Tell Me The Truth -H.S. AU

H-27

I wake up to an empty bed, my arms still wrapped around the spot that Violet is supposed to be.

I glance at the clock on the nightstand to see it's almost three a.m.. I rub the heels of my palms into my eyes and sit up in bed. A cold breeze blows in from the cracked balcony door and I find a Violet shaped lump of blankets sitting in a patio chair, looking out at the ocean.

I stand up and wrap the comforter around me. When I walk toward her, I get a whiff of marijuana. The last time I was with her and we smoked, it was the night after Johnny assaulted her in the car.

I take a deep breath and slowly slide the door open, hoping I don't startle her.

"I didn't mean to wake you." She whispers, taking a drag from the joint between her fingers.

"You didn't." I lie. Her absence is what woke me, but I decide not to voice that pathetic detail.

"I can't sleep." She explains. I sit in the chair next to her and take in the sight of her tired eyes. Has she been crying? "I found this-" she holds up the joint for me to see. "in the duffel bag mixed in with tampons and pain reliever medicine?"

She cocks an eyebrow at me and a half grin breaks out on my face.

"I didn't know what you might need." I throw my hands up in front of me. "I wanted to be prepared."

"Thank you. It's sweet." She mutters, looking away from me.

"What's going on, Vi?" I snatch the joint from between her fingers and take a drag, exhaling the smoke away from her.

"Nothing."

"Liar."

"You're doing it again." She mumbles, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest.

"What am I doing?"

"That thing where you think you can read me." She says flatly.

"You think you're so mysterious." I argue, and she rolls her eyes at me. "We spend a lot of time together, Vi. If I didn't notice anything about you by now, you should be offended."

She doesn't say anything and looks away from me, at the ocean again. I lean forward and pull her chair closer to mine, forcing her to look at me.

"Don't act like you don't notice things about me too." I smile softly at her. "Just because you don't want to talk about it, doesn't make it go away."

She's putting her guard up. I can practically see the bricks being laid one by one, until she has to peer over the top at me. I reach forward and grab her hand, breaking the barrier.

"Don't pull away from me." I almost sound like I'm begging, but I don't care.

"How come you get to know the ugliest parts of me, but I don't get to know yours?" She spits out quickly, like she's worried she'll lose the nerve to say it.

"What?" I'm dumbfounded. That is not what I was expecting to come out of her mouth. "Ask me anything you want, baby, I'm an open book."

"No, you're not!" She laughs humorlessly. "I feel so- so exposed all the time, like all my dirty laundry is hanging out to dry, and it's embarrassing. But you- you get to keep yours all folded up tucked away in a drawer."

"So, because your baggage seems to never stay hidden, you want me to just unpack mine freely?" I arch an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, exactly." She nods her head yes aggressively and I have to stifle a laugh. I think the lack of sleep and weed is getting to her.

"Ask me something then." I prompt her and hold the joint out for her to take. "I can't just freestyle."

"What's your biological father like?" She comes right out with that question, and it slaps me in the face. It's obvious I don't talk about him. As far as I'm concerned, Bobby is my dad.