Violet sat alone in one of the chairs that had been, the previous afternoon, clustered together for a meeting of some society or other. The Student Union building was unsurprisingly, deserted - it was only halfway through the day, and everyone was away at class, or in the cafeteria, or the library.

She had her feet up on the chair across from her, a book in her lap as usual. Her hair was down, swept over the shoulder of her favorite purple sweater. (With a name like Violet, she couldn't not like the color purple).
She had on the usual jeans. The usual sneakers.
The usual unremarkable air about her.

Keye wandered in (for no particular reason. It was warm in here, you know, and...sometimes there were tolerable people...speaking of tolerable--and better than tolerable--people, there was Violet. Neat.) and aimlessly drifted towards Violet, sort of like he didn't really have an intention of going over there, but happened to be anyway.
And he loomed over her shoulder, peering at the book and trying to decipher what it was about.

Incidentally, the book was "Frankenstein". She was at the part where the monster kills the bride.

Violet could really sink into her own little world when she was reading,... but she simply could not fail to notice someone reading over her shoulder. It irked her. She tilted her head back, a pre-frown forming on her face until she recognized him. The almost-frown was replaced by a smile.
"Hey, what's up?" she said cheerfully.

"Nothing."
Keye had a look of total uncomprehension on his face. The language in "Frankenstein" was still a little much for him.
"Absolutely nothing."
He also looked supremely bummed.

"Well, in that case...," Violet closed her book - friends take priority over books, "Take a seat and stay awhile."
She gestured to one of the number of chairs positioned around in a haphazard semicircle, but kept her eyes on him.

"Why the long face?"
(As if she wouldn't notice.)

He wondered momentarily whether he should err on the side of discretion and not tell her, but decided against it; Violet wasn't the type to say horrible things about either of them, or spread rumors, or otherwise cause trouble.
So he slid into the chair, propped his chin on his fist, and sighed.
"Taryn broke up with me."

"What?... Oh, that's - I'm sorry to hear that,..."
It had been Violet's opinion that they'd be good for each other.
She leaned forwards, looking anxiously at him. Are you okay? was her first thought, but instead, she came out with, "What happened?"

"I was..." he nibbled at a fingernail, looking thoughtful. Lately (and mostly due to living with Alexander), he'd been taking the time to think about better, more concise, more precise ways to put things.
"Emotionally exhausting."
There. That sounded about right.

"...Oh."
Just 'oh'. It was sad, but it was true.
Violet made a mental note to go check on Taryn later.
But for now; "...How're you holding up?"

"I, uh..."
This was a much harder question than one would think from the sound of it.
"I'm not sure. I mean, it sucks. I know that. It sucks a lot. But, I mean...I don't...I dunno. I feel like shit."
And that was what bothered him. Because ordinarily in this situation, he would feel much, much worse than 'like shit'.

Violet, not having witnessed Keye in post-breakup mode before, didn't catch on.

"Aww, 'm sorry... " (Though she'd be troubled if he didn't feel bad) "Is there anything I can do to, um, help you feel better or anything...?"

"Not really, nope."
Not unless you could convince Taryn to give me a second chance. And I wouldn't ask you to do that.
"Just been trying to chill out, pretty much. I did set one book on fire. But mostly I've just been playing my guitar, thinking..."
A half-smile.
"Which, normally, would be a lot of fun. But right now it sucks."

A faintly shocked look flickered rapidly onto her face at the mention of burning a book, but just as quickly, the look was gone.

(On a side note, Violet would make a good librarian).

"You know what I find helps?"
She rested her chin in her hand, regarding him with a sympathetic smile.
"Ice cream. Or food in general, really. What do you say we go find something to eat, and then... watch a funny movie, and laugh 'til it hurts."
She shrugged.
"I mean, it worked for me... at least it could be a distraction."

The half-smile almost became a whole-smile, right then.
"Yeah..." Keye liked the wailing of his guitar, but it could only wail so long before it became a downer and defeated the purpose.
"That sounds like fun. That would be cool."
Keye paused a moment to make a note of the fact that he had much better friends than he deserved.

"Alright then."
Violet smiled and began to put away her book, then stopped.
"D'you have any more classes today? If you do, we should probably put this off until after..."