Calix Radcliff's POV
"Are you hungry?" I ask Scarlett as we exit the event hall. There were no paparazzi aimed at us anymore so it was easy getting out of the event but due to the number of people currently leaving we had to walk a bit to get to the car. "We can stop and get food before we get food."
Scarlett looked radiant, she had just won lawyer of her decade, she was competing with people from twenty to thirty and she had won. I knew she would, I just wish she saw herself how everyone around her did. But what had made her even brighter was that she had won a surprise category as well, she had won best lawyer under the age of fifty, she had won against people more than double her age and I was so proud of her.
"I'm not too hungry but can we go home and just hang out for a little bit."
"Of course." I would do anything to spend more time with her. I don't think she realised how enamoured I was with her. I grabbed her hand and we chatted quietly about our night when we heard someone calling out to her.
"If it isn't Scarlett Lawson." We both turn around and I see the female version of the male Scarlett had passed her card earlier.
"Vanya." Scarlett smiles and the woman pulls her into a hug.
"What the heck, you just fell off the face of the earth hermanita," Vanya says, pulling Scarlett into the tightest hug which Scarlett returns with the same amount of strength. "One day you text, complaining you have to spend the day with your idiotic siblings and the next you just disappear. Your parents didn't even tell us much and then we moved and we never saw you again."
"I'm sorry, it's such a long story," Scarlett whispers, pain in her voice, it was obvious she was close to these people. She turns and looks at the man next and smiles at him. "I missed you, Lan, I would have greeted you inside if I didn't think it would get you into trouble."
"That's okay, Lettie." He also pulls her into a hug and I can't lie and say I wasn't a little jealous. "Congratulations, it looks like you have gone pretty far in your life."
He gestures towards the awards I had been holding for her after she was terrified of dropping them on the way to the car. I hadn't told her this but I was just as terrified I would drop them and then she would hate me for it. Not that I told her that.
"Thank you." Scarlett smiles at him, and Vanya frowns.
"Wait what happened?"
"She won a couple of those fancy awards, apparently miss brainiacs, a lawyer now, and from what I heard in there a damn good one."
Vanya brightened on hearing this news and once again launched herself at Scarlett. "Oh Lettie, that's amazing congratulations."
"Thanks, V, Thank you, Lan." Scarlett turns back and I think she realises I was still waiting for her. "Vanya, Gallan. This is my date for the evening, Calix Radcliff, Calix this is Vanya and Gallan Sevilla, we grew up together."
"It's nice to meet you, the times Scarlett has mentioned you she has spoken very highly of you." I nod to them in greeting, unable to shake their hands or anything since they were full.
"She's talked about us?" Vanya asked with a smile, her eyes softening as she looked toward Scarlett. There was such a sibling love between these three people I hadn't seen with Scarlett's siblings. These people looked like they only wanted the best for her and I was happy she had these people growing up, but my heart also hurt when I remembered how she told me she was unable to contact them.
"A couple of times."
"Of course, I talked about you two, you guys are my family," Scarlett tells them. "I haven't told Calix as much but if you ask one of my best friends, he probably feels like he knows you already. What are you doing here, I know what Gallan was doing?"
"Oh, I was catering." Vanya's eyes brightened as she started talking about her business. "Gallan recommended me for this event and I'm so glad, I opened my very own catering company last year and it's doing pretty good."
"It was more than just good, your food is amazing, Van. Everyone at our table was going on about how good it was. I'm so glad you pushed towards your passion."
"Scarlett." I hated to interrupt but. "Paparazzi."
Her face was solemn immediately. "If you guys aren't busy now, would you like to head to my apartment, it isn't far from here."
"Yeah, of course, we have a lot to talk about anyway."
Scarlett and I let them walk ahead of us to the car, while we walked slower because of the paparazzi, they were hounds, if you ran away from them then they would think you had something to hide, so it was best to just let them do their jobs so we could avoid unnecessary drama in our life. Especially with the leaked story that was earlier.
When we finally made it to the car, the Sevilla siblings were sitting on one side and Scarlett and I took the seats opposite them. I look at Scarlett in slight shock and a lot more awe.
"How?"
"I told you I know a girl?"
The story had changed, a couple of hours ago I had been painted in a bad light. I was suing one of my employers and was very close to dating my lawyer but now the story made me the good guy. It showed a glimpse of Andrew Fields' true personality, not much but enough to prove I was doing this for the better of my company.
Scarlett Julianna Vanderburg is amazing and I am so grateful to have her in my life. I never want her to go, I have never felt this for anyone and I don't think I will ever feel it again.
My father loved my mother so much, he did everything for her and he loved her until his last breath. I didn't understand it when I was younger, my dad, this dominant businessman and then my mother, this free-spirited lady. They were polar opposites yet their love for each other tethered them together. I didn't get it back then but I do now, and I vow to love Scarlett like my father loved my mother.
"Are you two dating?" Gallan asks, observing our interaction.
"No." We answer at the same time.
Vanya raises an eyebrow at us, slight disbelief in her eyes. "Okay, so why do you look like you are totally in awe of one another."
"Because we are," I answer and the confusion takes over her even more.
"Hold on, I'm even more confused now."
"We aren't dating yet," Scarlett explains. "We will in a couple of weeks."
"Like that makes sense." Vanya looked between us, still lost but they dropped it. Scarlett
The three of them chat on the ride home while I finally check my phone for the first time that evening. Silas had bombarded it like always and there were messages from my mother asking me to call her when I was free which I would do when I got home.
"Are you coming up with me?" Scarlett asks when we finally make it to the elevator, there were two of them, One that went straight to her apartment and one that went to mine. But instead of answering her, I filled her into her elevator. Vanya and Gallan look around the luxury building, eyes wide.
Scarlett held herself in such a way that I often forgot she wasn't from an old money family, that she hadn't been trained how to stand and how to talk from an extremely young age like I and so many of our friends had. And now her friends were in awe, if I had friends come over from when I was young they would think this is normal.
"That place is gorgeous, Lettie."
It was all light-coloured wood and white. Then the massive windows make it gorgeous at dusk and dawn. I had spent so much time here that this place was starting to feel more like home than my apartment, than our family home in Greece where my mother stayed and even the home I grew up in, the place where I had spent my childhood with my parents and siblings, I had always considered that home.
But now I am starting to understand the saying, home is not a place but a person.
This was starting to feel like home because this is where I come to at the end of the day to have dinner. We go out and sit on the balcony or the roof, watching the sky turn oranges and pinks to purple. This is where I come in the mornings to pick her up so we can head to the gym together. We watch movies and cook together.
We were almost there, almost at the time I will be able to prove myself to her that I'm the person who can love her, that I will be the one there to support her through everything, the person she can walk towards her goals with, the one who will hold her when she's upset and give her a lift when she needs it.
I walk up to Scarlett, she still had on that champagne-coloured dress that had almost given me a heart attack when I saw it. Scarlett had no idea the effect she had on me, she was so beautiful, half of me wanted to show her off to the world, show that someone so beautiful inside and out would want me and the other part of me wanted to take her to a deserted place, somewhere where it would be only the two of us, no interruptions.
"I'm going to head home," I announce to the three of them, mainly Scarlett.
"Why?" Scarlett turns around and faces me, her colourless grey eyes wide. She didn't want me to go and that made me happy but sad. I didn't want to leave her either but she needed to catch up with her friends without me being a buffer between them and besides my mother would start getting anxious if I don't call her even though I said I would.
"I need to phone my mother before she's on the next flight over here." It has happened before and I do not want it to happen again. I spoke lower so only Scarlett could make out what I'm saying "I'm right next door angel, anything you need and I will be over in minutes, okay?"
"Okay." She rises on her toes, even though she was wearing heels. "Goodnight Cal, thank you for coming with me tonight, I appreciated it."
"I will do anything for you, Lettie," I told her once again, she does not realise the influence she has over me. "Good night." I nodded to Vanya and Gallan who were sitting on Scarlett's couch, this time it was me who leaned down and pressed a kiss to Scarlett's cheek. "Good night Angel."
I wrote this faster than I thought I would, I was hoping to release this by Friday but I was inspired.
I hope you enjoyed Calix's inner monologue of his just obsessing over Scarlett. I still have no idea what I want to do with this book but that's okay because once I finish it I will probably rewrite it just better in a way that makes sense.
I hope you have a great rest of your week and I will see you in the next chapter
Ara <3