A girl makes her way down the aisle, and finds a seat in the middle of one of the rows near the back. She's dressed up - a bit less than most people, but at least it's better than her usual attire of sweatshirt and jeans. The jeans have been replaced by a jean skirt, the sweatshirt by a pretty blouse under a t-shirt. Her hair, with its single purple streak, is pulled back into a complicated kind of knot. As always, a few strands have crept out and are hanging loose about her face and neck.

The lights dim, and the show begins.

Violet, sitting patiently in her seat, pretends to watch. It's nothing against the show - it's good. Very good. But I'm afraid she has her mind elsewhere. Even if what Jetta claims she saw actually happened, Violet just can not picture Dave dating a guy.
And since when does Jetta tell the complete truth, anyway?

Regardless, Violet is sitting here - solely for the purpose of seeing a good show, and not at all for the purpose of maybe running into Dave and maybe finding out what he's up to these days. Violet has no desire whatsoever to see him.
None at all.
Really.

And Dave is busy, and anyway, he can't see the house when the lights are down, and he's just working.

He wouldn't expect to see Vi anyway. They don't talk, these days. That was the cause of quite a bit of depression on his part, for a while. But he's dealing. Life goes on, you know?

Anyway, he runs the show. And eventually, it's over and he leans back and grins at the applause.

Matteo, meanwhile, lurks behind Dave and watches silently from there. When the show is over, the faun smiles to himself, but doesn't want to applaud because it'll betray his presence. He has the feeling he's only allowed where he is because he's pretending he's not there.

Violet gets up, filing slowly out, hanging behind, and generally trying to be the last one out. By the time she exits, the crowd has thinned considerably. She leans against a wall, crossing her arms, trying to look as if she has a reason to stick around.

"Like it, huh?"

This to Teo, half over his shoulder, as he heads down to the lobby after turning things off and putting things in place for tomorrow night. All that sort of thing.

He stops a few steps from the base of the stairs and looks a bit nervous.

Yep. He just saw Vi.

"It was great!" Matteo says enthusiastically (yet quietly), "My favorite part was when th-"

Here's where he bumps into Dave. Barring that he's a clumsy oaf, he was following a bit too close anyway.
"Ooh, sorry!" He makes a tentative grab at the back of Dave's shirt to keep him from falling.

Violet, who's been watching from the corner of her eye, turns to look.
Well, there's the curly-haired one Jetta was talking about... I think. He is kind of cute... she thought grudgingly. Then she very deliberately looks away.

And Dave stumbles, but fortunately for his neck--as with his luck, if he fell, he'd probably break it--he remains upright, partially due to his own balance and partially due to 'Teo.

"Thanks, kid."

He's looking at Vi with a combination of bewilderment, hurt, and determination not to show either.

Should he talk to her? He wants to. He really, really wants to.

It's not as if they won't have anything to talk about.

Violet turns her head to look at him again - she can't just ignore him, even if talking to him will be really, really awkward. She smiles a forced, yet shy smile.
"Hi, Dave," is all she says.
Her gaze flicks briefly over Matteo - who is hiding behind her former boyfriend.
No way. It's just not possible.
Is it?

"Hi." Pause. He's not sure what to say.

"I could've gotten you a discount on tickets, you know. I mean..." Ack. This is very, very awkward, and it makes him all... twitchy.

Another pause.

"Enjoy the show?"

"Yeah. It wasn't bad," she says lightly. "Definitely worth paying full price. So,... what've you been up to?"

Violet's trying very hard to keep her gaze from straying to Matteo. Matteo, meanwhile, is trying very hard to keep himself from being seen. He catches Dave's sleeve between finger and thumb and gives a small tug, like a child interrupting an adult conversation. He leans close to whisper in Dave's ear.
"Who's she?"

And Dave is caught in the middle. Which is, as always, an eminently comfortable place to be.

"Yeah? Glad you liked it." He manages a grin, which disappears at Matteo's question.

"Oh. Uh. My ex."

Who he doesn't want to be his ex. It's a bit obvious in the wistful way he says 'ex.'

"Oh." And Matteo resumes hiding behind Dave. Vi, whose eyes had widened slightly upon seeing Matteo whisper, tipped her head to one side.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" she asks, nodding to the faun.
Jetta had been making it up, of course, but Violet has this nasty little nagging feeling that taunts her, You were such a bad girlfriend that you turned him off girls altogether...

Hardly, Violet dear.

Dave looks chagrined.

"Oh. Yeah. Vi, this is... Matteo." He actually has to think a moment to remember his name, as for some reason, he thinks of 'Teo as 'the kid.' "Matteo, this is Violet Vendredy."

Funny how he doesn't know Matteo's last name, isn't it.

Matteo doesn't offer information about himself very easily,... on that note, Dave's unusual in that he's seen the faun more than once without trying to find him; Matteo just went to him on his own.

"Hi," Matteo gives a small wave, then ducks behind the human.
"Pleased to meet you," Violet says, smirking. Unable to keep the subject out of the way any longer, she crosses her arms and looks searchingly at the pair of them. The best way she can think of to start this without sounding accusing is, "So,.. when'd you two meet?"

Yeah, like that isn't implying anything.

Shrug.

"Iunno, a week ago?"

What's that got to do with anything? Not that he thinks it's none of Violet's business, but why's she even curious?

"Oh."
...
...
...
"Um." She bites her lip trying to keep back a smile. "Heh. Oh, hey,... you know, I ran into Jetta the other day?... She said the dumbest thing,... maybe you'll find it funny..."

Dave gives her a skeptical look.

"What'd she say this time? It's not like she can break us up or something."

Wince. That was a bad thing to say.

"Um. Sorry. I mean... god. That bitch... anything she has to say can't be good."

He rather hates Jetta, you know.

She almost winces at Dave's comment about breaking up . Almost, but not quite.

"I think she just enjoys messing with people's heads," Violet shrugs. "Anyway,... thought you might like to know,... she thinks you're going out with- here she nods to 'Teo "-him."

She looks innocently at him, and it's not even fake innocence.

"... Unless you are, and I just told you old news."

Dave chokes.

"I don't even want to know how she came up with that one. At all." He swears under his breath and shakes his head.

"She's wrong." He makes a wry face. "Come on, Vi, you know me. Would I ever date another guy? Jeez."

"Well, she said - ... never mind, you really wouldn't want to know, especially not the way she phrased it," she grimaces, shedding some of the akwardness clinging to her.

Violet giggles.

"Oh, I don't know,... you two looked pretty snuggly," she teases.

Matteo, meanwhile, is blushing furiously and quietly sneaking away.

"Hell no."

He turns.

"Hey, where're you going?"

Dave is not going to be left alone with Vi, is he? You wouldn't do that to him, would you, 'Teo?

If he's alone with her, he's going to start stammering and blushing.

Watch.

Matteo is already stammering and blushing enough for both of them.

"Uh, I - I was, I w-was just- um, w-well, the show's over, so I thought, maybe, I'd go home...?" he says, as if asking permission (which come to think of it, he is). He risks taking another step.
Violet gives Dave a look. A 'don't be mean to the cute boy' look.

Dave looks like a kicked puppy at Vi's look, and shrugs in Matteo's direction.

"Well, yeah, I guess that's... I mean, whatever. Want a ride?"

Oh, wait, 'Teo doesn't like the motorcycle. I'm going to guess that it's going to be a 'no.'

The faun shakes his head, looking frightened.
"Thanks, but... no thanks," she says apologetically. He gives a little goodbye wave and slips out. "See you later..."

"...I should be going, too," Vi sighs, seeing Matteo disappear outside. She starts to follow. "'S been nice seeing you, Dave."
Read: it's been nice seeing you and I miss you.

"Uh, yeah..."

Pause. Wait, was he going to... just let her...

"Wait, Vi..."

Ack, this is so awkward, what is he doing, why is he trying to accomplish...?

God, he's an idiot.

"Hm?"
She half-turns, looking at him over her shoulder.
"What?"

"I..."

Wait for it...

"I..."

Wait...

"... missed you. Miss you."

Blush. There it is.

He's adorable when he's embarrassed.

Vi looks sadly at him, but she's smiling, which makes her look even sadder.
So he misses me... Heh. How 'bout that.
"Missed you too," she says, and continues on her way out.

"Vi, wait."

He has this look on his face that makes him look like one of those incredibly sad little teddy-bears, the ones that make you want to pick them up and cuddle them so they'll smile.

"I don't..." Pause. "God, I sound like a moron."

She waits.
Violet is very susceptible to teddy bears. She still has the one Dave won for her,... it wasn't the bear's fault that it reminded her of him, so she didn't throw it out.

"Not so far," she says, leaning against the doorframe and smirkng. "You have to actually say something before you can sound like a moron."

"Heh." Dave manages a smile at that.

"'s cause I can't manage to say anything that makes me sound like a moron, you see?"

But they're getting off topic.

"Look, Vi... I still... well, I still... Oh, fuck it."

He bites his lip and looks at the wall, only he's really looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I want... I don't want you to be my ex, anymore."

There. He said it.

Blink.

Violet crosses her arms and looks at the floor.
"...I don't want it either,..." she sighs, biting her thumbnail, "But it doesn't,... I mean,... never mind."

Dave sighs.

"Look, Vi. Nothing's happened. For... I've lost track how long. I mean... maybe it's... maybe it'll be safe."

Pause.

"If it isn't... I can always... Shit, I don't know. But if it turns out that it isn't, after all... we can break up again."

Wince. He doesn't like that option.

"Or figure something out."

She looks up, an eyebrow raised.

"If we were to break up again, it would have to be for a good reason," Violet said, a bit of a sparkle in her eye, "Like, if you were fooling around with that Matteo guy. That's a good reason. Nothing dumb like a shooting game."

Dave makes a face.

"I'd be more likely to fool around with Jetta, and I'm never going near that bitch agai--wait."

Pause.

"Is that a... Did you just... I mean... See? I sound like a moron! Whenever I try to talk about something like this, I sound so fucking stupid."

"Then don't talk," Violet says simply.

She unfolds her arms and reaches out to him. The gesture doesn't exactly mean anything - she just wants him to hold her hand.

"I think I know what you were going to say, anyway."

She didn't make it very far away, so it only takes him a few steps to get to her, and he takes both her hands, and starts to lean down for a kiss.

Then pauses.

"Yeah. I guess you did."

Pause again.

"So, um... may I?"

Violet smiles at him and gives his hands a squeeze.

"...You have my permission," she says, mock-gravely.

And Dave doesn't need anything more than that.

He's a bit out of practice, as Violet was the last person he kissed. Which was rather a while ago.

But it's like riding a bicycle; you never really forget how.