Scarlett White (32 page)

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Okay, her phone never took this long. It must be low on battery. A silent, gold bolt of lightening slashed across the pure gray sky. And two seconds after, a loud
BOOM
made Scarlett jump in her seat again.

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"Oh, come on!" Scarlett yelled in frustration. Following her outburst was a little
ding
that alerted Scarlett that her phone had loaded.

"Finally," Scarlett muttered.

1 New Voicemail.

Scarlett's heart beat oddly when she read this. She clicked it and listened to the following message:

"Heyyyyyy," Melody chimed. "What's up, girly? Welllll, right after school, get your ass to the mall. I'm planning a sweeeeeeet girl's night out, and you're going to enjoy yourself. Sooooo, get your happy face on and meet me at 3:15 on the dot at Forever 21. Love ya, chica." The message ended with a kissing noise.

Scarlett rolled her eyes; she had forgotten about the shopping trip with Melody. Even, though she liked Melody a lot—and so did about six hundred other students at Humphrey Day—she had only agreed to do this for her mom and Timothy's benefit. She didn't want anyone thinking she was sad or depressed, even though inside, she was utterly homesick.

She finally had enough waiting and dialed Tristan's number.

One ring...two rings...three rings... "Hello?"

"Tristan?" Scarlett asked even though she knew the answer; her heart did backflips in her ribcage.

"Hey, Scarlett." Tristan's voice was breathless.

"What's up?" Scarlett asked.

"Just finished running poles for football. I miss you."

Scarlett's heart was pounding six hundred miles per hour.

"I miss you, too, Tris." Her eyes immediately bulged. She had never called him that. The only reason she had accidentally called him that was because she was so used to hearing everyone at Humphrey Day calling Christian 'Chris.' She only hoped he wouldn't react weird by her calling him that.

Tristan had finally stopped running his fifty poles. He was doing them daily now. He had to keep his mind off anything dealing with the north.

The north was bad. It was cold, busy, hectic, and Scarlett was there...without him.

But, today was different. Today he had time—time to talk with her for the first time in what felt like decades, though they had only been separated for a handful of days now.

He finished a gulp of water and sat on the metal bench in the boys' locker room. He had finally turned his cell phone on and was ready to dial his most favorite number, when his ringtone for that special someone filled the room with the sound of Hinder's "Lips of an Angel."

It's really good to hear your voice, saying my name.
It sounds so sweet
Coming from the lips of an angel
Hearing those words; it makes me weak

Tristan quickly slid open his phone and put it to his ear, anticipating the beautiful voice that was about to fill his ear with her angelic voice.

"Hello?"

"Tristan?" It was her. His favorite someone. The one who made him happy to be Tristan; he knew that sounded very melodramatic, but he couldn't deny it. He woke up every morning only wishing it was the day he could call her again. But, his time was so packed.

"Hey, Scarlett." Tristan's voice was breathless.

"What's up?" Scarlett asked.

"Just finished running poles for football. I miss you."

"I miss you, too, Tris."

Tris.
She had called him Tris. That was the first time he had ever heard her call him Tris. It had always been a formal "Tristan." Tristan's heart leapt. He needed to see her soon.

"Um...uh...never mind," Scarlett stuttered.

"What?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Scarlett murmured.

"Please, you can tell me anything," Tristan pleaded. What wasn't she telling him? What secret was she hiding from him?

"It's just, well, do you know Christian Cox?"

"Do you know Christian Cox?"
Of course he knew Chris, you idiot,
Scarlett's mind yelled at her. This was not what she wanted to talk about with him. Why was she spoiling their precious time together?

"Yes, my cousin?" Tristan said slowly, his voice lowered.

"Yeah. He, well, he...um...asked if I wanted to..." Her voice faltered.

"Scarlett, if you l-like him, then go out with him." Tristan tried to say it as calmly as he could; Scarlett wasn't stupid, she could tell that on the inside calm was the last thing he was feeling.

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Scarlett reassured him. "You're my boyfriend; when are you going to get that through your head?" Scarlett paused and then continued before Tristan could reply. "He asked me to go to the beach with him…and a couple of friends," Scarlett added to make it sound more casual. "He said that we would only go as friends, and nothing more."

There was silence on the other end.

"Tristan?"

"Tristan?"

Tristan knew Christian a lot better than Scarlett. And he knew that Christian was a player. Once he saw what he liked, he got it. It angered Tristan at times, but since they lived in two completely different states, Tristan wasn't too annoyed...until now. Being in two different states from Christian and Scarlett was starting to really aggravate Tristan. He needed to warn her.

"Sorry, look, go if you want to..." he took a deep breath, "but, I have to alert you that, Christian is a player; a huge player. And he will get what he wants eventually." Saying this out loud was worse than just thinking it. Tristan's hands curled into fists, and his whole body shook.

There was more silence as Scarlett let this sink in. "He really seems like a nice guy though—"

Tristan clenched his teeth. "That's how he does it. He seems like a great guy, and then he traps you. It's how he's always caught innocent girls, like you."

"I'm not naïve, Tristan," Scarlett said defensively, sounding angry.

Tristan took another deep breath. "I know you're not. I just think you should be careful around Christian."

"I-I won't let him trap me. He already knows that we are..." Scarlett's voice trailed off.

Why didn't she finish her sentence? Why did she stop? They were still together, weren't they?

"Scarlett?"

"Um...sorry, I have to go. Talk to you soon." And then the line went dead.

What the hell had just happened? Why did she just hang up on him? Did she like someone else? Did someone else catch her interest because Tristan wasn't there?

Tristan hung up his phone; his whole body had gone numb. He stared unseeingly at the wall opposite him. Was he losing Scarlett?

"I-I won't let him trap me. He already knows that we are..." Scarlett's voice trailed off.

Somebody was standing right outside her car window. Who was it? All she could see was a white T-shirt advertising some football team. And then the person tapped on her window and bent down so she could make out who it was.

"Scarlett?" Tristan's voice brought her back to reality.

"Um...sorry, I have to go. Talk to you soon." Grudgingly Scarlett shut her phone and threw it in the passenger's seat.

She slowly unrolled her window, "Yes?"

It was raining, and it was raining hard. Some of the big droplets were splattering all over her clothes and makeup. Great.

"Look, Scar, I know that you probably—"

"What do you want, Christian?" Scarlett snapped, clearly annoyed at being interrupted.

"If you say 'no,' I completely understand, but my ride bailed on me and..."

"And you want me to give you a ride?" She meant for it come out sarcastically, but it came out with a sigh like she knew she wouldn't have a choice.

"If it wouldn't be a bother." For being a so-called player, he wasn't that unctuous. He was pretty smooth, which clearly screamed
PLAYER
, but Scarlett ignored it.

"Get in," she said, rolling the window back up, desperately trying to save her new clothes.

"Thanks," Christian replied, shaking the rain from his hair as he shut the passenger side door.

"No problem," Scarlett lied.

She could feel his body heat rolling off him and she was all too aware of his cologne. She inhaled and felt slightly dizzy. Scarlett shook her head and put the car in gear, pulling out of the parking lot.

"Text Melody for me and tell her I'll be late," Scarlett instructed, indicating the cell phone Christian had moved when he got in.

"Melody Harman?"

Oh, not you too!
"Yeah, want me to set you up with her?" The idea struck her right then and there. Maybe if she could get Christian to go after somebody else, she wouldn't be having these strange feelings whenever he was around her.

"No, thanks."

"What? You don't like her? Isn't she, like, a legend or something?"

"Yeah, she's pretty hot."

"That's a total insult. You should have seen her yesterday," Scarlett tried again. She had to get Christian liking someone else. Even if that someone else was in college. Why wasn't Christian Cox, the biggest player at Humphrey Day, digging the idea of getting set up with Melody Harman, the legendary hottie, also known as, the blast from the past?

"I dunno. She's just not my type."

So, now you have a type? I thought your type was females.
Scarlett gripped the steering wheel tighter. She let out a frustrated sigh and continued glaring at the road, sure that if the expression "If looks could kill" was true that whoever crossed her path would be dead.

"Did I anger you?" Christian's voice was soft now, and Scarlett could feel his eyes on her. Her hands slipped on the wheel, and the car swerved. Scarlett hit the brake and ended up on the side of the road in a grassy area.

Christian had grabbed the car door and was holding onto it tightly. "Whoa, I didn't mean to upset you so much. Maybe next time I'll walk." He paused to gauge her reaction, when her face remained expressionless he said, "Look, I really didn't mean to make you angry—"

"It's not you who angers me," Scarlett finally answered. "It's me."

"Um...okay?"

It was true. Scarlett was infuriated with herself for feeling what she felt towards Christian. She should feel revolted by his words and behavior; instead she felt drawn to him because of it.