Without You (James Franco Fanfiction)

Chapter VI - Part II

(A/N: So I'm really bad at updating on here since I'm so used to tumblr and updating over there. My bad, guys.)

The phrase ‘Actions speak louder than words’ couldn’t be more wrong at this moment as I watched Dana hopelessly mime out a movie.

After eating dinner, someone suggested the idea that we should team up for a males vs females game of charades. It was becoming increasingly difficult the more drunk - or stoned - each player was becoming, with the exception of myself and Scarlett, who surprisingly chose to abstain from sharing joints tonight. Though I’d had a few drinks, I wasn’t putting myself in the position of being drunk as I have to teach a class tomorrow morning and there would be nothing worse than giving snobby professors the pleasure of seeing me staggering throughout the campus with a handover.

As for smoking weed, I haven’t touched that stuff in decades and there has been certain times where I’ve been offered the opportunity and nearly gone through with it. Again, though, in event that some unexpected drug test came up for the teaching faculty tomorrow - and there have been incidents where professors have been caught out - I wouldn’t want anything showing up in my system. If that ever happened to me, I don’t think anyone will take me seriously as an academic ever again, and enough people already don’t.

Ruffling up her hair, Dana bunched it up into a mess as best as she possibly could whilst motioning a cutting action with her hands. 

Matt scratched at his chin, “I’ll pass on my guess.”

“Wolverine?!” Zach shouted, taking a swig from his bottle. Shaking her head, Dana looked over to Seth.

“Freddy Kruger?” He asks.

“You’re hopeless at this Seth!” Lauren exclaimed, laughing at her husband. Seth rolled his eyes and reached into a bowl of pringles, tossing a handful towards her. Seeing them both interact in such a playful way whilst they were both equally stoned and drunk was, in some peculiar way, very endearing. They really are a perfect match for each other.

Realizing it was my turn since all eyes were now focused on me, I took my guess. “Edward Scissorhands?”

“And we have a winner!” Dana grins, hi-fiving me as she went to sit back down. Drawing a card out of the pile, I stifled my laugh as I read the words ‘Spiderman’ written in bold font across the white cardboard. Clicking ‘start’ on the timer, I acted out the usual procedure for a film title with one word and three syllables. Not wanting to give away the movie too easily by acting out the signature Spiderman hand movement, I opted to go with attempting to climb the wall. When that led the girls into guessing in opposite direction, I then got down on my hands and knees rotating from crawling to walking.

“Spiderman!” Dana shouts. Nodding, I cheered and clapped as she ran back out to take my place.

“Can’t believe you didn’t get that one Lauren,” Seth jabbed.

“I was going to say it eventually!” She replies, slapping her husband on the knee.

Excusing myself from the game, I made my way to the bathroom to go about my business. When I emerged, I was surprised to see Scarlett leaning with her back against the wall of the hallway. I wasn’t sure why, but she looked good in my sweater despite the fact the majority of it hung off her frame. Making my way over to her, I was met with a small smile.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked immediately, before my mind actually told me to. To say that I didn’t care about Scarlett would be a complete lie, especially after the events of tonight with me ultimately stopping her from freezing to death. Even though she really makes me go round the twist at times, to the point of where I want to rip my hair out I have quite a soft spot for her but I’ll never admit that to anyone but myself. Part of me knows that deep down Scarlett feels the same way. I guess its because once you become so close with someone, you never really stop caring about them even if they are no longer a major part of your life.

 “I swear I didn’t see you there.”

“Yeah, you didn’t. You walked straight past me,” She laughs, “You’re a very focused man aren’t you James?”

“Well, nature was calling and I met its demands,” I replied, causing her to bury her head in her hands as she cracked up at my atrocious attempt at quick wit. I probably should give up on attempting to be witty. It’s better to bomb out as an Oscars host rather than bomb out and become that friend who thinks they’re funny but they’re not.

“Are feeling okay though?” I asked.

“I’m fine, I was just finished taking a call from my manager and I saw you going into the bathroom so I waited out here for you,” Scarlett shrugged, “I told everyone that I was heading back to the hotel but I wanted to give your sweater back to you first.”

“You’re not thinking of walking back are you?” I interjected, “It’s not safe…”

“No no, I was going to get a taxi.”

"A taxi,” I chuckled, copying her accent. Scarlett rolled her eyes at me, “You know what I mean.”

“I’ll drive you,” I offered.

Scarlett raised her eyebrows, “Really? That’d be great actually…”

Chuckling, I placed my hand on her back and walked her to the door, “I know you have a fear of cab drivers. Or should I say…taxi drivers?”

“Ah, what don’t you know about me Franco?” Scarlett remarked, taking a much faster stride as we approached the car.

“A lot, actually,” I mumbled under my breath as I got in. The silence inside the car wasn’t uncomfortable, but the tension in the atmosphere was giving me an unusual feeling in the pit of my stomach. Once we arrived back at the hotel I escorted Scarlett to the front door of her room, making a mental note of the number in case I wanted to stop by again.

“I guess I should give this thing back to you, huh?” She says, tugging at the sleeves of my sweater.

I stared down at her, not saying a single word. I could feel the heat from her breath on my skin. There was a closing proximity between us and I picked up her natural scent, the one not of perfume that makes me feel warm..cozy, even. It only took a few seconds for my senses to heighten and I now knew what the unusual feeling in my stomach was. My eyes slowly raked over her face; drinking in the sight of her tensed jawline, her closed eyes and her creased brows. My hands traveled to her waist, gently pulling her against me. Each second we remained this way, the more my skin heated up.

“You should get going.” Scarlett says, her mouth twitching.

“I should.”

“The others are going to start getting ideas,” She adds.

“And what might those be?” I asked, the grip of my fingers on her waist digging into her skin.

Opening her eyes, Scarlett gives me a devilish smirk and that was all I needed to see. Tugging me by the collar of my shirt, she slid the key into the lock and slammed the door behind us.