Chapter 11
She felt soft fingers lingering on her cheeks. It tickled her awake, she opened her eyes in tiny slits. " What are you doing here, doofus?" She asked the person who woke her from her dreamland. " Wow! What a warm welcome." The person slapped her arm and exited her room. She decided to get ready and go down, being a weekend, she promised Zander that she would spend it with him since he was away for such a long time.
As soon as her feet touched the last step of the flight, her head was attacked by a small, soft, ball. Her head snapped to the person who had intruded her sleep. " Danielle! What's wrong with you?!" She yelled and threw the ball back at her friend, who happened to catch it perfectly.
" What? You don't want me here? And where are you going dressed like that? Can I come with you?" She shot Scarlett with questions. " I do want you here but bad timing because I'm going to Zander's place to spend the day with him and no, you can't tag along." " Oh my god! Is it a date?!" Danielle asked jumping up and down. " EWWW! That's gross! We aren't dating you, idiot! He wasn't here for a long time, so we decided to spend the day together." Scarlett replied as she laughed off the question. " But I want you two to date!" Danielle whined. " Not even happening in your dreams, honey!" She said as she raided the kitchen for her favourite cereal.
" We'll see! So I'm just gonna go, maybe to Tania's or Violet's place. See ya!" She blew a kiss and left as Scarlett devoured the lucky charms, enjoying the way it melted in her mouth.
Everyone except for Trevor was still asleep, she already informed them that she would be spending the day with Zander and they didn't have a problem.
" Trev! I'm leaving!" She shouted on her way out, the guy was obsessed with some new video game that she couldn't wrap her head around. " Alright! Be safe!" He yelled back as he heard the door slam. Scarlett didn't know that he woke up earlier than the other to send her off. Trevor locked the front door and crawled back into his bed a little after Scarlett left. He loved his sisters, especially the new Scarlett, way better than the old one.
The door to Zander's apartment opened after a whole 5 minutes after she rang the doorbell. His face was red and exhausted. " What were you up to?" She asked as she entered the familiar space." Nothing!" His voice was higher than usual. " You've clearly been up to something... What is it, Z?" She asked and looked around his place which was sparkly clean. It was like that every time she came over, extremely clean. " Your place is really neat!" She exclaimed and the place smelled like lavender room freshener.
" Huh... Thanks! It's always neat!" What a liar was Zander. He had been cleaning his messy space and hurried up as soon as he heard the doorbell go off. All the fast-moving led to the crimson red face that he was sporting.
Scarlett made herself at home as she sat down on the couch and curled up into a tiny ball. Zander sat beside her, facing her. They were doing their regular bickering and catch up when the doorbell rang. " Were you expecting somebody?" She asked him and he only nodded and winked at her.
" Hey! Come in, man! Been long enough!" She heard Zander's voice which was all bouncy with excitement. Now she was curious. But her social awkwardness got the best of her. To avoid any more awkwardness, she walked into the bathroom and opened the faucet.
" Letta! Come out! I know that you're hiding in there!" Zander gentle knocked. " No! I'll be out soon!" " No, you're going to open that door now." He concluded and she obeyed him. " Who is it, Zander? Do I have to come out? I can just jump from the window and-" " Break bones?" He looked at her with a serious expression and she looked at the floor.
" Ryan is a great friend of mine, he won't ask you anything that makes you uncomfortable, I promise. I'll kick him out if he does anything that makes you want to leave. " He took her hands in his and looked at her. She hugged him and felt comfort swarming around herself. " Alright, let's go." She finally gave in and he held the door of his room open for her. She entered the living room and was met by warm hazel eyes." Hi! I'm Ryan Flynn!" He extended his hand for her to shake. She looked at Zander with uncertainty, he gave her a reassuring nod and she locked her palm with Ryan's and shook it, " I'm Scarlett Brown." She said and gave him a small smile, it didn't reach her eyes, the awkward but friendly kind.
Zander and Ryan were talking about their childhood and the way they had pranked a whole bunch of their teachers and friends in school. Scarlett was listening to the boys talking and laughing, after some time she found herself warming up to the new person and laughing at the jokes that he was cracking.
" Tell me about your childhood, Scarlett. Have you ever pranked anyone? Were you always this quiet?" He asked and she stiffened for a fraction of second and Zander noticed it before Ryan, but they both noticed her eyes looking at everything around them. " No. I couldn't have pranked anyone. I was a very quiet person. Yeah. Tell me more about yourself." She diverted the topic.
Though the conversation took a detour, it found it's way back to questioning Scarlett and she would say something that didn't mean anything. " I need to go to the bathroom. I'll be back soon." She literally ran to the bathroom in Zander's room and closed the door, sliding down on the floor, a sob left her lips. " I don't remember anything!" She whispered to herself.
Zander looked at his friend who nodded at him. " She has a problem, man. I'll meet you once she leaves. I'll go back to my place now." He said and gave Zander a firm hug before he went out of the door.
He hurried to the bathroom and knocked on it. " Letta! He's gone. Please open the door? He's not coming back!" He didn't hear anything except the running water. " Letta?! Are you in there?" He heard a small voice saying 'yes'. He felt bad for doing this, but it was for her.
" Are you going to open the door?" He asked in a silent and soothing voice. She didn't answer and instead, she opened the door. Her nose was a light shade of pink and gave away that she had been crying. He pulled her into a hug and that was her undoing, she broke down in front of him, crying in his embrace.
" I don't remember anything, anyone. Why?!" She sobbed and that shocked Zander. What was she even talking about? Was she telling him the truth? What couldn't she remember?