Dance with a Devil

32 missed calls. 12 voice messages. 21 text messages. All of them were from John and Violet ignored every single one of them. She didn't even bother looking at the text messages or listening to the voice messages.

She tried sleeping, but she couldn't stop thinking about him. Garrett was at peace next to her. He looked happy enough, in fact, his sad face brightened up after she showed up last night. He didn't even bother asking what happened–he just gladly accepted her back.

"Hi," Garrett said, sleepily, noticing that Violet was wide awake and staring at the ceiling.

"Good morning," she whispered.

Garrett leaned down and kissed the top of her head. Violet gave him a smile but focused her attention back to the grainy white ceiling.

"I love you, Violet."

She hesitated. "I love you too, Gare."

Violet sat up and threw the covers off her. She was still in the dress she wore to the funeral but she took off her tights before she went to bed last night. She went over to the bathroom and closed the door behind her and closed her eyes. She took a moment before she did her morning routine. When she exited the bathroom, Garrett was sitting upright in the bed and holding her phone in his hands. She stopped immediately.

"He called thirty-two times," Garrett said, frowning. He glanced up at Violet and asked, "Why is he trying to call you this many times and why are you ignoring him?"

Violet sighed and shook her head.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Garrett didn't look amused.

"Violet..."

"What, Garrett?!" Violet exclaimed, exasperated. "I'm not with him right now! I came back to you! What else do you want from me?"

"Did you only come here because you're running away from him?" he glanced at her phone again.

Violet said nothing. Garrett sighed and set her phone down on the bed.

"Garrett, I–" Violet cut herself off. She exhaled. "I don't know."

"You're not here because you really love me and you want me back. You're just here for comfort."

She couldn't deny the truth. She didn't want to say it out loud because then it would really hit her that their relationship was really over. She still loved Garrett, despite her lingering feelings for John. However, finding out all that about John and his family was giving her all the more reasons to stay away from him and just go back to her comfort zone: Garrett.

"I still love you, Garrett," she whispered, feeling the tears.

Garrett closed his eyes. "It's over, isn't it? We're done now?"

Violet didn't want to believe it. Holding on to someone she called family for such a long time and then letting them go just made her so vulnerable. They're two year relationship was ending right then and Violet didn't want to let it go.

"I wish it wasn't like this," Garrett said. He looked sad, but he tried laughing to make Violet feel better–it didn't work, she only cried harder.

They hugged each other for a long time. It was more Violet not wanting to let Garrett go. He hated being so close to her now, but he didn't want to let go either. Violet regained herself and she wiped the last of her tears away and tried giving Garrett a smile.

"I guess I should go then," she whispered.

Garrett nodded and said, "I'll make sure no one is downstairs so you don't have to deal with them."

That just made Violet even sadder–how Garrett just knew what to do all the time. He knew her like the back of his hand and he always surprised her. Violet gave him a smile and a nod and when Garrett came back, saying the coast was clear, she left before she did something she regretted.

Violet started driving and sobbed in the silence of the car. She didn't even bother turning the radio on to drown herself out. She was too upset to care.

She stopped the car in front of the house she hadn't visited in a long time. When she stepped out into the driveway, the tears were dried but her eyes were still red. She walked up the pavement and ran the doorbell once.

"Vi? What are you–oh, my god!" Cecilia said, taking one look at her best friend. Violet gave her a sad look and Cecilia ushered her inside, closing the door behind her and sitting her down on the couch.

"Violet, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Garrett and I broke up. Officially."

Cecilia looked flabbergasted.

"What?!

Violet nodded her head.

"Wait," Cecilia closed her eyes, absorbing the information she just received. "I didn't even know you two had problems."

Violet felt even worse now.

"I know and that's my fault. I've been so obsessed with helping John that I forgot about the rest of my life," she sighed. "I'm going to tell you everything, Cec. From beginning to end and leaving out absolutely no details."

And so she finally told the story. She talked about John–mostly about his growth since the first day of the new arrangement. She felt herself smile a few times because of her own personal accomplishments. She talked about Garrett and the whole Rachael thing. She even mentioned Angelina's wedding and how Garrett didn't plan on getting married to anyone. She explicitly told Cecilia about what happened when Garrett was away and how that was the first time she saw John for who he really was–a vulnerable, heartbroken boy without a family. She told her about the two times they kissed. She mentioned her and Garrett's fight the day she invited Eric and Garrett over to John's. She mentioned the forbidden room. She told her about the funeral. She ended with telling her Sophie's story and leaving John for Garrett, who ultimately broke up with her anyway.

It took forty-three minutes, but Cecilia listened the entire time without any interruptions. When Violet ended, she smiled at her best friend and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Violet."

Violet sniffled. "I just don't know what to do, Cec. Tell me what to do."

"Okay," Cecilia smiled, pulling away but keeping her arms around her. "That's a lot to take in, and I'm honestly so shocked right now because you and Garrett were my OTP for life."

"You're not helping," Violet said, unamused.

"Sorry," she chuckled. "Okay, so really, the only question on my mind right now is why did you leave John yesterday? All this time you were trying so fucking hard to find out the truth about why he is what he is and now that you know, you ran away."

"It's just...he killed his cousin," she said, bluntly.

"No, he didn't," Cecilia shook her head. "And you know that. He made a mistake that he regrets forever and he's deeply sorry for it...you said that yourself with the whole funeral thing."

"I don't–I don't know!" Violet exclaimed.

"Wanna know what I think?" Cecilia asked.

"No."

"Violet."

"Fine. Continue."

"I think that you're trying to find an excuse not to be with John because he's different." Cecilia said, as-a-matter-of-factly.

"What?" Violet questioned.

"You're afraid to be with John because you've been with Garrett for such a long time. You know what a relationship with Garrett is like, but you two have an old love. That's why it didn't work out. But John? He may have been a douchebag for a good portion of his life, but he's surprising and new. You're afraid of that."

Violet was confused and surprised at the same time. How on earth did Cecilia figure that out within forty-three minutes and not her? She honestly still didn't want to believe it, but the more she thought about it, the more it was dawning on her. She liked comfort too much.

"I miss Garrett," Violet said, sadly.

"I know you do," Cecilia rubbed her arm. "But it's time to move forward, whether with John or not."

Violet sighed. "Okay, so if your theory about me and John may be true, what the fuck am I supposed to do about his cousin? I mean...psychic?"

Cecilia rolled her eyes and laughed. "I'm no expert on that. Maybe you should find someone who is."

"Oh, and who on earth am I supposed to find that knows about this stuff? If I visit a psychic myself, Tim will never let me live it down!" Violet exclaimed. Cecilia laughed and said,

"I dunno. You know John's side of the story better than I do, which is you know...ironic, I guess."

"What?"

"You seriously haven't figured it out? Jesus, Violet, you're going to be a lawyer."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"Why do you think this whole thing blew up in the first place? Especially with Garrett. You two are the only two people in the group who don't get along and yet all he does, is spend his time talking to you, talking about you, buying you things and giving them to Garrett to give to you, taking you home when you're drunk, waste his time by actually trying to torment you. Do you see where I'm going here?" Cecilia asked.

Violet still didn't get it.

Cecilia sighed and shook her head.

"Violet, John's in love with you."