Laughter caused her to stir from her afternoon nap and rub the sleep away from her eyes. She'd completely forgotten about the last minute garden party her room mate had decided to throw, she'd gotten the idea in the morning as Scarlet ate her breakfast. They had both been out the night before Scarlet had wanted to drown her sorrows from the ending of her relationship and her best friend slash room mate Rebecca had decided she'd go with her. She didn't have the energy to argue with her and as it turned out they had a really good night out. Not only did Scarlet get to drink her body weight in Tequila she also got to dance until she couldn't feel her feet in her six inch heels.
She'd decided to have a nap to try and combat the hangover she couldn't shift, even with a pint of orange juice and the greasy pile of bacon Rebecca had cooked for her. She'd emerged from her room looking fresh as a daisy while Scarlet looked like she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards. For once she wasn't fixated on the pain in her heart but the pain in her head.
"Shitting hell." Scarlet sat up in her bed and yawned deeply as she stretched out her aching limbs and looked around her bedroom. She knew she couldn't go out to the party looking the way she did.
After a quick shower and a good working over her hair with her curling iron she put on a little make up to hide her dark circles, courtesy of the alcohol and broken sleep. Then she put on a dark blue summer dress that was a little shorter than she'd expected it to be but decided to go with it anyway, knowing how hot it was outside and slipped on a pair of sandals then made her way out into the garden.
Rebecca, who had a lot more friends than Scarlet was stood by their barbecue talking to a tall well built man who was stupidly good looking but not quite Scarlets type. Rebecca was working her magic on the guy and if she was completely honest it wasn't hard. Rebecca was a tall and leggy brunette with a pair of slightly small but very perky breasts. Unlike Scarlet, Rebecca could get away with not wearing a bra and she today was no exception. The low back shirt paired with probably the tiniest cut off denim shorts made her look gorgeous. Her deep brown eyes always looked like they were hiding all kinds of secrets that men seemed to take for mystery and they ate that shit up like a tasty piece of birthday cake.
Scarlet on the other hand was about a head shorter than her best friend. Her mousy brown hair that was naturally highlighted by the sun fell just past her shoulders in waves she always put in herself or else it looked flat and she hated it. Her eyes were big and blue giving off a more innocent ethereal look and her pale complexion with a scattering of freckles over her button nose and cheeks just added to the innocence. Her body was curvy in all the right places but she hated how big her breasts and butt were, although everyone else seemed to envy her because of it.
Scarlet grabbed a bottle of beer from the kiddie pool filled with bottles and ice on the floor and made her way over to her best friend. In the back of her mind she knew she should probably stick to water but she'd decided a couple beers wouldn't hurt anyone. She'd drink water in between, it was summer after all.
"I wondered when your lazy ass would wake up!" Rebecca pulled Scarlet into a bone crushing hug. The coconut scented sun lotion made Scarlet feel a rush of happiness, she'd always loved the summer and for some reason the scent of coconut always brought on summer vibes.
"I feel a lot better," Scarlet chuckled. "I needed that sleep!"
Rebecca introduced her to the man, Lucas. The three stood around making small talk as he and Rebecca became closer and closer as the minutes turned into hours. The sun began to set and the crowd dwindled then suddenly Rebecca's phone started to ring. She looked at the phone screen and rolled her eye's but still answered.
"Hello?...I'm at home, why?...Do you seriously have nothing better to do?...Sure if you want but bring more beer...We ran out...Yeah, we had a party...I didn't think you'd want to come!...Whatever...See you soon." She hung up the phone and tossed it onto the grass with a sigh and slight growl. "So Ruben is coming over."
Scarlet tried to look as impassive as possible as Rebecca announced the sudden invitation of her twin brother. Scarlet had known him for as long as she'd known his sister, which was going on twenty years as they'd all met when they were four years old. They had been in the play area in the local park and Ruben had pushed Scarlet off the swing set, making the four year old cry and run over to her Mother. The two women bonded over how much of a little shit Ruben was at his age and became best friend's, much like the girl with the dark brown hair who looked a bit like Ruben but didn't and the girl with the light hair who's bottom lip didn't stop quivering, did. They had been inseparable ever since.
As they all grew up together Rebecca and Scarlet had both joined the cheer squad in high school where as Ruben became the school's 'bad boy' getting tattoo's from the age of 16 and wearing ripped jeans and leather jackets. He'd spent the summer before freshman year at their Dad's house and came back a completely different person. He immediately made friends with the 'burn outs' and spent most of his time skipping class and smoking pot in his friend's basement. How he managed to graduate school and even go on to college to study music was a miracle even his own Mother would agree with.
As soon as she'd seen him get out of his car all those years ago on the first day of school Scarlet had been blown away. She'd never thought she'd want someone like that ever, especially her best friend's brother but something had changed over that summer and he looked so different. She wanted to wear that leather jacket of his and nothing else and just sit around all day doing absolutely nothing. She'd sat in the back of his car as he'd driven her and his sister home when Rebecca's car needed work done to it. She watched the back of his head and secretly inhaled his intoxicating scent, his aftershave with a faint hint of marijuana and something that was unmistakably him, like much needed rain on a hot summer day.
As the years went by he calmed down with the behaviour but not the attitude. He still wore those devastatingly hot leather jackets and ripped jeans. On the odd occasion she'd seen him in plaid shirts that made her mouth water. The doc martens that he still had from senior year that he sworn by. His hair, dark brown that he now had spiked in a way that only a hair stylist could accomplish, and of course him. She'd spent the years wanting him from a distance, too scared about what Rebecca would say because according to girl code, just like ex boyfriends, brothers were also off limits.
The party had now became a party of four. Rebecca, Lucas, Ruben and Scarlet. They sat around the firepit drinking beer, Scarlet now on water and chatting. As the night went on Rebecca and Lucas went off into the house, leaving Scarlet and Ruben outside sitting by the dwindling fire. Ruben glared at Lucas as he dragged his sister into the building and Scarlet held back a chuckle. He'd always been protective over his sister.
"I really don't like the idea of that douche hooking up with my sister." He said glowering at the embers in the fire. His voice was deeper than usual. "Go in there and stop them, Scar."
"No fucking way!" Scarlet's eye's widened at the thought of catching her best friend going at it with some muscle man. "Leave her to it, she's a fully grown woman."
"She's twelve years old." He mumbled causing Scarlet to roll her eyes.
"Well then in that case so are you." She pointed at him and his dark eyes finally met hers over the now small flames. "Shit, that makes me twelve too."
He rolled his eyes at her and shook his head. He lounged back against the pillows and let out a yawn, it was nearing midnight and the air had cooled considerably making it rather chilly outside now but neither of them wanted to go inside out of fear of what they'd see or hear once they got in. Scarlet noticed him pull his jacket around his body and looked down at the thick oversized blanket that was currently keeping her nice and toasty. Biting her lip she played with the frayed edge of the blanket. She thought about sharing the blanket with him but didn't want to seem like a desperate idiot and then thought fuck it, the guy was obviously cold.
She quietly stood up and looked anywhere but at him as she moved over to the small improvised bed on the floor made out of a thick ground mat and big comfy pillows that he was stretched out across and gingerly lowered herself next to him. She placed the blanket over the pair of them as he sat up against the pillows and gratefully took the offering.
"I'm uh, sorry to hear about you and Matty," He said suddenly making her realise she hadn't even thought about her ex boyfriend since Ruben arrived at her house two hours prior. "I thought you two were in it for the long haul."
"Yeah, me too." Scarlet shrugged her shoulders and let out a breath. She didn't like to think about the break up because it had been so brutal and out of the blue. "But what can you do, right?"
"Still," He started and Scarlet's heart began to race as he rested his hand on her bare knee under the blanket. "He's a fucking idiot."
He hadn't expected for her skin to be so soft when he touched it. Sure, he'd always thought she was cute. How could you not? She'd always looked so innocent and angelic with those freckles and big blue eyes. He'd noticed how she'd looked at him back in school and if she wasn't best friends with his sister he would have fucked the shit out of her in that sexy little cheer uniform she'd worn. That skirt had left little to the imagination with that ass and damn did she have an ass!
He'd spent the best part of 10 years trying to control his urges around her but every time it just got harder and harder, as she grew up her cuteness became beauty and tonight as she sat next to him with the amber glow of the fire lighting up her features she looked down right sexy. He wasn't sorry about her break up, in fact when Rebecca had filled him in about it he'd fucking smiled on the other end of the phone. He'd never liked the guy and not just because of the way Scarlet's eyes would light up whenever she looked at him but because his eye's didn't in return. He didn't know what a diamond he had and he just tossed her aside like she was nothing.
