Vol. 5, Chapter XI — Flirting, Foil Packets and Paprika

It didn’t take Violet as long as I thought it would for her to come out of our room. She was obviously sleepy, but it was the regular kind of sleepy, not the utterly useless one. I guess she actually slept well today.

First thing I did was pull her by the collar of her shirt to lower her head so my lips could reach hers. I let then linger on hers as I knew it was one of the best ways to make her more awake and brighten her mood right from the start of the day.

“You taste like strawberries,” she said, less sleepy and already smiling brightly.

“I did just brush my teeth,” I giggled, letting her go. “And you should too. Also, could you prepare breakfast after that? I’ve been tidying up and haven’t eaten anything yet.”

“Fufufu! Ok. Thanks for your hard work.”

I waited for her to go to the bathroom and come out before finishing mopping the floor. With the windows open, it’d be a minute for the floor to be dry and we could walk around without leaving footprints. And once that was out of the way, I joined her in the kitchen, just as she was finishing preparing our food. As a thank you, I gave her another kiss, commenting on how she now tasted minty.

“How did you sleep?” I asked her before taking a bite out of the croissant with strawberry jam. “Are you feeling ok today?”

“I’m remarkably well on both fronts,” she told me as she gave a pet to Oliver who sat by her, waiting for a treat of a bit of attention. “I’m just a bit bloated today, otherwise, I feel sweet as honey.”

Our usual routine that, for some, might be quite unremarkable, but for me, it meant the whole world. Typically, after this, we’d go for a walk as a date. Today however, things were slightly different. After we were done eating, we’d put on our casual clothes and head to school, something that will likely feel a bit strange but nice in a way. Our final grades were to come out today, so that’s why we were going to school on a weekday out of our uniforms. It was hard to believe time went by so fast.

“You know, it’s hard to believe we are already done with school this year,” she commented, making me laugh because I was just thinking that.

“I know right?” I agreed. “After that school trip, time went by in a blur.”

“Personally, I think the whole school year went by in a blur,” she chuckled. “Minus the time I had to put up with Vanessa’s antics, but really, that’s just a bottom note, if even that.”

It was now time for me to scratch Oliver’s head who came to sit by my side, looking up at me with hopeful eyes. Not trats for him today, just scratches to that crazy head of his.

“He looks a bit weird with his Summer coating,” I noted as I saw how thin his neck looked like. “I think he looks best on his Winter coat. Extra fluffy.”

“Yeah, well, not that he needs it now that the house is actually liveable during Summer, but he’d absolutely cook if he stayed under the sun like he does if he kept all that fur. Which reminds me, we really should be going.”

I agreed with her, finishing my tea in a single gulp. We—Violet I mean, would toast under the Summer heat on the way back, but if we left now, the way there would be gentler on her physique.

As we dressed, I really took in how much better the house was now that insulation had been installed. It still got a bit stuffy during the afternoon up to around midnight, but it was tolerable and easily solved with the ACs that had been installed.

“Babe? Why the make-up? We are just going to school and back.”

“I know,” she said, carefully applying some around her eyes. “It’s just… what if we come across somebody we know?”

I shook my head, not disapprovingly, but amused. I asked her since when she was that self-conscious about it. She pointed out, and rightfully so, that she has always been. She then explained that, maybe before she’d simply go au naturelle, but since she was now popular, she didn’t want people to think that she’s a slob even more. I chuckled again, finding that level of care quite charming.

“Well then, I should pretty up myself too,” I said, getting in line to apply some to my face too. “I can’t have people think that I don’t put any effort on my presentation unlike my wifey.”

The walk to school was nice and calm. With the classes now over, there were less cars on the street in the early morning as well as people our age walking around. That made what was already an easy task in our little town, walking from point A to point B, even easier. Still, as easy as it was, once we got to school grounds, the Sun was already starting to be a menace to Violet. So much so that, as we headed to where the billboard with our grades should be, Violet was applying a new coating of sunscreen to her exposed skin, save for the legs, as that wasn’t practical while walking. Once at the place though, she finally got to it. Luckily it was just us there, otherwise people would have seen quite the show as she hiked up the skirt to apply the cream at least a palm past the point where the fabric covered them. And just as there was no people around, so too there weren’t any grades yet.

Our wait was a short one, as soon after Violet was done with her precautions, Miss Maple appeared from a corner, carrying sheets of paper in one hand and a big cardboard box under her other arm.

“Good morning girls!” she greeted us with a cheer. “I wasn’t expecting to see you two here so soon. I mean, I expected you two to be here soon, on account of how Violet is, but still, this is unexpectedly soon.”

“We wanted to avoid the sun as much as possible,” Violet explained. “It’s bad enough that we’ll have to put up with it on the way back.”

“At least you’ve got that hat,” our teacher commented as she started pinning the sheets of paper with the students grades. “I really should get around to get myself one of those. You look like you’re headed to the beach.”

True, Violet did look like that. Me too, for that matter. We were both dressed in our summer dresses and strap sandals, but it was only Violet who had on her head a wide brim hat made of white cloth and with a strap with a colour very similar to the flowers patterning the bottom of her dress skirt.

We offered help, but our teacher said she had to refuse due to protocol. She knows we are trustworthy, but if one of her colleagues spotted her having two students helping her with such a sensitive task such as this, all the soap in the world wouldn’t be enough to wash herself.

“Top of the class again,” Violet chuckled, giving my hand a squeeze.

“And look at you,” I chirped, my eyes having gone immediately to her name. “You’re on second place!”

“I am?” she asked, now starting to compare her grades with the rest.

“You are,” Miss Maple said, still pinning students grades to the board. “If memory serves me right, your final average is seventeen-point-three, and only because your PE grade is fourteen or something like that. Abby, yours is nineteen-point-four, the highest in the grade. Splendid job, both of you. I’m really proud of you two.”

She really meant it, she was getting a bit emotional at the end.

“Hehe! Must be nice, being able to brag to the other teachers that you have such good students despite this being just your first year as a homeroom teacher.”

“Oh, you have no idea!” she said, her voice going down a few pitches as she let out an almost evil laugh. “Miss Sourface—Miss Turkington looked like she was about to have a stroke when she saw the results!”

We laughed and got back to checking our grades. I was dictating and Violet was writing down in our friends group chat what grades they had. Mathilda scored fourth place, Stephen fifth, and Mathew scored eighth place.

“What about Jessy?”

“What about me?” the person in question asked from behind us.

“Jessy! Hi there!” I cheered, turning around to greet her. “You came early!”

“I figured you two would be here. Good morning Abby, good morning Vi!”

“‘Vi’? Erm, yeah, good morning.”

“Are you two having a date after this?” Jessy asked, taking a good look at us. “You two look so pretty today. Ah, I mean, you always do, it’s just, I think this might be the first time I see you two in casual clothes up close.”

Up close?

Happenstance or accidental stalking aside, we explained that we were just out for the grades and would be heading home as soon as we were done so Violet wouldn’t boil alive under the sun.

“Yeah, makes sense,” Jessy hummed. “She really sucks with dealing with the sun after all.”

Violet said nothing and was hiding it, but I could see it clear as day: she found it annoying that now everybody seemed to know her weakness to the heat. To the cold too, but that’s not relevant today.

“Pfft, hehe!”

“Stop it, you!” she hushed me, knowing exactly why I was snickering.

We looked at Jessy’s grade next. She had climbed up from being in twelfth place at the start of the year all the way up to sixth place, and she was quite happy about it.

“…What about Vanessa?” Violet asked in a hushed tone after making sure no one but us was around.

“…She’s likely below the midpoint,” I said, not really wanting to do the Math for her grades. “She passed, but for some reason, her grades seem to have taken a tumble this year.”

“Oh… Sooo, she likely won’t be in the same class as us next year, huh?” Violet said in a dragged tone, completely heartbroken as you might guess. Her smile was kinda scary if I’m to be honest.

“I hate to break it to you, but she likely will,” Miss Maple said, having finally finished that part of her work.

“No! Why!?”

“Calm down Violet, it’s not the end of the world,” Miss Maple said, completely dropping the formality since it was just us around. “The school is still talking about it, but some teachers are proposing only rearranging the classes according to their final grades for those graduating from tenth grade to eleventh grade. I’m really sorry, but it looks like it will stick.”

Those really were bad news for us. Violet wanted to protest, but she couldn’t, not only because she knew that it was pointless, but also because she had Jessy, her number one fan, right by her side, and it had been bad enough that she saw her outburst over the news.

“This sucks,” was my girlfriend’s final words as she accepted her reality.

I gave her hand a tiny squeeze as a sign of solidarity. After we got home, I’d give her back a thorough massage to compensate these bad news and cheer her up. Jessy too seemed like she wanted to say or do something to brighten Violet’s mood, but unlike me, she didn’t have as much of an intimate understanding of her, so she simply stood there, awkwardly looking.

“I was told to give students one of each, so grab one,” Miss Maple said, holding up the cardboard box towards us, interrupting the mood.

Jessy was asking if it was candy as we three reached in and grabbed a packet. She grew mute when we retrieved our hands and saw what we were holding: a tiny, square foil with a condom inside. We all looked at Miss Maple, wondering what this was about.

“The school this year decided to promote safe sex to our students,” she explained rubbing the back of her neck. “Personally, I half agree with them, it’s better that if you’re going to do it, you use protection, but… giving away these to kids who mostly only had a theoretical explanation on how to put one on during a single Biology class at most sounds like it invites accidents to me.”

Violet and I looked at each other, each of us still holding the packet with a raised hand, Jessy looking at each of us too, us three sharing the exact same thought.

“I know you two don’t really need it,” Miss Maple said, pointing at me and my wifey. “However, you two might know someone who might need it. Mathilda and Stephen come to mind.”

Oh no, they aren’t there yet.

At least I don’t think they were. A bit clingy for sure, but they haven’t even held hands. Mathilda would surely say something otherwise.

“Wouldn’t you agree, Mumma Violet?”

“Miss Maple!” Violet whined while everyone else chuckled at her bashfulness.

“Erm, how do you put one on?” Jessy asked, her cheeks turning a bit red. “Not that I’m planning on using it, just… for reference in case the friend I have in mind asks when I give this to her?”

“Oh, erm, well, you see…”

The way Evelyn explained it betrayed her own lack of experience with the matter outside the theory.

We bid them farewell after that, and once we were out of the school gate, for some reason, I looked towards the direction I used to live when mum and dad were together. It felt strange not having to report my grades and fearing severe punishment if they weren’t up to standard. That thought was interrupted by Violet tightening the grip on my hand and leaning over me, asking if everything was all right. I smiled at her, my chest feeling as light as ever, and I hugged her arm, rubbing my cheek as I told her that I loved her to bits and wished for ice cream. She let out a harmonious giggle as she called me demanding with my cheek softly held between two fingers.

We arrived at her place a bit later, the sun already being a menace. Violet wished for nothing more than strip out of her sweaty clothes and turn on the AC in the bedroom.

Sis was there too, in the kitchen cooking, a natural thing since we were to have a family lunch to celebrate Violet and I passing, but unlike any other time, Stan wasn’t with her helping or being helped. Instead, he was sat on the couch talking with a stunner of a woman in form-fitting gym clothes. Golden hair tied in a ponytail, a reasonably big chest that was full, thin waist and flared hips, abs showing, elegant but muscular thighs. Her grey eyes crinkled at the corner as they chatted in good spirits half-turned towards each other, their knees almost touching. My sister however looked like she was made to swallow a lemon and was dying to have that woman out of the house, further adding fuel to my suspicions.

“Took you two long enough,” he told us with a smile. “Violet, Abby, this is Lydia, my PT.”

The woman got up and walked up to us. Her head stood just a bit taller than Violet’s. She offered her hand to Violet first, saying that she was without a doubt herself as her dad talked a lot about her. She then faced me, also offering her hand as a greeting, saying that I had to be the unofficial daughter-in-law. Her smile was pleasant and sincere, and she smelled faintly of soap but also a bit of sweat, likely from having come from the gym after a light workout.

“I must say, you look like a miniature version of your sister,” Lydia said next, looking back at Sophie who just barely managed to hide the glare she was tossing her.

“Hehe! I do, don’t I?” I laughed, taking that as the highest compliment possible.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Lydia,” Violet said, shifting a bit, clearly uncomfortable with the stranger in her house. “I’ll be in the kitchen helping Sophie, so you can go back to talking with dad.”

She went, and I followed, us serving as a distraction to Sophie. The first thing Violet noticed was the meat.

“Why is the chicken so red?” she asked, looking at what my sister had set aside marinating.

“Your dad and I ate a dish called ‘Paprika Hendl’ and he really liked it, so I decided to do something inspired on that.”

That was super, super sweet of Sophie, and again, further added fuel to my suspicions. My eyes were boring a whole through sister, trying to see past all the proper young lady veneer, but she was actively avoiding my gaze as soon as she noticed it. Again, that added more fuel to the fire.

“Oh, paprika? I don’t think I ever used or tasted that.”

“It’s kinda like a sweet and hot pepper I think. Not that hot though.”

“…Are you ok Sophie?” Violet asked, resting a hand on her arm. “You look… upset.”

“What? No, I’m fine, it’s nothing.”

“Is it because of my dad?” Violet asked, my sister flinching for a bit. “Because he hasn’t been helping you?”

That confirmed it for me, the flinching and then relaxing once Violet finished her logic. There was something between her and Papa Stan, and I had little doubts now that it was either a crush, or some sort of deep attachment, the latter sounding a bit too naïve for me.

It's not like I didn’t understand it, Papa Stan is Papa Stan, but he was also the father of my girlfriend, the one I was likely going to get married sooner rather than later. It made the relationship feel elicit.

No, not relationship, attraction.

Being attracted to didn’t forcefully mean there was going to be a relationship. The fact that he was also our dad’s best friend and right-hand man… that made it both worse but also a bit better, I think?

I’m sure she knew all that, so I didn’t think it was likely she’d try and pursue it. There was also her inexperience. However, the two spend a lot of time together, and that likely makes it harder for her to forget about it.

“I should be going now,” Lydia said, getting up. “It’s almost lunch time, and I still have to prepare some food for my kids. I’ll see you Monday Stan.”

And with that, they shared a final word of departure as he walked her to the door. The way her glutes flexed and jiggled made us all stare at it, Violet included. She looked at me, her face completely neutral as she spoke.

“And that’s why I asked you not to wear such tight shorts to the gym.”

“Pfft, bwah-haha! Only you to see a nice butt and show zero interest in it!”

“Honestly Violet, are you even really into girls?” Sophie teased, not resisting poking fun at the practical mind of my wifey.

“I’m not into girls, I’m into Abby, and Abby alone,” she huffed back, her face turning completely red. “That’s different!”

“Are you two poking fun at my daughter again?” Stan asked, not sounding like he wanted us to stop but more like he wanted to join in on the fun.

“Actually, we were talking about Lydia, in a way,” I said. “She’s a real stunner, isn’t she?”

“I’d say so, although it’s not really appropriate to talk about a married woman like that,” he said, his tone turning more serious.

“Oh, so she’s married?”

He explained nonchalantly that she was either married, or she lived with her boyfriend or something like that. He often saw her and a man with two little kids that are obviously theirs. Sis’s shoulders laxed significantly. Then, he asked what she had been doing in the meantime and apologised for not helping at all, volunteering to finish up the rest while she rests and chats with us.

My sister however was very insistent on finishing up the dish, so he was relegated to being her cooking aid. She then shooed us away to change clothes.

It looked like it wasn’t this time yet that I talked with her about the matter.

“Ah! Girls, before I forget, I have the tickets for my recital! It’s in my purse, front pocket, if you’d be so kind to retrieve them.”

I ran back to her to hop on my feet as I cheered for her decision to go through with it. She was scolding me about my outburst when Papa Stan rested a hand on her shoulder, asking what made her make up her mind. She blushed a bit as she said that it was mostly him telling her that she should do what she feels like and share it with the people that are close to her.

“I see,” he said, his smile honest and disarming. “And do I get a ticket too?”

“Of course you do!” she said. “And it’s on a Saturday night, so you’ll be able to go. Dad too.”

Yeah, I really, really need to talk to her about this crush of hers one of this days.