Zachary

Messages filled my phone, Vio has been restless the whole week. I replied to each and every one of them, hoping to comfort her. Make her believe that it was all fine.

I know that my phone has been buzzing for a while, but I am at work. I will have to wait just a little while longer for it to end. Then I can reply to her.

Everett has already left the theater to wait for me in his car. We haven't raised our fists at each other after last time. Though that doesn't mean we have calmed down at all. It's just that we have an understanding between us now. I finish up and go over to where the car is parked. Everett is sitting inside with his windows rolled down. He sees me coming over. I get in, he rolls up the windows and starts the air conditioner. My phone buzzes again.

He looks at me while starting the car. “It's been buzzing a lot.”

I open my phone, but before I can check my messages, it starts to ring. I pick it up knowing that it's Vio. My whole body goes cold when I realize that Vio is sniveling on the other side. I sit up straighter.

“Vio? What's wrong? Where are you?” I ask almost pleadingly. The worst scenarios run through my mind as I say those words. I feel completely helpless.

“Z, please come pick me up.” she sniffs as she says that.

“I will, but you need to tell me where you are.” I say. I can feel Everett looking over at me confused and worried. Shit. He is here. I have no time to worry about that right now. I focus fully on Vio.

“The parking area of your dorms. Nobody is here.” She tells me, her voice trembles.

“I'll be there. Wait and don't let anyone see you okay?”

“Yeah… Come fast.” she cuts the call.

I turn to tell Everett to drop me here and that I will just take a cab, but he beats me to it.

“Where do you want me to drive to?” his voice is firm. Everett usually parks in the space allotted to the soccer players, which is closer. The official parking lot is further away and on the other side. I want to get there as fast as I can.

“Our official parking lot.”

He nods and takes off. He drove faster than he usually drives, and I couldn't be more grateful. I am glad that I didn't have to wait for a cab either. My insides feel like they are being used as punching bags. Vio doesn't usually cry like that.

“Hey, it's going to be fine. We'll reach there as fast as we can.” Everett says to me. I nod, but his words are not enough to help me relax completely but it's still a reassurance.

I dash out of the car the moment we reach there and Stat to  frantically search for her. I spot her, sitting on the ground, leaning against a car.

She looks up and sees me too. She didn't give me a chance to do anything before she ran over and threw herself at me, hugging me tightly. Sniffing as I wrap my arms around her smaller frame and kiss her forehead.

“It's alright, I am here. Now tell me what happened,” I hold her closer to me, just relieved that she is alright. In my peripheral vision I can see Everett staying back, giving us space but still not leaving. It's like he is guarding us. I don't know what to feel about that.

Right now I focus on getting Vio to calm down. So I stay still holding her while she just relaxes. It reminds me of when she was younger. She pulls back and looks up at me. Her dark brown shoulder-length hair, the same color as mine, is falling messily over the sides of her face. Her brown eyes that she got from her father are glazed and puffy all around.

“I don't know. I remember telling mom to let you come, and the next thing we both were having a fight. She told me that I was going to be grounded if I kept it up. The next thing I knew, I had run out of the house and got a cab here.” She sounds frustrated as she says that.

“Jesus Christ. I told you I'd come.” I tell her gently.

“I know, but she was being such an asshole about it. It's not fair.”

“Did you tell mom where you were going? Or that you were coming to see me?” I ask her. She shakes her head, biting down on her lips. I know she doesn't want to call her or speak to her, so I take out my phone and dial her. She picks up on the fourth ring.

“I am guessing she is with you then?” She asks. Her voice was calm, not at all like that of a mother whose child ran out of the house. It makes me angry and and feel weak at the same time.

“She is here. And she is okay.” I reply.

“Bring her back home, we're having dinner together.” She says in a voice that leaves no argument. Then she cuts the call.

“She asked you to bring me back, didn't she?” Vio snarls.

“Yeah…,” I turned to see Everett still standing there. I walk towards him, Vio follows me.

“I need to get her back home. Thanks for staying and everything else, but you can leave now.” I tell him.

“Bullshit. I am driving you both back to her home. I am not leaving you here to get a cab when I have a very functional car,” He says firmly, pointing his thumb towards his car parked behind him. I can't believe he is being stubborn now. I open my mouth to refuse but Vio moves away, cutting me off.

“Is that your car? A 1969 Ford Mustang! That's a fucking beauty! I get to ride in that?” Vio asks hopefully. Everett grins down at her.

“Yeah, you get to ride in that.” He says. Then he looks at me as if challenging me to defy him. I sigh. As long as Vio is happy.

“My day all of a sudden doesn't suck so much anymore.” Vio says, already getting in the backseat.

Everett smirks at me and gets in the driver's seat at the same time I get in the passenger seat. Vio looked around the car in awe. I give Everett the address and directions to get there. He nods at me, then he gets the car running.

“Your seats and interior are specially designed.” She says to Everett excitedly.

Everett looks at her and then back at the road. “You seem to know a lot about car designs.”

“Yes. I am obsessed. And I have to say you have a beautiful car.” she says. I can tell that she means it too. Even I am impressed by how he has designed his interior.

“Had to save up whole through high school to make her this beautiful.” He replies.

“You did this on your own!? Even the seats?” Vio asks. She is literally beaming now. It makes me feel a lot more at ease than I was earlier.

“Oh yeah, mostly. I had a little help from my brother though.” Everett shrugs.

Vio doesn't say anything except continue to examine the car.

“How's Kian?” Vio finally asks with a smirk. She knows that Kian and I slept together, she even met him once the previous year, when he and I were in a compromising position. She hasn't stopped bugging me about it ever since.

“I am not talking about my sex life with my thirteen-year-old sister.” I tell her.

Vio rolls her eyes and Everett snorts. Vio snaps her attention to Everett. She looks at him as if contemplating the reason for his existence. Vio might be thirteen but she is way too smart for her own good.

“Are you dating my brother? Wait, I mean sleeping with him?” Vio asks.

Kill me now. My little sister is asking my enemy if we are sleeping together. I don't know whether to throw my head back and laugh or to crawl in a hole and die. Everett on the other hand seems to find it funny because he bursts out laughing.

“No. I am not dating or sleeping with your brother,” he grins at Vio as he says that. But then smirks at me. I can't help but return that smirk because how obscene is that.

“Eh… of course not.” Vio says nodding at herself as though she should have known it already.

“What's that supposed to mean?” I ask her, nonchalantly.

She smirks. “It means that you have trust issues and don't let people in.”

I stare at her. She actually said that in front of Everett, who right now is staring at me. He blinks at me like he didn't realize that I am sitting there in his car. I turn my attention to him and shrug, as if I don't give a shit. But God damn it, I didn't want anyone knowing about my issues.

“That explains a lot of things.” Everett finally says looking right at me. That feeling of wanting to punch him rises up to my fists. I clench my fingers, digging my nails into my palm, so I don't act on my thoughts. I look away from them.

I remain silent for the rest of the ride. Just staring out the window as dread settles in my gut. How am I going to have dinner with my mother with Everett coming along with us? The fact that I will have to meet her is enough to make me want to tell Everett to turn back and never come this way again, but I won't ever do that to Vio. She doesn't need to know everything about the relationship between me and my mother. She is too young to have to go through any of that.

______________________________________