Page 135 of Come Back to Me

If Violet and I were living in a romance book, we’d have our own happily ever after. The truth is, our story isn’t fiction. It’s reality.

And reality isn’t that simple, it’s incredibly complicated.

FRIDAY, HALLOWEEN NIGHT

This week flew by like a person running on superspeed.

I had a bunch of assignments due for my classes. I’m taking three for my major and one for my minor this semester. The amount of credits I need for my major are thirty-six, and I need eighteen for my minor. Since I graduate next fall, I still have a lot of credits tocomplete.

On top of my classes, I have my responsibilities as Captain of the basketball team. We didn’t have practice today because of Halloween.

Rewinding back to Wednesday, Mom moved in with Laura. She originally told me she wasn’t going to need my help, but I showed up anyway. She’s funny if she thought I wasn’t going to come and help her move. I said this to her when I got to the house, and she laughed.

Mom didn’t have any furniture with her because all those items belonged to the shelter. She was thinking of hiring movers to help her, but she realized she actually didn’t have a lot of things, so she decided against it.

I saw the light surrounding her the second she entered the Kaplan family’s home. I’m so happy she has found herself again, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for her.

As for Violet, I haven’t seen her in-person since we visited my mom. We have texted off-and-on these past few days, but that’s about it. I didn’t want to bother her too much because I’m sure she’s busy with her classes and work.

She told me I could head over to her place between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. the last time we texted. Right now, it’s 5:32 p.m. I’m not even ten minutes away from her, so I don’t have to rush out the door.

Noah and Xander were going to tag along with me to the team’s Halloween party, but they changed their plans since I changed mine. Noah thought it would be a good idea to invite Dani and Bella over to our apartment. I’m curious to hear how this goes when I get back home later.

The three of us are chilling in the living room. I’m sitting on the couch with Noah, and Xander’s sitting on one of the plush chairs.

“Did Dani talk you into doing a matching couple’s costume?” I ask Noah.

“If anybody is the convincer out of the two of us, it’s me.We’re all just going to hang out together without the possibility of exploding eardrums because of loud music,” he says.

“I’m surprised you’re not hanging out with Dani without Bella and I tonight,” Xander mentions.

“Why?” Noah’s face scrunches up.

“I don’t know. I thought you guys would want your alone time.” Xander raises his eyebrows over and over again.

“And what makes you think we won’t have our alone time tonight?”

“On that note, I’m out of here.” I get up from the sofa.

“Hey, don’t do anything stupid.” Noah points his index finger at me.

“Yeah, what he said.” Xander crosses his arms in front of his chest, nodding and puckering his lips out.

“You better be careful. Your face might freeze like that forever.”

Xander flips me off, his face becoming emotionless.

Slipping my hand into my back pocket, I find my phone inside and take it out, so I don’t crush it to death when I drive over to Violet’s apartment.

“Have fun with your girlfriends, gentlemen.”

“Bella’s not my girlfriend, dumbass,” Xander points out.

“Okay, I’m leaving now.” I grab my set of keys to the apartment as well as the keys to my truck.

If I had to choose between texting and calling someone, I’d choose calling in a heartbeat. When Violet and I were dating, it took a little while for her to get used to the fact that I wasn’t a huge texter.

I don’t know what it is. I find texting to be an easy way out sometimes. I know we can send voice recordings via text message now, but it’s not the same as talking to someone on the phone.