Chasing Pavements

When Violet woke up the next morning and smiled when the smell of pancakes hit her full on. It was kind of a tradition that the morning after her and Tom were finally reunited they would have pancakes. They would either make the tasty breakfast item themselves or go to one of the good diners they knew of.

Tom was just setting two plates stacked high with pancakes onto their small kitchen table when she stumbled out of her room.

“When did you find the time to go get some groceries?” she questioned, noticing it was only 10 in the morning.

“I got up early and grabbed the breakfast essentials,” Tom answered, smiling at her. “We’ll have to go get more later unless we want to live on pizza and Chinese for the rest of the year.”

Violet sat down and Tom put a mug of coffee in front of her, already made the way she liked it (light and sweet).

“Did I ever mention that you’re the best?” Violet grabbed the maple syrup from the center of the table and poured enough to drown the pancakes on her plate.

“You may have mentioned it a few times,” he responded, sitting across from her. “Though I wouldn’t mind if you said it more.”

Violet laughed and took a bite of her pancakes, groaning as she chewed.

“Did I also ever mention that you make the best pancakes?” Tom laughed and began eating his own breakfast.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Violet asked after a few minutes. “Should we continue unpacking first, or go grocery shopping? Obviously you’ve found and unpacked most of the kitchen stuff.”

“Actually, I may have to put off unpacking and shopping just for a few hours,” Tom answered, swallowing a few sips of his own coffee (black). “Sophie called this morning and wants to see me for a little bit.”

“Oh okay,” Violet answered, setting her fork down to drink some of her own coffee. She forced a smile. “That’s fine.”

“You understand right?” he questioned, looking slightly concerned. “I would wait until at least tomorrow or later tonight, but she’s insisting. And you know how she can get sometimes.”

“Yeah, of course. It’s fine.”

“Now you’re the best,” Tom said, smiling at her. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Violet smiled at him even though inside she wanted to yell or cry or hit something. She liked to forget about Sophie as much as possible. It wasn’t easy being best friends with someone you loved who also happened to have a gorgeous girlfriend, who was typically all aspects of the word sweet. But anyone (except maybe Tom) could see how fake she could be.

Violet could easily recount many a time when Sophie would hang out with her and Tom and make comments about how Violet should get out there and find a boyfriend as well as the occasional dirty look aimed at Violet behind Tom’s back.

Of course, Violet had had several boyfriends. She tried dating and all of that, but it never worked out. She would think things might work out with whatever guy she was seeing, but it wouldn’t be long until she was comparing them to Tom… and well, no one ever measured up to it. She really tried not to do it, but it was hard when she was around Tom so much.

They ate the rest of their breakfast making small talk about things they wanted to get done in the apartment as well as whatever they may have forgot to mention during their conversations over the summer. There weren’t many secrets between the two. They were, for the most part, comfortable with being honest with each other.

Violet valued that honesty, of course, but telling your best friend that you are in love with them wasn’t something that would be taken lightly. Sometimes she thought about telling him, but most of the time she figured that it would just mess up their friendship, and honestly, it was their friendship that Violet valued more than anything else.



After Tom left to meet up with Sophie, Violet cleaned up their dishes from breakfast before starting to unpack some things. She didn’t do much though, wanting to wait for Tom’s opinion before putting things in specific places.

Violet called the cable and internet company that she and Tom had agreed on and the guy on the phone said they should be able to stop by before the end of the week to connect their service.

With not much else to do, Violet grabbed a spare blanket from her room and her DVD copy of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and curled up on the couch to watch it. When it was over she decided to go walk around outside and find some place to grab a quick lunch.

She easily found a nearby deli and ordered a sandwich which she quickly ate at a small table in the corner of the store. On her way back to the apartment, Violet stopped a few stores and browsed around, not really looking at anything.

When she got back to the apartment she was happy to see that Tom was back, sitting on the couch, a book clutched in his hands. He looked up when she entered and smiled.

“Go off on an adventure?” he questioned, marking his place in the book and setting it down on the coffee table.

“Not really an adventure,” Violet answered going to sit next to him. “Just grabbed a quick bite to eat and stopped in a few nearby stores. How was Sophie?”

“Really good,” he said. “We hung out at her place and then got some lunch as well. Not very eventful.”

“I called the people for internet and cable and they said they should be able to stop by before the end of the week,” Violet said after a moment.

“Wonderful,” Tom said, standing up and stretching. “Shall we try and finish unpacking now?”

“Probably,” Violet said. Tom offered her his hand and pulled her up off the couch when she took it. She gestured to the boxes that were still unopened. “I can’t wait till we’re done with all of this.”

“Me too,” he said. Tom pulled open one of the boxes and pulled out a few of the items. “Oh, by the way, Sophie invited both of us to some beginning of the school year party that one of the other theater majors is throwing this Friday.”

“Where is it?”

“Some house in Long Island,” he said. “Sophie gave me the address.”

“Sure,” Violet said, thinking it might be a good idea to do some socializing. Maybe she could try and meet some semi-decent guy there who she would definitely compare to Tom, but could at least put up with. “Let’s go.”