Redemption (Complete)

14. Ready Or Not

Violet inspected herself in the mirror. The blue dress she was wearing was just alright. Nothing special.

With a groan, she took it off and tossed it on the growing pile of clothing on her bed.

Standing in only her matching blue bra and panties, she walked back towards her closet to search for another dress. Carl would be picking her up for their first date in an hour and the only thing that she had accomplished was that she was showered and moisturized.

"Leila!" Violet finally called out to her roommate.

Pretty soon her ginger-haired roommate with the sparkling green eyes waltzed into the room.

"What's up, Vi? Did your closet vomit again?" she asked with a smirk as she took in the chaos that was piled high on her queen-sized bed.

"No- although it may as well have," she said with a frown. "How is it I have nothing to wear for my date tonight?" She had mentioned going out that evening to her roomie a few days prior but had thought her stuffed closet would have held some hidden treasure that would have been sufficient for her date with Carl. She had been sorely mistaken. Everything seemed to be 'just okay' and now she had fifty-five minutes to get dressed, put on her makeup and do her hair.

"What about the purple chiffon dress that you bought online last year that you never wore?" Leila asked her, her eyes brightening at the thought of her friend finally having an occasion to wear it.

"Don't you think it's a little too revealing for a first date?" Violet asked her friend. It was very tight on top and showed off more cleavage than she was comfortable with, but it had been a steal and in her size. Plus, the slits up the front went almost up to her panty line. It was an impulse buy that she had purchased very late at night after a party a year before. She had been tipsy and had loved the color and style and had bought it on a whim. Now it sat in the depths of her closet, far from the light of day.

"Nope," Leila told her. "You'll have to scrape his jaw off the ground when he gets here, and he probably won't be able to keep his hands to himself, but that's what cutlery is for. If he gets too handsy, just stab him with a salad fork."

"Excellent," Violet huffed out. "He's already pretty much all over me so I'm just tempting him to take me right there on the table at a five-star restaurant."

"I've always liked dinner and a show." Leila smiled brightly, showing off all of her immaculate pearly whites. "Do you know exactly where he is taking you?"

Violet shook her head. "He just said to dress up nice and he was going to take me out to dinner and then somewhere else. He was all very mysterious about the 'somewhere else'."

"I just hope it's something romantic," Leila said, sighing. "Go grab the dress and see if it still fits well."

Violet looked back at her friend as she wandered over to the closet again. "Are you insinuating I put on some weight since I last tried it on?"

"No- but sometimes things look different the second time around," Leila told her. "And your boobs may have gotten bigger."

Violet laughed. "Great- I barely fit my t**s in it the last time I wore it. Now I may be lucky if I don't fall out of it."

"It's your date that'll be lucky if you do fall out of it," Leila told her. "Preferably while you're relatively alone. No need to show the world your assets."

Violet stepped into the closet and realized that her bra was going to be unnecessary if she wore the dress. There was no way to wear one with the dramatic 'V' dip that the front of the dress made. Luckily, the dress was so fitting on top, she wouldn't even need one.

After putting it on, she zipped up the back and walked to the full-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door. After fixing her boobs, she smoothed out the fabric and tilted from side to side. She had to admit, it still looked good even if her boobs didn't look any larger than the last time she had worn it.

"It's perfect!" Leila exclaimed happily as she clasped her hands together in front of her. "He's going to flip when he sees you."

"Honestly, you act like you're the one going on the date," Vi stated, laughing at her friend. Leila was an enthusiastic friend to have and one that Violet thanked her lucky stars for. Not many would have been as understanding when it came to the details of her and Carl's relationship. What with the 13 year age difference and the fact that the man was one of her father's best friends, she would have been surprised if any of her other friends would have been as sympathetic or supportive. Leila was Violet's own personal cheerleader it seemed.

As soon as she was dressed, Violet went to go apply her makeup and set about curling her hair a bit. Her raven colored locks were quite straight and trailed down to almost her rear, but she wanted her hair to have a little more volume than usual to go along with the dress.

As she applied mascara, she decided to wear her white winter trenchcoat with the wide lapels. It was thick and had a silk lining on the inside but still was warm enough for the season.

Only a week into the new year and things were looking bright. She wasn't one to go in for New Year's resolutions, but if she had had to make one, it would have been simple. "Take some chances in life."

She had always had a safe life. From the moment she was born until now, she had always kept to the straight and narrow, never diverting to a lesser known path. It was something that her parents had been known to do. Always take the road more frequently traveled. Never veering from it. It made her life predictable and comfortable.

And utterly boring.

She was ripe to make a fresh start. Her father had wanted her to help with the business. Violet had said no. She wanted a job that she was passionate about and so she went to southern California to start taking psychology classes. And though she had thrived there, both her and her friend Leila had been born in the Bay Area and wished to return there. Although irritatingly predictable, she missed her parents and even her obnoxious older brother- though he didn't come home often enough anymore.

And Leila missed her family as well. So, the two decided to both apply to UC Berkeley. Since they were both intelligent and hard-working individuals, they had made it and decided to get a place together close to the campus.

What Violet hadn't expected was to meet Carl.

Well, she had met him before at the engagements her parents held at their home. But, he was always off-limits and usually with another gorgeous model-type creature whose looks- and not conversation- were the centerpiece to their relationship. She had thought him handsome, but there was a lot to be said for being humble as well. Carl had never shown any humility until recently. It was probably what broke her when it came to his charms.

As Violet was grabbing her coat from the hallway closet downstairs, the doorbell rang. Looking at her cell phone, she saw it was 6:30 PM. He was right on time.

Slipping on the coat and buttoning it up, she walked over to the door, noticing that Leila was trailing right behind her. Leila may have been completely behind her one hundred percent on dating the man she wanted, but she was also extremely nosy and wanted to make sure whoever Violet went about seeing knew that someone was waiting for her at her home. You could never be too careful.

Opening the front door, she took in Carl's appearance. Words got caught in her throat as she took him in. Under his own beige-colored trench coat he was wearing a dark grey suit with a button up dress shirt that was several shades lighter. His top buttons were open to reveal a smooth hairless chest that made drool pool in her mouth.

Smiling brightly to hide her lack of words, she ushered him in for a moment.

"You're right on time," she told him with a bright, quick voice. "Carl, this is my roommate, Leila Winters. Leila this is Carlton Smith."

Carl put his hand out as he stepped toward Leila.

"Pleased to meet you, Leila," Carl told her in the sexy, rumbling tone of voice that made Violet a bit weak-kneed. He shook her friend's hand and Leila looked a bit awed at him.

"Uhm- same here," she told him after gathering her wits. "How late will you be out tonight?"

Violet quirked her head and looked over at her friend.

"It's not a school night, Leila," Violet told her. "And don't worry. Carl's okay." She wanted to add that she had known him for years, but that seemed odd since the first time they had met he was in his late twenties and she was only 15 at the time.

Carl chuckled at her and brought his hand to the small of Violet's back.

"I won't keep her too late. Tonight anyway," Carl told Leila with a wink. "I can't say the same for the next time, though." He dropped a kiss on Violet's temple and rubbed her back briefly before escorting her to the door.

"You may not want to wait up anyway," Carl said as he looked down at Violet. "I may just want to keep her forever."

Violet blinked a few times at his tone of voice and waved briefly at her friend, her eyes not leaving his.

"He's kidding, of course," she told Leila. "I'll see you later."

Carl laughed and ushered Violet to his car before opening the door for her. Violet could feel the eyes on the back of her and she was sure that they weren't just Carl's. She would have bet good money that Leila was either peering through the peephole at the door or was watching them from the window.

Violet's phone beeped in her small white clutch as Carl walked around the car to the driver's side. Checking her message, she found it was from Leila.

Leila: Holy s**t he's hot! If he has any friends, steer them my way!

Leila laughed as Carl opened the door. Sitting down, Carl c****d his head at her and gave her a lopsided grin.

"What's so funny?" he asked her, not getting the joke.

"Nothing- just a funny text I received from my befuddled bestie," she told him. "She wanted to know how many of you there were left in stock."

He laughed at her and put the car into gear.

"I'm afraid they broke the mold after they made me," he told her with a grin. "I'm one of a kind, though my brother used to do an excellent imitation of me when I was younger. That is until he got married and had some rugrats to take care of."

"How many kids does he have?"

"Three- all very adorable and very... loud," Carl admitted. "His wife is a gem though. She helped me out a lot recently. I never realized what a treasure he had in her until this past year. Diana is non-judgmental and down to earth. And she's a great cook. That goes far with a bachelor like me."

Violet laughed. "You may want to bring me home right now then," she told him. "I can't cook for shit."

"Well, luckily for you, I can cook," he told her. She looked at him as if she didn't believe him.

"I have a hard time believing that you can cook," she admitted.

"Just you wait," he told her. "I may be taking you out to eat tonight, but next time I will make you something at my home and you will be eating your words- along with some of the best Italian food outside of a five-star restaurant."

"I'll take you up on that challenge," she told him with a smile. There was a brief pause after that as they both settled into the car ride.

"You look lovely this evening, by the way," he told her, glancing over at her as he made his way towards I-80 West.

"You can't even see what I'm wearing yet, so hold your judgment until then," she told him. "But you are looking very handsome tonight."

"You would look lovely in anything," he told her, his hand coming down from the steering wheel to caress her clothed thigh. "You could be wearing a potato sack under that coat and I would still think you're the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen."

Violet's throat clogged for a brief moment before she swallowed a lump down.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"My pleasure."

With that, the car climbed the moderate grade of the on-ramp that headed towards the Bay Bridge and San Francisco.