Chapter 19
Violet
Had she just died and gone to heaven?
Had the last ten minutes actually just happened?
Did Blake Wilson, hottest guy in Hollywood, just utter the phrase You look hot about her and actually mean it?
Violet leaned against her bedroom door, breathing heavily.
You gotta calm this shit down! Or you’re actually going to have a heart attack.
Fanning her face and taking a deep breath, Violet walked through the bedroom into the tiny bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.
Oh god! She was going to kill Sophie!
Murder her!
She just spent all afternoon getting all dolled up, for what? Blake had shown up here in a band shirt and jeans with rips in the knees!
She felt like a world-class idiot when she opened the door to find him looking normal and not dressed up.
Why on earth had Sophie done this to her?
Violet looked at her reflection and started pulling out all the pins in her hair. There was no way she was keeping the updo. And she was so losing this dress! After working her hair free, Violet wrangled with the dress, trying to get it off. Once it was off and laid neatly over her bed, she took a step back and looked at the stain. Oh god, it was all the way to the hem. She had ruined the most beautiful dress she had ever seen! Maybe Mr. Chan would be able to get the stain out of the dress? Violet hurried into her room and picked out her tightest pair of skinny jeans and looked around for her old plaid top and her favorite tan cowboy boots. After dressing at the speed of light, Violet hurried back into the bathroom to look at her reflection.
Her hair was now down around her shoulders and had soft waves remaining from the updo. Violet scrunched the ends and sprayed some hairspray so that, hopefully, the pretty soft waves would stay. Her makeup was still looking nice, maybe a little over-the-top for her new outfit, but that didn’t worry her. She spun round once and then spritzed some perfume on her shirt.
This is as good as it’s going to get.
She turned off the light and hurried out of the bedroom. Looking around the living room, she couldn’t see Blake, but after taking a few steps into the room she saw him standing at her freezer with a shocked expression on his face.
Holy shit!
She darted across the small space and ripped the freezer door from his hand, pushing him out of the way and slamming the freezer door.
“How dare you come here and open my freezer! Who do you think you are?” she yelled in a high squeaky voice, feeling her cheeks flame.
Did the hottest guy in Hollywood just waltz into her home and open her freezer?
Oh god, he had seen her stockpile.
The stockpile you need to cope with his hot ass showing back up here!
He might as well have pulled out the bag of DVDs under her kitchen sink!
He was going to think she was a total freak with that much ice cream in there!
God, she had a problem!
She bet the women he usually dated probably didn’t even know what ice cream was!
“Violence, I don’t care how much ice cream you eat, just relax. I don’t want to fight, I just want to take you out on a date,” Blake said, giving her one of those uterus-combusting smiles. Violet swallowed and decided it was probably a good idea to get the hell out of her house and get Blake away from all the incriminating evidence it contained. Violet stomped across the room and scooped up her handbag.
“Can we go now?” she asked, noticing that her voice sounded high and weird. She needed the car ride to regroup. If what had just happened in the last 10 minutes was anything to go by, this date was shaping up to be a disaster.
A category 5 hurricane disaster!
Quit being so pessimistic!
You’re going on a date with the man of your dreams!
But was her dream going to live up to reality?
Making it out of the house and down the little path to Blake’s SUV without embarrassing herself, Violet let out a huff. The cool sea breeze fanned across her burning cheeks, making her feel a little better. Blake unlocked the SUV and helped her into the car. She froze on the spot when his hand slid down her lower back and cupped her ass.
Blake Wilson just touched her ass!! The same one he referred to as hot!
Had she entered the twilight zone?
Or one of her racy dreams!
Once she was settled in the SUV, she pulled out her phone and frantically called Sophie. She was so mad that Sophie made her dress up like that, for nothing.
“Hello?”
“Sophie, you bitch! Why did you dress me up like a total fool?”
“Huh?” Sophie replied, shocked.
“That’s all you have to say after coming over here and dressing me up like I was going to some red-carpet event! And then he shows up wearing a band shirt and jeans with rips in the knees?!” Violet shot Blake a look as she talked. He was sitting there with a grin on his face.
“Are you serious right now? I told him to wear a suit! He is such a douche! Oh Violet, I’m sorry, you can change and save the dress for another occasion,” Sophie replied, sounding as pissed as Violet was.
“I ruined the dress anyway, I gotta go Sophie, I’ll talk to you later,” Violet said, peeking over at Blake, who was looking confused.
“How in the hell did you ruin the dress? Call me later. I want details!” Sophie said as she hung up.
Violet turned in her seat and looked at Blake. “Sophie said you were supposed to wear a suit.” “She didn’t say anything to me,” Blake said with a frown. “Let me look.”
He leant closer to Violet as he struggled to get his phone out of his jeans. She felt her heart flutter. She was in Blake Wilson’s car and he was taking her on a date!
“Shit, Sophie did text me and tell me to wear a suit, I’m sorry Vi.” Blake turned in his seat and stared at her. Violet was starting to feel a little hot under the collar. “It’s fine, I was going to wear this anyways,” Violet said with a nervous laugh.
“Okay, Vi, are you ready to go?” Blake asked. At this point, she felt like she had entered one of her fantasies and was lost for words, so she just nodded.
Blake pulled out from the curb, his colossal SUV roaring to life and purring towards his parents’ place. Violet felt nervous and racked her brain trying to find something to say. “What do you really think about Sophie marrying that Jamie dude?” Blake asked, cutting the tension in the car. Violet took a deep breath. Good, something she could answer. “I don’t know, he isn’t the type of guy I would ever imagine Sophie ending up with, but he makes her happy.” Blake made a growling noise. “I don’t know, I don’t like him, he sucks up to my parents way too much. We all had dinner the other night and Jamie laughed at every one of my dad’s jokes. He isn’t even funny!” Violet laughed and nodded her head in agreement. She had noticed that when Jamie was around the Wilsons he just tried a little too hard. “Her wedding will be wonderful though,” she added with a smile on her face, because she had seen Sophie’s wedding dress and it was to-die-for beautiful. Blake gave her a side look, barely taking his eyes off the rough cliff road. “Weddings are so boring and I have a feeling Sophie’s is going to be really boring if Jamie’s family are anything like him.” She had to giggle at that. “So, Violence, tell me, how have you been?” Violet stared at Blake. How in the hell was she meant to answer that?
Great, just pining over you for the last 13 years.
Busy watching you date everyone else.
“I’ve been good Blake, how about you, your life has been way more interesting.” Violet suddenly felt small and insignificant.
What in the hell was she doing in a car with Blake Wilson, hottest guy ever?
“Says you, Violence. I’ve been working non-stop for over 13 years, getting up at 4 am, working out for three hours, movie sets all day, then appearances at night. I’m burnt out and I wanna eat carbs.”
She smiled.
“How long do you think you’ll be staying? Do you have any movies on the horizon?” She asked. She had managed to keep her voice even and ask a question! Maybe this wasn’t going to be as hard as she thought! Violet glanced over at Blake, who looked like he wanted to say something.
“Ahhh, yeah. I don’t know. I’m just going to enjoy my time here and go with the flow.” Violet nodded, not too sure what to say to that. Blake rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and went quiet as they drove up the winding cliff path towards his parents’. They pulled into the driveway. Blake parked the car and turned and looked at Violet. “I thought we would just stay here tonight,” he said.
Oh god!
She got a sinking feeling. Did she have to hide to be with him?
According to EntertainME TV, he took his dates to the hottest restaurants in LA, where the paparazzi would sit outside every night. She was probably not good for his public image. Maybe his publicist had told him that if he wanted to date frumpy 30-somethings, he should do it on the down-low.
Violet felt her heart sink a little more.
She was not good enough for this man. She wasn’t polished or elegant, she was clumsy and awkward. She broke dicks! Maybe she should just cut her losses, fake an illness, and head home now.
Was there really a point?
She jumped in her seat as Blake opened the door for her. He held out a hand to help her out like the perfect gentleman he was. His smile made her knees buckle, which made her fall stylishly from the SUV and crash into his chest. Violet let his cologne invade her senses and the heat from his chest made her feel warm and safe. She felt like a giddy 17-year-old all over again. Clinging to Blake longer than was necessary, Violet took a step back. Blake looked down at her and smiled. “There’s the Violence I know,” he said, giving her a hot wink. She tried not to be embarrassed, expecting to follow him into the house.
Instead, he took her hand in his, causing an electric current to zap its way up Violet’s arm, and they walked quietly through the long grass as they made their way towards the old willow tree that sat in the east field about half a mile from the Wilson mansion.
Memories involving that old willow tree swirled around in her mind, many happy memories of laying under the tree talking with Sophie about what they wanted out of life. Many girl talks and many picnics. Then there was the memory of Blake daring her to climb the tree and touch the highest leaf. Violet shivered as she remembered falling out of the tree and breaking her arm.
“Are you cold?” Blake asked.
Violet shook her head. It was warm outside, with a cool sea breeze, and she could hear the ocean slamming against the cliff and the rustling of the long grass in the field. The old willow was swaying softly in the breeze. Blake hugged her closer as they made their way towards the old willow.
The sun was sitting low in the sky as they approached the old willow tree and she spied a table under the branches which was adorned in a crisp white tablecloth and covered with Mason jars full of pale pink, white, and peach roses. A pair of Mason jars holding candles flickered in the wind. There were gold plates and gold cutlery and the crystal glasses caught the setting sun and sparkled in the fading light. Violet had never seen such a romantic table setting before. It belonged at a wedding, not under the Wilson’s old willow tree. She turned to Blake, who was still holding her hand and looking at her. “Oh Blake, it looks amazing,” Violet managed to say, her voice trembling.
“Not as amazing as you,” he whispered as he tugged her closer to the table and pulled out a Louis-quatorze chair for her. He had even spread a cream-colored rug on the ground.
It was so romantic. Violet had never seen such a sight.
Maybe this date wasn’t going to be all bad?
Violet settled in her seat and looked up, gasping at the pretty sight overhead. The tree was full of fairy lights flickering as the sky grew darker.
Violet watched as Blake moved around the small table and took a seat, the candles and the fairy lights making his tanned skin glow. Taking her hand off the table, Blake entwined her fingers with his and Violet felt like her whole arm was going to fall off from the tingling sensations vibrating from her fingers up her arm. He still hadn’t spoken. He just trained his big blue eyes on her and smiled, looking at her like he had missed her or something.
Blake was staring into her eyes, his fingers rubbing against her skin. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something and then his phone started to ring.
Letting go of her hand, he leaned over and retrieved the phone from his pocket.
“I have to take this, it’s my agent,” he said apologetically as he got up and headed around to the other side of the willow tree.
Violet sighed, she was kind of glad she had a couple of minutes to herself to collect her thoughts. She picked up the menu, written in small gold calligraphy that was hard to make out because the sun had now set. She moved it closer to the flickering candlelight to read it.
Moving closer to the candle, she could make out the entrée, scallop soup.
Eww, she wasn’t a fan of fish.
Before Violet could get any further down the menu, she watched in horror as the beautiful golden menu was engulfed in flames.
Holy shit!
Violet waved the menu frantically as she tried desperately to fan out the flames, but all that seemed to do was make it worse as more of the menu ignited. Violet jumped up from the table, bumping it and causing the candles in the Mason jars to topple over. She watched on helpless as the whole tablecloth caught fire.
“Oh my god,” She shrieked as the flames spread rapidly. What the hell was that tablecloth made out of? Lighter fluid?
Violet had never seen a tablecloth go up in flames like that! Dropping the now charcoal menu onto the table before it burned her fingers, she reached for the champagne and ice bucket, discarded the bottle on the ground, and threw the contents of the ice bucket onto the flames.
But a whole bucket full of ice did nothing.
Nothing!!!
The flames had taken hold. It was no small smolder, but a roaring table of fire!
She was on a hot date, but she didn’t want it this hot…
So much for a hot date with the guy you have loved since you were 17!
Violet watched on in shock and horror and had no idea what to do.
Call emergency services?
Run?
Was this really happening right now??