Abby and Violet (Yuri Light Novel)

Violet is always someone very interesting to observe throughout the day, every day, for many different reasons. Today was no exception.

We had just had lunch with our friends at school and were sitting outside, our legs being the only thing outside the shade, the sun keeping them pleasantly warm. A full stomach and nice weather was making Violet lazy. That’s one of the things that made it so amusing to me.

She was looking very lady-like, her legs elegantly crossed, her back held straight and her arms loosely crossed under her chest as she had her eyes closed in thought. That was the second thing that was making it so amusing to me.

Her expression had a bit of a frown, showing her internal annoyance, and the way her head was tilted and her mouth was just barely closed showed that she was feeling tired. That was the third thing making watching her so entertaining.

For those who don’t speak her silent language, what was going on with her was likely a mystery, but to me, that was an open book.

Her mind was again fussing over things, making them needlessly complicated. However, it was the end of the school week, so she was already ready to close the store for the weekend, her tiredness a mix of classes and social fatigue from having people greeting her and occasionally striking conversations, plus, ignoring Vanessa’s glares. That girl was so painfully jealous of Violet now that I knew what was going on that it wasn’t funny anymore. Anyway, back to my wifey, like I previously said, we had a full stomach and were enjoying a very nice weather. This all means that her mind is barely able to function properly, so while she was fussing over stuff, it was only at something like twenty per-cent of her normal capacity. The talk we had with our homeroom teacher a couple of days ago in front of the jewellery store also helped. Things didn’t go exactly according to my plan, but Miss Maple’s appearance made everything so much easier and better than me playing the act of just, oh so happening, being curious about rings after I was done with the earrings.

I on the other hand sat with my knees pressed together, elbows on them to support my head, as I watched the way her hair caught the light. I still remember that when we met, her hair shone silverly in the light, but now that she spends more time outside thanks to little ol’ me, it has gained a bit of a copper shine to it, even though her hair is still as black as coal. It’s like her internal warmth now shone a bit through to the outside, you know?

I also noticed some people glancing at us, at her, as they walked by. It made me want to write on the back of her blazer “This Girl is Property of Abigail Gardener”, but that would be far more of a prank to her than anyone else. Still, quite the funny idea, and even Violet would eventually find it funny, but it wasn’t worth it, the embarrassment I’d put her through by doing that. Besides, it’s not like Violet would ever stray from me. Were she to walk up to a naked lady that wasn’t me on her bed and who then told Violet she’d do all and any of her wildest fantasies, Violet would simply ask her to take care of the laundry while she takes a nap, not realising what was going on until after her nap… or that someone told her.

“Pfft, hehe!”

“Hmm? Fufu, what’s up?” she asked, looking at me with her eyes semi-closed and a lazy smile on her face.

I fluffed myself against her, saying it was nothing while she placed an arm around me to hold me close. She then rested her head on top of mine, us supporting each other as we sat there. Truly, what a peaceful time.

“What?! No! You can’t do that!”

Violet let out a groan that I had produced mentally. Why was Mathilda making such a ruckus all of a sudden?

To our surprise, she was crying that out to Stephen, who looked barely half as surprised as we were.

“It had been my plan from the beginning, you know?” he said. “That’s why I restored Luigi.”

“No! You can’t sell Luigi! Or at least sell it to me!”

“Erm, what’s going on?” Violet asked, her voice a mix of worry, but mostly annoyance from having our peace broken. “Who’s Luigi?”

“The scooter! Luigi the Scooter!” Mathilda told her loudly and with even louder hand movements. It was as if she was swatting a swarm of flies. “He wants to sell it!”

“I don’t want to sell, it, but I—”

“Then don’t sell it!”

“—But I need the money invested back and with a margin so that I can spend those earnings on my main project!”

“I’ll buy it then!”

“You don’t even know how to ride it.”

“Teach me then!”

He let out a groan and rubbed his forehead. I don’t think he was mad at her, at least not in the way that Mathilda was towards him. Although… looking at Mathilda, it’s not that she looked mad, more like… desperate. How strange.

“Do you really need to sell it?” I asked, looking for some sort of compromise between the two as asking Mathilda why she was so insistent on keeping the scooter in front of Stephen and Mathew—who just observed the events from the sideline, felt tactless.

“I mean, more or less?” he said, clearly looking for a way to explain stuff so we could understand. “Look, it was a rust bucket when I got it. It was dirt cheap, but that also meant that I had to make an even greater investment getting it to even run without the engine sounding like it was clanking itself apart, let alone be safe to look at it with a side-eye without it falling apart. It was my intention to sell it in one of those ‘buy for twenty, sell for fifty’ kind of deals, but… truth be told, I really like it now after having ridden it over the week.”

“Why not keep it then?” Mathilda asked, exasperated.

“Because, besides the money from selling it being useful, there’s also the fact that it needs insurance, money for the fuel and oil, the annual tax so it stays road legal, and most important of all, I’m not even supposed to be riding it in the street as it has more CCs than I’m allowed to ride with my current license.”

“That piece of junk?” Mathew asked, sounding stunned. “It barely runs faster than a snail!”

“That engine is made to carry stuff comfortably, not to win races dumbass.”

The talk devolved again in Mathilda demanding him to keep it, or at the very least, to sell it to her. Violet and I shared a look, Violet wondering if we should just leave the two argue themselves tired and enjoy the rest of our lunch break in a more peaceful spot when Stephen directly asked her why she was so opposed with the sale of Luigi.

“I mean…” Mathilda stammered, her head hanging low and her voice now small and hesitant. “I really enjoyed riding it around town with you and… and so did you. I thought that maybe… maybe we could make a habit out of it?”

He kept staring at her while she kept her head down and we—me, Violet and Mathew, had our eyes set on him.

Finally, he let out a long sigh as his body slumped. Then, he placed a hand over Mathilda’s head, letting out another sigh.

“Ok Mathy, I’m not selling it anymore,” he said in a tired, but sweet voice. “If it means that much to you, I’m keeping it until at least you grow tired of it.”

“You promise?” she asked, her voice that of a child.

“Yeah, yeah, I promise, but, I’m having you pay for half the costs of owning and keeping it. Deal?”

Mathilda let out the most charming giggle I’ve ever heard her produce as she nodded at him with a smile. She then turned a few shades of red as she asked him to take his hand off her head as he was likely messing her hair.

“It’s alright then,” he casually said. “I think you look better when your hair is a bit messy.”

“Boys can be so stupid!” she said, swatting his hand away and turning towards us so he didn’t see the stupid smile she had plastered on her face.

I then gave Mathew a look.

“Hey man, if you’re done arguing with her, let’s go stretch our legs for a bit.”

“Sounds good to me,” Stephen said, getting up along with Mathew and then turning to us. “You ladies are coming?”

“Nah, Violet and I are feeling too lazy to move and us three haven’t had our daily girls’ talk.”

“Sounds important,” Mathew joked, rolling his eyes.

Stephen simply shrugged with a friendly smile before walking away.

Looking at Mathilda after making sure there was no one around to hear us, I watched for a couple of seconds how she was making a somewhat creepy smile as she patted the spot Stephen had touched her, a small, choked giggle coming out of her chest like a demented chuckle. If only she didn’t fight the happiness she was feeling and fully embraced it instead. It’s quite charming when she does, until she notices it and turns it into… that.

“You really need to stop doing that,” Violet told her. “It’s kinda creepy.”

“W-what is!?”

“The way you fight back your smile and laugher,” I said before Violet said anything else too bluntly. I swear, when she’s tired… what a handful.

“B-but! Wouldn’t it be too obvious that I’m head over heels for him?” she asked, lightly drumming my leg with her fists. “That’d be so embarrassing! And what if I make a weird noise while laughing?”

“Haah, good grief…” Violet sighed, taking the words right out of my own mind. What a strange thing to worry about, especially since they’ve known each other since forever. He has likely already heard each and every possible sound out of her. Well, maybe not all of them… yet.

Anyway, I reminded her that she had made the New Year resolution to show the boy she likes all of her feminine charm, so she’d better stop holding back the smile and laugher when he makes her really happy. And then, since I reminded her of using her feminine charm on him, I remembered something.

“By the way, were you using your… ‘feminine charm’ on him when you two were riding Luigi?” I asked, feeling my mischievous side tickled.

“Abby, behave,” Violet told me, pulling me just a bit closer to her. “Remember last time during Christmas?”

I stuck my tongue to Violet before looking back at Mathilda. She was humming as she thought if she did use any feminine charm on him, but she was drawing a blank.

“So, it wasn’t on purpose?”

“What was?” Mathilda asked, leaning in a bit closer, super curious about what I had to reveal to her. Violet on the other hand lightly squeezed my waist with her hand.

“You squeezing your boo—your breasts, against his shoulders?”

Mathilda’s eyes and mouth slowly went fully open, about at the same speed as her face turned red, the realisations of what she had done dawning on her.

She then let out a whimper and hugged her knees, hiding her face on her crossed arms. She mumbled something about being so used to being around him that she didn’t even thought of that.

“Hmm. That’s even better then,” I told her, tapping her back. “That means that he also is very used to having you around and not really think of you in that way, and yet… remember what he asked and how?”

Mathilda’s eyes popped up from her hiding place, just as wide as before.

“I made him see me as someone of the opposite sex?” she asked, now fully showing her face, her words more of a statement than a question.

“Yup. So, now maybe make him see that you also see him as a member of the opposite sex?”

She shot up, saying she’d do it before darting off in the same direction he and Mathew had gone. Kudos for her enthusiasm, but she didn’t have to go running to take care of that right this instant.

“You’re such a menace.”

“Me? What did I do?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

“Humph. And who do you think you’ll trick with that act?” she teased, lightly pinching my cheek between her index and middle finger.

I grabbed that hand between mine and laid them on my lap, telling her to forget about all of that and just go back to enjoying the weather with me. And so we did, until the bell rang, bodies supporting one another, heads resting together, eyes closed and our breaths synchronised.