The Dairy Queen

Apology

A/N Potential trigger warning, reference to sexual assault.

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I get home around 4. There is a note on the kitchen counter.

'Hey, Vi. Dad and I are at the beach. Throw on your suit and come join us. (Not the new one, dad will have a stroke.) Love, mom'

I grab a vase and arrange the remaining flowers for my mom. I leave them on the hall table so she'll see them when we return from the beach.

I run upstairs and put on my black one piece. It's conservative but the side cut-outs give it a hint of sexy. I throw my hair up in a loose ponytail and grab a towel.

I ride my bike down to the beach. Freddy spots me before my parents and comes running over to me.

"Hey Bubs!! You're such a good boy!" I rub his head. "Lets go find mom and dad."

Freddy runs and I walk over to my parents.

"Hey sweetheart, glad you can join us. How was brunch with Ella?" My dad asks.

"It was good, we had a lot to talk about. Then I had some, err, errands to run." I say, not able to hold back my mischievous smile.

My dad is sitting in a beach chair, but my mom is on a towel in the sand. I lay down my towel next to her and ask her if she could rub some tanning oil on by back.

"Oh, Violet. I really wish you would use sunscreen instead of this crap. You know skin cancer is a thing."

"I knoooooooww, mom. I just need that good summer glow. Besides there is SPF in that."

"Yeah, a whopping 2 SPF."

"Okay, it's like 5, for your information."

She laughs and rubs it onto my back and shoulder. When she doesn't think I'm looking I see her rub some on her arms and shoulders too. I snicker and take the bottle from her to do my arms, legs, and chest.

"Violet?" My dad asks.

"Yeah?"

"What is that mark on your neck? Did you burn yourself?"

I can't see the mark but Damon's rough hand around my throat pop into my head and I know exactly what he is talking about.

"Oh, yeah...curling irons are a bitch." I blush and hope my dad keeps thinking I am his innocent, little girl.

My mom laughs and puts her nose in her book to avoid eye contact with me and my dad.

"You have to be careful with those things, Violet. And always unplug them, we don't need a fire."

"You are definitely right, dad. I'll be super careful next time."

"Yeah, you must be pretty terrible with that thing because you have one on the other side of your neck too. By the way, how was your dinner date last night?"

My parents erupt in a fit of snorting, raucous laughter and I decide that I might as well swim far out from shore in an attempt to find that Great White from the Jaws movies because, well, I'd prefer death by shark attack right about now.

***

It's a little after 7 when my mom and I decide to head back home. My dad and Freddy left about an hour ago so he could get started on dinner.

I walk with her, wheeling my bike next to us.

"So dad said some other boy picked you up last night. Was that Damon?"