XOXO, Violet by Ginger Li

13Wesley

Saturday afternoon, Dad was holed up inside the house, working, while Ophelia and I were outside, determined to soak up all the sun we could before the winter rains hit. My sister was busy in the garden, a large floppy hat covering her head as she chopped up and reset succulents. Gardening was her “thinking time,” as she liked to call it.

Not one to sit around, I was in the midst of an intense game of pickup basketball.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Jay taunted, holding a hand over Ash to prevent him from shooting or passing. “You’ll need to do better than that.”

Ash faked right then passed me the ball over Jay’s flailing arms. I dribbled over to the basket and swoosh. Nothing but net.

Ash and I raised our hands and gave each other a high five.

“You got lucky.” Jay wiped the sweat from his face and glared in Ash’s direction. “If I wasn’t nursing this knee injury, you would never have gotten past me.”

“Yeah, man.” Ash laughed. “So you keep saying.”

“What are you implying?” Jay stormed up to Ash, getting in his face. “You think I’m lying?” He put his hands on Ash’s chest and gave him a little shove.

Ash slid away. “I was only teasing, man. It’s fine. We all get injured.”

Jay glared at Asher and then picked up his phone and jacket from the lawn. “I’ll talk to you later, Wes. Let me know when you talk to your miracle tutor, ’kay? Precalc is seriously kicking my butt.”

“Sure thing.” A twinge of guilt ate away at my conscience. I still hadn’t passed on Violet’s number. I figured if she barely had time to talk to me, she wouldn’t be able to fit Jay into her already hectic schedule.

Ash grabbed the ball from the sidewalk and eyed Jay’s departing car. “He’s kinda intense.”

I grunted and took several gulps of water. “Jay’s dad rides him pretty hard. Wants his kid to be the best at everything.”

Ash nodded, but the frown didn’t leave his face.

I put my water bottle my down. “Look, I get that you don’t like him much.”

“Doesn’t matter what I think. Jay’s your friend, and I totally respect that.” Ash dribbled the ball and aimed for the hoop.

I sprinted over and knocked Ash’s ball out of the air just before it reached the net.

He shot me a sideways glance. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

“What?” I grabbed the ball and began dribbling it between my legs.

“It was all for Jay, wasn’t it? You purposely missed those first shots. You didn’t want him to feel bad.”

I shrugged off Ash’s accusations and continued dribbling. Why was pretending to miss a shot or two such a big deal? Jay and I grew up together. I knew what set him off, and sometimes it was just easier to avoid those things entirely. You know, to keep the peace. It was something I’d learned to do after witnessing my parents fight all the time.

Ash reached out to grab the ball from me, but I turned away and took my shot. We watched as the ball sailed into the basket in a perfect arc.

He shook his head. “I know you don’t want me to say it, but friends shouldn’t have to dumb themselves down to make other friends feel better.”

Maybe. But good friends also knew when to let things slide. Not in the mood to argue, I sat on the grass and took another swig of water.

Ash plopped down beside me. “Want to catch a movie tonight?”

“Can’t. Violet and I are studying.”

Ash grinned. “Oh. Is that what you’re calling it? In that case, Piper and I will be ‘studying’ tomorrow night. And maybe one day we can all ‘study’ together.”

“Dude. No. Seriously. We’ll be studying. I gotta keep up the grades for swim team.”

Ash let out a cough and muttered under his breath, “You like her.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ophelia freeze. I knew my sister was listening, which meant there was no point in trying to deny it. Ophelia would rat me out in a heartbeat.

That’s sisterly love for you.

“Yeah. I do.”

Ophelia unfroze and began clipping away at her plants again. I stared down at the driveway, waiting for Ash to make fun of me. The guy had certainly earned the right. Months ago, I’d teased him mercilessly about Piper. Although, in my defense, my friend was pretty dense when it came to his feelings. I also liked to think that my teasing had given him the much-needed push to get his girl.

To my surprise, Ash’s expression was serious. “Cool.”

That was it? “Aren’t you going to rake me over the coals? When I told you I was dating Taylor, you gave me an hour-long lecture about why I shouldn’t go out with her.”

He quirked a brow. “Yeah. And my logic was impeccable, wasn’t it? You two weren’t right for each other.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong there. Taylor was gorgeous and fun, but she was also possessive, condescending, and petty. Too bad I hadn’t noticed those qualities earlier.

Ash grabbed his water bottle and keys. “I have nothing bad to say about Violet. She’s a great girl, and I wish you two the best.”

Wow. Dating Piper had definitely given him a new perspective on life.

Ash smirked. “Besides, I already knew you liked her. It was obvious when you missed her at lunch. You were like a toddler who’d had their favorite toy taken away.”

Ah. There it was—the anticipated ribbing. “Yeah, well, we’ll see. Honestly, I don’t even know what to do. She still has her heart set on Chase, even though he’s kind of a jerk.”

“Tell her,” Ash said matter-of-factly. “As soon as possible. Trust me. Or you might find yourself doing something embarrassing in front of hundreds of people.”

I chuckled as I recalled my tone-deaf friend singing in front of a crowd in an attempt to win Piper back.

Ash patted me on the back. “Text me if you need a shoulder to cry on. Or a bucket of ice cream to wallow in.”

“Dude!” I shook off his hand. “Who are you, and what have you done with my friend?”

“I’m still here. I just have a closer connection with my emotional side now. Piper brought that out. See you later.” He waved before heading home.

I stood and turned to look at my sister. “Go ahead, O. Spill whatever it is you’ve been holding in this entire time. You don’t need to take out all your emotions on that poor jade plant anymore.”

Ophelia took off her gardening gloves and crossed her arms over her chest. “Asher’s right. You have to tell her, Wes. Violet’s amazing.”

I grabbed the bucket she used to hold her cuttings and tossed the contents into the can for green waste. “I know you like Violet because she loves plants as much as you. But I don’t think she sees me as anything more than a friend. She brushed off my texts this week, and I practically had to beg her to study with me tonight.”

Having to work this hard to get a girl’s attention was an eye-opening experience. Doubt gnawed at my stomach. Could I be losing my touch? Or was Violet just not that into me?

“It’s because she’s busy!” Ophelia exclaimed.

I blew out a breath. Yeah. That’s what she’d told me. But how much time could a part-time job take? “I checked Blooming Queen’s calendar of events, and their next succulent class isn’t until February. That’s months away.”

Unless Violet was drowning in schoolwork, I didn’t understand why her schedule was so packed.

Ophelia shook her head. “Violet’s not busy with the store. She’s busy with the convention.” Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hands. “Forget I just said that.” She grabbed her clippers and made her way toward the house.

What was Ophelia talking about? I jogged over to her. “Hold on a moment. What convention?”

Ophelia’s gaze darted to our neighbors’ houses, almost as though she was afraid of someone overhearing our conversation. Finally appearing satisfied, she waved me closer. Curious about all the dramatics, I leaned in.

“Shy Plant Girl,” she whispered.

What did a YouTube channel have to do with Violet?

Ophelia pulled out her phone and opened her browser to search for something. “Here.” She took a step closer and wrinkled her nose. “Gross. Make sure you shower before you see Violet tonight. You smell like rotten eggs soaked in vinegar.”

Awesome. Way to stroke a guy’s ego, little sis.

Ophelia held out her phone—currently on Shy Plant Girl’s Etsy page. “See? That’s the daisy ring SPG sells. Look carefully at the flowers. The centers are made of a different metal than the rest of the ring.”

I nodded. “Sure. I’ve seen this ring before. On Violet.”

“Have you really?”

“Well, yeah. You made a big deal of it back then.”

Ophelia clicked on another tab to reveal the propagation video we’d watched before. “Violet’s daisy ring has centers made of yellow crystals. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d seen that exact ring somewhere else.” Ophelia tapped her screen, and the video played.

As Shy Plant Girl put soil into the box, the camera focused briefly on her daisy ring. There were yellow crystals in the center of the flowers.

“SPG told us in another video that her ring was one of a kind, remember? Her mother made it.” Ophelia stared at me as if waiting for me to catch up.

I took the phone from my sister’s hand and replayed the video segment. There was no denying the evidence. “No way,” I muttered. It couldn’t be.

Violet was quiet. She stuttered when she got nervous.

But she was also hilarious, and no one I knew loved plants more than she did. Plus, she worked at her aunt’s shop, which meant she had access to tons of plants.

My throat went dry. How had I not seen it before?

Violet was Shy Plant Girl.

“Tell her your feelings. She likes you too, Wes.”

“How do you know?”

Ophelia rolled her eyes: something I’d noticed happening more often these past weeks. “I saw how you two were in class. Everyone could see there was something going on when you took those photos together.”

“Well, why didn’t Violet seem too interested in texting me this week, then?” A ball of unease settled in the pit of my stomach. It was obvious when other girls liked me. But things with Violet had felt different from the start.

Ophelia tapped her foot. “The convention, remember? YouCon’s huge, and SPG’s never been. I’ll bet Violet’s terrified about revealing her identity and overwhelmed with all the preparations. Look.” Ophelia showed me Shy Plant Girl’s Instagram feed. Post after post shared photos and teasers for the event.

“She’s been hyping up her book, promoting her channel, and doing interviews on other YouTubers’ channels. And her new merch goes live right after the convention. She has a ton riding on her shoulders right now.”

When Ophelia put it that way, it was no wonder Violet had been a little distant this week. “Why didn’t I see it before?”

Ophelia shrugged. “Don’t beat yourself up. I only figured it out from her ring.”

I lifted my sister’s hat and ruffled her hair, knowing how much she hated that. “You’re such a smart cookie.”

With a scowl, Ophelia grabbed her hat back and shoved it on her head. “So. What are you going to do?”

It was obvious what my sister wanted to happen. Ophelia had grown up on a steady diet of romance novels with a side of romantic movies. But this was real life, and unfortunately, the answer was less than clear.

“You’ll tell her, won’t you?”

Probably not, but I didn’t want Ophelia to lecture me anymore. “We’ll see.”