sweetly.
"What time on Thursday did you hear?" Translation: what time is comfortable for you?
"Ah, you only talked about the day, you haven't fixed a time yet, they'll be fine with any time and day you choose Professor." Translation: no way, I'm already overreaching, I've done my part to help my classmates, please don't be angry.
Professor Matthew laughed. "10:00am if you don't have any lectures fixed yet."
"As you please Professor" she smiled thankfully. "Do you have any work for me?"
"I wouldn't dare." Professor Matthew chuckled just as the door opened to reveal his brother. "Well, hello" he greeted, staring and trying to figure out what was going on but Deon's face gave away nothing before turning to Violet. Professor Matthew held back a sigh.
"Hey." Deon stretched out a hand for Violet to take.
Violet paused, staring at his hand then looking at her professor. "Oh." she took his hand, turned it and shook it awkwardly.
A second ticked by before the brothers burst out laughing.
"Violet, do you really think I don't know?" Professor Matthew asked, a smile stretching his lips.
"Um..." she bent her head in embarrassment. "We're not really-"
"Are you thinking that I won't approve of you?" Matthew scoffed. "My perfect model student is with this idiot?" He rubbed the space between his eyebrows. "Violet." hia eyebrows furrowed, giving his face a serious look. "Reconsider your decision."
"Are we even brothers?" Deon playfully glared at Matthew.
Matthew only shrugged whole Violet chuckled. 'They have a really good relationship,' she thought.
"Shall we?" Deon's gaze returned to hers.
"Professor, I'll be heading out now."
"Sure, I'll see you tomorrow."
Deon opened the door for Violet to exit before
nodding at his brother and leaving. "So how was your day?"
"It was fine. how about you? how was your day?"
"My day was fine too."
"Mmmhmm."
"What?"
"Tell me about your day though, like what you ate, whether it was stress free, if something interesting happened, stuff like that." Violet slowed down, smiling up at him.
Deon reflexively smiled back. "My day... well I–" before he could finish, they were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Violet! Won't you introduce us to your friend?"
Violet looked up to see Lucy standing to the side of Deon's car with her arms crossed. Behind her was the rest of the group with Cole, all leaning against Clyde's car.
Violet stopped in her track, surprised to see them and not sure what to say. A few seconds passed before she let out a breath. "Lucy..." But after that her mind was still not able to process what to say next. She didn't feel like introducing Lucy to Deon as she was annoyed with her.
"Well." Lucy prodded, her eyes widening a fraction. "Who is he?"
Violet blinked rapidly in two seconds before cocking her head to the side. "Who is asking?"
"What do you me–"
"Well, you wouldn't talk to me all week, giving me the silent treatment even when I reached out. And now you're appearing in front of me and demanding that your questions be answered."
"That's because you were rude to Cole, our friend."
"Whose friend? I hardly know the guy. Besides, you're saying you were being that way to me because of your boyfriend's friend and... " Violet paused, remembering that Deon was there. "I'd love to answer your question but we're kind of in a hurry." She shrugged, sidestepping Lucy and heading to Deon's car.
Deon gave Lucy a small awkward smile before opening his car door.
"Violet, we're just worried about you." Clyde said as she approached the passenger side of Deon's car, close to where they were standing.
"Hello Clyde, so you can still talk to me? Thought you'd gone mute or something." She gave him a flat look, opening the car door and getting in.
"Are you okay?" Deon asked seven minutes into the ride.
"Yes, I'm fine actually. I think they lost a lot of importance to me this week when they started acting like children." Violet frowned. "The nerve of Lucy to demand answers after ignoring me even when I reached out. And she didn't even apologize." she scoffed.
Deon smiled. "How long have you been friends?"
"We're not friends!" Violet scrunched up her nose but her lips stretched into a smile and they both began to laugh. When the laugh faded, violet chuckled. "I sounded silly just now."
"Maybe a little." Deon smiled, stopping the car in front of her house. "Okay, as we agreed yesterday, I'll come back in thirty minutes."
"Alright, see you." she opened the car door and stepped out.
"Wait..." he trailed off.
With one leg out the door,, she turned back to Deon who smiled at her. "Would you like to eat in? I'll make dinner, I cook well."
"Oh." Violet smiled. "Okay then."
"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes so you can freshen up and all."
"Well, no need for that, I know your place and it's not dark yet. Let's save cooking time." Violet chuckled.
Deon was quiet for a bit before bursting out laughing. "Save cooking time?" he grinned. "You're not saying that because you don't want to help me cook right?"
Violet widened her eyes. "My, how could you say that?" she smiled sweetly at him. "I love cooking. Honestly." she grinned, stepping out of the car and closing the door behind her. "I'll be quick." she waved.
"Alright." Deon nodded with a smile, waiting for her to enter the house before driving off.
*
"You look good." Deon smiled, closing the door behind her as he took in her jean shorts, grey sweater and black sneakers.
"Thank you." she beamed at him, tucking the left side of her bob behind her ears.
Once she removed her shoes, he gave her his spare flip-flops but she waved him off. "Nah, it's fine. I walk barefoot when I'm home... or somewhere I'm comfortable at. I'll just keep my socks on since its a bit cold.
"Alright then, if you're good with it." He walked towards the kitchen with Violet close behind. Before entering, she took a rubber band from her pocket and put her hair in a bun. "You came earlier than I thought."
"Because I couldn't wait to see you."
Deon stopped in his tracks, turning to her with wide eyes.
"It smells good, you're cooking chicken?" Violet smiled, pretending not to know that what she said surprised him.
Deon snapped out of the initial shock, smiling but another feeling made his chest heavy. "Yes chicken sauce to be exact."
"I'll help." she rolled her sleeves up."
"
"I'm curious" Deon frowned, they had finished eating and we're now sitting on the couch.
"About what?" Violet turned away from the TV to look at him, taking note of the crease in his brow and becoming worried about what he was curious about.
Deon offered her a hand from the bottom of the stairs. Once she took it and stepped down, he continued. "How come you always look good in everything and everytime too?"
Violet tried not to, but her lips stretched and her cheeks heated up. "I don't...sometimes I...What–" she stuttered, embarrassed.
Deon laughed, nodding for her to come closer to him. "It was a rhetorical question."
Violet sighed, burying her face in her hands. "is this payback for before? When I said I couldn't wait to see you."
Deon laughed again, "Payback? No, I'm just telling the truth."
"Ugh." Violet frowned and smiled at the same time, making him chuckle. Moving closer to him on the couch, she hummed, her heart beating fast when his arms went around her shoulders. They stayed like that for about fourty minutes before Violet stood. "Oh it's after seven, I should get home."
Deon said nothing as he stood up, following behind her as she walked to the door. He had been mulling over what to say for the past thirty minutes, not to fill in the silence but to break some news to her. News he was not happy about. 'Should I tell her or just leave it and hope she forgives me when it's all sorted?' At the door, watching her wear her sneakers, his heartbeat sped up. 'Would you stay tonight?' He wanted to say but he struggled within himself. Was asking her to stay the best thing? 'Should I tell her or would that be too selfish?'
"Deon." A hand on his shoulder drew his attention back to the beautiful creature in front of him. Violet was staring with eyebrows furrowed slightly, worry evident on her face. On impulse, due to a combination of the worry on her face and his emotions in turmoil, he dropped his head to her right shoulder, a sigh passing through his lips.
Violet stood still and silent. She'd noticed that he'd been a bit distracted since the car ride back but she hadn't wanted to push in case it wasn't something he wanted to talk about. Or, maybe the truth was she had a feeling that it wouldn't be something good for them. Whatever 'them' was.
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