When Our Worlds Collide (Our Worlds #1)(101)
We wander into shop after shop until we end up at Macy’s. I’m not picky, but Violet on the other hand couldn’t choose one dress if a million were thrust into her arms. I could have found us both dresses at any of the shops that we have been in today. Violet insists that they have to be the closest to perfection. Since I can really care less, I play along with her trying on a handful of dresses. Violet springs from the dressing room wearing the most gorgeous sequined teal dress. The dress has a full length skirt with a sweetheart neckline that hugs at her hips just right.
“Holy crap, that’s the one,” I shout with excitement a tad too loud jumping up from the chair that I’ve been sitting in patiently waiting for my best friend to find ‘The Dress’. Violet turns to look in the mirror. A huge smile spreads across her gorgeous face. I knew she would agree once she saw herself.
“Now that we found mine let’s go find yours.” Violet turns to strip out of her winning dress before the door even shuts behind her revealing her lace thong. Shaking my head, I sit back down.
“Too late, I already found it.” I hold up a long black satin strapless mermaid style dress just as Violet’s stepping out of her fitting room fully clothed thankfully. My perfect dress has a straight neckline, but dips low in the back with beautiful diamond embellishments along the entire back seam.
“Where did you find that one?” Violet tries to grab it from my hand.
“Oh no, this one’s mine. I found it first.” I smile pulling the fabric out of her grasp.
“Fine,” she throws her hands up in defense. “Graham won’t be able to keep his hands off of you in that.”
“That’s sort of the point.” I wink at her. Her mouth falls open nearly hitting the floor. Violet still isn’t used to the new “me”, as in the new non-virgin side of me.
After finding the perfect shoes and jewelry we decide to take our bags out to Violet’s car before grabbing something to eat. It’s already seven and I’m starving after walking the length of the mall a few dozen times. We head to our usual place. There’s a short wait. Neither of us really care. They have the best spinach and artichoke dip that is well worth the twenty minutes standing around.
The hostess sits us in a far back corner booth. After handing us our menus, she scurries off to her other tables. She doesn’t know that Violet and I both know what we intend on ordering. We come here far too often that we can practically recite the menu front to back. Violet and I are lost in our conversation that we don’t notice someone walking up to our table. We both glance over at the same time to see Craig standing over us wearing a uniform. I had no idea he worked here. This place is officially ruined for me.
“Hey Violet, Kennedy,” Craig snarls. He’s short with his pleasantries, but emphasizes my name a little too seductively. “What can I get you two to drink? I told Candice I’d take over your table. You know, since we are friends from school and other things.”
“Coke,” Violet’s answer is short and the farthest thing from sweet. By the look in her eyes she’s debating on how she can kick him in the balls at the angle she’s sitting.
“I’ll have water. Thanks,” I answer politely. I don’t want to cause a scene.
Violet glares at me from across the table as Craig walks a few steps away before she says anything.
“Don’t be nice to him. He doesn’t deserve it,” she chastises. I glance at his receding body hoping he didn’t hear her. He stops walking as if he can feel my eyes on him. He had to have heard what she said.
Crap!
I turn back towards Violet who’s resting her elbows on the table looking pissed off. “I know. I know. Just don’t want to cause any trouble. That’s all.”
Craig shows up a few minutes later with our drinks. He takes our orders. I thought that maybe it would be possible to have a meal without him saying something crude or inappropriate to me. I was wrong.
Craig leans in too closely to me when he drops off our dip. His fingers run down my arm causing bile to rise up in my throat. This seems to be my body’s natural reaction to him.
“You look beautiful. Maybe once you’re sick of fucking Graham then you can come be with someone who can actually get you off like you deserve,” he turns and walks away. I didn’t even have a chance to stand up and protect myself.
I want to get sick. Violet curses under her breath coming to sit by my side. She keeps whispering that everything will be okay. I just hate that Craig is capable of making me feel vulnerable and unsafe. This isn’t the first time he’s made a point of harassing me. He always manages to do it when I’m alone and Graham is nowhere to be found. He cornered me in the girl’s bathroom pinning me to the walls of one of the stalls the other day threatening to finish the “job” and accusing me of wanting him. There’s not much more that I can take. Violet doesn’t know about all the others. Tonight is his first attempt to do confront me in front of anyone else.
“He’s a prick just trying to get a rise out of you. You need to stay away from him,” Violet urges.
Violet has no idea how badly I need to stay away from him. I think a part of me wants to believe that he’s just trying to get a rise out of me, trying to see how I will react. Like by pushing the boundaries he’s somehow getting something from me.
I’m most bothered by the fact that Craig doesn’t seem afraid of what will happen if I were to tell someone. A person who isn’t afraid of repercussions is someone to fear. They act as if they have nothing to lose.