Abby and Violet (Yuri Light Novel)

My Violet has been looking a bit tired lately. Ever since that day, after we come back from school, she sits down and stares listlessly at the ceiling from the couch or bed, lost in thought, until she suddenly moves and says that it’s time for homework or some house chores. That was one of a few changes I noticed in Violet’s behaviour, and I let her be for a week, waiting for her to feel like opening up. However, that didn’t seem to be happening, so once we got home and I saw her drop herself on our bed, the springs creaking under her sudden weight, I decided to ask her if she didn’t want to talk about what was in her mind.

“Could we talk?” she asked, her eyes closed, hiding the fact that I had my mouth open, just ready to make the same question. She then opened her eyes as I closed my mouth, giving her a content smile as she was going to talk about what was bothering her without me prying for answers. “I feel like if I don’t voice out what’s on my mind, I’ll be having another headache in a bit.”

I smiled even wider at her and hopped on the bed, resting my back against the headboard. I tapped my lap while invitingly staring at her. I had to take her glasses off as she was forgetting about then as she came to rest the side of her head on my thighs before starting to run my fingers through her silken hair.

“So? What’s on your mind?” I asked calmly.

She stayed silent for a bit before she slowly started unfurling her thoughts to me.

Ever since last week, after learning that Vanessa hated her, Violet got very self-aware when outside, noticing each and every stare people give her. A result of that is her now realisation that she might actually be quite popular despite her asocial manner of existence. She started to realise it when she noticed our classmates glancing at her when she walks by them and even during class.

“Like, today, those friends of Mathilda were talking in hushed tones while glancing at me,” Violet said in one of her examples. “Apparently, they were worried and asking if I was ok. I never even talked with them before, and they were worried. That’s so weird.”

“Yeah, well, when you’re popular, people at least get a bit curious about your wellbeing.”

She then said that she understood that, but she was still confused by having those feelings directed at her. Violet understood why they would feel that way towards me, the small, cute and smart class mascot, or Mathilda, the social butterfly, but her?

“You really don’t see any good points about yourself that others might have noticed?” I asked.

“I do, but… do they really outweigh the rest?” she said, not sounding self-deprecating, just stating a fact. “I’m cold and indifferent to anyone that isn’t you or our friends, or family, even if I’m still polite. Is me having a nice pair of legs and a warm smile that I reserve only to you really that much of a plus?”

“Hehe, maybe? People can clearly see that you have a very warm, caring side when we have those slip ups where you pamper me like a mother at school.”

“…It’s the… ‘gap’ between those two sides then?” she asked, sounding like she was starting to get it.

“Likely, yeah. It shows that once people get into your heart, they are treated warmly, and that’s very appealing, you know? Makes people feel really special. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m talking from personal experience.”

“Pfft, fufu! I know. Although, you are special, even if I didn’t like you for some stupid reason.”

”Hehe, thanks! Anyway, it also helps that you’re in the same friend group as me and Mathilda and Stephen.”

“You’re not my friend though, you’re my girlfriend,” she grumbled.

“Oh? Why that attitude all of a sudden?” I asked, poking her puffed cheeks.

She grabbed my hand and held it to her chest, her mood dropping the playfulness she was showing just a second ago.

“I’ve noticed how boys stare at you and me sometimes,” she mumbled. “There’s a couple of them that I’m sure are crushing over you and me.”

“We are quite the beauties after all,” I joked, but Violet wasn’t that amused by it.

She started enumerating all the times she noticed someone staring at her legs or butt, as well as all the times she saw boys doing that to me, and to my chest too, when I do any bouncing movements on my feet or seat. She was also peeved at our teachers when they tell me to go to the whiteboard to answer a question that is a bit too high and forces me to stretch out and tiptoe, the skirt rising a bit and showing a bit more of my thighs. And of course, there was also the occasional dirty look she picked up directed at us when we inadvertently act a bit more overtly couple-y towards one another.

“I can practically see them imagining us… doing it,” she concluded with a huff.

“Don’t think too much about it,” I told her. “People can be really dumb, and we are all teens after all.”

”Doesn’t it bother you?” she asked, turning her head to look up at me. “All of this?”

“Hmm… I guess it does, if I think about it. I’ve always been popular for reasons that are quite obvious to you, so I just learned to deal with that, I guess. I guess I can’t fault boys for looking at me like some sort of little hors-d’œuvre. I am a cute and cuddly shortcake after all, tiny and bubbly. I also probably appeal to their male protective instinct, right?”

“…So what?” she said, lifting her head up and getting on her knees in bed. She still looked annoyed about what she was saying, but there was also something else behind her eyes coming back now. “What does that make me if I also feel all protective when looking at you?”

“A mother-type?” I smiled, happy to seeing Violet’s mood lighten up enough to joke a bit again. “You do act like my mummy sometimes.”

“Don’t call me that, it’s weird,” she told me, sitting right besides me and tugging at my clothes so I would sit between her legs.

“Is it?” I asked with a wry smile as I took my rightful seat between her legs, my back pressed against her chest and her arms around my body. “Does that mean I can’t call you my dommy-mommy?”

“Your… what now?” she asked, each eye blinking independently for a second. “Did you learn a new weird thing from Mathilda?”

“See? Just like a mother scolding one of her children and getting ready to scold the other!” I laughed. “And no, I learned this word from Claire. You should have seen the earful sis gave her for that.”

“Well, anyway, no. You can’t call me your ‘dommy-mommy’ whatever that may be.”

“I can explain it to you, if you—”

“No thank you, I prefer to stay ignorant of that.”

“What if we are making love and I accidently call you mummy in my excitement?”

“Then, I don’t care about what point we are in, I’m stopping it right there and kicking you out of bed.”

We shared a short laugh before going back to the point in our conversation before our talk derailed. There really wasn’t much else she had to vent about, other than more moments she felt annoyed or weirded out by the attention she got. One such moment was when changing clothes for PE.

“I never realised how much attention my body drew until now,” she concluded that part of her venting.

“Yeah, that leg-ratio really is eye-catching. And now that you have an even nicer butt…”

“My butt? What about it?”

“It looks like a heart now.”

“A… heart?”

I smiled and nodded before hopping off the bed and pulling her out. I dragged her over our closed and opened the door to expose the full-length mirror on the inside of the door before taking off Violet’s uniform skirt and making her turn around.

“See?” I said, drawing the shaped with the tips of my fingers as I contoured the object of our focus from the fuller bottom to her thinner waist. “It’s heart-shaped now.”

“You’re right, it is,” she said, surprised and, to my amusement and satisfaction, pleased with the revelation. “Is it just from my growth spurt, or do you think it might have to do with our walks and recent runs?”

“Oh, our walks and runs most definitely helped a lot,” I told her, now gently tapping her rear. “it’s also gotten a bit firmer too.”

Her cheeks turned a bit red as she unjustly accused me of taking advantage of the situation to grope her. In my defence, I pointed out that I wasn’t doing such thing before giving her rear a few squeezes.

“See? This is groping,” I said, now also giving her bum a few wiggles.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed my hands. After that, she got behind me and lifted me up by the waist to go sit us again on the bed like we had been doing before.

“Come to think of it,” she hummed while I smooched and nibbled her flushed face. “Yours is heart-shaped too, right?”

“Very observant of you,” I said, trying to sound disappointed.

“T-this is the first time I’ve ever heard a butt shape being described, all right?” she stammered, only noticing I was kidding midway through her talk.

“Pfft, hehe! Ok, fair. Wanna have me teach you what other shapes there are?”

“…No,” she told me, her nose bumping into mine.

“Hehe! Because only mine matters?” I asked, my voice dropping to a husky whisper.

“Exactly,” she whispered back before kissing me.

This is why I let Violet be for a week. Every day, she’d eventually grow tired of thinking about it so much and to miss getting cuddly and lovey-dovey with me, resulting in us getting all clingy and sweet. And after that, she’d be almost back to her usual self apart from that headache she complained about possibly getting at the start of all this.

That lasted for a bit before we could hear our family arrive, marking it time for us to change into our PJs and go greet them.

“Hey, erm Abby?” she mumbled as we did our exchange of underwear. “About that mother talk, erm…”

“…Pfft, hehe! Don’t worry, I might have a few weird quirks, but that’s not one of them. I just like teasing you about it.”

I gave her a nice hug and kiss to show my deep appreciation for her to be so considerate about my feelings and wants that she felt the necessity to make sure that I didn’t actually want to make mother-play a thing in our relationship. I really didn’t as Violet was mother-like, but not my mother. I had a mother already, and I wanted to keep her and Violet as far apart conceptually as possible. Were I to refer to Violet as mum in any other context that wasn’t a joke, that would feel like I was tainting her.

Maybe one day if we do get to adopt a kid?

Maybe then, yes, but only then.

Sophie was with our parents as she had wanted to be there for them on such an important moment of their lives, and the men had each a different expression that spoke volumes about their internal state.

Today had been the first day of Papa Stan being free from working for my mum, and he was beaming with a huge smile. Even my dad looked happy, lighter, even though for the last few days he looked as gloomy as he could be. I hadn’t asked why that was, having already guessed that mum was furious that he was leaving her company and taking a significant part of the work force with him, many of the employees having accepted his and Papa Stan’s invitation to go work for and with them. I was surprised it wasn’t all of the employees, but maybe some are stuck there by some strange sense of loyalty or having had the luck of not been mistreated by mum until now.

Let’s see how long that lasts for them…

Mum being the person that she is… I pity them.

After we greeted everyone, Papa Stan kept grinning at his daughter as he told her that he also got paid all that he was due.

Violet was happy to hear it, of course, but she also gave him a dry “congrats” as that money came from what she perceived—and reasonably so—as too much overwork, sacrifice, and frankly, a fair amount of foolishness. He’d have been paid for the time out anyway and mum wouldn’t be able to fire him for taking time off he was legally allowed, and obligated, to.

“So, I was thinking,” he began, his tone changing for cheerful to a more… tactful. “Maybe we could use some of the money to insulate the part of the house that is your room and install an AC unit too?”

“Absolutely not!” Violet firmly said, not unexpectedly, but still catching us by surprise. “We just got the money and you haven’t started working in your new job yet, so let’s not be foolish about it.”

“Honestly dear, I think it’s more foolish the attitude you’re showing.”

We all got quiet as we looked at the person responsible for those words.

It had been sis, and even she was surprised by what she said. And now that she said it, she’d finish given Violet her piece.

“Look Violet, I know I’m an outsider on that matter, but still, if you allow me sharing my thoughts as the sister of your girlfriend who also sleeps at your place quite often, I really think you’re not thinking straight here.”

“No, I am. It’s you guys who aren’t. Look, Abby and I, we’ll be moving together after we graduate high school, so there’s no point in spending money on that stuff.”

Sis crossed her arms, uncomfortably reminding me of mum as she regarded Violet with a very stern expression, were it not for the concern she also bore in her gaze, easing up that feeling in my chest.

“All the more reason, actually,” she told her firmly. “You two being how you are, you’ll definitely be coming back to visit as often as you can. That means you’ll be around for the summer and winter holidays. It makes perfect sense to have the room where you’ll be staying when at your place as comfortable as possible, right?”

“Well…”

“And… and then there’s the matter that this summer, you were so much heat exhausted and dehydrated from the conditions you were sleeping in that you caused all that trouble when you almost passed out in the middle of the street while having your period. Can you really assure us that won’t ever happen again with your room being as it is right now?”

Violet was looking away and curling up her shoulders, unable to argue back against sis.

Sis sighed and stepped up to Violet, pulling her into a gentle hug as she patted Violet’s hair.

“I get that you don’t want to burden your dad, especially when you’ll be considered an adult in not even two years from not, but… don’t you think you’ll make him worry more if you let things stay like this? Besides, even Abby would be a bit more comfortable, don’t you think so?”

Violet gave sis a weak nod as she too put her arms around sis. And I was dumbfounded by how sis dealt so well with Violet.

I get that I also act firmly towards Violet, but that’s only when being gentle has no effect. I’d never have expected that Violet would just take it with no arguing back if approached like that from the get-go.

Maybe it’s Sophie’s “Big Sis energy”?

“Sorry dad,” Violet said meekly from Sophie’s embrace. “If you don’t think it would be too much of a hassle… and expensive… I think I’d like that…”

“Oh, you silly girl,” Stan chuckled, stepping up to Violet too, almost giving no time for Sophie to step away and escape from getting hugged too. “Of course it will be no trouble at all. Daddy should have spoiled you more when you were younger.”

“Dad, please,” Violet said, sounding a bit more like her usual. “Calling yourself ‘daddy’ is just plain weird, specially when I’m almost seventeen.”

“Is it?” he asked, looking at her and then us.

Everyone nodded, Violet also giving me a weird look as my head moved up and down.

“As if you’re one to talk,” was what was going in her mind.

I stuck my tongue out to her and gave my own dad a nice, big hug, so he wouldn’t feel left out and stared intently at sis until she couldn’t ignore me any longer and got the memo.

“Argh, fine!” she huffed, joining me in hugging our dad. “Honestly, this family has no sense of personal space and boundaries!”

My dad laughed, kissing the top of her head as he asked if it isn’t better this way.

And yes. Yes, it is.