When Our Worlds Stand Still (Our Worlds #3)(59)

“Oh my god.” With tears streaming down my cheeks, I shuffle to the window and press my face against the glass. “She’s done so much for me, and I’ve discounted her along the way.”

“Who?” Graham asks.

“Violet.” The picture of Violet and me from our first summer in the city catches my attention.

“Ken, that’s how friendship works. You hold each other up, and she’s done her fair share. Now, it appears it’s your turn to do the holding.”

I don’t say anything. Instead, I grab the photo and stare at Violet. Her bright, loud smile. Wavy, untamable red hair. Twinkling eyes. Is it a mask? Underneath all of the happiness, is she screaming for help?

“I have to go.” I set the frame down.

“Go be the girl you’ve always been.” Graham’s way of fixing the situation for me is always perfect.

“You know I love you, right?”

“I love you, too.” His breath lets me know he’s still on the line.

“Graham?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“This weekend was what I’ve been needing.”

“They’ll be plenty more. Now, go be with her.” He hangs up and I toss the phone on my bed.

Amanda and Will are making out, and when she shifts to straddle his lap, I’m tempted to throw cold water on them, but convince myself to leave that issue in my back pocket for later.

“Violet, open up the goddamn door,” I yell. “NOW!” My clenched fist rattles it within the jam. “If you don’t open up this door and talk to me, I’m going to kick it down.”

“I don’t think she wants to talk to you,” Amanda says.

With a scowl etched on my face, I confront her. “Mind your own business and keep doing whatever the hell,” a shudder rolls through my body, “you two are doing.”

When I pound on the door again, it flies open, but Violet’s nowhere to be found. The running faucet tells me she’s in the bathroom. I sit on the end of her bed, my foot tapping at the speed of my rising anxiety.

“What do you want?” Violet’s usual tender voice is replaced with annoyance and contempt.

“I’m a shitty friend.” My head hangs low.

“You aren’t a shitty friend, Kennedy. That’s not why I said what I said.”

“No, I am.” My chest aches from fighting back the sobs begging to be set free. “You’ve stood by my side, and picked me up, time and time again.” My cheeks are wet, thirsty for my tears. “You always seem so put together, like nothing in the world can touch you. Perhaps your confidence and the way you look at the world is what clouded me from what’s really going on beneath the surface.”

Violet shrugs, her resolve slithering away. “I’m not strong. I’m fake strong, Kennedy. Do you know that, when everything happened to you, I cried myself to sleep every night? I was thankful it didn’t happen to me, and then I actually found myself being jealous of all the attention you got. What kind of friend has those thoughts?”

“You didn’t wish all the bad things in my life upon me, Vi. You aren’t the only one who walked those halls and thanked their lucky stars they weren’t in his war path. As for the jealousy part, you might want to talk to Jackie about that.” I laugh through my tears. Violet rests her forehead on my shoulder, mimicking my motion to dry the tears.

“My parents are getting a divorce,” Violet blurts.

“What?”

“It’s like one day they loved each other, and all of a sudden, they didn’t.”

“Is that what’s going on?”

“That’s not all.” Violet grabs one of Dan’s sweatshirts off the floor, brings it to her face, and takes a deep breath. “I think I need to break up with Dan.”





“What do you mean Violet’s going to break up with Dan?” I ask Kennedy. Her fear and reluctance to tell me is evident when her eyebrows scrunch together. “The guy’s a teddy bear, for crying out loud. If I had a vagina, I’d be all over that.”

Kennedy laughs as she plugs in her headphones to keep our conversation between the two of us. At least my end.

“I don’t understand it either. She keeps saying things about her parents’ divorce and how it makes her rethink a lot of things. Which, by the way, is out of left field.” She glances at her door, afraid Violet will overhear her. “As far as I knew, her parents were madly in love with each other.”

“You can’t exactly judge a relationship from the outside, though, can you?” I hold my phone a foot from my face.

“I know, but Graham, I’m worried about her. She’s being irrational, and I think it all stems from her parents’ divorce.” She shakes her head, her brown hair spreading out around her.

“Maybe, but what’re you going to do? Force her to stay with Dan when she doesn’t want to?” I flash a sympathetic smile. “Come on, Ken. It’s going to happen whether you want it to or not.”

“She’s going to fuck it all up.” Kennedy lets out a loud huff as she struggles to find comfort on her pillow.

“Maybe, or maybe they aren’t meant for each other. Maybe they were only meant to be in each other’s lives for this short amount of time.”