Scout: Devil's Rose #11

Chapter 17: Violet Monroe

I wake up to find myself in my own bed, Major not sleeping next to me nor on the floor. A rush of panic moves through my body, and it's only when I hear the clinking of glasses in the kitchen and Harper and Major's quiet voices that I can finally relax.

Major hasn't been staying at my place long at all, but it's weird not to have him around me pretty much every second of the day. Not that the kitchen and living room area isn't close. It is just that usually when I look beside me, there he is. I don't have to question it.

I'm glad that Harper and he are getting along though. I've always wanted Harper to approve of my relationships, so it feels good like she likes him so much. One day, when she finds her person, I want to be the person she looks to for approval.

I lay in bed for about another thirty minutes scrolling through my phone. Since Gabby gave me time off work, it's sort of been nice not to have to get started on my day the second I wake up.

I love working at Vellichor, but I also enjoy relaxing all day. I don't think many people would argue with that. After letting my body gradually wake up, I finally get out of bed and take a much-needed shower.

It doesn't take me long to get ready for the day or put on a clean pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. I'm going for the "cozy-girl" look today. Yesterday really took a toll on me. My body and mind are exhausted even with the ten hours I got of sleep.

I step out into the hallway to hear the sound of The Good Place on the TV, and Harper's snorting laugh. I wave at her as I make my way to the kitchen to grab myself a cup of chai.

I feel Major's warm hand on my lower back before it slips over my hip to drag my body closer to his. He lays a kiss behind my ear, his grip just tight enough. I lick my lower lip and hide my smile behind my mug.

I can feel Harper's eyes on us, and reality falls over me. He's just putting on a show for her. He doesn't actually want to greet me like this. He knows that if he doesn't, Harper will begin asking questions.

My body freezes, and he instantly takes his hands off me and steps away without making it look unnatural.

I turn to get a glance at his face, my body leaning up against the kitchen counter, and his standing directly in front of me so I can no longer see the living room couch, including Harper who sits on it.

His eyebrows are pulled together, and his lips dip into a slight frown. His hands are partly clenched at his sides, everything about his body language tells me that he's extremely confused and feels conflicted about what happened.

I lay my hand on his chest, letting his body relax under my touch, and I take a small step closer to him.

"It's okay, I promise. My brain is just overloaded," I sort of lie.

"And that's perfectly okay. I'm sorry if I overstepped."

"Don't worry about it," I reply softly, shooting a smile up at him.

I take another large drink of my iced chai. I find myself underneath the spell of his blue eyes, and it takes another one of Harper's loud laughs (that I adore) to snap me out of it.

Major hands me a plate with three pancakes on it, pushing it toward me.

"I'll eat, I promise."

"You need it. It'll help to deal with yesterday," Major insists, leaving the plate in my empty hand.

He takes a seat at the bar chairs at the island counter and faces toward the TV to watch The Good Place himself.

"What happened yesterday?!" Harper calls from the living room, louder than she has to.

Our apartment isn't large enough to have to yell.

"We got a little daytime wasted," Major replies seamlessly while I am at a loss for words.

It's a talent how easily he lies.

Harper points a finger at me laughing as if that's the most ridiculous thing I have ever done.

"Bro, Vi, you know you can never handle day drinking. I remember that one time you passed out on the table after-"

"It was a reasonable amount of alcohol," I cut her off, demanding that I am not that much of a lightweight.

"It was one can of beer and one shot of vodka. Absolutely not a reasonable amount of alcohol," she snaps teasingly right back.

"Scout doesn't need to know this," I bite back, waving my hand in his direction.

"Oh yes, he does! If he's going to be with you, he needs to know what he's in for," she argues.

We both look at Major for his next words.

"I mean, I learned quite a lot yesterday," he butts in, causing me to groan.

He's just feeding into Harper's delusions at this point.

He's technically not lying. He learned more about me yesterday, mostly my fears, but Harper thinks it was drunk information about how stupid I can really be. I don't need her thinking that Major's going to be my future husband or something.

I sit down beside Harper on the couch because some girl time is needed while Major goes back to running his code to decipher the note we found at Kai's.

We gossip about random people Clara and Harper went out with around two nights ago. She goes on and on about how two of the people who went in the group say that they aren't into each other but totally act as if they are.

And everyone knows they either want to fuck or are already fucking cause it's super obvious that something is happening between them. She and Clara find it so annoying that they aren't outright admitting it even though everyone knows.

They find it stupid that they aren't being clear with the rest of the group. I think it's no one's business what's going on between these two people than the two people who are in the weird relationship thing.

I've only met them briefly, so I don't know much about them, but their relationship is their relationship.

It's hella fun to gossip. I will admit that however.

I hear clattering coming from my bedroom, and I realize that I've been talking with Harper for like forty minutes. When she realizes this, she goes full sprint into her bedroom, and I can hear her knocking most of her things over as she gets ready for work.

I love her so much.

She rushes out of the house with a half-eaten pancake in her mouth, her shoes not even tied. I laugh as I close and lock the door behind her before going into my bedroom to join Major.

I see him sitting on the bed, the laptop still running the code.

"How is it going?" I ask, climbing up beside him.

"As good as I thought it would," he says with a heavy sigh.

"Do you have to sit here and watch it? Cause we could do something fun while we wait."

"I think the guys are going for a motorcycle ride up to Reaper's house if you want to do that."

"Yeah," I reply enthusiastically, "that could be a ton of fun."

"Really?" Major questions in surprise.

"Of course. Let's go for a ride."

"You sure you don't want to just stay inside all day? I would be perfectly fine doing that," he reassures, slightly questioning my choices.

But I know that if I stay inside like I want to, I'm just going to get depressed. I need to get out to get well, to face what I have to face. While I think there's nothing wrong with rest, sometimes it's the opposite of what I need.

I've been sitting around and waiting for something to happen for too long. It's time to do what I want to do. It's time to stop letting what Kai did to me stop me from being who I am and doing what I want.