Background Noise [HS]

FOUR

There was time taken in closing the store, for Violet dreaded what would come after. Nate seemed to notice the quirky, uncharacteristic way she slowly swept the floor. He knew her well enough to know that she often paid attention to little details, things that others would miss, had they not been searching the way she did. Though, this was different. She would go over the same area, once, twice, maybe even thrice in a valiant effort to stretch out time. He knew all of this about her, yet not what troubled her so.

Nonetheless, he made light conversation in an attempt to distract her from whatever could possibly be worse than spending the rest of the night sweeping objects purely imagined out of desperation. Violet's head snapped up at the sound of his soft, kind voice calling out to her from across the room. Cheeks flushed a flustered shade of pink, hair falling in a curly mess around the soft edges of her heart-shaped face.

Nate chuckled at the sight, eyes crinkling at the corners. When he smiled—truly smiled, not just tipped the corners of his lips upward—his grin seemed to take up his entire face. The sight was contagious and did wonders for Violet's downward spiral that only increased as the hands of the shop clock gradually ascended towards the ceiling.

This conversing continued until midnight, when the magic of it all was lost. The pair were sharing a laugh when the crescendo broke through the silence of them staring at one another, jaws slack and eyes nearly shut, the counting down of the clock cutting them from the moment of playful happiness. Reality came crashing down on the uplifted Violet. And this was no fairytale, for midnight meant closing and closing meant going home to a man she wished to be without.

Nate looked to her solemnly as they simultaneous shrugged on their coats. The lights shut off, there was little to be done about the situation now. Dainty, chilled hands shoved in the pockets of her trench coat, Violet waited for the familiar rattling of keys to cease before stepping to walk alongside the protection of her coworker. The end of the journey to her car came all too soon, for they were parting ways just a minute later.

"Have a good night," she called without turning around.

Nate watched her leave.

"You, too," he replied, though he feared the futile response to be inaudible. There was no way of knowing whether or not she heard. He knew the words held little meaning to someone like Violet, anyway. Someone so aware.

The engine of her car resisted the winter air it inhaled upon nearly starting up. Belt slipping a few times before finally catching, the sound resembled that of a feline crying out. Violet thought the premature failure to be something of a miracle, a stalling of the inevitable. It was not until the car started with the gauge spindles pumping once before settling down that she cursed beneath her breath.

The screen of her phone came to life with the car, casting a rectangle of light into the black space. It was feebly that she swiped her finger across the lock screen and opened her messages.

From: Dad

— Working overtime tonight. See you in the morning.

This should have left Violet inexplicably happy. She should have jumped for joy, though something in her heart sank at the thought of being alone in that house. Left alone to her own devices, alone to discover things that weren't meant for her eyes, purposely hidden from her and her alone. There was little trust to be found within herself not to pry. Like everything that is tempting, giving in would call for dire consequences.

She feared what she would find.

The neon lights decorating the town blurred past her field of vision as she drove in silence, the sound that accompanied the rotation of rubber across asphalt the only noise heard in the quiet cabin of her car. Violet considered many things, that night. Considered what it would mean to let her vision blur and hands tighten around the wheel, directing the two-ton vehicle into whatever presented itself first. Pondered what would ensue if she were to simply pass by her father's neighborhood and continue on to her one true home.