"So, why did you take my front seat hostage?"
I look up from my crumbled piece of paper with a slight frown of confusion. I fold up the paper and stuff it into my front pocket before smiling widely at the girl next to me. "You promised to meet after school."
Scarlette leans forward on her steering wheel, her face studying mine with a content smile. My smile stayes glued on my face which leaves us smiling at each other like fools. Scarlette hums before being the first one to look away, her hands going to start the car. I put the seatbelt on happily and remind Scarlette to do the same.
"Your parents know you're with me?" she asks while busying herself with the seatbelt.
I did text my parents for their permission to go out after school, but my message was pretty vague. I didn't mention Scarlette by name, I used the term friend. It's safer to say friend then hint at the fact that the 'friend' is a girl. That's also why the date I've planned is happening at Scarlette's house. Risking her meeting my parents when we're beginning to move forward? That wouldn't be the best move.
"Yep," I confirm, "my mom's okay with it."
"Cool," Scarlette puts one arm behind my headrest, while scanning the parking lot for any moving cars. She reverses the car with skill and turns it so it's facing the exit. We leave the school parking lot and get on to the main road. "Where to me liege?"
"Supermarket," I say, remembering the list on my crumbled piece of paper. "The one where we bumped into each other."
"Got it."
"I hope you like what I have planned," I admit after a moment of silence passes. "I've never planned a date before."
Scarlette glances at me for a quick second before returning her attention to the road. "I think it'll be great. You know i'm not a fancy kinda girl."
I laugh in nervousness and some relief. What I have planned isn't bam! A fancy date and I'm going to propose to you at the end! Definitely not. It's something I think we'll both enjoy while being comfortable. Hopefully she won't mind the fact that I'll be evading her room for a little bit.
"Did you only need to go to the supermarket? Or are there more places?" Scarlette asks while stopping at a red light. She uses that time to fully look at me, awaiting my response.
"Um," I think for a moment, not really sure, "I think it's just the supermarket...yeah."
"I love how confident you are in your answer," Scarlette jokes, going when the light turns green.
We playfully argue back and forth after that comment, our laughs echoing off each others and our smiles matching. It's not long before we're pulling into the supermarket, and I'm sighing from contemporary relief. I stretch in my spot and go to take my seatbelt off when Scarlette does the same.
"You don't have to get out with me," I stop her, "I'll be quick. I think."
"I'm scared you'll lose yourself in there," she muses before fully taking off the seatbelt and stepping out of the car. I get out after her and meet her on the other side. We walk into the store together and my face lights up as I see a familiar face.
"Hey, Leeane!" I wave over to her.
She turns around when she hears her name and waves back with the same enthusiasm. "Hey! I haven't seen you come in for a little."
"That's why I'm here now- to trash your store and leave with a packet of gum," I joke, hoping I didn't sound too serious.
"You can't even steal a gumball, much less rob the store of their gum, sweetheart," Scarlette announces while walking past me and over to Leeane. The two laugh at her statement as I stand near the entrance with a mock look of sadness.
They talk for a little and I decide to get a store basket, so I can carry everything I need. Even a guy with as much muscles as me needs a basket. We're not The Rock! We need help carrying more than five items. Not the point. The point is Madaline and I have been in this store more times than I can count, so moving around and finding everything I need should be easy. I go to the snack section and look at the variety of chips first.
"Hm.." I hum, not sure if I should get two different types or three. My train of thought is popped when Scarlette pops up behind me and leans over my shoulder to eye the chips. I try to ignore her very close presence, but it proved to be hard.
"Which ones you getting?" she asks, unaware of how she's affecting me. I point to the top shelf at the bags of Doritos and Sun Chips. Scarlette stands to her full height and grabs the two bags of chips before dropping them in my basket.
We move down the isle, assessing all the snacks to see which ones are good enough to buy. The basket is full of chips and chocolates with a good amount of gummies. I take a box of graham crackers for myself and Scarlette throws in marshmallows after. We could make s'mores, but I don't know how it'd possible. Has anyone ever tried making them on a stovetop before?
"You want sprite?" Scarlette asks from her place by the freezers that held the cold drinks. I nod and she grabs it immediately before bringing it over. I drop a packet of sour candy into the basket for her and we decide that's enough because, let's be honest, we won't eat it all today.
We make it to the register and I place the basket on the counter. Leeane starts scanning the items while eyeing us suspiciously. I glance at Scarlette to see her already looking at me. We shrug simultaneously before going back to watching Leeane. She tells us the total and Scarlette takes out her wallet at the same time as me. Oh no, no, no, no. I bump her with my body, which moves her to the side a little, and hand Leeane the money.
I feel my back pocket move and turn to see Scarlette putting money in my pocket. I don't have the chance to scold her for it since Leeane clears her throat to tell us she finished bagging our items. Scarlette grabs them and I say bye to my store friend before leaving. Scarlette already has the bags in the back seat of her car and moves to get in. I speed walk over to my side and get in.
"I'm giving you your money back," is the first thing I say when getting in.
"What money?" Scarlette smiles as her car starts up and starts to warm. "I didn't have any money."
I gape at her in disbelief and move to take out the money she placed in my pocket. I don't get to though because Scarlette reminds me to put on my seatbelt. I huff, silently saying it isn't over, and put on my seatbelt as we start driving again. Scarlette plays light music from the radio and hums along without her own knowing. It's cute that she hums the melody and doesn't even know she's doing it.
I turn in the seat and lean my arm against the arm rest. Scarlette is focused on the road, so I take the opportunity to trail my hand over to hers, (the one that's rested between us) and run my hand over her smooth one. Scarlette makes no reaction which urges me forward- my hand turning hers palm up before running my fingers over the faint line. She wriggles her fingers and I take that as my cue to hold her hand.
Scarlette interlocks our fingers, immediately, her rings feeling cool against my skin. I smile when her thumb massages part of my hand and I start to hum the songs that I knew along with her.
"By the way, my family isn't home. I don't know when they'll be back," Scarlette suddenly says, her hand still held tight in mine. I blink, getting out of the daydream I somehow found myself in and nod.
"That's okay. I heard your brothers are wild," I laugh while recalling all the things Jackson said about them. Scarlette nods in confirmation with her own smile and she takes a turn into a neighborhood that looks familiar. "You live here?"
"Yes sir."
I look around, analyzing the houses and gates before it clicks. "You live close to me and Maddy! Why didn't you say?"
"It probably slipped my mind," she answers.
Scarlette parks in front of a nice, two story house and gets out quickly to unlock the doors. I get out after her and press the lock button after getting the bags, so she won't have to come back just to lock her car. We make it into her house, and I have to stop to admire how nice and crazy it looks. Nice, because of the furniture and the color theme. Crazy, because of the various pictures, forts, and dog toys that laid around. It's a house made for a family.
"So, captain Nolan, what're we doing?" Scarlette pretends to stand all soldier like in front of me with a hand to her forehead.
"I need to transform your room and ready it for the storms, young pirate...where is your room?"
"Upstairs, last room to your left, captian," she doesn't let up the act.
I laugh and salute her before turning around and making my way upstairs. I hear Scarlette move slightly but ignore it as I take in the various family photos that hung on her walls. I make it to the end of the hall and peek inside the last room to my left, to see a room full of green with a mix of purple. This is her room. I move in with the bags and dump everything out, so I remember what we have and what I'm going to do with it.
Scarlette has two beside tables which worked perfectly for me. I put the drinks on one table and the candies, which were a lot, on the other one. The chips go on the end of her bed where we'll be facing, and I turn on her Tv for the movie. It takes a while for me to find a network that has the Grease movie series for free. I silently cheer when I finally find one and I set Scarlette's LED lights to a light green.
I back up to the door to look over the room one good time before nodding to myself and leaving the room in excitement. Scarlette is back in the same spot as before, except her arms rest lazily on either side of her body. She perks up when she hears my footsteps and meets me at the stairs.
"Done?"
"Yeah, c'mon," I turn around without word and lead her back to her room. I enter first and turn around with a shy smile and open arms when Scarlette enters. She looks around at the snack setup then up at the lights, and finally the movie that I have on pause.
"This looks great, Nolan. You put on Grease," she says, still eyeing the movie.
"Yeah," I say, my happiness boosting at the fact that she likes what I did. "Let's get this date started, pirate cruiser."
Scarlette laughs and closes her room door while I kick off my shoes near a corner. I make myself comfortable on the end of her bed, and grab the bag of sun chips. Scarlette lays on top of me, her back on mine. She grabs the doritos and presses play to the movie. It starts off interesting and it's quiet as we get into it. Scarlette explains some of the movie to me when I make a noise of confusion, and shows me her amazing performing skills when the characters break into song.
We end up sitting crisscrossed next to each other with our bags of chips in our laps and unopened sodas next to us. I complain, loudly, when the movie ends and the credits start to play. Scarlette pauses it and looks over to me with a smile.
"Don't worry, there's a second movie," she reassures and pops open her soda.
"Let's watch it," I go to grab the remote from her, but she pulls it out of my reach at the last second.
"In a second," she says, setting the remote on the other side of her body, "I wanna talk really quick."
I move my chips to the side and turn, so she has my full attention. She sounded pretty serious all of a sudden, and I want her to know I'm listening completely. "What is it?"
"I don't want you to be the only one apologizing. It's been eating at me all day," she laughs out, nervously. "I'm sorry for my weird behavior and basically ignoring you. It was petty of me when I thought you were dating Julie."
"Oh," I mumble, thoroughly surprised.
"I honestly thought you were playing with my feelings at first, but Jackson knocked some sense into me. He said you're not the type to do that, and I know you're not but I was just upset. He said the way you were acting recently was probably because of a family thing, or something personal."
"Yeah," I nod, "something like that."
Scarlette nods too, "It reminded me of our talk at the park. You told me how your family was. Your dad. It all kind of clicked into place and I felt terrible for pushing you to the side."
"Yeah, it sucked, but I don't blame you for it at all. I pushed you to do that, and I'm glad we're at an understanding. I missed my pirate," I end with a slight smile.
"Yeah, I missed my lucky charm captain," Scarlette jokes before plucking a packet of gummy worms off her table. She rips open the packet with her teeth and throws the piece of trash my way. I roll my eyes and move beside her, so we can share the candy.
The second movie of Grease is forgotten- Scarlette and I talking with various packs of candy sitting between us. We're in the middle of debating of which marvel character is better. Iron man or Spider-man. Scarlette does a terrible impression of Spider-man and I fall to tears on her body. She stands over me
with her arms out, like she's trying to shoot out webs. I roll over and press my face against her covers.
"N-no more. Please."
Scarlette bursts into laughter when we hear a door closing and pattering of footsteps. I sit up and wipe my eyes of the tears that had built up in the course of five minutes.
"That's my family," Scarlette says, wiping the corners of her own eyes, "let's go say hey."
I stand from the bed before putting my shoes back in and fixing my hair. Scarlette leads us out her room and back down the stairs, into her kitchen. A tall woman and man are seated at the island while two guys stand near them. They all look up when we enter and their eyes are already on me.
"Hey," Scarlette picks a grape from the plate in front of her mom. At least, I think that's her mom. "How was the thing?"
"It was good," her mom answers after smacking Scarlette's hand away. She looks over to me with a smile, "who's your friend?"
"Nolan. Nolan, these are my parents and the shit brothers everyone mentions," Scarlette introduces.
I try to cover up my laugh, but it slips when her brothers stare open mouthed at their sister. Her dad nods over at me with a crinkle in his eyes from the smile that found its way on his face.
"This is the Nolan that tripped?" he asks.
"Yep," Scarlette beams, proudly. "Also, my science partner and friend."
When's the last time we worked on that project?
My face beams red when I realize that her family knows me as 'the boy that tripped'. Scarlette laughs and walks over to me, her arm snaking its way around my shoulders. Her mom laughs softly, making me start to smile too.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Nolan," her mom says. "Are you staying for dinner?"
"Ah, no," I say, checking the time, "my parents are usually strict about those things. Maybe another time?"
"Of course," they all answer.
I smile and turn to Scarlette, "Speaking of, I should probably head home."
Scarlette nods and grabs her keys before coming back with a bag of the candy we didn't finish. She gives it to me and we leave the house with waves and goodbyes. We make it to her car and try to prolong the process of getting me home. She lives close to me, but not too close. It takes us a while to reach my house as Scarlette drives slow to meet every red light. We laugh about it and use it to talk more. We get closer to my house when Scarlette stops momentarily to look at me.
"I can park on the side, so your parents don't see me. Only if you're okay with walking a little bit," she suggests, trying to be thoughtful.
I shake my head and point forward, "Onward to my house, pirate. It's okay."
Scarlette smiles and drives the rest of the way to my house. She pulls into the driveway and stops beside my parents car. I unbuckle my seatbelt and lean over to hug her like i've been wanting to all day. Scarlette hugs me back, her hands running up and down my back. I pull away and smile at her with gratefulness.
"Thank you for giving me another chance," I say, reaching for door handle.
"Thank you for the date. See you later, Nolan."
I get out and wave her goodbye from the porch. Scarlette honks her horn before driving away and I laugh in happiness before opening the house door with my key. My parents are standing there when I enter, a look of conflicting passing between them.
"Who was that?" my dad asks.
"It was Scarlette," I answer and move past them to go to my room. I throw the bag of candy onto my bed and do a mini dance around my room. I'm so happy I can cartwheel back down the stairs.
I had a planned date with Scarlette, it went well, her family knows about me, I didn't hide her from my parents I don't think...maybe things are starting to look up. I hope it continues like this.