Last Spring
"So what time is it there? If it's night time, and you two are just in Vi's room watching Queer Eye, I'll be very disappointed"
It was Good Friday, our first official day of spring break and Ricky and I were hanging out in my room watching Queer Eye and FaceTiming my brother Adam, who was a freshman at NYU.
"First of all, ew. Second of all, it's 4:30 and neither of us can drive without an adult, so this is about all we can do right now", I replied.
"Shit, I didn't mean it like that! I mean, it's a Friday night and I'm in my dorm room FaceTiming my little sister and her future boyfriend", Adam said.
"He has a girlfriend", I said.
"Whatever", Adam replied.
"Besides, aren't you gonna end up going to a party somewhere too? I mean, Adam Schultz would never not go to a party on a Friday night", Ricky said.
"You got me there. Yeah, I'm going to a party right after this, and then I'm flying home tomorrow for Easter", Adam said.
"So you're gonna get all drunk, and then you're gonna fly home to mom? Really Adam?", I asked incredulously.
"Whatever. I gotta go now, but I'm so excited to catch up with the two of you tomorrow", Adam said.
"Bye Adam", Ricky said, leaning in so he could actually see Adam.
"Bye guys. Love you Vi", Adam said.
"Love you too. Have a safe trip", I said, before I hung up.
"Is it really that pathetic that we're home watching Queer Eye on a Friday night?", Ricky asked.
"Considering that we already watched the whole season last week with Nini? Yes. But it's fine. Nini's so lucky that she got to go to Disneyland this week. I don't think I've gone somewhere during spring break since like elementary school", I said.
"I've never been away for spring break before. Back when my parents could actually stand to go on vacations with one another, we'd always go during the times of year that the guidebooks called "least crowded"", Ricky replied.
I laughed, and then we continued watching TV until we had finished the whole third season of Queer Eye over again. Eventually my mom got home from work, and Ricky had to go home for dinner.
The rest of my night went by uneventfully. I eventually fell asleep around 11, but was woken up by my phone ringing around 2 am.
It was ringing with "Shiksa Goddess" from The Last Five Years, which was the ringtone for my brother Adam (I know, it's unusual but it's what he picked for himself. What can I say, we're both theater kids).
It was unusual that he was calling me since we'd talked a few hours ago, and it was especially unusual because it would be 5am where he was.
"Hello?", I asked sleepily.
"Is this Violet?", a voice asked.
I sat up, alarmed, "Yes, who's this?"
"New York general hospital", the voice replied.
I was instantly panicked and began crying, "Mom! Mom! Get in here!",
She rushed in, and I clicked the phone to speaker phone.
"Are you the relatives of Adam Schultz?"
"Yes", my mom replied.
"Adam was admitted around midnight last night, and died within an hour of being here. We suspect that he overdosed. I'm sorry, but Adam has died", the voice said.
I began crying even harder, but my mom was all business. She hung up, went into her room and packed a bag. She called her brother and his husband, my uncles, and they all headed off to New York to make arrangements.
Meanwhile, I was in my bed, sobbing harder than I ever had before. Harder than when I got my first period, harder than when I didn't get the role of Belle freshman year, harder than when my dad left.
I called the only person I truly had left.
"Ricky?", I said
"Hey Vi, what's up?", he said sleepily.
"Can you come over?", i said, sobbing into the phone.
"What's wrong?", he said loudly, I could hear the sound of his bedroom door opening and closing and him rushing down his stairs.
"It's Adam. He died. Last night. Overdose", I said, choking out words between sobs.
"Holy shit. Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes", he said.
No less than one minute later, I heard the doorbell ring, so I walked down and opened it.
Rocky than silently followed me upstairs. Once we were in my room, he got in my bed with me, and just let me cry.
"I just talked to him last night. How could he do something that stupid?", I said, sobbing.
Ricky wrapped his arms around me, "Shh Violet, it'll be okay".
"No it won't! No it won't! How could he do that to me? How could he? He was all that I had left! How could he do that to me?", I screamed while still crying.
"That's not true. You have me, you'll always have me. I've got you, I'm not going anywhere, I promise", Ricky said.
And he was.
Author's Note: yoooo that sucked! I kinda wanted to explain more about Violet's brother, because I feel like that's a big part of her narrative. I also wanted to show how close her and Ricky are, and kinda set up future chapters. I feel like this gives more context to Violet's story, and I hope you agree! The next chapter will most likely be a filler like this one (I promise it'll be happier than this though lol). After that, I'll write some,thing for episode four when that's released Friday. Expect the next chapter in the next couple of days!
Thanks for reading, Beth 🧡
