Dance with a Devil

A storm was coming and Violet hated it. A good reason as to why she moved to Arizona in the first place was to get away from the crazy New York weather. She liked heat and dryness–that was what Arizona offered. She hated storms–especially the one brewing in front of her eyes.

It was starting to look like a hurricane.

Violet's phone shrilled, making her jump away from the window, and she groaned. She picked it up without looking at the Caller ID and she said,

"Hello?"

"Hey, you."

Violet gasped. "GARRETT!"

Their frequent phone calls were cut short the as the days progressed and Violet hadn't heard from the boy in two days. She wasn't worried because he had his entire family, but she liked to hear his voice as often as she could.

Garrett chuckled on the other line and he said, "How are you?"

"I don't understand a single word of this econ shit," Violet shook her head. "I hate school. Remind me why I'm doing it again?"

"So you can be my hot lawyer girlfriend," Garrett replied.

"Hardy har har," she rolled her eyes. "Seriously, though. What has possessed me to continue schooling and be a lawyer? What was I on?"

Garrett laughed. "You'll get through it, Vi. I know you will."

"So?!" Violet changed the subject. "Did you go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter yet?!"

She could almost hear the smile on the other end.

"Yes."

"And?!"

"Well," Garrett explained. "You were right about the Forbidden Journey ride. Best ride ever–"

"I know, right?! I think it's my favorite ride in the history of theme parks," she interjected.

"The butterbeer was so good, Trey and I got more," he continued. "The Dragon Challenge was fun, too. We rode both the Hungarian Horntail and the Chinese Fireball."

"This is why you're my boyfriend," Violet shrugged.

Garrett chuckled. "And of course, on top of buying you a wand, I bought a scarf."

"Really?! What scarf?"

"Slytherin."

Violet gasped. "Gare, we're enemies. I'm Gryffindor."

"Star-crossed lovers, then, eh?"

A big smile grew on her face. She was really missing him at that point and she would do anything to get him back beside her. But she was living vicariously through his theme park experiences and that was fun, too.

"Wanna know who's wand I bought you?" Garrett asked.

"No!" She exclaimed. "I want to be surprised."

He laughed. "Okay."

"I miss you so much, Garrett," Violet whined. "For the past three days, I have woken up in our bed without you and after a year of this, it's a weird feeling."

"I know," Garrett sighed. "But I'll be home before you know it. I promise."

"You better be," she grumbled.

"I wish I could talk to you more, but my aunt is beckoning me," Garrett sighed again.

"Noooooo!" Violet dramatically exclaimed, causing Garrett to let out a laugh.

"I love you, crazy girl."

"I love you, too, bass boy."

He hung up the phone and Violet plopped down on her bed and sighed. Maybe if she wished hard enough, Garrett would just appear beside her, as if he never left. She wanted to resolve their issues (actually, the sole Rachael Roberts issue) and just be the crazy girl she was around him. She hated fighting with him, even if they were on pause.

A giant clap of thunder made Violet jump again. She felt like a cat whenever there was a storm in Arizona. The problem this time was that Garrett wasn't there to assure her of her safety.

Violet sighed and she picked up her keys. She threw on an old Columbia hoodie that she stole from her dad and she ran outside, in the rain, and jumped into her car. She started the ignition and sped away.

She got to John's house and knocked on his door, rapidly, because everything was louder outside and she was getting a little bit more scared.

She really hated storms.

"Vi?" John opened the door.

Violet stepped inside without him letting her in and she shuddered. She brushed the rain off her hair and turned around to face him–he looked confused.

"I hate storms," she admitted.

John raised an eyebrow and she shrugged her shoulders. "What? Don't you have fears?"

"You came to me?"

Violet shrugged. "I just drove. Don't flatter yourself," she rolled her eyes.

John smirked and he led her into the living room. He plopped down in front of the TV and Viole followed suit. They were completely silent as they watched the Suns game that he was watching. He didn't even care that she was there.

Halfway through when the Suns were losing by two points, John's phone started ringing. He looked at the screen and Violet barely got a glimpse of it before he turned it off and pocketed it again.

"Was that Tim?"

John nodded his head.

Violet didn't pursue it anymore. That is until her phone started ringing.

"Hi, Tim," she said. John let out a small groan. She shot him a look.

"I know you're with him," Tim said, simply. "I'm at your place right now and no one is home."

"Oh, yeah," Violet agreed. "What's up?"

"Don't 'what's up' me, Violet Casey. I just called John and he ignored me. Give him the phone."

Violet sighed and held her phone to John.

"He wants to talk to you."

John shook his head. "I don't want to talk to him."

"John," Violet said. "Talk to him. You know he's not gonna leave you alone until you do. You think you're a stubborn bitch? You clearly haven't met Tim Kirch."

Through the phone, they could hear Tim go, "THAT'S RIGHT!"

"Ask him what he wants," John nodded his head at the phone. Violet sighed and she pressed her phone back up to her ear and repeated John's demand.

"It's about The Maine," Tim replied.

"It's about The Maine," Violet repeated.

"What about The Maine?" John asked. Violet repeated again.

"We're not signed onto Warner Bros. records anymore."

Violet stopped.

"Wait, what?"

John turned to look at her.

"It's not as bad as you think!" Tim exclaimed. "It really isn't. We sorta left Warner Bros. because they didn't like the songs that John previously wrote for the newest record. So, we're going solo. The Maine gets to produce the album, but only if John comes back."

"Oh," Violet said. "Ok–Okay."

"Vi, if you can't do it, then you don't have to," Tim said, quietly, even though John couldn't hear anyway and he was dying to know what he said.

"No, no," Violet shook her head. "It's okay, Tim. I'll do my best."

"You're literally the best person on this planet," Tim said. Violet chuckled and she said her goodbye to him and hung up the phone. She turned her head to look at John, who looked curiouser than ever.

"The Maine gets to self-produce the new album because they left Warner Bros.," Violet explained. "They didn't like the demo."

Violet expected John to just shrug it off, because when it came to his band, he seemed to care the least about it. Especially the way he acted around the guys who cared the most about him. The way he looked right now was pain–he looked like he was trying his best to repress his emotions.

"The only condition is that you come back," Violet finished.

John stood up. Violet stood up, too. He turned around on his heel and walked away. Violet sighed and called out his name, following him. He got to his bedroom and didn't even bother closing the door and she followed him in.

"John?" she asked.

"I love music more than anything," John said. He turned around the face her. "I don't you understand how much I love it."

"Yeah, I don't," Violet shrugged. "I mean, you have a successful band that, because of you, is on the verge of breaking up completely, and here you are, saying how much you love music."

"You don't understand, Violet," John sat down on his bed.

Violet sat down next to him. "Enlighten me."

John shook his head. "I don't think I deserve it anymore."

"Of course you deserve it," Violet said, immediately. "You've worked so hard to get The Maine where they are–you deserve everything in the world, John."

John looked at her. He cocked his head to see if she was mocking him or being facetious, but Violet never spoke in that manner. She was always sincere and John saw that.

"They all hate me," he shrugged. "And that's fine."

"They don't hate you and it's not fine," Violet shook her head. "They're the closest friends you've got and no matter what you keep saying, they'll always care about you. You'll always have your music and your friends, John. You'll always be loved."

"Let's not talk about this anymore," John said, quickly. "This is too sappy."

Violet rolled her eyes but she chuckled. That was the most she got out of him and it was the biggest progress that she had seen in the couple of months she was with him. She was happy with it. Baby steps, right?

"Okay," Violet nodded, touching his arm. "I don't really want to go home just yet, so what do you wanna do?"

"You'd rather be with me," John rolled his eyes.

"You're growin' on me," Violet glared, standing up. "So? What do you wanna do? We can play beer pong? We can pretend to have a raging party? We can watch a movie? We can prank call people? We can send 500 pizzas to like Austin or Tim or someone?"

John stared at her.

"You're so weird."

Violet nodded. "I take pride in that."

John stood up from the bed.

"Would you like to watch a movie?" he asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Violet couldn't help but smile.

"I would love to."