Scarlett:
Yes.
Evan:
Perfect. I’ll be at your apartment in 10.
My phone chimes with more notifications from her, but I ignore them. I know she’s going to try to argue with me about why I’m meeting her at her apartment instead of the library on campus. I think we both need to get away from that place for a while. A change of scenery might help clear the air between us.
Just as I expected, Scarlett is waiting in the parking lot of her apartment complex. She’s got a puffer jacket zipped to her chin and a thick scarf wrapped around her neck. She looks adorable, her nose red from the cold and her hands shoved under her armpits.
I step out of my car, leaning against the hood as she walks toward me, each step slower than the last. Her eyes are like daggers, piercing through me as she holds my gaze. I can play this game with her all day.
“Why didn’t you want to meet at the library?” she asks, a puff of cold air coming out her mouth.
“It’s exam week, so it’s going to be extra busy. I found somewhere better for us to go.”
“You couldn’t just send me the address and meet me there?”
“Not exactly.” I push myself up off the hood, rounding the passenger side to open the door for her like the gentleman I am. Her frown deepens. “Come on.”
“I’m not getting in the car with you until you tell me where we’re going.”
I sigh, closing my eyes for a second. “I’m not going to take you to a dungeon and murder you or something.”
“It kind of sounds like you are.”
“I promise I’m not.” I hold up three of my fingers, clapping my other palm to my chest. “Scout’s honor.”
She barks out a laugh. “You, Evan Branson, a Boy Scout? No way.”
I snort. “No, are you kidding? You would’ve had to pay me alotof money to spend that much time outdoors as a kid.”
Scarlett laughs, and she finally makes her way over to where I’m holding the door open for her. “If you try anything. I’ll—”
“Murder me, yeah, I got it. Just get in the car, Scarlett.”
She makes some sort of angry growling sound at me, and I laugh to myself when she finally slips into the passenger seat. I’m sure she’s grateful for the seat heaters with how cold out it is today, and I turn up the AC a little more just to make sure.
The drive is quiet. A lot quieter than I thought it would be given how much Scarlett usually likes to talk and antagonize me. Smooth R&B music rings through the speakers of the car, justloud enough to mask the sound of my heart beating loud in my chest.
I’m still not fully sure why I’m bringing Scarlett here. I’ve never brought anyone here before. Maybe it’s because I want her to let her guard down with me like she did the other day at the hotel. Maybe showing her some piece of me will get her to trust me and let me help her.
It’s not long before we pull up and Scarlett scans her surroundings, her hand gripping her seatbelt. From where we’re parked, there’s not much to see other than the dumpsters at the backs of the stores that line this part of town.
“You’re not going to see anything unless you get out the car,” I say, unclipping my seatbelt. Scarlett groans before following and I grab my bag from the back seat of the car.
We go through the back door of the bakery at the end of the street, walking through a kitchen bustling with stressed bakers. The smell of fresh treats invades my senses as an oven door opens in front of us. We stop abruptly, letting the baker carefully take out the tray of fresh bread before moving toward a worktop.
“What the hell is going on, Branson?” Scarlett seethes in my ear, and I just laugh.
