Violet

[nola_laurielaurence]

New Orleans weather was, frankly, terribly. It was only mid-May and already the temperatures were in the high 80s. It was both intensely humid and unrelentingly sunny, and every tourist who walked by looked like they were in the process of actually melting.

But despite that, Amar was waiting outside for Violet, because it was the polite thing to do, maybe? And also he didn't want to risk the chance of missing her. Not when the semester was over and he had extra time on his hands, and could actually use more friends.

He wasn't actually mad at Diego, though he was committed to the bit for now, but the fact was that he really hadn't cultivated a thriving social life since moving down from Boston. Which was stupid, because Amar was great! People should like him! People who weren't the bones he studied and the grad students who had to do what he said.

He leaned back into the meager shade from Phoenix Effect's awning and crossed his arms. Violet liked books—what did he know about books? It was so hot that he couldn't remember anything. He had read a book before, right?

Comments

[nola_jomarch]

One of the things Violet loved about working from home was getting to spend most of the summer in her thoroughly air conditioned apartment. When it was just her, she tried to avoid going out until the sun went down whenever possible and relied on iced and frozen beverages by the gallon to help her cope when it couldn't be helped. Like now.

Okay, technically she didn't have to go out right now, but Violet tried to make the occasional effort to be less of a hermit. Or at least a more connected hermit. She had twitter and tumblr and instagram to make social media friends she'd never meet in a more concrete way than through a screen; having an account on a very small local social media platform should probably be used to make local friends, small or otherwise.

So she took Amar up on his suggestion of coffee, even if it meant going out in the sun and feeling sweaty and gross before she even got there. Violet looked like the nerdy hermit booklover she was, she thought: pale skin, a t-shirt that referenced Reading Rainbow, fitted denim bermuda shorts and a pair of off-brand canvas sneakers, with a messenger bag slung across her body. Yes, it had both her kindle and two paperback books inside. Yes, she knew she was ridiculous.

"Amar? Hey."

[nola_laurielaurence]

Amar stood up straight, flashing a smile. "Violet? Hey! I like your shirt!"

[nola_jomarch]

"Thanks. I feel like I'm about 30 seconds from sweating right through it," she admitted with a self-deprecating grin. "Wanna go inside?"

[nola_laurielaurence]

"Why, are you hot?" Amar asked with fake sincerity, but he was already opening the door for her, since he happened to be closer to it.

[nola_jomarch]

"I melt faster than a chocolate rose as soon as it gets above 72 degrees or 50% humidity," Violet answered, moving past him and into the thankfully much cooler indoor air. "I was clearly meant to live somewhere cool and drafty, possibly some gothic monstrosity of a probably-haunted house, and yet I persist."

[nola_laurielaurence]

"I'm from Boston, and it's cool and drafty a lot of the time," Amar told her. "Except in the summer, when it's a miserable soup pot. But we do have the haunted house thing going on, but not as much as New Orleans." This city was the land of ghosts, it seemed.

[nola_jomarch]

"I grew up in Baltimore, so same, really. If I could just put September through December in Baltimore on a loop, I'd probably be pretty happy."

[nola_laurielaurence]

"Baltimore!" He grinned. "Are we going to have to beef over who gets to claim Edgar Allan Poe? I didn't bring my throwing stars."

[nola_jomarch]

"I grew up in the Poe House and Museum. I will fuck you up over Poe," she replied cheerfully.

[nola_laurielaurence]

"Wait, literally? Is your last name Poe?" Because that would be amazing!

[nola_jomarch]

Violet laughed. "Sadly no, it's Weaver. But I was there...all the time. Including almost every single birthday for like ten years running. My mom is a lit professor who does a seminar on Poe. It's a whole thing."

[nola_laurielaurence]

Amar looked delighted. "I love the idea of a Poe birthday! I know this probably wasn't how it went, but I'm picturing balloons shaped like ravens, punch in little casks of Amontillado, and a heart-shaped cake."

[nola_jomarch]

"Masks for the red death. Cakes that bleed. Mom sends me sherry truffles most years for my birthday, still. They're boozy enough she really couldn't give them to me as a kid."

[nola_laurielaurence]

"Cakes that bleed!" Amar repeated in excitement. He took out his phone to jot himself a note. "I need to remember that for the anthropology department winter potluck—I always bring pretzel sticks dipped in white chocolate to look like femurs."

[nola_jomarch]

Vi smiled as she grabbed her own phone out of her bag. "Ooh, chocolate covered pretzels are tasty. I have cake recipes I can email you. Including one for making anatomical human heart cakes which look awesome. I haven't made them before because I don't like fondant, but I've been saving it in case I ever throw an epic Halloween party."

[nola_laurielaurence]

"Yes, a thousand times yes," Amar said. "I might have to take a baking class, but it'll be worth it. Fondant is gross, though."

[nola_jomarch]

Violet shook her head as she handed him her phone so he could put his email address in her contacts. "Don't worry. Most of them are pretty simple. The fanciest I ever get when baking is to do some basic mods to a boxed cake mix that I learned from someone on tumblr, and most of the time it's not even that, just those cookie dough tubes, of which only half gets turn into actual cookies."

[nola_laurielaurence]

"Like real life Nailed It?" he asked, tapping in his email.

[nola_jomarch]

"Not even. My usual level of complexity is substituting butter for oil and adding an extra egg. If the cake wouldn't dry out faster without it, I'd probably skip frosting cakes and just alternate bites of cake and frosting. The more advanced stuff I get help with or is a recipe my mom pulled off when I was a kid and I've never made for myself." She could follow directions, as long as they didn't require more than average eye-hand coordination or any artistic ability whatsoever.

[nola_laurielaurence]

"All I've really done is watch a lot of making shows and try fun stuff with boxed mixes, like poke cake," Amar said. "I aspire to fancy breads and pastry."

[nola_jomarch]

"What...what is poke cake?" Was she about to discover a new kind of deliciousness? This was not what she was expecting!

[nola_laurielaurence]

"Oh, it's really simple! It's usually yellow or white cake, and then you poke holes in it and pour a Jello mixture over the top so it seeps in. It's really moist and the color makes it pretty." He started typing again. "Here, I'll send you the instructions. You can pour in pudding and caramel too, but I've never tried it."

[nola_jomarch]

“Is pineapple jello a thing? I hope it’s a thing, because I feel a piña colada cake idea coming on and it would be perfect in this weather.” Oooh, or strawberry daquiri. Violet was typing notes into her phone as fast as she could. “If I spend all summer inventing poke cakes based on drinks with tiny umbrellas in them, I blame you. And will thank you in my speech for my resultant Nobel Prize.”

[nola_laurielaurence]

"If pineapple Jello isn't a thing, I think it can be invented." It couldn't be too hard, right? Plain gelatin plus some pineapple puree... "And all the thanks I need are some sample slices of your creations."

[nola_jomarch]

“I’m seriously going to the grocery store on the way home. But in the meantime, we should probably get coffee while we’re here, huh?” Since they’d otherwise just been standing in the cafe being nerds.