safe | l.h.

four

"are we getting better or getting better at pretending?" - Pretending / Better Love

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-Luke-

By Monday morning, I felt like I had just about gotten over the flu. I was still staying home from work for the day, mostly because my boss had insisted that I just get some rest. I knew I could probably use the hours, but I didn't mind the extra time to relax. I was also grateful for the day off so I could try to do something nice for Violet while she was at work, considering she still seemed pretty sick.

When I made my way out into the kitchen, she was standing at the counter with a glass of water in her hand, taking slow sips and staring off into space. I smiled in her direction, "Good morning."

Violet jumped slightly, clearly not having seen me coming. She recovered quickly, putting her glass down on the counter, "Jesus, you scared me."

I laughed lightly, taking a seat at one of the stools, "Sorry, I didn't realize how zoned out you were. I know I can be really frightening sometimes."

I was grinning at her and waiting for a laugh in response, but instead Violet just stared down at her glass, not saying a word. I waved my hand in front of her face, "Earth to Violet? What's wrong?"

Her head snapped back up, answering almost too quickly, "Nothing's wrong, not really. Still just, you know, not feeling well. That's it."

She turned around and started rinsing out her glass in the sink. I frowned, "Well, maybe you should just stay home from work. I know you're feeling a little better but I think you could use some rest. You still look really pale, and you've been really off the past two days. I just think you need to give yourself a little more time to get better."

I just heard her sigh as she slowly dried the glass out with a towel, "No, I need to go to work. I'll be fine, trust me. Besides, I can't afford to take any time off right now. I still need to focus on getting that promotion, and I should probably save the personal days for..."

She trailed off completely, not finishing her thought. I furrowed my eyebrows, "Save them for what?"

Violet turned around suddenly then, eyes wide. She tried to mask her weird reaction with a smile that seemed forced, clearing her throat, "Well, for when we finally decide to take that vacation of ours. Don't want to waste personal days on something unimportant."

Despite how strange she was acting, I stood up and walked to the other side of the counter, taking one of her hands in mine, "That does sound like a good idea. I'm thinking somewhere tropical, somewhere on the ocean. We could plan it around my birthday in March, that's a good seven months away."

I didn't think it was possible, but somehow even more color had drained from Violet's face. She nodded slowly, "Yeah, sounds like a great idea. Let's not make any solid plans right now, though. Seven months is a long time, I wouldn't want something else to come up suddenly."

I nodded back, and I was sure that Violet could read all of the worry that was on my face because of her behavior. It seemed like she could, because she reached up and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before heading towards the door. She grabbed her purse, barely looking in my direction, "Well, I better go. I don't wanna be late. I'll see you later, love you."

The door was shut before I could even say anything back. I wasn't quite sure if all of this weirdness was just because she was still sick, but I didn't know what to do about it. I hadn't seen her this out of sorts in a long time, and I hoped it was as simple as she said. If it wasn't, I didn't know what she could possibly be keeping from me.