Scarlet Wright

|4| The Bonfire

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SCARLET
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AUGUST

The night Leon and I made love for the first time was the last time I saw my parents. When the song ended, we kissed briefly, got dressed quickly, and packed as fast as we could. We tossed all of our things into his car and made the two hour drive from the beach house in Sarasota to Richmond, arriving at Wright Manor around 4 AM.

Leon and I went upstairs to my bedroom and knocked out in our party clothes, but we only slept for a few hours. We woke up around 8 AM and began packing all of my belongings, which we then crammed into a moving vehicle and shipped to Leon's parent's house. I crashed at theirs for only a few weeks until Leon and I convinced a few friends to get a place with us. It didn't take much convincing once they saw the house sits very pretty right on the beach.

My parents had no idea I moved out of Wright Manor until they returned from the Sarasota beach house at the beginning of this month. I was making an effort to keep in touch with mom while staying with the Carters, but not the way she wanted me to. I kept her at arms length until I finally decided to change my number and cease all contact with her. I found it excruciatingly painful to speak to her, knowing what I know, but not being able to say anything. I felt like a filthy fucking liar every time we spoke. I couldn't take it anymore. It was slowly breaking my heart.

I never even told her that Leon and I are dating. I couldn't bring myself to mention it during our brief conversations. She will find out eventually and it will hurt her to find out from someone else. I can only hope the news brings her such immense happiness, it doesn't allow her to dwell on the fact that she didn't hear it from me.

My brother also doesn't know why I left. I didn't want to look for him that night because I didn't want to risk running into our father. He doesn't know I was approached by a complete stranger who unraveled my world by giving me an envelope filled with pictures of our father cheating on mom.

He is actually flying back to London tomorrow, but we are meeting for lunch before he leaves. I will have a chance to tell him then. I think telling him over lunch isn't the best idea I've ever had, but he has the right to know. Damon should know our father was unfaithful. He needs to know that the man he looks up to isn't exactly role model material.

Truth be told, I'm beyond ecstatic to see Damon. I've been looking forward to it all week. I'm currently the only one living in this house who doesn't have a job, so I've had plenty of time to miss my brother.

I'm hoping Lexi can convince her boss to hire me so I won't stay jobless for long. I've had no luck finding a job on my own. Everyone I've interviewed for seemed to focus a little too much on the fact that I'm Joseph Wright's daughter. I'm not interested in any job that is interested in who my father is. I don't want to feel like a job was handed to me because of whose ballsack I originate from.

Leon put off going to college and began working for his father as soon as we came back from the Sarasota beach house, which means he's technically working for my father. He saved every cent for the deposit on the place we're staying at now. We barely made the move a week ago.

Leon witnessed firsthand the toll job hunting has taken on me. He told me he doesn't want me to work, and I appreciate him wanting to take care of me, but I'm not interested in being a stay-at-home girlfriend. I'm not very happy about him technically working for my father, but I have not made an attempt to stop him. I just want to make my own money too. He understands that now, but it doesn't mean he likes it. What he would really like is to take care of me.

He wants to give me the world, wants to pay for it with his hard earned money and lay it at my feet.

Aside from being broke and jobless, I absolutely adore living with Leon and our friends. I love getting to know everyone on a deeper level. They say you never really know a person until you live with them. Take Lexi for example... Lexi is nothing like Kara, which I love. Lexi tells it like it is and it's one of my favorite qualities about her. Kara always sugar coated everything, and I learned the hard way that you can never fully trust someone like that.