Cinnamon // Sally Face

T h i r t y - T w o

Violet stared at herself in her bedroom mirror. The dull light hanging above her head made her skin appear pale and sickly. A thick layer of gauze had been taped over the bridge over her nose while some was placed inside of her nostrils as stabilizers. Even though the accident was only about 24 hours ago, the bottom edges of her eye sockets were swollen and severely bruised. The pain was relentlessly pounding throughout her skull. 

The accident, as suspected, had left her with a broken nose. An ambulance arrived to transport her to a hospital to get her wound treated. Larry, Ash, and Todd's faces were littered with cuts from what was once Lisa's back windshield, which, fortunately, didn't need any medical attention. Sal was the only one in the group who sustained no injuries.

According to Larry, the police let the kid who caused the accident off the hook, despite the entire incident being at the hands of his irresponsibility. Lisa was deemed liable for the damage to her car and was forced to either pay to fix it or go without it. However, since Sal was the noe behind the wheel that day, he and his father promised to help in any way they could.

Violet couldn't help but hope that the accident would be the reason that Sal started talking to her again. When he texted her that evening and apologized for the umpteenth time and asked how she was doing, she was filled with hope. Alas, he stopped responding after that and hadn't visited once.

"Ugh," she scoffed, while carefully pulling her shirt off. She had a tutoring session for organic chemistry with Todd today. She briefly considered texting him and telling him that today wasn't going to work out after all, but decided against it. She couldn't deal with the pain in her nose on top of her father's disapproval if she fell behind. 

Fortunately, her parents weren't angry at her in the slightest following the incident. Her mother panicked and demanded every detail of the accident while her father merely asked how she'd keep up in school while protecting her injury. Violet was fully prepared for a stern talking-to, but was endlessly grateful for her parents' lenience. It was the little things like this that made her consider that they really did care.

After getting dressed, the teen slung her backpack over her shoulder and gave herself one last look in the mirror. She looked just about as horrible as she felt, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

That was when her gaze fell onto the picture Larry had given her. She had tucked it into the corner of her mirror frame, but often avoided looking at it. There she was, sleeping peacefully with Sal's hand in her's. She was almost cuddling with his side. He looked so happy beside her. Why did that change? What did she do wrong?

The image of him wiping her bloody nose at the scene of the accident flashed in her mind. His eyes showed nothing but concern for her. It was almost like things had gone back to normal. It was almost like he cared again. But he ripped that feeling away from her just as quickly as he gave it to her. He cared for her one minute and disregarded her the next. How could he do something like that?

With a shaking hand, Violet pulled out her phone.

Messages

Violet: 4:43 PM
Can we talk?

End of Messages

Still, Sal couldn't even be bothered to answer her texts. After yesterday, Violet simply couldn't take this anymore. She had to know why the boy who held her hand, watched movies with her, napped with her, danced with her, played video games with her, and practically cuddled her at times decided to cut her off out of the blue. Why he, Sal Fisher, suddenly decided that their friendship was worthless now.

With a short text letting Todd know that she wasn't coming, she made her way to the fourth floor. 

The elevator ride felt like an eternity, but Violet didn't mind. She used this time to rehearse her statement in her head. "What's your problem with me? No, too aggressive," she thought to herself. "Why don't you like me anymore? Ugh..."