CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The party was held in the wide yard at the back of her house. The summer sun was still setting with an orange hue, the same bright, overwhelming colour of the fire that was being kindled in the stone pit of which her father gathered around with his friends. But Violet could feel the coming of winter. Maybe it was the foolishness of being in teenage years, maybe it was the truth, but the briskness of the air was settling in, the wetness of the rain turning to ice and snow. Violet could feel the end drawing near. The end of summer, the end of youth. It was a scary thought to endure.
Celia didn't seem to take it the same way. She was staying in Forks with her family, where she could write the greatest book the world would ever see and make enough money to travel the globe. She could feel her friend's excitement for the future by just standing with her. Celia's smile seemed brighter, warmer, and dazzling like a star.
It felt fitting. Violet wanted to pause the moment there and then. To take a picture of it. To live in it for the rest of her life.
Her father, still younger than most, with his greying hair but still modern clothing. Their friends with their kids still at home. Violet was the first to go, but she knew the others would follow. Leah would not wait long to leave the memory of Sam behind. Bella had left once before. It was only a matter of time before everything would change.
She wondered if her hair would darken as her mother's had, from what she'd seen in pictures. If the signs of age would dampen her spirits and tame her edge. If the passion she felt for life itself could exhaust.
Yet beneath it all, Violet was excited to see what the future had in store for her. She wondered when in the past few months she'd stopped moving, stopped craving something different, stopped yearning for the world outside Forks. But Violet knew the answer. Rosalie. She didn't want to leave the comfort of her company. For once in her life, Violet could find comfort in the mundane. The easiness of their shared silence could not be replicated with another. But it didn't matter. They'd agreed on a summer and the summer was gone.
There was a spotlight hanging over her, Violet knew. Billy handed her a beer with no complaint; Bella smiled and asked what her first plans were at college; and even Jake had tamed his teasing jokes at her expense. Despite how nice it all was, it felt wrong. A shadow created by a real picture.
Celia appeared by her side, sitting down on the log, facing the fire. The shadows danced against her face, making her dark eyes glow.
"Rosalie still not here?"
"No," Violet said, shaking her head and taking a drink from the glass bottle.
"Maybe she's just running late?"
"Yeah, maybe," she said quietly, shrugging her shoulders and pushing herself to her feet.
But two hours later with still no show, Violet knew she wasn't coming.
She didn't want to be sad about the fact. Their relationship- whatever it could be called- had always remained separate from the rest of her life. Now that it had run its course, there was no reason for this day to be different. But Violet had hoped...
In distraction, she spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing. Jake stayed by her side, talking to her more in one night than he had in months. She teased him about his truck which was still unfinished in his dad's garage. Jacob let her. He was the closest she had to a brother.
Young Seth Clearwater left his side for a period of time to talk to the girls. Leah eventually joined, leaving when a certain man came into sight. Even Sam Uley had arrived, leaving Emily at home. Jacob stood as he approached, eyebrows knotted. Sam's hair was short now. He almost looked like a different person. But when he joined them by the fire, he forced a smile to his face- one that Violet couldn't quite reciprocate.
