Orange and Violet

Chapter 1 : Violet

Olivia found herself in her car outside the restaurant, her heart pounding. Online dating was never her thing. She had tried it once before... Well before meeting George. That had bombed harder than she had expected and ended up walking home after having a little too much to drink. She met George later that month, their relationship lasted three years and ended abruptly. Olivia left to experience more. She had experienced less lately than she hoped.

This man however seemed interesting. They had been talking for a while now. He was an interpreter in an art gallery, owned two cats and his favourite colour was orange. An interesting colour choice, one that Olivia had noted when choosing her outfit that night. They had decided to dress in their favourite colours. She had to convince him to dress in violet.

She stepped out of her car, her palms sweating and her limbs feeling shaky. In a book she had once read on overcoming your fears, it had instructed her on doing one thing that scared her a day. A few days ago she killed a spider by herself before her dog could eat it and she talked to the mail man the day before that even though she really didn't want to. But this was stretching it. This could actually lead to death. Luckily she thought about that before leaving and told her friend that if she doesn't text her every hour that she's still breathing to come in guns blazing.

Her wristwatch had already told her she was late and as she stepped inside she fidgeted with it. There sitting in the corner of the dining room was a man who looked like his profile picture wearing a shade of mauve. Olivia hesitated before walking over, her heels clicking off the hard floor. She made sure she was smiling before she reached the table. He looked at her with the same nervous smile that made her feel a little more safe.

He looked nice all dressed up. In the photos she'd seen of him he was dressing more casually. But now, sitting in the dimly lit restaurant he looked fantastic. The thought moved quickly through her head, how the hell was she supposed to talk to a man like this? She was barely able to talk to cashier who she found remotely attractive, how was she going to talk to someone who was actually interested in her?

"Rory?" she asks pointing at him with her elbow in and a playful squint. He reached his hand out and she took it.

"Olivia I take take it?" he asks in return. She nods and sits down, making sure not to flash anyone with her skirt, one she hadn't worn in years. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well, had a long day though," she responds while trying to get her purse to sit nicely on the back of the chair. "What about you?"

Rory takes a sip from his glass before answering then looked at her with his rusty brown eyes. "We had a group of schoolkids come into the gallery today. It was hectic to say the least," he said, Olivia just noticing his jersey accent. It hit her as charming and reminded her of her dad who had the same voice. A smile crept on her face without her noticing and he smiled back.

Then the nerves fluttered away, tasting the familiar voice of home. It was warm and forgiving. As though he had already met her somewhere else long ago and now just catching up.

"So did you grow up in Jersey?" she asks.

"You have a good ear. I did, but I've lived in a lot of cities in my life. Mostly in the states, but I did live in Canada for a few months in grade nine," his voice soft and airy.

"Wow," she says back. "Ok, out of all the places you've lived, which was your favourite?" He stirred his drink with his straw for a moment as thought about the question.

"Well," he said without looking up at her. He rested his elbows on the table, she sat perched on her chair, hands in her lap. "The only place that really felt like home was Jersey. I lived there the longest and the place where I did a lot of growing up. So Jersey."

She nodded, the waiter stopped by for her drink order before she could continue.

"I lived in a small ranching town just outside the city. I moved here for school after high school - " a crash come from the front of the restaurant. They turned around to see who it was, and her heart began to beat fast. There, stomping towards their table was Georgia, she had forgotten to text her.

"Are you violating my friend?" she asks in a tone that was trying too hard to be menacing. Her face was attempting to be strong but as we stared at her longer it crumbled.

"Everything is fine George, I just forgot to text you," Olivia says her face red.

"Sure," she responded as she threw her hands up in disgust. "Just set me up like this, tell me to come in here, make a scene and then embarrass myself this. It's fine Olivia." Olivia watched her friend leave, her palms sweating profusely. She then looked over at Rory who had an amused look on his face. His face was lit up in a way that was subtle enough that she hadn't noticed it at first glance. But there it was shinning.

"I guess you can't be too careful these days," he says with a cheeky smile.

"I don't know, maybe I should have had a better plan."

"It did have its flaws."

He took Olivia outside after dinner and gave her kiss on the cheek before she sat in her car. She watched him walk away with a breath of both butterflies and release. Managing to only embarrass herself once on the first date was a new record for Olivia, she was proud. Not to mention that Rory was an actual, nice human being was something else to be proud of.

---

The phone rang out through her cluttered apartment. Olivia sat up and with squinted eyes, looked at her alarm clock. It was late, like extremely late. Half of her just wanted to ignore the phone but the other half, the darker half felt like something was off. In movies, no one ever phones late at night unless someone died or something bad had occurred.

She sat up and leaded over to grab her glasses off the nightstand.

"Hel- hello?" she asks into the phone. Her voice gravelly from the dry air in her apartment, she clears her voice.

"Um, hi," the voice responds, the jersey accent like a shot in the dark. She sighs thinking about what he's going to ask of her next. Maybe he wasn't the type she was looking for after all, he might have gotten the wrong idea about tonight. "I know that we just met and I have no place to ask you this. But I wouldn't ask if I wasn't stuck." He sounded out of breath and almost panicked.

"Everything ok?"

"I need you to come get me. I also need you not to ask me any more questions."

Olivia could feel her heart rate increase, her hands begin to shake. She wanted to say no, that this was stupid and to never call her again. But there was another half to her, the half that wanted to do it. Her mind raced to concussions, why was he calling her so late? Why her?

"Where are you?"

She pulled into the unlit parking lot and parked her car. The only light was coming from her car and splashed onto the brick building he had asked her to come to. He came out pulling a limp body, covered in bright red streaks of red. Her heart stopped for a moment, then he smiled. It was warm and friendly and made her feel sick.

Olivia got out of the car keeping her distance. Her eyes looked at him wide and glowing in the night, her breath leaving fast. Rory's smile fell replaced by a look of embarrassment. He put down the tided down legs of the man he was pulling.

"You are safe Olivia, I will not hurt you," his voice shaking. She was paralyzed in the moment. Tears began to fill her eyes, her breath hitching and her hand went up to her mouth. Rory slowly walked over to her, carefully watching his steps not to startle Olivia in her deer like state. He felt variable, like a line had been crossed that shouldn't have been even discussed. He wanted to scream.

Her hand gripped the car handle and as he walked closer she slipped in. A click rang out of the car door locking

And one of the trunk opening.