Snippet #2425657

Of course, Nate and Lace came to the rescue when Amber asked the damned question. And Lace even completely took away the tension from the whole thing, so Violet didn't even need to worry about the accusing eyes that she thought she would. There'd be explanations for the sickeningly sweet Amber, of course, but, well, that can come later. Vi will just do her best to put it off until then, for as long as possible, until maybe she loses the scent and goes after someone else's issue. Who knows, maybe it'd work, maybe not, but it's worth a shot. She really, really did not want to deal with people criticizing her way of life; the only thing Vi can really say she's good at. She gets enough criticism at home, and friends are meant for winding down and ignoring all the bad stressful shit with, and just in general having fun and pretending everything's perfect. That's how it goes for everyone, right?

She jumped a little when Nate touched (or was it a rub? Does he acknowledge me yet?) her leg, and couldn't help but glance back at him for a split second before turning back to her little comfortable void, absently nodding when Lace gave her the info on the drinks. And hard drinks it shall be, maybe this fiery girl can drink away all the crap and be back to her insane self by morning. After the goddamn hangover, of course, but that's not an issue until it comes. Vi can deal with it then. It wasn't long until Lace and Amber returned to their crazy giggles, but Vi wasn't in the mood for playing around anymore. She felt the familiar itch to go and beat the crap out of anyone she figured was remotely worthy of a beating, no matter how much she needed to stretch the justification. Talking to someone threateningly? Being mean to a girl? Forgetting to pay someone back money you loaned? Heck, even calling Vi an outsider right now would set her off. Too bad she left poor ol' Mustang in Amber's trunk- she'd have to suck up her pride and get it back before the party. The amp too, can't forget that.

Maybe I'm goin' the wrong way about this. Maybe...

Two things sort of happened at once. The waiter, that faintly cute but not Nate waiter, Lace practically yelled Amber's number to him across the diner, making her let out a little shriek. Violet felt tempted to join in, to make some sort of jeer at Amber, but on the other hand, she felt like making Amber feel a little worse before going back to normal. The other thing that happened was Nate's inopportune cough.

""Haha, guess I got too carried away with Vi's challenge..." Nate said easily.

Was Violet really that disgusting a girl that the boy she was friends with her whole life would suffer the rich sinking feeling of drinking too much of a milkshake, just to try and avoid dancing with her? That just wouldn't work at all, Violet really needed this dance with him to try and stave off her vigilante games for a while. Hell, she was looking forward to it like a little kid for her birthday party.

Hang on a sec. I'm not his childhood friend for nothing! He's trying to cover something up. But what could it be?

And Violet's suspicions were even more stoked when she heard that he had a job, or something, to do tonight, so he couldn't make the party regardless. Wouldn't he, as anti-social as he is, at least say so when she made the challenge? Sure, it was kind of spur of the moment, and out of the blue, but still. Nate had more than enough time to say he couldn't make it, before getting her hopes up for at least some semblance of a romance.

Fine then, I'll take you on.

"Yo." Violet said, face propped on her elbow as she looked sideways at Nathan. "Maybe I'll skip the party, huh? Where do you even work, I'll wait for you and we can just, I dunno. Hang out. Or do you not like my company that much?"

Then Briton Hadings walked in, the doll-like boy that both annoyed and endeared Violet at the same time, with somewhat of a limp, and everything else that's annoying and adorable about this pathetic, yet helpless little boy.

"You can have the rest of mine, Briton." Violet said with a little smirk, and pushing over her half-finished coconut shake when he was done dragging a chair over to their table. "Enjoy the indirect kiss, got it?" She waggled an eyebrow at that, playfully, trying to get a rise out of the boy and not sure if she succeeded or not.

Oz entered next, the second person to be late for all this, and also missed out on Amber's little show of tossing her under the bus. Vi absently waved at him and leaned over to whisper in his ear, mischievously grinning.

"Once you're done, Oz, what say we go stalk Nate? Figure out why he's so secretive and shit, whaddya say?"

She then sat back down, still looking at Oz.

"Our little secret, huh?"