**EDIT**
Chapter has been revised :)
James’ POV
"So, who was that lovely lady you ran off with?" Nana asked in a sing song voice as she combed my hair. I chuckled, placing my book down on bench in front of me as I looked up at the mirror.
"Just a friend of mine," I smiled.
Nana raised her brows, but made no comment as she picked up the pair of scissors and began trimming my hair. It didn’t take very long as there wasn’t much to trim. Once she finished cleaning up the floor, I snapped a selfie of the two of us together and posted it on Instagram.
My phone then buzzed right in my hand and I quickly tapped on message notification. Scarlett finally replied to my invitation to join myself and Nana out for lunch. The message read two very definitive words:
“I’ll pass.”
Could she be any less specific?
I sent back “Why not?” with a sad face emoji for added effect.
In my mind, I could picture Scarlett’s unamused reaction whilst reading the screen on her phone.
"I already have plans for today, sorry."
"With who? Jay?"
"None of your business Franco! And why are you so jealous of Jay?"
"I’m not jealous."
"It sure sounds like it."
"You’re delusional."
"And you’re not?"
"Did I say something to offend you the other day?"
"No, haha. I’m just having a life outside of you. I’ll see you soon okay?"
"Okay. Have fun."
"Oh, nice Instagram photo by the way."
"Are sarcastically mocking me over text?
"Am I?"
I grinned, tempted continue playing her game but I knew it’d be better not to. If I did, we’d be texting all day. Putting my phone back in my pocket, my attention was drawn to the giggle Nana made. When I looked up at her, she was smirking at me.
I narrowed my eyes, “You read those messages, didn’t you?”
"Maybe," She replied, just narrowly dodging my outstretched arms. I leapt out of my seat and chased her down.
"And she’s just a friend?" Nana asked, once we’d both ran in circles around the room as though I were a cat and she was a mouse.
"Yes."
“Could have fooled me,” She shrugged. “You don’t look at any other girl the way you look at her,” Nana added quietly, walking out the door. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to hear that last part, so I pretended I didn’t anyway.
Once I was sure Nana wasn’t going to burst through the door again, I pulled out my phone and quickly typed up a reply -
"You and Jay look cute in that photo."
"What photo?"
"The one on your Instagram"
"I don’t have an Instagram"
"Check your likes"
I laughed to myself as I waited for her response.
"You liked all 142 photos?"
"Yep"
"I hate you"
I grinned, switching off my phone before racing out the door to catch up with Nana.
Later that night I was lying awake in bed, constantly switching between checking my phone, reading a book or just merely staring at the ceiling whilst twiddling my thumbs.
I couldn’t get comfortable for some reason, so sleep was out of the question. My mind was far too active to be able to shut down at a time like this.
Usually, I don’t sleep until I can’t handle being awake anymore and instead I stay up doing something productive but tonight I was just lacking inspiration and motivation for everything. To make matters even worse, the people in the suite next door were having incredibly loud sex so there’s no way it’s going to be peaceful enough for me to sleep anytime soon.
Sighing, I rolled out of bed and made my way to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. Picking up my phone, I scrolled through my contacts and wondered who would be awake at this time. I stopped at Scarlett’s number. Knowing her tendency to stay up late I decided to give her a call.
"Hello?"
"Hey Scarlett," I replied, waiting to be scolded for waking her up. “It’s James.”
"Why the hell are you calling me at 3am?" She asks, sounding very different than she usually does. I wasn’t sure whether it was because she just sounded different on the phone, or whether she was just exhausted with me. Probably both.
"Well there’s a couple next door consummating their lov-"
"If this is a request to get me to come over so we can give them a run for their money, it’s not happening," Scarlett interjected.
I bit back my laughter and rolled my eyes, "No, it’s not. I just want someone to talk to because I can’t sleep.
"Oh," She chuckles, "Sorry."
Shaking my head, I took a sip of water before I replied, “It’s okay. I’m quite offended that you’d think I’d do that, you know I do respect you a lot.”
"I know I know," Scarlett mumbles, "It’s just, sometimes we can be really selfish."
"Yeah I understand that," I laughed, "So what’s up?
“Nothing really, I only just got back from the club. I went out with Jay again.”
“Ah and how did that go?” I asked.
“For a skinny guy he sure can drink,” She laughed.
As our conversation progressed, her speech was becoming increasingly difficult to understand and it set off an uneasy feeling in my stomach. It just didn’t seem normal for her. Scarlett isn’t exactly the type of person who goes out clubbing downtown Los Angeles whenever she’s in town. She hates alcohol; if she ever drank any she’d have maybe one standard drink at the most. That’s not enough to make her drunk, or behave the way is right now.
"I think someone’s at the door," I heard her say faintly.
"Are you sure you should be answeri—" Hearing a crash from the other end of the line, I immediately rose to my feet, "Scarlett? Are you alright?"
When she didn’t respond I quickly gathered my jacket and keys, racing out of the room as fast as I could.
~*~
Scarlett’s POV
Wincing in pain, I slowly sat up and clutched my head only to feel a warm, sticky substance gushing out from my head. Taking my hand away, I looked at my palms to see them covered in blood. There was a deafening ringing in my ears, I felt incredibly dizzy and lethargic.
It was hard to hear over the ringing in my ears, but I'm pretty sure I heard my name being shouted out by somebody. I desperately tried to recognize their voice, but I couldn't. I was completely rendered hopeless. My consciousness was there but my mind was wandering elsewhere.
I felt a pair of strong arms lift me up and carry me, placing me down on what felt like a sofa or a bed. Looking up, my vision was becoming increasingly cloud and I could just make out the outline of a well-built man in front of me.
Fear and panic washed over me as I realised that I’m in no position to fight this guy off if I needed to. Panicking, I tried to make my legs move, or my arms, but they didn’t seem to respond. I then tried to open my mouth to scream, but I couldn’t quite muster the strength.
"Scarlett, can you see how many fingers I’m holding up?"
Relaxing once I realized it was James, I tried to shake my head and form a coherent sentence but the words couldn’t form properly.
"Alright, I need you to stay awake okay?" James orders, moving closer, and holding a cloth to my head. He lifts one of my hands up to hold it in place, "Try keep that there okay?"
I tried desperately to thank him and do exactly what he said, but my mind was wandering to other places and my body wanted just wanted shut off entirely, to stop the pain.
He swiftly lifted me into his arms, “Just try to stay with me alright? I can’t lose you.”