Afterward (A Veneer prison story)

Telling Velvet

Veneer pulled out of his driveway and took a breath. He was worried about what Velvet would say to him, what if she was still upset? Veneer didn't think she would be, but she was always dramatic. He didn't know what to think about it all, the last few months were catching up to him. His parents said it seemed like a good idea to talk to her last night, but he wasn't so sure now. 

Veneer turned up radio just to have some noise and drove to the prison.  When he pulled into the parking lot he sighed, he didn't know if he had the courage to tell Velvet about Ritz, she might get upset about him making other friends. 

Veneer pushed that thought out of his mind and parked. He grabbed his keys and phone and walked inside. 

"Hi, can I speak to Velvet?" 

"As a visitor?" 

Veneer didn't know what else she would think he was, in his cropped gray tank top with baby blue shorts. "Yeah." 

"Okay, so I'll need you to sign here and put the date and time." 

Veneer didn't remember having to sign last time, but he signed the sheet and was led into the same room he saw her in last time. The woman left the room and Veneer sat down. Even though he had to sign the sheet this time, the prison was still pretty relaxed. Veneer wondered if it was because no one ever really committed crimes or if they just didn't care.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw Velvet. She looked really put together, and she was... smiling? Veneer wondered what happened. 

She sat down. "Hey Veneer!" 

Veneer was taken aback, he didn't know what to say. "Umm.. hey Vels. You seem really.. happy today."

Velvet laughed. "Yeah, I just love it here!" She smiled, Veneer thought it looked fake.

The guards looked a them and then left. Velvet's rolled her eyes and frowned. "Ugh, I was wondering when they would leave. I've had to be happy these last few days so they'll let me out. Like they did with you." 

Veneer frowned, he knew it was fake. "Oh.."

"Yeah it's horrible in here. I need to get out as soon as I can. When I was talking with one of the guards he said it would be soon." 

"Thats... good." Veneer loved his sister, but he was enjoying the time away from her. 

"I know." She kicked her legs up onto the table. "But why are you here?"

"I just wanted to talk to you. I also wanted to tell you that Ritz and I are... umm.. dating now." It still felt weird to say it. 

"That's good. But I really need to get out of here and I don't even know where I'm going to stay after I get out so maybe you could like.. figure that out?" 

"Oh.. well I was just going to stay with mom and dad, like I have been. I think that they want you to stay too." 

Her face soured. "Oh. I don't want to do that. So no." 

"What? Why?" Veneer thought there was no way that she was still upset about what happened. She must have changed somewhat in the past few days. 

"Veneer." She glared at him. "They wouldn't let us be famous, and they knew that was all we ever wanted." 

"All you ever wanted," Veneer mumbled. 

Velvet stared at him, "What did you say?"

"You wanted to be famous, not me." 

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. The point is I'm not staying there." 

"Vels.." Veneer didn't know what to do, "They really miss you." 

"No, I'm not staying with them," her words were becoming softer. 

"Can you just.. try it. For me?" 

Velvet looked away from him. "I don't want to."

"Just for a day?" Veneer said quietly. 

"I'll think about it." She looked back at him. "But it's only because I don't know where else to stay." 

Veneer smiled, he was surprised that she agreed. "Thank you." 

"It's whatever, but can you leave now. I need to get back to 'helping'." She waved her hand dismissively. 

"Umm.. okay. Thank you for agreeing to stay with them." He smiled. 

"Sure, now can you please leave." 

"Yeah, bye Vels." 

She gave him a soft smile. "Bye Veneer." 

Veneer left the room and walked back to the front desk. He signed the sheet again and walked out to his car. After sitting down, he sighed. He hadn't expected Velvet to agree to stay with him, or for her to even be somewhat nice at all. 

Veneer drove home and walked inside, his parents weren't home yet, but he needed to talk to them. He hoped they would be happy that Velvet agreed to stay with them. 

After getting some food, Veneer called his mom. 

"Hey mom, are you busy right now?" 

"No, what's wrong?" 

"Nothing's wrong, but I have some news about Velvet." 

"What is it?" 

"She might be getting out soon and she agreed to stay here once she does." 

"Really?" his mom sounded like she might start crying. 

"Yeah." 

"Was she nice about it?"

Veneer paused, "Yeah, it took a little convincing but after a while it worked." 

"That's good, I just can't believe she wants to stay with us, after everything that happened." 

"I know, I was surprised when she said yes." 

"Me too. Well, I probably should get back to work. But we can talk when I get home." 

"Okay, love you." 

"Love you too." 

Veneer hung up and got up. He didn't know what to think about Velvet coming home, he was happy that she was getting out, but he enjoyed getting to do things without her. 

Veneer hung out around the house until his parents got home. It felt nice to not be doing anything. 

Veneer came downstairs for dinner and sat down, they were eating spaghetti. "So, what do you guys think about Velvet coming home?" 

His dad looked over at him, "I'm surprised she got out so soon, but I guess I don't know what she was sentenced for." 

"Yeah, I think it was supposed to be six months, but she's been helping out so they're letting her out early." 

"That's good, although I'm shocked that she helped out," his mom said. 

"Me too, she never wanted to help when I was there, but I guess she really wants to get out." 

They continued to talk and eat dinner. After a while, Veneer left the table and said goodnight to his parents. He went upstairs to get ready to go to bed. 

After washing his face and getting changed, Veneer went into his room and turned off the light. He lay down in bed and took a deep breath. He didn't know how to feel about Velvet coming home. What if things went back to the way they were? Veneer didn't think that they would, she did seem a little happy when he said goodbye. Maybe she would change a little in the next few days, but Veneer thought it would take longer than that.