Post by Scarlet Rose Harris on Jul 20, 2011 14:09:23 GMT -5
The Day Before Renner-Parker Wedding
“ Are you going to tomorrow?” Mandi asked as she looked up the Cosmopolitan magazine that she had taken off of Scarlet’s nightstand. Scarlet was biting the inside of her cheek, leaning forward on her bed to paint her toenails. She hadn’t really spoken to a lot of people in the last few days and quite honestly the only reason she was talking to Mandi now was because she had barged into Scarlet’s home. “ Helllloooo…… are you going tomorrow or not? “. Scarlet sighed before she looked back up at Mandi. “ Yeah. I’m going.”she said with a slightly annoyed tone. “ Good, because he’s your best guy friend and you should really be there for him,..”. Scarlet rolled her eyes before she looked at Mandi. “ Thanks Mrs. Brady, I think I know who my best friends are. And no… he doesn’t need me, and uh..no.. that’s not where I meant I was going. You asked if I was going but ..you didn’t ask to what”. Scarlet looked back at her toenails and kept painting them. “ Oh come on Scarlet… you can’t run away from absolutely everything,”. Scarlet shook the bottle of nail polish and stepped off the bed carefully. “ It’s not running away” she said, denying her own behavior to herself.
“ That’s exactly what it is,” Mandi said beneath her breath as she looked at her magazine. “ Don’t patronize me, Mandi. I have no reason to run away from Logan. Do I need to remind you that he’s changed since high school? And he found someone he actually loves, … which I don’t believe in, and he has a kid on the way.. AND I am engaged, too. You wouldn’t see him coming to my wedding or stopping it”. Scarlet walked carefully to her closet,not wanting to mess up the fresh nail polish. She made an annoyed face as Mandi smiled, “ Yeaahhh Blondie I never said that you had to ‘stop’ it, you came up with that one on your own. And engaged to Bolton, seriously? Come on Barbie, no one thought that was going to last.Not even you so don’t play that crap with me. And speaking of Bolton, your non-relationship with Renner was more real than your ‘relationship’ with Bolton’ is. Scarlet began to dig through her clothes before she made a confused face. “ That’s not even remotely true. We are engaged. Logan and I just messed around a little in high school,”. Scarlet took out a few clothes and brought them out to her bed, dropping them down at the end of it.
“ I don’t care what you want to tell yourself, Scarlet. But … if you honestly want to sit there and say that Logan isn’t the person that you turn to then you are hiding and running from a lot more than even I thought. Who is the first person you call when your parents piss you off? Who is the ONLY person you ALWAYS tell where you are going when you hop continents and send your dad on a goose chase to follow you? Who is the only person that you will willingly talk to about your mom and brother? He’s the only one that you let see that vulnerable side. Everybody else you put on a smile, …pack clothes… and pretend like this is exactly the life you asked for.”. Scarlet made a hurt expression before she looked at Mandi and shook her head. “ I like traveling. And I like going out. I’m young.. if I don’t do it now, when will I do it?”. She went back to packing but was now going a bit faster, just eager to get away from Mandi and her accusations.
“Ha..” Mandi started off slowly with a shake of her head, “ Okay well just admit that you loved him. You didn’t have to be dating someone to love them”. Scarlet shook her head, “ You know I don’t believe in love, Mandi”. She closed one of her suitcases and grabbed another. “ No, I know that you’re scared of it. Because of the loss and pain that it can bring you. But Scarlet it brings good things too. You can’t just be scared that people are going to abandon you. What happened with Noah and your mom sucks, it does. But are you going to let it make you lose love all of your life? You were scared of love and that is the ONLY reason you and Logan didn’t “date”. Because face it, you were. If you had to said to him, Logan I really care about you and I don’t think we should see other people, we should be exclusive. You know he would have agreed. You are running away from every possible real thing in your life.”. Scarlet clenched her jaw, she had gone from annoyed to pissed. “ Don’t fucking come in my house and start lecturing me on how I see the world, you don’t know anything about Logan and I. And for the record, we’re too much alike. Even if I had told him that I cared about him it wouldn’t have made any difference. Whether it was a week later,or a year later, one of us would have messed it up and possibly ruined our friendship. And I have known him almost all of my life, that’s not a friendship I am willing to treat so carelessly as to give up over something I don’t believe in”. Mandi screamed quietly out of annoyance. “ But you do believe in it otherwise you wouldn’t see the point to being exclusive with him. Listen to yourself, you were scared of it, not disbelieving of it. The guys that you’ve had “relationships” with.. every single one you entered with this carefree attitude because you KNEW it wasn’t going to last. Why were you so scared with Logan? If you are so much alike then you know you would be friends afterwards, that wouldn’t have changed. But he’s different, you weren’t careless with him, you were scared, because you know that you loved him. You don’t get to credit yourself as a ‘failure’ with a relationship with Renner, because that means you would have actually tried. Which you didn’t. ”.
“ I really need you to leave,” she said giving her a curt smile. “I’m about to leave soon and you’ll have to go anyways and you’re starting to annoy me,”. Scarlet opened to her bedroom door and opened it for Mandi. Mandi stood off the bed, tossing the magazine on it as she stretched, “ Is Logan going with you to wherever you ‘re going? Since he’s your ‘fiance’?” she asked while tilting her head. “ Does he know that you’re in love with your childhood best friend?”. Scarlet put her hands on Mandi’s shoulders and shoved her out of her room before slamming the door in her face. Mandi rolled her eyes from behind the doors. “ I’ll give your congratulations to Renner and Blake. If you happen to run into the truth while you’re in Spain or Italy..or France or wherever the hell you’re going, try spending a little time with it Scarlet. Scarlet flipped the door off before she went back to packing.
First Night After Moving to New York
Riley picked up a beer and sat down on the couch by Scarlet, giving an exhausted sigh as he looked at all of the boxes and furniture that were crammed into her penthouse. He rested his arm over her shoulders in a friendly way and looked around. “ Good lord I am exhausted”. Scarlet laughed and turned her head to look at him. “ Don’t even pretend you’re tired. The movers brought in everything and did the big stuff. You watched baseball and yelled at the tv”. She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but smile as she went back to looking through the Columbia course catalogue. ” Yeah that’s exhausting” Riley said enthusiastically. Riley leaned forward to one of the boxes and pulled out one of the yearbooks. He’d been nostalgic for the past ever since his parents had passed away. “Malibu Senior High…” he said with a smile across his lips as he started to look through the pages. He flipped through to see a few pictures of his friends and laughed as he saw one that was meant for the cheerleaders. Scarlet had her hands against the fence and was leaning over to kiss Renner while the rest of them were focused on cheerleading. “ You guys were pretty cute,” he said unenthusiastically before he flipped the page again. He narrowed his eyebrows as he saw more pictures of them together. Which in all honesty made sense, because people were sort of obsessed with them as a ‘couple’. “ Jesus how many pictures did people take of you guys?”. Scarlet kept looking at her catalogue, knowing who he was talking about. “ Yeah,…well…. Logan’s a cute guy. Those yearbook girls had a crush on him. I just happened to be hanging out with him a lot. Small coincidences”. She said before highlighting a few course options that interested her.
Scarlet wanted to do the thing that people expected of he and go for a degree that no one expected. But with all of the hatred that she had for her dad, she still wanted to go to school for a political science degree. It just seemed to make sense in the scheme of things. The only other degree she would want is to go for some type of photography major, but she had to admit.. she was a little bit scared of the unstableness of that field. “ Yeah. ‘Coincidence’ Riley said with a small shake of his head. He always let people play stupid for a little bit, but eventually he just got annoyed and had to tell them how retarded they were. “ Was it a coincidence that you moved to New York when he did?”.Riley looked away from the yearbook and at Scarlet after a moment. “ We all moved, Riley” she said, and he could see her tensing against the couch. “ Right…” he nodded, giving a small sigh. “ I mean.. Logan moved because he has a music scene out here he can tap into, Blake moved because she is married to him and wanted to get away from California. I moved because my parents died and I wanted a fresh start to raise Lily. Mandi moved because .. she feels like I’m the only family she has left and she doesn’t want to miss out on anything. Chad and Samantha moved because his family is here, and well Samantha’s family is here now that Logan and Lance moved and… Mack moved because well let’s face it, we’re in love, Kiersten moved because she could do an internship at the New York office, Shane, Kat, Ryan all moved because well their boss moved, and let’s face it.. their music is kind of better reflected on the New York Scene, they can stay up later and party longer. Madeline moved because of Patrick, but we all know that means because of Ryan. And you moved… because….” Riley stopped,narrowing his eyebrows as he tried to find a reason. “Hmm. Now why on earth would you move?”. Scarlet sighed out of annoyance and finally turned to look at him.
Riley snapped his finger and pointed at her. “Oh that’s right, you moved because you’re in love with a married man. You loved him in high school, but didn’t say anything because you were ‘scared’, and now princess you won’t say anything because he’s married. Pretty convenient that there’s always a reason for you to lie to yourself. “. Scarlet shook her head at Riley, “ I’m not lying to myself,I love all of you guys”. Riley gave a nod, “I know you do, but not like that Scar. And uh.. when did you end your engagement to Bolton?”. Scarlet crossed her arms. “ I’m not sure why that matters” she said defensively as she lifted her eyebrow as she looked at Riley. “Of course it does… Logan told you that he was moving to New York, you congratulated him. Got up, left the restaurant, went to see Bolton and ended it. Just cold and callous, didn’t even care at all that it was over. Now why is that?”. Scarlet ran her hand over her face and dropped the Columbia course catalogue on the coffee table . ‘Come here, I won’t make you say it. I’ll let you lie to me, to Logan, to all of us, Scarlet. Just quit lying to yourself,”. He tightened his arm over her shoulder and kissed her temple before he let her settle against his side. He looked back at the tv as she rested her head against his chest and squeezed him tightly in a hug.
“ Are you going to tomorrow?” Mandi asked as she looked up the Cosmopolitan magazine that she had taken off of Scarlet’s nightstand. Scarlet was biting the inside of her cheek, leaning forward on her bed to paint her toenails. She hadn’t really spoken to a lot of people in the last few days and quite honestly the only reason she was talking to Mandi now was because she had barged into Scarlet’s home. “ Helllloooo…… are you going tomorrow or not? “. Scarlet sighed before she looked back up at Mandi. “ Yeah. I’m going.”she said with a slightly annoyed tone. “ Good, because he’s your best guy friend and you should really be there for him,..”. Scarlet rolled her eyes before she looked at Mandi. “ Thanks Mrs. Brady, I think I know who my best friends are. And no… he doesn’t need me, and uh..no.. that’s not where I meant I was going. You asked if I was going but ..you didn’t ask to what”. Scarlet looked back at her toenails and kept painting them. “ Oh come on Scarlet… you can’t run away from absolutely everything,”. Scarlet shook the bottle of nail polish and stepped off the bed carefully. “ It’s not running away” she said, denying her own behavior to herself.
“ That’s exactly what it is,” Mandi said beneath her breath as she looked at her magazine. “ Don’t patronize me, Mandi. I have no reason to run away from Logan. Do I need to remind you that he’s changed since high school? And he found someone he actually loves, … which I don’t believe in, and he has a kid on the way.. AND I am engaged, too. You wouldn’t see him coming to my wedding or stopping it”. Scarlet walked carefully to her closet,not wanting to mess up the fresh nail polish. She made an annoyed face as Mandi smiled, “ Yeaahhh Blondie I never said that you had to ‘stop’ it, you came up with that one on your own. And engaged to Bolton, seriously? Come on Barbie, no one thought that was going to last.Not even you so don’t play that crap with me. And speaking of Bolton, your non-relationship with Renner was more real than your ‘relationship’ with Bolton’ is. Scarlet began to dig through her clothes before she made a confused face. “ That’s not even remotely true. We are engaged. Logan and I just messed around a little in high school,”. Scarlet took out a few clothes and brought them out to her bed, dropping them down at the end of it.
“ I don’t care what you want to tell yourself, Scarlet. But … if you honestly want to sit there and say that Logan isn’t the person that you turn to then you are hiding and running from a lot more than even I thought. Who is the first person you call when your parents piss you off? Who is the ONLY person you ALWAYS tell where you are going when you hop continents and send your dad on a goose chase to follow you? Who is the only person that you will willingly talk to about your mom and brother? He’s the only one that you let see that vulnerable side. Everybody else you put on a smile, …pack clothes… and pretend like this is exactly the life you asked for.”. Scarlet made a hurt expression before she looked at Mandi and shook her head. “ I like traveling. And I like going out. I’m young.. if I don’t do it now, when will I do it?”. She went back to packing but was now going a bit faster, just eager to get away from Mandi and her accusations.
“Ha..” Mandi started off slowly with a shake of her head, “ Okay well just admit that you loved him. You didn’t have to be dating someone to love them”. Scarlet shook her head, “ You know I don’t believe in love, Mandi”. She closed one of her suitcases and grabbed another. “ No, I know that you’re scared of it. Because of the loss and pain that it can bring you. But Scarlet it brings good things too. You can’t just be scared that people are going to abandon you. What happened with Noah and your mom sucks, it does. But are you going to let it make you lose love all of your life? You were scared of love and that is the ONLY reason you and Logan didn’t “date”. Because face it, you were. If you had to said to him, Logan I really care about you and I don’t think we should see other people, we should be exclusive. You know he would have agreed. You are running away from every possible real thing in your life.”. Scarlet clenched her jaw, she had gone from annoyed to pissed. “ Don’t fucking come in my house and start lecturing me on how I see the world, you don’t know anything about Logan and I. And for the record, we’re too much alike. Even if I had told him that I cared about him it wouldn’t have made any difference. Whether it was a week later,or a year later, one of us would have messed it up and possibly ruined our friendship. And I have known him almost all of my life, that’s not a friendship I am willing to treat so carelessly as to give up over something I don’t believe in”. Mandi screamed quietly out of annoyance. “ But you do believe in it otherwise you wouldn’t see the point to being exclusive with him. Listen to yourself, you were scared of it, not disbelieving of it. The guys that you’ve had “relationships” with.. every single one you entered with this carefree attitude because you KNEW it wasn’t going to last. Why were you so scared with Logan? If you are so much alike then you know you would be friends afterwards, that wouldn’t have changed. But he’s different, you weren’t careless with him, you were scared, because you know that you loved him. You don’t get to credit yourself as a ‘failure’ with a relationship with Renner, because that means you would have actually tried. Which you didn’t. ”.
“ I really need you to leave,” she said giving her a curt smile. “I’m about to leave soon and you’ll have to go anyways and you’re starting to annoy me,”. Scarlet opened to her bedroom door and opened it for Mandi. Mandi stood off the bed, tossing the magazine on it as she stretched, “ Is Logan going with you to wherever you ‘re going? Since he’s your ‘fiance’?” she asked while tilting her head. “ Does he know that you’re in love with your childhood best friend?”. Scarlet put her hands on Mandi’s shoulders and shoved her out of her room before slamming the door in her face. Mandi rolled her eyes from behind the doors. “ I’ll give your congratulations to Renner and Blake. If you happen to run into the truth while you’re in Spain or Italy..or France or wherever the hell you’re going, try spending a little time with it Scarlet. Scarlet flipped the door off before she went back to packing.
First Night After Moving to New York
Riley picked up a beer and sat down on the couch by Scarlet, giving an exhausted sigh as he looked at all of the boxes and furniture that were crammed into her penthouse. He rested his arm over her shoulders in a friendly way and looked around. “ Good lord I am exhausted”. Scarlet laughed and turned her head to look at him. “ Don’t even pretend you’re tired. The movers brought in everything and did the big stuff. You watched baseball and yelled at the tv”. She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but smile as she went back to looking through the Columbia course catalogue. ” Yeah that’s exhausting” Riley said enthusiastically. Riley leaned forward to one of the boxes and pulled out one of the yearbooks. He’d been nostalgic for the past ever since his parents had passed away. “Malibu Senior High…” he said with a smile across his lips as he started to look through the pages. He flipped through to see a few pictures of his friends and laughed as he saw one that was meant for the cheerleaders. Scarlet had her hands against the fence and was leaning over to kiss Renner while the rest of them were focused on cheerleading. “ You guys were pretty cute,” he said unenthusiastically before he flipped the page again. He narrowed his eyebrows as he saw more pictures of them together. Which in all honesty made sense, because people were sort of obsessed with them as a ‘couple’. “ Jesus how many pictures did people take of you guys?”. Scarlet kept looking at her catalogue, knowing who he was talking about. “ Yeah,…well…. Logan’s a cute guy. Those yearbook girls had a crush on him. I just happened to be hanging out with him a lot. Small coincidences”. She said before highlighting a few course options that interested her.
Scarlet wanted to do the thing that people expected of he and go for a degree that no one expected. But with all of the hatred that she had for her dad, she still wanted to go to school for a political science degree. It just seemed to make sense in the scheme of things. The only other degree she would want is to go for some type of photography major, but she had to admit.. she was a little bit scared of the unstableness of that field. “ Yeah. ‘Coincidence’ Riley said with a small shake of his head. He always let people play stupid for a little bit, but eventually he just got annoyed and had to tell them how retarded they were. “ Was it a coincidence that you moved to New York when he did?”.Riley looked away from the yearbook and at Scarlet after a moment. “ We all moved, Riley” she said, and he could see her tensing against the couch. “ Right…” he nodded, giving a small sigh. “ I mean.. Logan moved because he has a music scene out here he can tap into, Blake moved because she is married to him and wanted to get away from California. I moved because my parents died and I wanted a fresh start to raise Lily. Mandi moved because .. she feels like I’m the only family she has left and she doesn’t want to miss out on anything. Chad and Samantha moved because his family is here, and well Samantha’s family is here now that Logan and Lance moved and… Mack moved because well let’s face it, we’re in love, Kiersten moved because she could do an internship at the New York office, Shane, Kat, Ryan all moved because well their boss moved, and let’s face it.. their music is kind of better reflected on the New York Scene, they can stay up later and party longer. Madeline moved because of Patrick, but we all know that means because of Ryan. And you moved… because….” Riley stopped,narrowing his eyebrows as he tried to find a reason. “Hmm. Now why on earth would you move?”. Scarlet sighed out of annoyance and finally turned to look at him.
Riley snapped his finger and pointed at her. “Oh that’s right, you moved because you’re in love with a married man. You loved him in high school, but didn’t say anything because you were ‘scared’, and now princess you won’t say anything because he’s married. Pretty convenient that there’s always a reason for you to lie to yourself. “. Scarlet shook her head at Riley, “ I’m not lying to myself,I love all of you guys”. Riley gave a nod, “I know you do, but not like that Scar. And uh.. when did you end your engagement to Bolton?”. Scarlet crossed her arms. “ I’m not sure why that matters” she said defensively as she lifted her eyebrow as she looked at Riley. “Of course it does… Logan told you that he was moving to New York, you congratulated him. Got up, left the restaurant, went to see Bolton and ended it. Just cold and callous, didn’t even care at all that it was over. Now why is that?”. Scarlet ran her hand over her face and dropped the Columbia course catalogue on the coffee table . ‘Come here, I won’t make you say it. I’ll let you lie to me, to Logan, to all of us, Scarlet. Just quit lying to yourself,”. He tightened his arm over her shoulder and kissed her temple before he let her settle against his side. He looked back at the tv as she rested her head against his chest and squeezed him tightly in a hug.
