Chasing Pavements

Tom and Violet arrived at the party about an hour later than they planned. Tom had sent Sophie several texts letting her know they were coming and what time to expect them, and then about the delays and all he had gotten in response from her after all of that was a simple smiley face.

The house at the party was being held at was huge and on the beach. Obviously whoever lived there was rich—well, their parents were rich. When they entered the house (without knocking, because really, what was the point?) their ears were assaulted by a loudly playing Ke$ha song that was coming into the upper levels of the house from an open door that most likely led to the basement.

Violet peeked through the door seeing flashing lights illuminating the bottom steps and she ascertained that if someone were looking for a place to dance, that would be it. Violet glanced over at Tom who was on his phone, probably shooting off another text to Sophie. This house was huge and she was sure it would be a bit difficult to find one another.

Not far into the house, Tom recognized someone he knew—Kyle, another theater major. Violet watched in amusement as they gave each other one of those “bro hugs,” before Kyle made gestures that indicated getting drinks and Violet pushed at Tom to follow him. Tom hesitated a moment to turn and laugh at her and she just rolled her eyes and pushed him again.

In the kitchen it was a bit quieter, though you could still hear the music in there. It just wasn’t deafening.

“So who’s your friend, Tom?” Kyle asked, looking over Violet. She had decided on wearing a periwinkle blue dress with a white lace overlay on the top. She was aware it made her boobs look good.

“Oh, this is Violet,” he said, not even noticing that Kyle was obviously checking her out. He was checking his phone again. “Violet, this is Kyle.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, smiling at her. “How about a making new friends shot?”

“Yes, please,” Violet said, smiling back at him. Just because she was in love with Tom didn’t mean she couldn’t flirt with other guys. She needed some way to distract herself from the fact that Tom would probably notice her in the way that other guys did.

“Violet, I’m going to go see if I can find Sophie,” Tom said to her as she watched Kyle snag three clean shot glasses and a bottle of vodka.

“Wait,” she said, grabbing his arm before he could walk away. “Just do one shot, and then I’ll let you go.”

“Fine,” he said, laughing at her.

They moved to the island in the center of the kitchen and Kyle set down the shot glasses before filling each one to the brim. Carefully, they each picked up their own.

“To a great year!” Kyle said, smiling at the two of them before they carefully clinked their glasses together and each threw back their shots.

As soon as Violet was done she slammed the glass down in front of her, making a face as the liquor burned its way into her stomach. After taking a few seconds to recover, she turned to Tom who was of course checking his phone.

“Okay,” she said. “You can go find Sophie now if you want.”

“You’ll be okay without me?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’ve got Kyle here to keep me company.”

Kyle wrapped an arm around Violet’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry, Tom,” he said. “She’s in good hands.”



Tom left the kitchen just as Kyle began pouring another shot for him and Violet. He wasn’t sure exactly he was going to find Sophie. The house was huge and she wasn’t returning any of his texts. If he was lucky, he could find someone he knew who might have seen Sophie.

He wasn’t even going to bother going into the basement. It was already dark down there, and chances were that it was quite crowded and he knew that Sophie didn’t like to be crammed into a room with too many people. Near the stairs leading to the second floor he saw someone he and Sophie would hang out with some times, Jane. She smiled when she saw him.

“Hey Tom!” she said.

“Hey,” he replied. “Have you seen Sophie?”

“I think she went up there a little bit ago,” she said, pointing at the ceiling.

“Thanks, Jane,” he said. He took a deep breath and headed up the stairs.

Anyone who had to go searching for the girlfriend on an upper floor of a house should just know it isn’t going to go well. It definitely wasn’t helping the feeling in his gut that was telling him that something was off.

He was surprised to see that there were quite a few people in the hallway, some looking as if they were waiting in line for the bathroom and others just hanging around.

“Tom!” he turned and saw Jeremy, one of Violet’s old boyfriends behind him. He was a nice enough guy, but according to Violet they just didn’t mesh well together. “What’s up? Is Violet here?”

“Hey, yeah, she’s downstairs,” he said. “Have you seen Sophie by any chance?”

“You’re still with Sophie?” Jeremy asked, eyes widening slightly. Tom just nodded and Jeremy shook his head before pointing to a closed door at the end of the hallway. “I think she’s in there.”

“Thanks Jeremy,” Tom said, turning and heading to the door. He knew people were watching him as he stood just outside the door, trying to decide if he should just open it.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to even see what was going on behind there. He almost just wanted to turn around and head back downstairs, take a few more shots with Violet and wait for Sophie to find him with some excuse that her phone was on silent.

But he didn’t really want to be that guy who lived a lie, pretending that everything in his life was fine. He didn’t want to be the guy who knew his girlfriend was cheating on him and did nothing about it. Either way, he would hurt. There was no avoiding it.

His hand was on the doorknob, turning it carefully before he could change his mind. When the door was open all the way, he froze for just a moment before backing up a bit, placing a hand over his mouth as he tried to remain calm.

A moment later, some guy Tom didn’t recognize ran out of the room in his underwear, his clothes and shoes balled together between his hands. Once he was gone, Tom quickly entered the room and closed the door, watching as Sophie straightened the short red dress she was wearing and ran a hand through her disheveled hair.

“I thought you were going to be late,” she said quietly, as if it was his own fault for finding her like this. He leaned against the closed door as she sat on the bed in front of him.

“I was late,” he said. “Only an hour late. I’ve been texting you.”

He watched as she got off of the bed and picked up her phone from a nearby dresser. She turned it on and scrolled through all the texts he had sent. She shut it off again, but kept it in her hand as she looked at him.

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

Tom shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Why did you do this Sophie?” he asked. He heard her sigh, and he looked up to see that she was staring at her feet.

“It’s just… It’s just difficult when you live so far away,” she said. “I need someone who will be here for me all the time.”

“Well you should have thought about that before you picked a boyfriend who lives across a bloody ocean!” he exclaimed.

“I didn’t think it would be this hard,” she replied. “I love you, Tom. This hasn’t been easy for me.”

“And what about me?” he questioned. “Am I supposed to just accept that you sleep around with other guys because you can’t handle being apart from me for a few months?”

She didn’t say anything.

“I hope you’re happy,” he said angrily. “I hope whoever that guy was lives nearby so he can be there for you.”

He left the room quickly, not caring that everyone was now staring. He didn’t know what to do in this type of situation. Suffice it to say that he had never had a relationship end because of cheating before.

Tom thought maybe he could get Violet and they could leave, but when he returned to the kitchen, she wasn’t there. The bottle of vodka was, though.



“Tom?” He opened his eyes slowly and smiled up at Violet when he saw her hovering over him. Kyle was beside her, looking down at him with concern.

“Is he okay?” Kyle questioned.

“I’m fine,” Tom slurred slightly. “Just tired.”

“Can you stand?” Violet asked. Tom shifted forward on the couch he was sitting on and took Violet’s hand that she offered and carefully stood up. Violet carefully wrapped her arm around Tom’s waist as his arm went around her shoulders.

As they walked outside she could tell that Tom wasn’t horribly drunk, but he wasn’t horribly sober either. They stumbled slowly to the waiting taxi and Kyle walked ahead to open the door to the backseat. Tom carefully slid inside, and everyone was surprised he didn’t hit his head.

“Thanks Kyle,” Violet said, smiling at him.

“No problem,” he said. “Text me so I know you guys made it back okay.”

“Will do,” Violet replied before leaning in to hug him.

Violet pushed Tom to move as she got into the taxi.

“Shove over, lightweight,” she said. Tom laughed and told her to shut up.



They both managed to make it up to their apartment and Violet helped Tom into his room. He kicked off his shoes and fell onto his bed. Violet kicked off her own shoes and climbed in next to him.

“Is there a reason I found you asleep on a couch by yourself?” she asked, watching Tom’s face carefully. His eyes were closed but she knew he was still awake.

“Sophie cheated on me,” he mumbled.

“What?” Violet said. “Why?”

“Said I live to far away.”

Violet let out an angry breath through her nose.

“Are you okay?” she finally asked. Tom opened his eyes and looked at her.

“I’ll be fine,” he said quietly. Violet smiled softly at him and sat up slowly, yawning.

“Want to talk about it more in the morning?” She felt the bed shift and turned to see Tom sitting up beside her.

“Violet?” he asked.

“Yeah?” she responded.

“Do you love me?”

Violet froze, not expecting him to ask her that.

“Of course,” she said after a moment. “You’re my best friend.”

“That’s not…” he started, but sighed. He leaned in and pressed his lips to Violet’s. It wasn’t anything that Violet had expected. His lips were cold and the kiss was quick. Blink and you missed it.

“Tom?” And then his lips were there again, desperate and there and growing warmer. Violet hesitated, then responded, and after a moment was pulling away, their faces still within reach of each other.

His hand came up to cup her jaw gently and she could feel his breath coming in quick bursts against her lips.

“Tom…we shouldn’t… we can’t—”

“Why?” he asked, eyes open, staring deep into hers.

“I don’t want this to ruin our friendship.”

“You love me right?” he questioned. She knew that he didn’t mean the love that you shared with a best friend, but a deeper love. A rawer, untamed love that consumed her. Violet had never admitted those feelings to him before, but she should have known he’d have figured it out.

“Yeah,” she finally answered in a whisper, almost choking on the words as her eyes filled with tears and her breath caught in her throat. She had never admitted it out loud to anyone before. “I just… I can’t do this if you don’t feel the same way.”

He pulled away slightly to wipe away a tear with his thumb before tucking a stray piece of her hair gently behind her ear. His fingers lingered on the side of her face before dragging them down to her neck, then her collarbone.

He didn’t answer her; only leaned in and claimed her lips with his once more. And this time Violet didn’t stop him, didn’t care if he felt the same. All that mattered right then was that Tom wanted her as more than just a friend.