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She’s wearing a cute navy knitted hat that compliments her auburn hair perfectly, and fushia-and-navy striped mittens. The kind with the flaps at the ends you can button back so your fingers are exposed. Perfect Candy Crush playing gloves.
When she glances up and notices me, I expect to see contempt in her eyes. Instead, all I see is weariness. Or maybe it’s sadness. Either way, I’m kind of stunned, because I can’t imagine why Scarlett Thiels would be weary. Or sad. She seems to be able to bend every situation to her will. But that’s exactly the kind of narrow-minded assumption I had about Sebbefore I got to know him, so I’m trying to shut down those kinds of snap judgments these days whenever they happen.
Before I can say anything, Scarlett gestures towards the Shack.
“Your man is in there,” she says. “He’s waiting for you.”
At least her voice doesn’t seem to have lost its usual fortitude.
I nod and start towards the Shack, then pause. “Are you okay?” I ask softly.
Scarlett’s gone back to playing Candy Crush, and she doesn’t make any move to indicate she even heard me. Or possibly, she’s just ignoring me the way she has for years. Just as I’m about to resume my ascent, she says, “I just felt like being alone for a bit. Shitty night.” She pauses and rolls her eyes. “Shitty three years, actually.”
I laugh. “I can relate to that.”
She looks up from her phone and studies me for a second. “I know you think I’m a horrible person…” Another eye roll. One side of her mouth lifts into the barest hint of a smile. Or maybe it’s a smirk. “I mean, you’re not wrong. I am. But still,” she lifts her shoulder in an almost self-deprecating shrug. “I never meant to come between you and Seb. He deserves someone who treats him right… So I’m glad he found you. Or you found each other, or whatever.” This time she does smile. A real smile. But only for a fraction of a second. “He’s crazy about you.”
My eyes must go wide. Her little speech catches me totally off guard. I glance down at my feet; at the axoloti on my shoe that’s so faded it’s barely recognizable anymore as any sort of sea creature. “Thanks for saying that… I’m crazy about him, too.”
She smiles again. But it’s kind of a sad smile this time. Like there’s a lot weighing it down.
“If you want to talk…” I meet her eyes. “I’m really good at listening. It’s one of the few perks of being an introvert.”
She laughs. “Thanks. I’m good though. It’s just…” she pauses, and I’m almost positive her gaze flickers briefly towards where Dylan Braun is still leaning, ignoring the cluster of girls hovering around him, looking seriously gorgeous. He has this quiet, slightly dangerous confidence about him. But also a vulnerability, too. As if he’s weary of not just people, but the world in general. Scarlett’s eyes meet mine again. “It’s complicated,” she finishes. Then she glances up at the Shack. “You should go in and see Seb… I’m surprised he hasn’t come looking for you.”
“Yeah.” I nod again. “Anyway, I hope you sort stuff out.”
“Nothing a couple levels of Candy Crush can’t fix.” She goes back to playing her game and I make the short trek the rest of the way up to the Shack. I take a breath and duck into the doorway.
The place is glowing. Solar-powered fairy lights are draped around the entire ceiling, warm and almost magical.
“Wha—What’s going on?” I stutter. “What are the lights for?”
Seb whirls around from where he was hooking one of the strings onto a nail. He looks a little flustered, but then his expression softens into a lazy grin when he sees it’s me. “It was supposed to be a surprise,” he says. “But it took me longer to set up than I thought.”
My eyes stray from his dimple to the fairy lights again. “Oh, wow… It’s beautiful in here.”
It is beautiful. With the warm twinkle of the lights, it looks nothing like the dank, dim space from a couple weeks ago.
And then it suddenly dawns on me.
“Wait. Are we—Did you do this because you thought we’d… have sex here tonight?” Then I catch myself. “I mean, it’s a really sweet gesture… But I’m really not ready.”
I thought he knew that. Also, as nice as the fairy lights are, I’m not sure I want to lose my virginity in a ramshackle shed at a beach kegger, surrounded by dozens of drunk people. In glove-wearing New England fall weather.
Seb rolls his eyes. “Scarlett told me you’d think that.” Then he grins. “You seriously think I’d want your first time to be at a beach rager?”
I let out a nervous laugh. “No. I mean… Well, I just thought, with the lights…” my voice trails off.
“Give me some credit, NG.” He pulls me against his body with one hand and reaches behind him with the other and pulls out a package of paints. “I got paint. And brushes. So, you could leave your mark…” He motions above us. “You get the whole rest of the ceiling. Scarr already painted a basecoat of white, so it’s dry and ready for you to write whatever you want.”
“Scarlett did that?”
He rolls his eyes again. “I know you think she hates you, but you have to understand, Scarr is various levels of mean to literally everyone. Even me.”
“I know she doesn’t hate me. I just talked to her and…” I tilt my head and look up at him. “Wow. This is really sweet, Seb. Thank you.”
“Well? he holds out the paints? Make your mark, NG. No more being invisible.”
