“Wait. Did you guys say weed? I want weed,” Miles pipes up, his gaze flicking between us. Wren turns to him, shaking her head.
“Baby, you’re a mess on your own. You donotneed help,” she says, patting him on the chest as he sulks back into the couch.
“Don’t get any from this one,” Evan says, pointing his water bottle towards me. I flip him the double bird. “You’re a menace to society, Scarlett.”
“Oh, please,” I say, waving a hand to dismiss him. “Society loves me.”
“Yeah, right. Society loves that your family’s business is the only thing keeping it afloat,” he argues. The second the words leave his mouth, I’m sure he realises the stupid mistake he just made. It takes a few seconds for Wren and Miles to pick up on what he said before throwing him a puzzled look and I do the same. But because I’m me, I also have the biggest grin on my face.
“That’snotthe insult you thought it was, tough guy,” I say, laughing.
“You’re right. Actually, no. You’re not right. You’re never right. About anything,” he rambles. I think I have officially broken Evan Branson because I swear he’s blushing right now. The way his cheeks turn a slight shade of pink is sort of…cute. Weird and new, but it’s cute. He taps the side of his head twice. Three times. “It’s the weed.”
He finally ends whatever the hell that was with an awkward thumbs up and walks backwards up the stairs, mumbling something about how that’s him done speaking for the rest of the day. I’m feeling victorious.
I turn back to Wren and she’s smiling like a fool. “You ready to go, Wrenny?” I ask. She nods before turning to Miles and whispering something absolutely filthy. The movie is paused so it’s not hard to make out some of the words she’s saying. I stand up. “I heard the words ‘dick’ and ‘mouth’ and I’m disgusted. Well, slightly impressed, but disgusted,” I chide.
When we’re linking arms, walking down the block towards our apartment, Wren says, “You know, I was so afraid of talking about sex out loud before I started writing books and well, before you started giving us very explicit rundowns on how your dates ended.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve not been getting any of that recently,” I murmur.
“Why not? Is it because of everything going on with your dad?” Wren asks, looking up at me with those green-brown eyes as we continue walking.
How do you begin to explain the situation you're in to your best friend who has the sweetest relationship with their dad? The easy answer is you don’t.
I shake my head. “I’m just having less me-time with the whole project thing,” I say.
That is partly true. Working on this project as well as the regular dose of homework is exhausting. I’ve always prided myself on having a good, strong, and healthy social life. Without it, I feel like I’m drowning.
“You work too hard at school. It’s concerning,” Wren mumbles. I elbow her in the side, and she giggles. “We should go out tomorrow. Just us girls and maybe you can text Max. He was very cuddly with you the other night. And he’s British, so more brownie points for that.”
When your best friend of twenty years looks up at you like that, grinning, cheeks red and flushed, you can’t say no. Even if it’s the last thing you want to do with everything going on. Even if you’ve hardly slept in four days and you’re still a little high from smoking.
That’s why I say, “Sounds good. Let’s do it.”
18
Scarlett
Even after jamming out to Gracie Abrams songs while getting ready with Kennedy and Wren, I still can’t shake the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach when we get to the bar. I tried not to make it obvious. I don’t want to ruin their night. It seems like they both need this night out as much as I do, and I don’t want to jeopardise that with my overthinking.
I texted Max on the way here and he agreed to meet me here. I enjoy talking to him for some reason. He makes conversations easy and even though he has this whole bad boy aura around him, I can tell he’s a soft and slightly nervous boy on the inside. He’s also ridiculously attractive, so that helps. Second dates (if you can even call it that) aren’t really my thing, but he intrigues me a little. He tripped me up, he made me blush. That rarely ever happens if I can control it.
After two rounds of shots at the bar, I stay there, watching Kennedy and Wren dance together to whatever pop song is playing. I told them I’ll meet them there in a second, but I need to paint on my best ‘I’m fine’ face before doing so. I can’t stop thinking about Gio and what he was doing at the restaurant.
If I think about it theoretically and cynically, he had motives. It could be him. He's lost the most important thing to him. Looking at a darker perspective, it seems clear that he would want to avenge that and become a more prominent member in the family. What I don’t understand is that after he lost Sara, our family became the most important thing to him. Why would he try to mess that up?
I’m so deep in thought that I don’t recognise the warm body behind me. I flinch at the contact of a strong hand on my shoulder, and I turn around, Max’s deep, woody scent clouding my thoughts for a brief moment. He’s got that sexy, almost lazy smile on his lips, dressed in a dark blue button down, his sleeves rolled up and black pants. His dark brown hair looks a little shorter than the last time I saw him, and I wonder if he’s had a haircut.
“Hi, Scarlett,” he greets, sitting in the seat beside me. I angle myself better so we’re facing each other, our legs almost tangled together.
“Hello, Maxwell,” I coo, smiling at him. He smiles back at me, a dimple popping out as he shakes his head. “How are you?”
“Better now that I’m here.” He tilts his head, taking a very deliberate glance at my body and my outfit. Like usual, I’m wearing a black bodycon dress with matching thigh high boots. The dress isn’t purposefully ‘provocative,’ but if you’re a person with eyes who’s attracted to women, you stare for a bit longer than usual. It hugs my curves in a flattering way, but Max is looking at me like he wants to take it right off me.
“At least buy me a drink before you start eye-fucking me,” I say through a laugh. He snaps his gaze from my legs to my face and when he catches me laughing, he lets out a nervous chuckle.
* * *
