When Life Turned Purple
Read When Life Turned Purple Online
Authors: Eva Adar
WHEN LIFE TURNED PURPLE
Kindle Edition | Copyright 2016 Eva Adar
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder—except by a reviewer, blogger, or teacher who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review or teaching moment for inclusion in a magazine or newspaper or blog or classroom on the condition that proper credit is attributed (i.e. author name and book title) and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright la
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This ebook is licensed for your use only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and it was not purchased for your use only, then please head over to your favorite Amazon bookstore and feel free to purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the investment of this author.
Any resemblance of any of the characters to anyone you know is merely a fun fantasy.
Cover Design
: Raphael Albinati
Other Books By Eva Adar
Shards: Five Fantasy Stories about Rectifying Shattered Lives
This book is dedicated to my husband and children for everything they have taught me.
Table of Contents
At the sound of the door chime, Russ straightened up from behind the cash register.
The couple coming in to buy hiking gear reminded him of a pair of teen lovers. Except that these two were robust guys in their early twenties—just like Russ.
The pair kept glancing at Russ as they bumped into each other, smirking at his scowling face.
With a silent groan, Russ crossed his arms, leaned his head back against the shelves, and stared at the ceiling.
He guessed what they thought of him. But Russ didn’t care about who people hooked up with or how. He didn’t care about genetic predisposition or environmental influences. And he didn’t care if he was called “phobic” or whatever slur the gods of political correction slapped on guys like him.
It’s just that he knew how he looked at women when women didn’t realize it. And gay guys were still just that—guys.
So Russ assumed these two wanted to look him over the way he liked to look a woman over. And this creeped him out, even though he knew it shouldn’t.
“Excuse me, sir,” said one.
Russ grunted in reply without bothering to look at him.
“Okaaaay…so, uh, we’re looking for tents that can stay real dry in the rain.”
“I don’t have any other kind,” said Russ. “It’s Seattle. Ya know?”
Just then, the door chimed open again. Lia swept in wearing white pants and a dark purple sweater that exactly matched her eyes.
Russ felt his chest expand. Speaking of hooking up....
Usually, Russ went after sandy blondes like Emma, his last girlfriend. But Lia’s hair gleamed pure ebony, even in direct sunlight.
And unlike the girls he usually pursued, Lia was strictly hands-off to an extreme he’d never encountered before.
Ever since Emma had gone crazy on him, Russ had avoided falling into another relationship. But something about Lia made him want to take the risk.
In one hand, Lia held a coffee with steam rising from the hole of its sippy cover. Her other hand grasped a dark bottle with a yellowish label. Russ bet the label stated
Dark Star
and
Fremont
in brick red letters. He tracked the months according Fremont’s beer production.
Dark Star
signaled October.
Russ looked more closely.
Score!
He’d never met a woman like this before.
As Russ looked from the bottle to Lia, the sight of her up close felt like a warm compress on strained eyes.
“Thanks,” he said, taking the beer.
“I had a break now,” she said. “And I thought maybe you might too.” She looked at the two guys, who stared at her and Russ. “But I’ll wait until you’re finished with your customers,” she said.
“C’mon in,” said Russ. He opened the swinging door to let her sit on the chair behind the counter.
“Great,” she said as she settled onto the chair.
Then the shorter guy said, “So, are we on our own for the tents?”
His face stiffening, Russ glared at them. He always earned what he needed and never felt that kissing up to unwanted pests was worth the sale—especially now, with a breathtaking girl and a gourmet beer containing a doubled alcohol content on his side of the counter.
Next to him, he felt Lia sizing things up. Then she said, “I think the tents are over there. Yeah?” She glanced at Russ, who gave a nod.
Lia walked over to the tent aisle, the two young men following. Russ leaned against the counter, resting the unopened bottle against his lips. She acted like she knew what she was doing, but Russ noticed that she simply read the label on the packaging. The two guys lifted up the rectangular boxes. As they turned the boxes around to read them better, they discussed them with Lia.
Russ still didn’t open the beer; he just watched.
Finally, they picked a tent. Lia slipped in behind the cash register to ring up the sale. She didn’t really know how; she worked in artsy academics, not retail. But Russ watched as she covered it up by acting extra solicitous toward the two. Russ leaned over to punch a few buttons when she got stuck. Finally, the welcome ding sounded and the receipt buzzed out.
The shorter one said, “In this rain, we’re not in the mood to go running around looking for some freakin’ tent. But let me tell you, you relentless homophobe—we’re never coming here again.”
“Cool,” said Russ with a yawn.
They scowled at him and made a few more nasty comments that startled Lia before they left.
She looked at Russ and blinked. “Wow,” she said. “You’re really....”
Russ gave her a smug smile as he opened his beer.
Lia sipped her coffee. “You’re actually uncomfortable with these guys?” she said. “I mean, now, in this day and age?”
Russ snorted. “Hey, I don’t give a damn whether they want to get married or what. Everyone’s got the right to get their jollies off in the way that suits them most. But I know how guys—” Then he stopped. He didn’t want her to know how he looked at girls—and especially how he looked at her. Shrugging his shoulders, he looked away. “They’re guys, you know?”
Lia smiled in a way that deepened the smile in her eyes. “I guess there’s stuff we girls just can’t understand, eh?”
Russ turned his head to smile back and snatch another glimpse of her.
“Yeah,” said Lia. “Well, you even acted kind of jealous when they were with me, so I don’t know what’s up with that.”
Russ snorted again. “A lot of those guys have been with women, too,” he said. “I don’t trust them with their big act of wholehearted gayness.”
Especially around a girl who’s as gorgeous as you.
“They’re still guys—ya know?”
He took another swig of beer.
But Lia gazed at him as if he still spoke and she smiled.
“Great beer,” he said. “Thanks.”
She laughed and said, “Glad you like it. And with that, I’ve got to get back to work now.”
He nodded. Russ still wasn’t sure of her exact work. It had something to do with astronomy and art, yet she was also a student at the U-Dub—as the University of Washington was known.
“Hey,” he said, “I’ve got some incredible umbrellas for this kind of rain,” he said. “Let me walk you back.”
Lia looked startled. “I grew up on the Eastside,” she said. “We only ever offered umbrellas to visitors from out of town.”
Undeterred, Russ ripped an umbrella out of its packaging. Lia watched him with raised eyebrows. As he walked her out the door, Russ lay a hand on her shoulder and said, “Careful not to get wet.”
But when he felt Lia go stiff, he quickly dropped his hand.
“It’s okay,” she said, glancing at him as her brow creased into furrows. “I can handle it with the gear I’m wearing.”
Damn
. This was how she acted on the two dates he had with her so far. He couldn’t even get to first base.
For crying out loud, did I just think in terms of bases? Freakin’ junior high flashback
....
But he just said, “Hey, no problem. That’s cool. Whatever you want.”
She looked up at him and smiled again, but more warmly this time. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d done or said to get a smile like that, so he just repeated, “Whatever you want. It’s totally cool.”
Then they said goodbye and Lia went on her way.
Russ sauntered back into the store and put the beer away to show Evan.
Russ sat at the planked wooden table near the bar as he waited for his younger brother. Suddenly, Evan whisked through the door. His eyebrows arched in his grinning face as he searched for Russ.
Russ put up his hand.
Evan hurried over. His skinny arm raised his tablet high like a specimen he wanted to protect from contamination.
In his round black glasses, Evan wore his excited geek smile. Russ knew what that meant and he groaned.
Evan fell into his seat, leaning across the table so Russ could see the tablet’s screen. “Hey, I know you’re not so into this stuff,” Evan called out. “But I think even you might get a real kick out of
this
!”
The screen displayed a colorful image full of sci-fi characters and monsters. They wore either futuristic battledress or outfits from the Middle Ages. Their hands gripped a wide array of futuristic or pseudo-Asian ancient weaponry.
“This is gaming taken to the next level,” Evan said. “I mean, you’ve
got
to hear these plots! I’ll be able to create seriously addictive RPGs.” Evan turned the screen back to himself and gazed at it lovingly.
“Russ,” he said, leaning forward again. “I know you haven’t really found yourself in gaming yet, but just listen to this!” Evan read off the screen: “A Wiccan zoologist conducts experiments on dragons to create antidotes for dragon breath-fire, poisonous dragon spittle, and a general dragon repellent, plus sedative darts and a gas that will immediately stop a dragon without killing it. Meanwhile, an evil warlock is secretly crossbreeding dragons to create a breed of super-dragons. In order for the Wiccan zoologist to complete her task, she must obtain a specimen from every breed of dragon.”
Russ stared at Evan, who was grinning at him and nodding.
“Yeah, see where this is going, big brother?”
Russ rubbed his chin with his hand and reached into his navy North Face jacket.
Evan continued, “A call goes out with rewards going to special hunters who can capture the necessary species of dragons—dead or alive—with bonus points going to hunters who manage to capture a rare or particularly lethal species alive.” He looked at Russ. “See? This is where you can have an amazing party with different warlock hunters going out on different adventures. In the end, the Wiccan zoologist needs to complete all the experiments and then take on the warlock’s new breed of super-dragons—hey, what’s that? Where did you get that from?”
Russ smiled as Evan stared at the Fremont beer on the table.
“Lia.”
Evan raised his eyebrows and grinned as he put down the tablet and leaned back. “That girl you went out with a couple of times? The one whose eyes you call purple, but which are in fact violet? By the way, violet eyes are actually gray-blue with a particularly light presence of melanin.”
Russ shook his head. Lia's eyes
were
purple. He sighed and leaned back, draping his arm across the back of the seat next to him. Then he told Evan what happened at the store.
Evan nodded. “That’s what I love about you, man. You’re all about the truth with no frills. Yeah, any guy will absolutely defend the right to hook up with whoever or whatever you want. But at the same time, we all get the heebie-jeebies about another guy looking at us the way we look at a girl. The talk show cult leaders would spank us for saying it, but you’re totally right. Gay guys sometimes just totally creep us out.” Evan held out his hands. “You’re like the Tough Guy Guru.”
Russ stifled a smile and slid the beer over to Evan. Evan looked from side to side as if searching for whom Russ was really offering the beer. Then Evan hunched his shoulders. He pointed to himself, looking wide-eyed at Russ. Then his mouth dropped open as low as it could go. “
Pour moi?
” he said.
Russ gave a snort. “Just drink it, you melodramatic pansy.”
Evan took a sip and gave a deep sigh, then passed it back to Russ.
“Go on,” said Russ.
“Nah,” said Evan. “She bought it for you, not me.”
Russ shrugged as he took another swig while Evan sat with his arms crossed, smirking at him.
“Are you going to ask her out again?”
“Yeah,” said Russ. “Why not? I’m not dating anyone else right now.”
Evan chuckled. “Mister Oh-So-Smooth-and-Cool.” He paused before adding, “You’re in love, big brother.”
“Shut it.”
Evan grinned. “Yep, she’s the perfect woman. She’s beautiful, she cradles your ego, she buys you the best beer, and she protects you from having to deal with gay guys. Yet she protects you
without
teasing you via stupid condescending man comments. Plus, she’s virtuous.”
Russ flexed his shoulders and his jaw clenched as he said, “I hate virtue. Especially
that
kind of virtue. Especially in women.”
“Now, now,” said Evan. “We all know that a girl who’s faithful to herself is going to be faithful to you.”
“I hate it,” Russ said through gritted teeth. “It’s old-fashioned. It’s stupid. I feel like telling her to just knock off the whole goody-goody routine.” Russ paused. “She also doesn’t like swearing.” And he frowned.
Evan cringed and winced as if burned. “No!” he wailed. “Not that! It’s too much! What is life without a well-timed F-bomb dropped here and there?” Then he straightened up, leaned forward, and said, “So why go after her?”
“’Cause. You know.” Russ inhaled, enjoying the expansion of his chest—a chest in which he’d invested a lot to get it to where it was today. “She’s hot.” He paused. “And she’s got a great personality.”
Evan snorted. “Since when have
you
ever gone for personality? Anyway, don’t you think that a virgin with a vocabulary as pure as the driven snow is taking things a bit too far?”
“Nope,” said Russ. “And she’s not even a virgin.”
Evan looked nonplussed, then said, “Well, is she a born-again Christian then?”
Russ shook his head. “No, not at all. She said she’s just a non-religion-specific monotheist—” His forehead wrinkled as he tried to remember exactly what she’d told him on their second date. “A monotheist that…uh…takes her cue from, uh, the Jewish Bible.” He hadn’t been listening so much because he’d been too busy figuring out how to convince her to let him have a go at her anyway. “Yeah, and she said something like she realized that ‘random touch disperses my very being’ or something like that. You know, to explain her, uh—”
“—to explain her non-virginal state of abstinence,” Evan finished for him.
“Yeah. I guess.”
“Huh.” Evan leaned back, nodding thoughtfully. “Well, big brother, it doesn’t sound good. I bet she’s got PTSD from other relationships.”
Russ squirmed and stretched his neck from side to side as if he’d just worked out. “Well,” he said, “it’s hard to explain. Yeah, it sounds like that, but it doesn’t really feel like that. If you met her, you’d see what I mean. Like, she’s not messed up or anything.”
Evan leaned forward and rested his chin on his fist. A lock of messy black hair fell over one eye. “Gosh,” he said. “I love that about you.”
Russ hunched his shoulders and looked away from Evan. “Shut up,” he said.
“That’s right,” said Evan. “Underneath those metal-toed hiking boots and that gun permit, you’re a total romantic.”
“Shut
up
, you freak
.
It’s not that. It’s just that I’m not dating anyone else right now and—and stuff like that.” Russ shifted in his chair and glared at Evan.
“Stuff,” said Evan. “
Stuff
, eh? Is that
your
word of choice—or hers?”
“Look,” said Russ. “I just want her. I enjoy a challenge, okay? We guys don’t get that so much nowadays.” He raised his beer to his lips and added, “Thank God.”
Evan leaned back and crossed his arms crossed in front of him. A contented grin rested on his face. “I thought you hated virtue,” he said, his grin deepening into a smirk. “Especially in women.”
Unable to think of a good retort, Russ scowled as he finished his beer. Then he stood up and said, “See you later, toad.”
And he left.
As Russ trod down the shiny sidewalk through the drizzle, he felt the urge to get to the range with a shotgun. He liked the feeling of controlling that kickback—the double thrust of the bullet exploding forward with the rifle bucking backward in his grip. But there was no way to do that right now. Before Russ knew it, his cell phone was out of his pocket and he was dialing Lia’s number.
“Hey, Russ,” she said.
“Hey. Uh, are you busy now?”
“Kind of. What’s up?”
“Do you want to meet somewhere?”
There was a pause and he was surprised at how jittery he felt waiting for her answer.
“Um….” she finally said. “I’m not sure. I’ve got all my stuff out and I wasn’t planning on going anywhere. I’m sort of hunkered down for the evening.”
“Okay, cool. But do you need help with anything?” Russ paused. “Like, is there stuff you’re too busy to do, but that really needs to be done?”
“Oh.” She sounded startled. “Well, I
do
have a drippy faucet…just kidding.”
“About the faucet?”
“No, about needing help with it. I mean, you asked if I needed help with anything. So I pretended just as a joke that you meant it literally, like
anything
—”
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll come over and fix it.”
“Oh. Um, I—”
“See you soon,” he said and hung up before she could blow him off. Maybe on her own turf and seeing how helpful and nice he was, she’d be more relaxed and he could at least get to second base. Even just clearing first base would be really amazing.
Russ gave himself a little punch in the head. “Bases again? Seriously?” he grumbled to himself.
Russ stopped off at his place to pick up some tools before heading over to her place. He remembered where she lived when he’d dropped her off on their last date.
He rang the buzzer and she let him in.
“Thanks,” she said. She was wearing gray sweats, which made her eyes pop out as dark purple, and not the gray-blue low-melanin “violet” Evan kept insisting they were.
“Where is it?” he said.
“What?”
“The faucet.”
“Oh, right. Um, it’s in the kitchen....”
Russ strode straight to the sink and started tinkering with the faucet to see what was wrong. He noticed the kitchen was perfectly neat and clean in contrast to the living room he’d walked through. Not that the living room was dirty, but it was strewn with canvases and things.
“Uh, don’t you want something to eat or drink first?” she said.
“Nah, I’m fine.”
He was very aware of her standing there and watching him. Without even meaning to, he threw in more grunts and tugs than if he’d been fixing it unobserved. When Russ finished, he turned it on and off to show her.
She stood there, looking at him with that smile again as if he said something she liked, even though he’d only said, “C’mere” and “Look at this.”
“Thanks,” said Lia. “That was so nice of you. I was really sick of the dripping sound and I was getting so bummed out about the waste of water. But for some reason, I just kept putting off calling a plumber.”
Russ leaned against the counter and shrugged while trying not to look at her too much. “You don’t need to call a plumber if it’s something I can fix.”
Her arms were crossed and she hugged them to her as she continued smiling at him.
“Okay,” he said. “Well, that’s it. I guess I’ll get going now—” He glanced at her. “Unless you have something else that needs fixing?”
She laughed. “No, that’s it.”
“Okay, then….”
“But as long as you’re here, you can hang out for a while.”
Yes!
“Um, okay—but aren’t you in the middle of something?”
“Yeah, but I don’t mind taking a break. Do you want to see my projects?”
“Sure.”
He followed her into the living room and looked around. Large renditions of planets in space hung on the walls. The artwork was so realistic, the paintings could almost have been photographs. A half-finished painting lay on the table while another reclined on an easel. And yet another picture of space stood open in a Mac.
“I’m a space artist,” she said. “I specialize in descriptive realism.” She laughed self-consciously. “Are you familiar with that field?”
“Well, not so much,” he said, even though he’d never even heard of it before.
Lia smiled. “Most people aren’t,” she said. “Okay, so let’s say someone wants a scientifically accurate image of Jupiter-rise on Titan.” She pointed to one of the pictures hanging on the wall. “So they commission a space artist. Then the space artist consults with engineers and astronomers to get an accurate idea of lighting, angles, and atmospheric conditions at that particular location. I don’t have a background in geology, so a lot of times, I consult with a geologist too. I also look at satellite photos and anything else that can help me create an accurate image.”