Vol.4 Rewrite, Chapter XVII — A New Year, New Horizons

After that chaotic Christmas, the days calmed down but were no less joyful.

Us four sat outside, waiting for the New Year’s firework show, huddled more or less together. Violet and I were snuggled inside our couple sweater, Mathilda’s Christmas gift for us. It was a big, oversized, woollen shirt, big enough for us two to fit inside even with our legs folded in. Lengthwise, it almost reached Violet’s knees when she stood alone inside it, the hem around that part being a bit elastic to keep the fit there snug when it was the two of us. It also had two sleeves, perfect for us to grab snacks and drinks when snuggling on the couch in it without breaking our cocoon of warmth and snuggliness. Mathilda saw something similar in a movie and thought it’d be the perfect fit for us. She was absolutely right.

Violet sat behind me, serving as my backrest, her arms wrapped around me tightly and her head resting on the side of mine as she slept. Poor thing, she had worked herself to the bone over Christmas to make it absolutely perfect for me, and after that, she even joined me in a few of my runs, today having been one such day. You can guess just how tired she must have been to begin with, even before we got into such a comfortable position.

Mathilda too slept under a blanket, huddled against us, her head resting on Violet’s shoulder. That’s what I get for being so warm and cuddly, right? I become a snuggling magnet once the temperature drops. I have no idea why she looked so tired, other than maybe that she might have been having issues falling asleep after my prank. She’d still get all shy and flushed whenever she saw me and Violet getting a bit more lovey-dovey. She got better, but it was still visible that her imagination started going wild.

Anyway, onto the next person: sis. She was also with us, but she sat a bit away from our group. She was wide awake and sometimes, she’d look back inside with a longing look. She was looking so cute doing that, like a puppy waiting for its master.

We were at Mrs. Fletcher’s place, sitting at the alcove where Violet and I had confronted my mother and she shielded myself from one of her slaps, taking the blow that was destined to my face onto her shoulder. Of that memory, we had only shared a knowing glance as we settled.

Inside were the adults, well, most of them anyway. Mrs. Fletcher was having a warm talk with my dad and Papa Stan, Claire and Paul were somewhere else, probably making up for lost time by snogging somewhere in the palace. That was why Sophie would look back, she was missing her friend.

“You sure you don’t want to join in?” I asked again, giving her an inviting smile after Sophie threw another glance at the inside.

“I’m ok,” she told me after thinking about it for a second. “Besides, you’re already looking… overcrowded.”

“Pfft, hehe! Not at all!” I cheered. “See here? I still have my left side free.”

“…”

She was making a face similar to a pout, but she eventually joined in, making me the glue that held together the four of us.

“See? Isn’t this better?”

“…I guess.”

“Pfft, hehe! You’re so not honest at all!”

“Oh, shut up!” she hissed. “Not everyone can go around wearing their heart on the sleeve, can they?”

I knew that she was right, but she also knew that she was being too guarded. Still, she did come to me. That was a bit surprising.

“Are you missing Claire?” I asked, softly so as to inform her that I wasn’t going to tease her.

“Not really,” she huffed. “She’s a real pain in the neck sometimes, you know?”

“Oh, I know, but sis?” I started, changing my tone to a more serious one. “A bit of advice: don’t go saying stuff you don’t actually feel and that you’d rather not have the person you’re talking about hear, ok?”

She tightened her jaw and looked back inside, her eyes lingering.

“Ok,” she said, her body slacking slightly. “Ok, I’ll admit… I kinda am missing her. Even if she can be a pain sometimes.”

I gave sis a warm smile, seeing in her a bit of the girl peacefully snoring behind me. Those two really resembled one another in the most annoying things, didn’t they? Although, even if I say that, I also found that very endearing.

“She’s a good friend, isn’t she?”

“Well… I guess she is,” Sophie admitted, looking away. “She certainly seems to know how to push my buttons and boundaries… get me out of my comfort zone. And she’s a very good listener too… surprisingly good, actually. It’s… I guess it’s fun… having her around.”

That comment about Claire being a good listener reminded me of something that I’ve talked with sister before in passing, but decided that now, on the eve of New Year, would be a good time to delve deeper into.

“Now that you mentioned listening, have you ever, maybe, considered going to therapy like I am?” I asked tenderly, slowly gauging her reaction. “It’s nice that you have Claire, and you’ll always have me, but sometimes, it’s good to have a professional giving you help.”

“I have, actually,” she told me, blunt and sincere. “I have, but… I’ve always decided not to.”

“…Can I ask why?”

“I don’t know it myself, it’s just… it’s not that I think it’d be a show of weakness or something. Maybe it’s just stubbornness, but I’d like to solve things by myself? Like… I more or less know what’s… well, what could maybe be described as being wrong with me, so I don’t need help figuring that out? Besides, it's like you just said, I have you, and I have Claire. And dad. And Violet here too. Hell, I even have her dad, Stan, to lend me an ear and a word of advice. So, I’m not all that worried. Because I have you all.”

I’d still prefer if she had said that she’d start going to therapy, but that answer she gave me, so grounded in her reality and said with thoughtful conviction, it showed me that she hadn’t just superficially considered it before dismissing it. That alone made me feel at ease. It was a risk, but one she had taken a very measured approach before deciding to take it.

“What about you, baby sis?” Sophie said, shifting the focus of the conversation to myself. “Will you keep going to therapy this year?”

“Aah, that’s a bit hard to answer,” I told her. “It all depends on what Violet and I decide it’s best.”

“You and… Violet?”

“Hehe, yeah,” I confirmed, glancing at my sleeping beauty. “Once you enter a relationship with someone, there are certain choices that you must, or at least should discuss, with your partner. Of course, that depends on how much you and your partner are committed to one another and how deep the relationship goes. Violet and I, well, I really don’t need to explain, do I?”

“…No, you really don’t,” she hummed, combing a strand of hair away from Violet’s face. My sister held a gentle smile as she did that, letting out a puff of air afterwards, amused by Violet further snuggling against me after her touch.

There was a lull in the conversation, and I got into thinking about how far Violet and I had gotten in little over a year time. We had first met in July of last year, so if you wanted to start counting from that day, it had been about seventeen months from then up to now. If, on the other hand, you want to only count the day we started being friends, that was fifteen months in total. We had gone from a random encounter, to acquaintances, then friends, and now, partners for life. And in this last year, I seem to have been able to do every single New Year resolution with Violet.

I had gotten closer to Violet, had many, many sleepovers with Violet, went to the pool with her, saw her in a swimsuit, got Violet to be a lot more comfortable with snuggling… so, so many precious things. The only thing missing was travel with her somewhere, but arguably, that’d be coming once we went on our school fieldtrip.

My life was now so impossibly happy, it almost hurt. I wished I could somehow talk with my old self and tell her that everything would be ok. And it was all thanks to Violet having come into my life—or me battery-ramming into hers, and her reluctance to letting me go once she started opening up to me.

“Have you got any New Year’s resolutions, oh dear sister of mine?”

“New Year resolutions?” she asked with an arched eyebrow. “Isn’t that a bit childish?”

“I don’t think so,” Stan said, his head appearing through the open window-door. He crouched down by Sophie, causally smiling at her. “I think it’s a good thing to have as it gives you ideas and objectives about what you’ll be doing next year. For example, I’m thinking about start going to the gym.”

“Oh! That’s a good one, Papa Stan!”

“Gym, huh?” my sister echoed. “Hmm, true, that does sound like a good idea. I surely could use the exercise again.”

“How about a new hobby?”

“A hobby? Like what?”

“Dunno, it’s supposed to be you coming up with stuff.”

“Playing an instrument, perhaps?” Papa Stan suggested. “I’d like to learn how to play one, but never actually commit to the idea.”

“Now that you mention it, I used to play the piano when I was younger.”

And she was quite good at it. Of course, once mum caught on that Sophie was really into it, she decided to pull Sophie out of it, lest it become a distraction from what should be her future pursuits.

As result, I quite liked the idea and cheered Sophie towards adding it to her resolutions list. There were only two things there, but it’s better to have a couple that you actually pursue over than having many and only pursuing about the same amount.

“Girls, the countdown is starting!” my dad announced, joining us outside.

Together with him came Mrs. Fletcher, her step light despite her age, walking up to Mathilda and giving her body a shake to wake her up.

“Is it starting aunty?” Mathilda asked, her voice thick with sleep as she rubbed an eye.

“It sure is, dear,” the old lady said, taking the laborious challenge of sitting down with Mathilda, covering her legs with part of the blanket that Mathilda offered her, the two tightly hugging once she was settled.

The sky soon erupted into an explosion of colour above our little town. Just then, I felt Violet’s hand on my chin as she moved my head in a way that I’d be facing her. I let out a surprised gasp followed by a soft moan as she pressed her lips onto mine, the sensation soft and lingering.

“Happy new Year, honey,” she told me, her face lit up by her smile as her cheeks flushed, the light that illuminated her changing in colour as the bang!  of fireworks were muted by my beating heart. I tried to return the words back to her, but I couldn’t as I was having a giggling fit from the surprise kiss, Violet hugging my waist with a very pleased hum around her.

That was brought to an abrupt stop as I—and the rest of the groups—heard Claire asking for her “sweet pea”.

Then, without leaving any room for sis to react, Claire sat snug against Sophie’s side and pulled the blanket over Sophie’s lips. We all went wide-eyed as Claire kissed Sophie through that woollen barrier, the kiss lingering for a second.

“Happy New Year, sweet pea!” Claire cheered, making herself comfortable by my siter’s side. “Oh, wow! The fireworks really are pretty, huh?”

My sister placed two fingers over her lips, her face slowly, but surely, becoming completely red.

“Claire!” she cried out, Claire casually covering the ear of the side Sophie was on. “What the hell was your idea!?”

“What?” Claire casually asked, an innocent smile plastered on her face. “It’s the custom, isn’t it? To have a kiss when midnight comes? And since you’re single, I took care of that. Besides, it was over the blanket, so it doesn’t count as your first kiss, right? It’s totally safe.”

“Safe?! Safe?!” Sophie hissed. “My whole family saw that! Our sisters saw it!”

“Oh, come on! As if they haven’t seen Abby and Violet snog already.”

“That’s beside the point! Ah! Paul!”

Paul had just appeared, and he was looking like he already wanted to leave as it was too noisy for him. He looked at Sophie, and then to Claire, and back at Sophie, his knowledge of the force of nature that was his girlfriend filling in the blanks of why the two were being so noisy.

“Let me, guess, she kissed you?” he asked, his voice barely audible over the fireworks, but his exasperation coming across as thunder.

“Y-yeah… sorry…”

“Haah, Claire, I know you like Sophie a lot, but don’t go kissing her out of the blue.”

The adults decided to go back inside after hearing that, while the rest of us were too dumbfounded by his casual attitude towards what many people would throw a deserving tantrum about. I’d explode if I discovered that Violet kissed someone, Mathilda for example. Not that she ever would. Or if she did, it was due to some sort of accident, done to her against her will, or by having someone pointing a gun at her head.

“But it was through the blanket, so it doesn’t count!” Claire cried out, revealing her lack of common sense and that her previous act wasn’t out of mischief but honest love for her friend.

“Well, good for you to show some decorum, but still, a kiss on the cheek would have sufficed, no?”

“Erm, Paul? Are you really ok with…?” my sister trailed of, touching her lips again.

“Claire does things a bit differently from other people,” he calmly explained. “While she never did anything like this, I can see that, in her mind, this was no big thing, just a nice gesture towards a very dear friend.”

“Exactly!” Claire cheered.

“Shut up dear, I’m still untangling your mess,” Paul said, not sounding malicious at all, just… I don’t know, his deadpan way of talking and emoting made it hard for me to read him, even though I’ve known him since forever. “For her, this was likely a step up from a kiss on the cheek while respecting the fact we are dating.”

“Yeah! Exactly!” Claire cheered again. “I wouldn’t have done it or used the blanket otherwise.”

“Not the issue here,” Paul sighed.

For someone named “Claire”, she was a bit of a dimwit, and luckily for her, that explanation was sufficient for Sophie to calm down.

And wait… does that mean she’d have kissed sis on the lips if she wasn’t dating Paul!?

The damage that’d have caused to my sister’s emotional state…

Sis leaned closer to Claire and, with her face still very red, delivered a soft kiss on Claire’s cheek.

“Next year, something like this will suffice,” she told her friend.

Claire smiled warmly, touching the spot Sophie had kissed.

“Oh, all right,” she giggled. “It really lacks that bit of oomph an occasion like it being New Year calls for, but if that’s what you guys think is correct, then so be it.”

Yup, Claire was a dimwit in these matters, but a very loving one at that. No wonder Sophie still calls Claire a “pain in the neck” after all these months.

Well, not everyone can progress as fast as you and Violet.

Still, there was progress between the two, although I get the feeling that Claire would potentially gobble up my sister were it not for her relationship with Paul. Who knows, maybe in some other universe, that could happen.

Not on this one, however.

The adults called out to us. They were each holding a glass of champagne, and apparently, there was some for us girls too.

I rolled slightly forward, firmly cementing my feet on the floor and placed my hands under Violet’s buttocks. With a powerful move, I lifted us up, Violet letting out an “eek!” as I got her off the ground, giving her a piggyback back inside.

“…Pfft!”

“What?” Paul asked, noticing that I snickered after looking at his face.

“That shade of lipstick really goes well with you,” I giggled.

He sighed, his face maybe having gotten a bit red from what I told him as he wiped the lipstick mark Claire had left on his lips.

“Should the girls really have some?” my sister fussed with a two glasses in hand, ready to pass them along, her words aimed mostly to our dad. “I mean, they aren’t even of legal age to drink.”

“Oh, just a tiny bit won’t hurt them,” Mrs. Fletcher laughed.

“Yeah, let them have some,” my dad said in agreement. “Better for them to learn how to drink responsibly with adult supervision, don’t you agree?”

My sister’s face was again flashing red as she handed the glasses to me and Violet, remembering her first night out at a bar. I didn’t want to as I was having a nice excuse to be touching Violet’s thighs in public, but I had sat us on the couch so we could have our own little glasses.

Sophie also glanced at Stan who smiled at her as he gave her a glass of champagne. She accepted it with a shy smile that I found very charming.

Before we all had a toast, dad called for everyone’s attention.

Mrs. Fletcher looked at him right away, putting a hand over Mathilda’s shoulder, Claire grew quiet of the teasing she was directing at Paul and Sophie, hugging one arm of each of them as she stood in the middle while Violet and I settled down from our hushed talk. One thought however crossed my mind: what was it with adults and giving speeches? First, it was Miss Maple with her end of the trimester speech, and now, there was dad with his own.

“Some parts of the past year were tough going, but overall, I’d say we made it work into something great. Now that we are starting a new one, I can only hope that we reach new heights.”

I agreed with dad, but it was mostly family here, so did he really have to be giving such a grandiose speech? I guess old habits really are hard to die.

“This is why I announce with great pleasure that, thanks to very generous investors such as Mrs. Fletcher here, who generously accepted becoming our main supporter, and also Aurora Marlowe, whose daughter, Claire Marlowe we have the pleasure in having for company, that this year, I’ll be creating a new company of my own, Stan acting as a right arm in managing the teams.”

What seemed to be a calmer moment than Christmas has now revealed to be quite bombastic. Dad was starting a new business? And Stan was going to be his right-hand man in managing the teams? That could only mean that they were going to directly compete against mum.

I had been living my life without thinking much, if at all, about mum, but the idea of them hitting her where it hurt… I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t feel a certain satisfaction.

And leaving aside my pettiness, didn’t this also mean that Papa Stan was likely going to start earning more? That’d be so nice for him and Violet.

“Wait, dad, what’s all this talk about!?” Violet said, breaking the silence that formed. She wrapped her arms around me after setting her glass aside and walked up to Stan, who already knew he was in for an earful.

“Well, exactly what you heard,” he told her. “I’ve already delivered my resignation letter at the start of December, so starting February, I’ll be working as team manager in William’s new company.”

“But dad, what about the bills? Have you delivered your notice with the adequate beforehand?”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” he assured her, raising his hands. “Like I said, I delivered the notice at the start of December and will start working at William’s in February, so that covers the required two months of notice. I’m even due to some days of paid off vacation I didn’t end up enjoying.”

There was a twitch in the way Violet’s hands were holding me. Papa Stan just made a slip up thinking that the latter part would make her less angry.

“How many days, exactly?” Violet asked, very dryly.

Stan began fidgeting, avoiding making eye contact.

“Dad, how many days?” Violet insisted.

“…Three hundred…”

“Dad!” Violet barked, furious that her dad had accumulated so many days.

“Now, now, calm down Violet,” my dad intervened. “This actually comes as a positive for you two.”

“Oh yeah? How so?” she asked, not sparing my dad any of her anger.

“Well,” he started, feeling uncomfortable under her intense, unblinking, burning gaze. “Since he accumulated so many days, and this would rightfully be taken to court as it’s illegal for an employee to not enjoy at least twenty days of vacation annually, Stan will be paid once and a half the amount he was due for each day he didn’t enjoy as a vacation. It will be cheaper for Elena, but that’s still a lot of money for you two.”

Violet was still fuming as she looked at the two men, them recoiling a bit as she seemed to get even madder after hearing his reasoning.

With a sigh, she relented, the men sighing in turn too, but they stiffened back again once she threw then another angry look.

“Money isn’t everything, you know?” where her final words before lifting me up and getting us back to our previous sitting spot.

Dad and William shared a look while I distracted Violet with a few loving nuzzling on her jaw. Unlike dad, I knew it was unwise to step in when Violet is really mad and scolding someone, but once that’s over? She always needs a bit of love to recharge her battery.

Finally, we all shared a toast, the fuzzy drink stinging my tongue. Not a fan, really. Violet seemed more positive about it, so I snuck some of my glass content into hers.

“Abby!” she hissed, when she caught me.

“Hehe! Oops?”

“Haah, goodness me, you… you little scamp.”

It was my turn to be scolded, but in her loving way, my cheek just being lightly pinched.

As we giggled at each other, I was certain, this year was going to be even better.