Violet sat on the floor in a dim corner of the bookstore, her back to the wall and her toes pressed to the side of the bookcase in front of her. She had an open book resting on her knees - some tattered thing written in Old English. She was only reading it to see if she could understand what it was about... she didn't find it all that interesting, but it was something to pass the time.

She leaned forwards to adjust her shirt. It was a filmy blue-grey tank top that was now sticky with sweat, clinging to her skin. With a sigh of irritation, she gave up trying to arrange it, and just leaned back against the wall. It was too nice a day to be inside,... but it was too hot to stay outside for long. Violet had opted to stay inside Jacobson's, but was getting more annoyed by the moment. She couldn't find anything interesting to read (which never happened), her shirt was sticky, it was too hot in here, it was too hot to go anywhere, and-

Deep breath, Violet, she scolded herself, briefly closing her eyes and obeying her thought. Stressing never helps..

"Hey." said a voice from overhead, and a large hand plucked the book out of her hands. "What've you got your nose in this time?"
Keye slid down the wall beside her, grinning in a silly way that would have looked more in place on a slobbery dog. He peered at the book he'd taken for a few moments, then squinted, unwilling to admit that he couldn't make heads or tails of it.
"The print, uhhh...is really small." then he laughed and gave up on the pretense. "I have no idea what it means. How're you, Violet? Believe it or not, I was gonna call you later on today, but I decided to come in here, and...well, speak of the devil, I guess."

Violet opened her mouth to snap at whoever had taken her book, but when she realized it was Keye, she grinned. Seeing as she was glad to see him, it didn't take too much effort to bring up a smile.

"Hey, you," she smirked at him, no longer irked by the theft of the book. It hadn't been very interesting anyway. "Ah,... I'm doing alright. How about you?"

"Pretty good, pretty good. Still damn tired all the time, but it's getting better."
He tilted his head and peered at her.
"You look sticky. So did you come here just to read a boring book? Surely you have more interesting things to occupy your brain..."

"Heh. No," Violet grinned, rolling her eyes. "Not really. I was trying to find a good book, but today, there aren't any, and I just don't feel like rereading anything because I already know all the endings. Conclusion- I'm bored out of my skull."

She rolled the back of her head against the wall, and tried to tuck the perpetually loose strands of her hair behind her ears. The strands promptly fell back on her face again, and she sighed. "Pff..."

"It's the worst when your hair sticks to your face," he said sympathetically. His own hair sported many sparkly hairclips, which just barely managed to keep straggles out of the way.
"I've just been thinking, mostly...since, you know, I don't read. I'm afraid it makes me kind of a bad friend, but--hey, if you needed anything, you'd come to me, right?--I was gonna call you for advice."

"Mm-hm, I would." she nodded, feeling her stomach clench because she wasn't entirely certain that that was true. She rested her head on her hand, letting her hair fall where it would. "What kind of advice...?"

"Good. Cause you know, I'd want you to."
And then, he had to think about the advice that he'd wanted from her, which caused him to turn quite red.
"So, uhhhm...if...if I was to...I mean, in a th-theoretical situation, if I was to ask you out...like, if just a g-guy was to ask you out...what would you want him to say? 'cause I was thinking about...T-t..Taryn...and...I dunno..."

"Um."
Blink.
"Welll,... I dunno..." she smiled gently, biting on her thumbnail. "I don't know exactly. Just... be calm about if, if you can. Don't sound like you're demanding anything - not that I think you would, but,... "
She shook her head.
"Sorry, I'm really not a good person to ask this kind of thing, because I'll just end up spouting some cheesy line, like, 'Just be Yourself and nothing will go wrong'."

He leaned his head on his knees.
"That's kind of why you're the best person to ask, Violet. But...myself is kind of where the problem is, I'm sure something would go wrong...I'm not the smoothest guy ever...but I'll give it a shot, I guess."

She frowned thoughtfully. "Wellll...think of the worst that can happen. Really. You could ask 'Will you go out with me' and she could say 'no'. And that's the worst," Violet shrugged, as if to say that it was really that easy. "And that's nothng to be afraid of, really, besides that it'd be a disappointment..."

"What if that's not the worst?" he began to twiddle his fingers nervously. "What if she doesn't want to even be friends anymore because I asked her?"

"I don't think that's an issue," Violet shook her head, trying to sound reassuring. She grinned. "C'mon, can you see Taryn not wanting to be your friend, because of this? I thought you two knew each other better than that. Your asking her out, whether she wants to or not, will probably change things a little,... but I don't think it would change that much."

He sighed, tipping his head back against the wall.
"Well, I worry. But...I guess I'll try."
He smiled slightly.
"Thanks, Violet."

"You're welcome." She smiled back.

He said I should go to him if something's wrong, and I said I would,... but this mess with Dave doesn't count. Does it? He can't help. It'd just be unloading my dumb problems onto him, after all. Pointless. But still...

"I...um..." Violet chewed her thumbnail a moment, then smiled a tad too brightly.
"What've you een up to?"

"Mostly resting..."
Keye wasn't one to get suspicious of a too-bright look, only a slightly wobbly or hesitant one, so he just squinted at her for a moment through his glasses.
"And you?"

"Um,... Stuff," Violet shrugged, gazing at her ragged fingernails with apparent interest.
Just say it. It won't kill you.
But I'll sound like I'm whining!
I should tell him anyway, though...

Again with the smile. "I... turned nineteen a little while ago," she offered. "Nothing much."

He looked mildly confused, because she seemed a bit preoccupied for someone who was having a...
"Oh, wow, your birthday?!" his eyes lit up. "Happy birthday! I have to get you a present! What do you want?"
His mouth was going faster than his mind, though...slowly, his thoughts were catching up to things like why the hell is she in a bookstore, alone, on her birthday?

She laughed and shook her head.
"I've been nineteen for two weeks now and it's really not a big deal. And you don't have to get me a present, just the 'Happy Birthday' is enough, 'kay?" she grinned at him. "Goodness knows I aleady had more celebration than I could handle..."

"Oh." Some relief there, but also a bit of deflation. "I didn't know you had a birthday...all that time ago." And then he added almost defiantly, "What if I want to get you a present?"

"Well, that'd be up to you, then, wouldn't it?" Violet smirked at him. "But really. You don't have to."

She made a move as if to stretch her legs, but just ending up squishing her toes against the bookcase. She slid down so that she was almost lying down, the soles of her sandals pressed up against the bookcase above her head. Usually she'd be curled up in a chair somewhere, but she'd just felt like taking an unusual spot to sit in.
Plus, her usual place reminded her of Dave. And she didn't want to be reminded of him at the moment "Stupid..." she muttered under her breath, lost in thought.

Stupid?
Keye frowned, tilting his head.
"What, for wanting to get you a present? That's not stupid."

"Wha?" She jumped, startled. A faintly apologetic smile lit her face, and she locked her ifngers together behind her head. "Oh. Oh. No, not that. That's not stupid. My mind was elsewhere, sorry."

"Where did it go?"
So something is wrong, after all.
Little signs that, on their own, had meant nothing to Keye started stringing themselves together in his mind.
"Is something the matter?"

"It ran away," Violet kidded, smirking. "With some photos." The smirk vanished.
You have to tell him now, her thoughts sing-songed obnoxiously.
"Uh,... well,... something is sort of wrong..." she frowned. "...You don't want to hear about it."

"Sure I do." he nudged her shoulder with a loosely curled fist. "What is it?"

"It's... stupid." She sighed and shook her head, and then began to tell him anyway. "One of Dave's ex-girlfriends gave me some photos of him and some girl I don't know. And they were definitely real - and new, because in them, he has the cast on his arm from when we crashed on his bike. And he said he didn't do anything,... and I know Jetta - that's his ex - has every reason to try to mess things up,... but I just don't know what to think."

Well, the one time he'd met Dave, he hadn't seemed like the type...but you never know.
"Him and..." he frowned heavily, a little angrily. "Jetta's trouble, that's for sure. Him and some girl doing what?"

"Walking around, arm in arm. Looking like quite the snuggly couple," Violet explained, sounding just a little resentful. "The way he tells it, she came out of nowhere and started clinging to him. He's never given me a reaosn not to trust him, but it's kind of an absurd story all the same."

"Geeze. That does sound kinda far-fetched..." he winced, but he still looked a little mad. "I oughta...I oughta teach 'im..." he bit his lip, shaking his head. Not his business. But he'd like to teach Dave a lesson anyway.

"You should," she agreed, frowning. Then she grimaced, and sighed, "But don't. I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with this yet, and I'd like for him to still be in one piece until I decide. I'm just confused... don't know what to think."

"Right..." awkwardly, he patted her shoulder. "Well, let me know, then, okay?" Keye had no problem beating someone up for a friend. At all.

"Can I see the pictures?"

"I'll let you know," she promised. Because if she decided to stay mad at Dave, she might not mind having Keye beat him up.

"Pictures? Oh,... yeah, I think I have them..."
Desite the urge she'd had to shred them, she'd stuffed them in her purse. She grabbed the canvas purse and opened it, feeling around for the glossy prints, then pulling them out and holding them out to Keye. "Here they are."

Keye examined the pictures, frowning even more heavily. It was certainly convincing evidence.
But, also troubling, the woman in the pictures looked a little familiar. Keye hummed tonelessly, trying to figure out what it is that pulled at his memory...
And then he threw the pictures away from him and shrank back against the wall, as if Fortuna herself had threatened to appear from within the photographs.
"Jesus! Fuck!"

Violet bit back a yelp of surprise, and scrambled into a proper sitting position.
"What?" she demanded, her gaze flicking repeatedly from Keye to the scattered pictures, and back again. She reached out and scooped the pictures together, with one hand. They seemed normal enough. "What's the matter?"

"So not only is he acting a total asshole, hanging around with this woman..." he growled musingly, "He's getting himself into a terrible situation...potentially you too, Violet. That's a goddess. I've met her, and she's the worst bitch."

That explains it. Of course I couldn't compete with a goddess, she thought wryly, with an inner smirk.

"A goddess,... but... Wait, you mean that literally?" Violet winced, feeling a chill. "Ohhh boy. That's just perfect. What kind of goddess?"

He grimaced. "Lady Luck. She's even worse than Jetta if you can believe it." he looked around furtively. "Hell, she probably knows I'm talking about her, she'll have it in for me even worse...ugh. "

Violet shivered. She'd thought about gods in passing, but to think that one might have its/his/her attention on her was awful. "Lady Luck, huh...That's just..." She didn't finish her thought, suddenly wondering if the goddess actually was hearing what they were saying. "...Why does she have it in for you in the first place?"

"In the first place, I'm not sure. She decided I was being rude to her or something, and she cursed me...which isn't that horrible--you know, always stepping in gum, missing the bus, running into clean glass doors...actually, maybe that last was just me. But it drove me pretty crazy. So I played her at chess to get rid of it, and I won...and that's the second place. I'm pretty sure she got started the stuff that landed me in the hospital...I mean, meeting someone you know (and don't like) on the street in the middle of the night. That's 'lucky,' right?"
He shook his head, breathing deeply to keep the trembling out of his voice.
"Sorry I shouted like that. I really, really didn't want to encounter her again."