Turn Me Bad

Chapter 7

It was Sunday night. Violet was at home for a change, having managed to get home in time for a good night’s sleep, despite Benjamin promising to keep his hands off her if she stayed.

Recovering her sense of professionalism at work was a crucial task ahead but was actually a secondary priority. She needed to decide what her intentions were regarding this whirlwind relationship and how she would manage it for as long as it went on. Friendly support and advice was greatly in need to answer the dilemma and she phoned Abby up, with an additional request that she hoped her friend would acquiesce to.

”Hey, lover girl! Where you been?” came her friend’s voice, clearly keen for the low down on her adventures.

”Abby, what do I do? I’m in such a mess,” Violet whined, unable to do anything but get straight to the point.

”What are you talking about? It’s typical for you to be the one having dilemmas when getting together with the guy of your dreams. No one else would stress about it this hard or this deeply, my girl.”

”There’s a lot to stress about, Abby,“ she insisted. ”I can’t keep up with his lifestyle. I’ll lose my job if this continues, but being with him just turns me into a different person.”

”You’re enjoying letting him take control, there’s nothing wrong with that. The pace of things will settle down the longer you’re together.”

”On that I’m not so sure; this is all so very normal to him. Plus,” and here Violet couldn’t help whimper a little, “let’s face it, this is only going on for as long as I have his attention.”

”Oh, you don’t know that for sure.”

”Come on, Abby, he’s not sticking around and putting a ring on my finger. I’m truly flattered he’s picked me, but just because some hot model’s become fed up with hanging around with blonde haired bimbos for a little while, that doesn’t mean I should get carried away.”

”You don’t know that for sure – and less of the blonde hair prejudice anyway.”

”Abby, I was thinking,“ Violet went on, ignoring the request to feel guilty about faking fun of blondes (they had enough fun not to worry), ”I think I’ve talked him into coming to the house tomorrow.”

”Hasn’t he been there before?”

”He’s picked me up, sure. But I mean he’s going to come for dinner and meet Jeremy and Caitlin.”

”Ha! Nice one, girl.”

”Oh, I’m not worried about her – well actually that will be kind of fun – but I was wondering if you would like to come too?”

”You want me there? Vio, I’m not family.”

”As good as – but it isn’t about that anyway. I’d like him to meet my brother and best friend. Mom won’t be here, she’s away.”

”So why do you want me there?”

”Well, Jeremy isn’t much of a conversationalist and…”

”And I can’t shut up, you mean?”

”Exactly! Also I want to know what you think of him. Once you’ve met him you’ll get a better impression of whether he’s stringing me along or not. You’ve super-powered perception, remember?”

”A call for my super powers, huh? Well, it’s always a heavy burden to carry around with me but I can’t let a person in need down, I guess.”

”Thanks, Abby! You’re the bestest of friends, you know.”

”I know!”

”Just bake us a cake and bring it around at 7.”

”There’s no point sticking my tongue out at you because you can’t see me,“ Abby replied. ”So I look forward to meeting him then – and Caitlin too.”

*****

Violet managed to resemble normality a bit more when at work the next day, but she was still out of sync. An extensive list of tasks that were supposed to be organized in front of her was a complete mess. Like some of the other staff she had become a reactive force rather than a proactive one, and she had noticed that her colleagues were not asking her for advice quite as much. They were unsure why there had been such a change in her and probably suspected trouble at home, but no one quite knew her well enough to pry.

It was tough to know whether or not to look forward to the dinner at home she had talked Benjamin into. On the one hand, it was the ultimate comeback to Caitlin, but there was no knowing what conclusions she would end up drawing from the first attempt to draw him into family life. A part of her thought it might be too much for him and that he would do his disappearing act back to L.A. the next day. Or more likely she would be forced to reach some conclusion and course of action herself. Unless, of course, he ran off with Caitlin, which would solve two problems at once.

There were a number of rice dishes that Violet had made for guests before that went down well and were easy to make within a short timeframe. She got to work right away upon getting home from work, ignoring Caitlin’s jabs from the living room about it “looking like this guy isn’t just a fantasy then.”

Abby was a girl after her own heart and turned up ten minutes early; Benjamin, on the other hand, was fashionably late. She found herself wondering if then was the moment she had gone too far and he was already biking it back to L.A. If so, then Caitlin would be insufferable and never let her forget about the biker boy she had made up, but, just as she was worried about the food being overdone, a familiar engine sound cut through the chords of the relaxation CD she had put on.

Even before he had entered, the look on Caitlin’s face then was one of sheer shock. Having set herself up for being completely owned with gloat after gloat, Violet almost felt sorry for her… but not that much.

Very soon, it was introductions all around and everyone except Violet, who was serving the food, was seated around the dinner table. She might have invited her generation’s version of the Fonz into a home that had never even welcomed anyone with a tattoo before, but Benjamin showed that bad boys could be suave too. Of everyone present, he seemed the most comfortable with the occasion, even though he was the one on display, and he was soon pouring five glasses of the wine he had brought along.

”So, erm, what is it that you do for a living, Benjamin?” Jeremy asked, as Violet was busy serving the food.

”Modeling work mostly,“ he replied. ”I was lucky enough to get a good agent who took me on.”

That sounded like an attempt at being humble, but it would be of no consolation to Caitlin.