Vol. 7, Chapter XII — Sleepy Wisdom

Our trip to Jo’s university town was a good change of airs for us, and for Violet, a nice test to her modelling grit. I still couldn’t believe she went commando for an outfit, but that’s just how Violet is, full of surprises. It was quite a shock when she appeared in front of Jo, Rachel and I, red as a tomato, and told us she had solved the problem and discreetly handed me the problem underwear to store in our bag until she needed them back again. Looking back, now it’s quite funny.

Anyway, all those events also meant it was quite the taxing trip to my wife’s system, and she was still recovering. Right now, she sat by me with an arm linked and her head resting against mine, unable to resist napping. Sis sat by my side and was looking at her, a bit worried. The three of us sat on one of the many hallways of our school, waiting for our turn to the individual teacher-parents meetings, Sophie having come because she was free, interested, and our Dads still didn’t know if they could make it.

“Didn’t she sleep last night?” my sister asked as she reached out to comb a strand of hair off Violet’s face. “Was she nervous about today or something?”

“Nope, she slept ten hours straight.”

“And she is still like this!?”

“My wife is very delicate.”

My sister rolled her eyes and shook her head at my half joke, as she also knew Violet to be a delicate thing by now. The amount of times she walked past Violet doing chores only to walk by her a second time to find her already nodding off on the couch five minutes later to recharge her battery were more than she could count. There were also Violet’s periods, but with how severe they can get, I think anyone would be completely out of it.

“Hi there again, Jessy!” I cheered when she walked past us, giving me a little hand wave.

Her parents stopped and asked if we were friends of hers, her Mum looking at me and my sleeping wife and asking if we were Abby and Violet. Jessy confirmed it, and I introduced myself and sleeping beauty while pointing at each of our faces, excusing my wife’s state with “we had to travel far for her work during the weekend and arrived home quite late”. Jessy had thrown glances over our direction all day, seeing Violet held by threads, and now that she heard me, she was dying to know, but the tone of her parents, her Dad to be exact, made her grow red.

“Oh, the married ones?”

“Daddy! Don’t be rude to them!” she hissed at him, trying to keep her voice down so not to disturb Violet.

“It’s fine,” I told her, even though I was quite annoyed myself. “Violet and I aren’t even eighteen, let alone graduated from high school after all.”

“Even  so...” Jessy grumbled, still beet-red.

“Anyway, Jessy, this is my sister, Sophie”.

“Hi, Sophie! Like Abby said, I’m their sister, although in Violet’s case, I’m her sister-in-law” my sister smiled although her voice carried a small hint of venom, her eyes not exactly looking at Jessy, but her father who stood behind her. Of course, in that she also had to be like Violet. “It’s nice to meet you. They talked about you quite a few times.”

“T-they have!?”

“Indeed, they did! They make it sound like you’re a very nice, sweet girl. And you want to be a veterinarian?”

Jessy was shy but beaming with happiness as she showered my sister in turn with complements from things she heard us talk about Sophie, but her parents were in a bit of a hurry, so the conversation was cut short.

“You really have a mean streak, you know?” I told sis once Jessy and her parents were out of earshot.

“I just didn’t appreciate his tone, is all.”

“Hmm... Mamma Sophie is unsurprisingly a bit of a Mamma Duck.”

 “M-Mamma!?”

“Yup. Super protective of her cubs.”

My sister wanted to argue with a passion, but she knew better than to play into my game. She also didn’t want to disturb Violet, further proving my point, and also, there were others close by. Were it Violet in her shoes, she’d start bickering with me, but Sophie is somehow even more prim than her, so she would bite her tongue for now.

Someone else approached us as sis and I stared at each other, almost as if daring the other to open her mouth, this time our homeroom teacher. She looked at Violet, amused by her nonchalant napping. Sis asked if it was our turn now, Evelyn nodding.

I started the process of waking Violet up. Since we couldn’t really spend much time in that, I was cupping her face with both hands, tapping and rubbing her cheeks.

“Babe, wake up! It’s our turn now!”

She mumbled something that, for someone other than me, would be gibberish.

“I know babe, but we need to go now. Gee, this is why I told you not to nap! You always get like this if you nap less than two hours at a time! Evelyn is waiting, you know?”

Sis hushed me before apologising for how casually I referred to her, but Evelyn just waved at her dismissively, telling Sophie that she was used to it at this point. She then asked me if I could really understand what Violet was saying in her mumbling.

“Of course I do!” I told her as I hoisted Violet up. “I’m her wife!”

“Erm, I don’t think that has anything to do with it,” my sister said as she fixed Violet’s hair and glasses, my wife blankly staring at her while mumbling a thanks. “Stan’s her Dad, and he doesn’t get a word she says when she is like this.”

I wanted so much to tease Sophie about how she knew that, like asking her if she has been interviewing Papa Stan about Violet so she could be an even better step-mother, but now really wasn’t the time.

As we stepped inside the classroom where we’d have our meeting, Evelyn asked if sis found the way easy enough. Sophie answered that, even though she had been a student there, she had a bit of trouble and expressed her surprise on how the school hasn’t yet fixed the classroom numbering into something that made sense. Evelyn informed us that the school had plans to take care of that next year, which admittedly, didn’t really benefit us all that much.

The two then introduced themselves, Evelyn commenting on how similar sis and I was.

“Hehe! I really just am a miniaturized version of my sister, aren’t I?”

“And a really mischievous brat too,” my sister said, looking at me, silently telling me to reel it in.

“So? Should we start with Abby, or with Violet?”

“Violet, maybe,” I said. “While she is still half-conscious.”

“Why is she even so out of it?”

I gave Evelyn the short version of it, using that as a way to keep Violet awake by forcing her to engage in the conversation. I also showed our teacher a few pictures I took while Violet was modelling, that waking her right up, specially when Evelyn started complimenting her.

“Am I still in time?” Papa Stan’s voice asked from the door. He was with ragged breath and red, having clearly been rushing.

I got up and pulled a chair for myself, leaving the one I had been sat on by Sophie for him to sit down. He was introducing himself and commenting on how maddening it is to navigate the school, saying that he didn’t remember it being that bad when he was a student here. I was a bit surprised, having never asked about it, but I guess I shouldn’t be all that stunned that we were studying in the same school he had in his youth.

He then smiled and thanked Sophie once again for coming not only for me, but also for Violet. Sis blushed as she said it was nothing and that Violet is also her sister in a way, turning even redder when he told her that even so, he feels like she has been acting more than that lately, then adding that Violet’s motherly tendencies might have rubbed on her.

Glancing at our teacher, I could see that she noticed my sister’s reaction to Papa Stan’s words and her change in behaviour the moment he arrived.

Finally, my Dad also arrived, complaining that it was impossible to navigate in that school, asking what sense it made to have the classroom A12 between B3 and D11. Our teacher apologised again and explained that the school was going to fix  that during the summer, my Dad saying that if he knew it was this bad, he wouldn’t have been so annoyed when he received complaints about my tardiness.

“No, Dad. Erm, that was just me playing coy before Violet set me straight. That, and getting dragged by crowds sometimes.”

“Anyway, I’m glad the whole family came,” Evelyn said to get us on track and not delay the other meetings.

“Of course we came!” Papa Stan chuckled. “It’s their final high school year and we haven’t been able to come to these reunions in the past. It’d be unforgivable if we missed this one too.”

“It’s like Stan said,” my Dad added. “It required a bit of fiddling with work and scheduling, but it’s well worth it. It’s also not quite fair to leave all the important things about them to themselves or Sophie.”

“I really don’t mind it.”

“Even so, we-“

“A-hem. Guys could we get on with it?” Violet interjected. “We are taking too long, and I also have stuff to do at home.”

“Pfft!”

By that, Violet meant stripping out of the school uniform and lying flat on the bed under a blanket to sleep some more.

“Not a word, honey.”

Sleepy Violet is the most honest Violet, but also the grumpiest.

Outside, the air was getting colder now that the sun was starting to dip under the horizon. Looking at Violet, I could tell she was a little bit appreciative of that, as her face was quite red from all the praise she received and from having her—our—plans and ambitions aired out. She was also a bit more awake, even as she draped herself over me, so I’d warm her body up. Looking to the side as we reached the school gate, I saw Claire and Mathilda approaching, Mathy in casual clothes now, unlike me and Violet who were still in our uniforms. Claire smiled brightly as she sped up her walk, waving at me and pressing a finger to her lips, planning on sneaking up on my sister.

Looking to the other side, I saw sis struggling to put her coat back on. Stan, who was closest, stepped up to her and helped her putting it on. Then, making my heart do a little squeal, he began fixing her collar and making sure she was well shielded against the cold with his usual casualness as he asked what sis had planned for now. Sophie flushed a bright shade of pink as she placed her hands on his wrists, telling him with a bit of a weak voice that she doesn’t have work today, so she’ll stay home with us, lowering his arms in the process. Papa Stan seemed to realise how close he was to her and what he was doing and asking as he threw a nervous glance towards me and Violet—and Claire, who had just joined our little group and was observing all this.

Dad came to the rescue, placing a hand on Papa Stan’s shoulder and reminding him that they need to go back to the company so they can finish up their day.

“Right, before we go, why don’t you three go to my place?” Papa Stan offered. “There’s leftovers in the fridge, so you just need to warm it up, and you three could also play with Oliver.”

“What about you? If we eat the leftovers, what are you going to eat?”

“Oh, me and your Dad already made plans to stop by a snack bar to have a drink with Carl, so we might as well also eat something there.”

“There goes my cholesterol,” my Dad joked as he pulled out his phone to call a ride. Sis told him she’d drive them to work, but he pointed at my wife and said not to worry about them and to get Violet in bed before she falls asleep standing.

Violet grumbled that that would never happen before going still, likely having noticed Claire and Mathilda standing right by us in complete silence, waiting for an opportunity to jump in.

The men bid their farewell, leaving us girls alone, my sister staring a bit longingly at them, clutching the collar of her coat.

“That was quite nice to see,” Claire purred as she wrapped her arms around my sister’s waist, giving her a bit of a startle.

“H-how long have you been there?”

“Since he was fixing your collar and you were blushing like a total lovestruck virgin.”

“I am—don’t speak such rot in front of the girls!”

“Why are you getting mad at me?” Claire whined with a smile as a wide as an ocean. “I’m even holding back, you know?”

I asked Claire what had gotten her in such a good mood, both because Claire was doing a terrible job holding back, and to spare my sister from such high levels of teasing.

“Two reasons!” Claire declared after smooching my sister’s cheek. “Number one, boyfeefee and I had a call before I came here and we started talking about getting engaged.”

We collectively congratulated her on that, Claire taking in all the praise with such smugness that it sounded like this was something that wasn’t written in the stars for years now.

Then came the second reason…

“And secondly but not less important, Mathilda will start living with me and Mum starting next month! Hooray!”

“Really?” I asked, looking at Mathilda.

“Yeah,” Mathilda sighed with a smile. “I also got a call before coming here, although not as pleasant as Claire’s by a long shot.”

The summed-up version of the call, not that they ever last long anyway, was that her Mumand Stepdad wanted to know how long Mathilda thought it would take her to pack up her stuff and leave the house once she either graduated or turned eighteen so they can put the house up for rent. It was on impulse, but she told them she’d leave on the first of February. They agreed with it with surprisingly little push-back, as they’ve always opposed to letting her go live with her sister or Mrs Fletcher—and so did she, so not to cause them trouble with her parents. Probably because she’s close to eighteen and graduating now, but whatever the reason, she was soon to be free from them.

She also explained that she decided to live with Claire and her Mum after years of not wanting to because Claire’s Mum has apparently been quite insistent in inviting her to come live with them for a while now. I was very glad to hear that Mathilda finally abandoned the notion that she’d be a reminder of Claire’s Dad unfaithfulness, especially since Claire’s Mum sounded to be very kind and loving towards her after Claire grew attached to her herself and reminded her Mum that Mathilda had no fault on the matter, as she was just as much of a victim in their messed up family as she was.

“I also found out that I apparently have at least one younger brother,” Mathilda said to finalise that conversation. “My guess is that he’s, at most, around twelve years old, since I was around five when I was excommunicated to the house I live in currently.”

“They told you about it?”

“Nope, I heard him call out to my Mum and Stepdad. Anyway, I might ask you girls to give me some help with packing. We can talk more about it later; sis and I should get going for our parent-teacher meeting. How was yours, by the way?”

I gave her a brief answer, saying that it was good and surprisingly fun.

As we walked to the car, I was thinking about Mathy’s future. It will be quite the interesting meeting on the day her Mum and/or Stepdad pass away and the inheritors gather. Not that they’ll leave anything for her, or at least they likely won’t want to, but I don’t think you can cut someone out of inheritance here, even if you write that on your will. Hopefully, her brother, or how many siblings she unknowingly has, grow into actually good people and don’t give her too much of a hard time when that comes to pass. A really messed up family that she has, and I don’t know if it is better or worse than what I had before.

Hmm… I wonder how Mum is doing?

I told myself that that was none of my business and shifted my focus to my sister as we sat in the car, commenting on how Papa Stan really doesn’t play fair with how casual he can be in closing in the gap between them.

“Honestly, he makes it really hard for me not to give away how he messes with my head,” my sister sighed as her cheeks grew redder.

“I know the feeling,” I giggled as I glanced at Violet. She looked at me with heavy-lidded eyes, too sleepy to care about me teasing her. “But he really seems to be starting to being aware of you.”

“Pfft! In your dreams,” she dryly scoffed. “He only gets awkward like that because he realises he might have overstepped with one of the daughters of his best friend who has a crush on him.”

“You’re also a very beautiful, kind and attentive twenty-three year old woman, soon to be twenty-four. He has seen how much you’ve grown in the past three years, so—”

“I get what you’re trying to say, but stop,” my sister told me. “I know I’m not a little girl anymore and that I’ve grown to be dependable, at least somewhat, but… but I’m still one of the daughters of his best friend, and the sister-in-law of his own daughter.”

“…I don’t think that matters as much as you think.”

Sis and I looked at Violet, whom we weren’t expecting to talk at all, let alone say something so bombastic. She was with her eyes turned into tiny slits, and now that the car was moving, barely conscious. “Dad told me once… never to be sorry for falling in love with someone… so…”

“See, sis? Sleepy Violet is the most honest Violet.”

Sis mumbled that Violet and I were impossible, but judging by her expression, Violet’s words had struck their target.

As for Violet’s Dad… we’d have to see if his words match his principles and how he wants things to be between Sophie and him, but… I think, wishful as it might be, that he is slowly, but surely, being won over, whether he realises it or not.