[Zach]Well You're A Hot Mess

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

“ Are you fucking kidding me?” she groaned as she heard the banging against her front door. Scarlet pushed the covers off the top of her head and opened one eye to look at the time. Six A.M. Seriously? She sighed as she kicked off her covers and made her way out of her room. Whoever was at her door better have a death wish. She placed her hand against the doorframe before she opened the door and looked up at the man holding a box. ‘ Scarlet Harris? Delivery for you,’ .Scarlet wiped her finger under her eyes again before she took her hand off the door frame. “ At six in the morning?” she said doubtfully, reaching out and signing the pad for the man. ‘ Your father must have wanted you to get it pretty early’. Scarlet smiled sarcastically as she took the box from him. “He’s so thoughtful,” she said before shutting the door with her foot. After putting the chain up Scarlet came back into her room and tossed the box on her bed. Her dad and step-mother were flying out to New York today to see her, and he had some campaign stops he wanted to do. Once they landed they were all supposed to meet for brunch, but that wasn’t until ten or so and Scarlet had been hoping to sleep until then.

Scarlet looked at the box and crawled to the edge of the bed where she placed it before she opened it up. She saw the red fabric of the dress but was instantly distracted by the letter written in her step-mothers handwriting. ‘ Your father wanted you to wear something more sensible than your normal wardrobe to the brunch this morning. I’ve picked out a nice dress for you. Pair it with a chic set of heels and simple cardigan and you’ll look heavenly. He’s just worried what photographers might think since he’s here for a press junket. See you soon, dear”. Scarlet rolled her eyes and tossed the card to the side. 1. She knew that ‘heavenly’ meant they didn’t want her to look like she belonged on a pole and 2. Nice reminder that he was there for the campaigning and not to see his daughter. Scarlet picked up the dress and made a skeptical face. It had sleeves. Why did she need to wear a cardigan with a dress that had sleeves? And not only that but the skirt of it was tiered. And probably reached her knees. Scarlet dropped the dress and went into her kitchen to find a pair of scissors. Five minutes later she had cut the sleeves off of the dress and torn off the bottom layer of the skirt so that now the hemline fell a few inches higher than her fingertips, the appropriate length for a mini skirt. “ Thanks mom” she said to herself before she went to her closet to find accessories to wear with it.

Fifteen minutes after ten a.m. Scarlet stepped out of the cab and headed inside to restaurant where they had decided to have brunch. Some places in New York were pretty damn cool, she had to admit it. Especially when her dad took her to roof top restaurants where you could look at all of the buildings of New York. She pushed up the sleeves of her leather jacket as she leaned against the railing inside the elevator, eager to get this over with. When it reached the roof and gave the small ding before it opened, Scarlet smiled to herself before she stepped off of the elevator. It didn’t take long to spot her father, or the disappointed look across both of her parents faces. In all honesty, her outfit was still pretty tame, it just wasn’t what they would have considered ‘presidential daughter’ appropriate. Scarlet made her way over to them, knowing her father would stand up from the table and hug her. ‘ I see you took the liberty of making a few alterations” he said quietly as he hugged her. ‘Freedom,liberty… all the things that you’re supposed to represent, right?” she said as she hugged him with a smile and turned to look at her step-mother with a cold set smile. She sat down and crossed her legs, dropping her tote to the side and looked at the food that they had already ordered.


‘ You’re late.. and you might want to start realizing any time now that your choices don’t just reflect you.’ her step-mother said as she held her hand over Scarlet’s fathers hand. Scarlet smiled tightly and leaned back in her seat. “ Yeah,” she said with a small nod of her head. ‘ It’s gotta be really hard being stuck with the daughter that would rather wear leather than lace..and.. Shannon. You might have replaced my mom after she died and fit into the perfect little Stepford image that my dad is so eager to fulfill, but.. I’m not a puppet. If my dad wants to win the election he can do it because he is the right man for the job and he earns it. It won’t be based on how his daughter behaves. Though trust me,.. I don’t intend to make it easy for him,” she cut her father a look before she picked up the glass of water already placed for her. She never wanted her dad to enter politics, and he only had after Noah and her mother died. Part of her felt like he was trying to pretend everything was okay, to sweep it under the rug and start over new. She’d done everything she could to rebel against him in California and he had still won, she wasn’t going to change who she was just because some bimbo blonde half her fathers age thought she was the weakest link in their family.

’ We need to talk about this Logan Bolton situation’ her father said apprehensively as Scarlet clenched her jaw and sat back further in her seat. ‘ Sweetheart, it’s pretty well known that his parents were some of my biggest financial supporters in California. And after you …so hastly.. ended your engagement to him, there will be questions regarding him. Interviewers and reporters will ask your reasoning, how it effects your personal life, the campaign.Now we’ve worked out a few good reasons for your rash decision. There are a few; you wanted to focus on school. That would be very admirable. We’ve already told a few news sources that you’re registered as a political science major at Columbia” he said proudly, one of the few times he had actually been proud of her. Scarlet made a look of disgust as she scoffed. “ My personal life is no ones god damned business. I’m not the one that’s running for office. And I didn’t end my engagement because I wanted to focus on school. I ended it because I was only with Logan because he caught me at a vulnerable time. The reason I stayed with him was because the sex was good, and he followed me to different countries without judging me for my ‘haste’ decisions. But he was suffocating me and I realized that I was trying to fill a part, instead of being me. Shannon, you know all about that right?” she said before she tossed a glance in Shannon’s direction. “ I didn’t love him. That’s the reason I ended the engagement. That should be a good enough reason for anyone to understand. We don’t need to cover it up with lies to make you look better. People in love get married, right? I don’t believe in it”. Scarlet reached up and took her hair out of the messy fishtail braid that it had been in, hanging over her shoulder and instead shook her fingertips through it, letting the waves fall over her shoulders now so she could play with them and distract herself.

An hour later and Scarlet still hadn’t touched her food, was pretending to listen to her father and Shannon talk about different events they needed her to attend, how she couldn’t drink at them, and how it was important that she didn’t ruin the clothes that they bought for her for them. Instead, Scarlet was on her phone, texting anyone else to talk to; Logan, Ryan, Shane, Kat, Mandi, Mackenzie, Riley, Stefan, Anthony. Anyone. Finally she couldn’t take sitting there anymore and she uncrossed her legs. “I totally forgot I have to go to campus today to set up for… labs..” she lied before giving a helpless look and picked up her things. ‘ Don’t forget to bring an escort this Friday! Bring that Riley boy, he seems so very respectable”, Her parents had been in love with Logan until he had gotten himself married. He couldn’t exactly be her escort to public events like that. “ Actually I was going to bring Ryan,” she said with a small smile, just to get under her parents skin. Tattoos. Don’t give a fuck attitude. Admitting to a few unhealthy recreational activities. He was her parents nightmare in the form of a boy. Of course those were the only things they saw when they looked at him. They didn’t see how he was talented, honest, caring, sincere, thoughtful,kind, intelligent. Scarlet rolled her eyes. “Yeah I’ll meet you at Sapphires’ she said, naming a strip club before she smacked her forehead lighty. “Wait those aren’t my plans with you. I’ll meet you on Friday.. Waldorf. Promise” she smiled sweetly, seeing the look in their eyes of how his political team would spin her being seen at a strip club. She had no intention of going, but sometimes it was just as fun planting ideas in his idea about her lifestyle than it was to actually do them. Scarlet turned away from them and headed back towards the elevator, tossing her hand in the air as a wave as she stepped onto the elevator and let the doors close behind her without turning to face them

It was now a half hour past eleven and she hadn’t eaten yet so she was starving. Scarlet took her phone out and called Logan. ‘Hey it’s Scarlet… you’re at the office right? You are not going to believe my parents.. I’m going to stop by for lunch and you can take a break to talk to me” she smiled as she spoke into the phone. After talking to him for a few minutes she had managed to give him a gist of what had happened, and had already grabbed a coffee from Starbucks. Scarlet stood at the end of an intersection and pressed the button so that it would set the indicator for letting pedestrians crossover. “Okay well I’m about to head over to Luigi’s right now and I can probably be at your studio in like fifteen minutes.” she said. That was pushing it a little, she’d have to haul ass in her heels. Sometimes walking down the streets of New York was faster than trying to catch a cab and sit in the traffic. She hung up the phone and took a drink from her caramel frappucino. Looking across the street she could smell the sweet food coming from he restaurant and sighed. They had a pretty wide menu and she would be able to get herself a chicken Caesar salad, which she had been craving since she woke up, and she could pick Logan up the best philly cheesesteaks that New York had to offer. She looked up as all of the cars came to a stop, and the light indicated that everyone could start walking. Scarlet looked down at her phone to ignore a call that was coming in from her father and realized that everyone else was already almost to the other side. But thankfully the light for her to walk was still clear. It wasn’t like she was embarrassed or cared to walk across the street by herself. Scarlet stepped her heels out onto the pavement of the road and started to make her way across the street.

Outfit

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Things for Zach Pierson lately hadn't exactly been going as planned when dealing with the mess that was his life. Not that how things were going currently were bad per say, just not what he had imagined for himself upon graduating from high school. Graduating felt like a million years ago in a far away land where desolate areas were not hard to find and you could see for miles with out a skyscraper in the middle of your view. Growing up in the suburbs of Tempe, Arizona had been typical. Two parents, two kids, one older brother, one younger sister. Zach was into sports and writing for the school paper in between partying on weekends. His little sister liked cheer leading and pink until she realized that dancing around in a tiny skirt didn't exactly strike her fancy. They were completely normal people, living in a completely normal town. Which was why when Zach graduated he'd hauled off to New York city, hell bent on going somewhere that had bigger and better things. He'd gone to NYU for two years and realized he had no idea what he was even studying. But since he'd found much more interesting things to do in his spare time, he didn't feel as if getting his degree was all that important for the moment. Not when he was making money right now. Doing jobs. For the New York mafia.

When he moved to New York two years ago, the mafia was not something he'd expected to get involved in. Actually, it wasn't even something he thought even existed anymore. And even if it did, surely it was nothing like The Godfather, right? Zach had had a rude awakening the first time he was invited to dinner after he'd met his friend, Giovanni. He'd met Giovanni a month after he'd moved to the city and became friends pretty easily. He was funny, outgoing, kind of careless in the sense that he was a bit destructive, liked wrecking stuff, getting into trouble... and yet he never seemed to get caught, and everything he broke or ruined he always replaced with something equal or of higher value. Zach thought maybe Giovanni's family was just very wealthy and Giovanni had explained pretty simply that his family had their share of wealth. Apparently the family business was really successful. Zach's first mistake was asking his new friend if his family's business was hiring part time and if Zach could get a job, since living in the city was proving to be more expensive then he had expected. He'd never bothered to ask what kind of business it was. Giovanni had asked him seriously if he was sure he wanted in, because he'd make dough, but it came at a price. Zach stupidly said yes. And went to a "family" dinner. Then he'd discovered what the family did for a living. He also soon found out, once you were in, you couldn't get back out.

Now two years later, Zach had seen his fair share of crimes and rarely left his apartment with out some kind of weapon. Luckily he'd never gotten in trouble with the police or caught or anything, but you just never knew when a switch blade was going to come in handy. Of all the weird, illegal, dangerous, or difficult jobs he'd been given, this one had to be the most unexpected. Scarlet Harris, daughter of Senator Harris of California, was in town to stay. And while the senator had publicly announced his election campaign for president, there were people in this city that did not want him to be elected. If he died in the process of getting there, fine. If his family was hurt too, fine. Zach was well aware of the biggest rival they had in the city, but the big guy had strict orders. Senator Harris needed protection, in exchange for letting crimes slide now and in the future. And it'd come to their attention that his daughter was being targeted. And that's where Zach had come in.

The big man had said, "Pierson, we've offered protection to Harris so that we can slide with more business in this city and out of it. Keeping our end of the deal, I've graciously decided to extend this protection to his family, his daughter especially. We know she's being targeted, your job is to keep her safe." Zach had stood silent, raising his eyebrows, "What don't you understand, Pierson?" Zach had shrugged, "Look, I'm not saying I'm not honored to receive such a... respected job. I understand this is a big responsibility to be trusted with. Are you sure you don't want Gi or Matt? Or Milo?" The old man had looked tired in his late years, his wrinkles practically frowning at Zach themselves as he spoke slowly, just audible. "Giovanni and Matteo are family by blood. they're easily spotted. If they were seen with her, or seen near her, they'd know we were offering protection. You're not so obvious. Now get the hell out of here before I lose my patience with you Pierson, just do what I ask of you. You'll be paid well, I'm sure Harris will see to that." Zach backed out of the room, recognizing his cue to leave. Since then, he'd been trailing Scarlet Harris like a dog to its owner. She lived quite the life.

Today Scarlet had gone to brunch or something with her father, acted like a spoiled brat when he had asked her not to damage his image or campaign and then made a hasty exit where Zach was now following at a distance. Zach was texting Nate about hanging out later and looked up to make sure Scarlet was still ahead of him. She, too, was texting, having crossed late for lack of paying attention and was by herself crossing int he road. Zach slipped his phone into his pocket and then out of the corner of his eye, saw the taxi that was suddenly picking up speed and darting towards her. Behind the wheel, Zach could see through the window, was a man in a leather jacket and a cigar hanging from his mouth. That guy sure as hell was not a taxi driver. As the driver crossed lanes, aiming directly for her, Zach new it was a set up, breaking into a run after Scarlet who had noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Getting closer, Zach looked right at the man driving, coming right at them and saw the man grinning as he gunned the car forward more, just as Zach reached Scarlet, wrapping an arm around her middle and pulled her forward faster so that she was out of the way just in time. The man had missed them both only barely, the wind from the taxi whipping behind Zach. People round them had noticed what had happened, yelling things like, look out and get out of the way. Zach knew the man wouldn't coming back, he'd drawn too much attention to himself and had missed. No second chance there. She was safe, for now.

Now on the side walk, Zach stepped back, keeping a hand on her back, "Are you okay?" Up close she was so much more pretty then he'd realized from twenty paces behind her all these days. Zach wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now, she'd surely recognize him from this point on if he ever got near her. He could hear Emilio's words in his head, "Try not to let her notice you either, other wise things will get messy." Zach had asked, "What do you mean, messy?" "Well if she starts recognizing you everywhere and seeing you she'll think you're staking her." "I am technically stalking her." "No, you're acting as a body guard. One she doesn't need to know she has." Well great. He'd just came in complete contact with her and saved her from getting whacked off by a taxi who probably wasn't a real taxi driver and probably had very specific orders. There was no way she was going to forget about Zach Pierson.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet did her best to try and cross over to the other side of the street in a timely manner. As much as she liked being able to have a virtual catwalk in front of her, the last thing she wanted was for the light to change while she was in the middle of the street.She heard a few cars honking their horns and people yelling,but when she looked over her shoulder all of the cars she could see were sitting still. She narrowed her eyebrows, confused as to why they would all honk their horns if they were all sitting still. Suddenly she felt someones arms wrapped around her and she tensed up instantly, trying to use all of her strength to push away from him until she saw that cab go racing by them. She took in a few deep breaths and watched after the cab before she looked at the stranger that had pushed her out of the way. “….What the hell?” she said , trying to catch her breath from freaking out. “ That guy seriously needs to have his licenses taken away,the lights weren’t even green and literally EVERY other car was stopped,….what a moron,”she said still talking to herself mainly. She held her hand over her chest and took in a deep breath.

Death had always been something that sort of centered around Scarlet’s mind. Ever since her mom and Noah passed away it was like she was constantly trying to push the limits to see what she could get away with, just how close she could get to the edge without actually falling. Then there had been the night in New York when Logan Renner had broken his arm while trying to protect her from herself, and honestly he’d saved her in more ways than one. Talking with him afterwards, numerous times, had really made her realize how those type of actions would affect others, specifically her friends. She could feel her heart beating in her chest and clung her hand tightly to her hair as she pushed it out of her eyes. Scarlet shook her head, realizing that her rescuer had been talking to her. ” Yeah,I’m.. I’m fi-‘ she started to say as she turned to look at him. Scarlet stood there staring at him with her mouth slightly dropped as she looked at him.

Getting hit on was something Scarlet was used to, and to be honest most of the men that dared trying to approach her, were gorgeous. But there was something about the guy in front of her that caught her off guard.And Scarlet was never caught off guard when it came to the opposite sex. “ I’m fine,” she found herself finally be able to say. She licked her lips and looked away from him. What the hell was this… warming in her cheeks. Was she blushing? Cause she was fairly sure she hadn’t blushed since she was twelve years old. Maybe it was just the adrenaline from what had happened. Yeah, that seemed like a better idea to her. “ That guy almost hit us…” she said, in the most obvious statement ever as she gestured behind her in the direction that the cab had gone. “ Um..” she said , opening her mouth to try and think of something to say. Okay, seriously.This never happened to her. Is this what ugly girls felt like every time they talked to a semi-attractive guy? Because this guy… he was hot . And the fact that he had just saved her life, probably added to that whole hero riding in on a white horse thing. “ You’re…..busted” she said with a small laugh as she started to collect herself. ” I know exactly who you are,” she gave a serious nod and lifted her eyebrow. “ You’re the guy that rescues the girl… and then she is so woo’ed by him that she what.. gives him her number? “ Scarlet bit the inside of her lip as she thought about her next series of actions. Scarlet had never been one to shy away from something, and honestly she saw giving someone your number a lot more intimate than having lunch with them. “…It’s almost noon. I’ll buy you lunch. We’ll see if you earn it,” she said decisively before she picked up her purse from the ground that had dropped during the whole exchange. She smiled as she held her hand out, ” I’m Scarlet Har-..Harrington” she corrected herself quickly. Why did she care if this guy knew who she was or not? She didn’t even know him and she didn’t want him to judge her based on her father.

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Zach waited patiently while he watched Scarlet go through a range of emotions, saying to herself that the guy was a moron and everything. Yeah. Quite the moron. When she'd finally answered and told him that she was fine, Zach nodded. "He uh, almost hit you, though I am glad he didn't hit us either. Anyways, glad you're fine." Zach put his hands in his pockets casually, unsure if he should introduce himself so that running in to her in the future wouldn't be awkward or give anything away. Just standing here was sort of weird, mostly because he'd been following her for days and now he was actually talking to her, but also because she was really beautiful and he was feeling kind of tongue tied now, just looking at her. Zach was no Rico Suave, he wasn't smooth with the ladies, he was just an average guy. He dated here and there, had a couple of girlfriends in the past. He got nervous a little around really pretty women. He just hadn't thought Scarlet would be like that. He'd thought she was like, pretty outgoing and all that. Zach felt his stomach drop when Scarlet told him that he was busted. "Oh, uh... I, um..." Zach looked around, not knowing how to explain this with out her being weirded out. How did she know he was working for the mafia and was following her around? But just as soon as he'd thought he'd been caught, she made some joke about him being someone who saves girls. "Oh right, yeah." Zach smiled, rubbing his hand over his head, "Lunch, huh? So if I'm good, I get lunch, and if that goes well, I get your number? Well, at least I'm aware of the way this could go." Zach laughed. She introduced herself. Scarlet Harrington. "Nice to meet you Scarlet. Harrington."

So she wasn't being completely honest about who she was, but Zach wasn't exactly being honest either. And he was sure she had a good reason not wanting him to know who she was. Being Harris's daughter was probably stressful enough, going to fancy parties and wearing fancy clothes and having fancy friends... sounds horrible. But for some reason she was inviting him to lunch and he was accepting. Zach held out his hand, "Zach Pierson." He probably held her hand for a second too long before taking it back and slipping his hands back into his pockets. "You know, I feel like I may have already earned lunch, since I just saved your life," he joked, smiling. "Although, if you don't want to do lunch, I'm sure you can make it up to me some other way." He grinned, starting to walk down the sidewalk. People were beginning to get peeved that they were standing in the way on the corner.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet smiled as he accepted her lunch offer and was glad that he seemed to take it all with stride. “ It’s nice to meet you too, Zach Pierson” she said, tilting her head as she looked back at him. “ You know,that’s so weird. You’re the second Pierson I’ve met in a week,” She stepped onto the sidewalk with him and gestured to the restaurant she was heading to. “ I actually have to pick up lunch for a friend.. but… we can get something to go and then sit down at a table somewhere after I drop it off. I promised him.” she said, knowing that she didn’t want to back out of a promise that she had made to Logan. She headed back to the restaurant and smiled as she tried to explain her reasoning. ‘ Having lunch with you isn’t as serious as giving you my number. If I give you my number it gives you this whole tie to me… until I change my number. I’d be the girl that you texted when you were drunk, and..frankly.. I only like to get those tests at three a.m. for a select group of men. Whereas if all I do is have lunch with you.. then I get to just be a small,fleeting memory of a girl you once saved on the streets of New York. And I’m… fairly sure that the price of my life is worth at least an eight dollar philly cheesesteak,”

Scarlet opened the door to the restaurant and walked up to the counter, ordering a Caesar salad for herself, and a philly cheesesteak for Logan. Shane and Ryan weren’t there or else she would order for them too. But Joel might be. “Actually make that two philly cheesesteaks and a Caesar salad… and whatever my gallant knight in shining armor would like,” she said, looking over her shoulder to look at Zach. She smiled as she watched him again. He was cute.And Scarlet had never shied away from getting to know someone at least. Scarlet took her leather jacket off so that she was just wearing her dress and tossed her jacket over the back of a chair as she waited for their orders. After Zach ordered she paid for their meals and took a drink from the bottled water they handed over to her. “ So Zach, were you following me around all day or did you just happen to be in the right place at the right time?” She looked back at Zach as she stood closer to him. His eyes were gorgeous, hell all of him was gorgeous.

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Zach nodded when she mentioned not being the only Pierson she'd met, "Well, I guess it's possible there are at least a handful in this city." Zach started to relax. She'd been kidding about knowing who he was, he had no reason to worry. "Oh, yeah it's cool. Wouldn't want to break a promise." Zach watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was like, a goddess. Tall, thin, blonde, gorgeous. Like a walking model. Zach just shook his head seriously, "Oh, I hope I'm not the guy who only calls when he's drunk. I do have daytime hours, by the way. And yeah, I think a philly cheestake would sufficiently pay me for services." He smiled, following her into the restaurant. Zach made that double order a triple for philly cheestakes, leaning back in his chair and sipping his own water. "Oh you know, I just follow pretty girls around in my spare time. Sometimes I talk to them, but mostly I just follow them," he said sarcastically, but laughed all the same. If he denied it, maybe she'd think he was lying. Which he would be. If he admitted to it, she'd think he was kidding. Which he wasn't. But that was something that was what it was. What a nice way to start things off, lying right from the get go. But it was better, and for her own good.

"So tell me your not a native here, because I feel like I would have seen you around. I'd remember if I did." Zach leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. He had to make this look as if he'd never seen her before in his entire life. But now that they were acquainted, he had to keep her close. Maybe if they were friends, he could be around her with out it being weird... He knew for sure as soon as he and Scarlet parted ways, he'd be going over to he house to tell Emilio he'd almost blown it, but that they might have to go a different route. He knew they'd prefer if she knew nothing, but did they honestly think she wouldn't notice if he had to get her out of harms way? The answer to that was easy, they were hoping it wouldn't come to that.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet took her phone out and texted Logan that she was going to be a few minutes late, pushing her hair behind her ear before she looked back up at Zach. She smiled slowly as he said that he followed pretty girls around. “ Wow well I better thank whatever girl was in front of or behind me that landed you in my personal space then,” she joked back at him. “ I’m not a native,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m from Texas originally,” she said, giving a small nod. Scarlet looked back at Zach, not exactly being shy about checking him out. “ Trust me if I had seen you before I definitely would have introduced myself. I’m not the shyest of all people. And you are definitely handsome” she said confidently. There was no harm in complimenting people, hell she did it often. Just because she didn’t like to settle around people, didn’t mean she didn’t like to get to know them.

” What about you, what’s your story?” Scarlet stood up and took the food from the guy behind the counter before making her way backwards out of the restaurant. Just because her dad had offered her a very nice life, it didn’t mean that she had become spoiled. She would rather eat at some small town diner than any of the worlds finest restaurants. She’d rather dance with a boy on some dock on the beach, than by the Eiffel Tower with France as a backdrop. She wanted her dad to want her for the daughter she was, the relationship they used to have, instead of forcing her into this new lifestyle like she was a character reading off lines. Scarlet walked into Taboo records , past the receptionist and made her way to the elevator to see Logan. After getting off on the floor she walked past the first studio and saw Zoe sitting in a room with Felicia. ”Oh, hey girls!” she said with a smile. “Zoe, meet this guy, it’s Zach Pierson.If I had known you guys were here I would have gotten you something to eat,” she said apologetically.” I can order you something,” she said with a nod and a smile. Zoe had gotten out of her chair and stood in the doorway. “What are you doing here dipshit?”. she said as she looked at Zach. ’How do you know Scarlet?” she said. Scarlet looked between the two of them as she pieced things together. “Oh you’re related… I’mgoing to go find Logan real quick”.She smiled and looked at Zach for a moment before she headed to Logans office to drop off his food.

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Zach laughed, "Oh yeah, she was in front of you, you were kind of getting in the way actually..." he joked. He listened while she explained she wasn't native, and then told him she thought he was attractive. First of all, the fact that she thought he was attractive was surprising, but nice all the same. She was, some other species of girl, he was just so average. Maybe there was something good to come out of this after all. She didn't hesitate to compliment him. At least he'd always be in a good mood when she was around. "My story?" he repeated as he followed her back into the street and started walking to wherever her friend was. He hoped by friend, she didn't mean boyfriend. He didn't think she had a boyfriend, at least he hadn't seen any around her. She had a lot of guy friends, but not a boyfriend he didn't think. "Uhh, well originally, I'm from Arizona, then I moved out here two years ago to go to NYU." For some reason he felt weird about telling her he wasn't actually taking classes anymore. What seemed like a more fun lifestyle was now making him feel like a guy going nowhere in life. Scarlet was probably in college, studying something cool, something her father probably didn't approve of. And she probably had plans to do great things, hang out with awesome people. There was no way she'd want anything to Zach, college drop out who was in too deep with the mafia to get out. Surely she'd want a guy that fit her life style. But for now, he'd just neglect to mention that he had actually dropped out from NYU temporarily. Damn, he was on a row with the lying.

Zach followed her into Taboo Records, the same place his little sister had an internship he realized as they got off the elevator. Before he could mention it, and solve the mystery of the other Pierson she'd probably met, sure enough they walked past a room where his sister was sitting with her best friend Felicia who had lived next door to them since Felicia moved in all those years ago. Zoe greeted him in her normal way, and Scarlet realized they were siblings before she went to go find Logan and give him his sandwich. Zach leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms, "Hey Zo, Felicia. Keeping out of trouble, kids?" For as long as his sister and Felicia had been friends, they were nothing but trouble. Zach could only imagine what lengths they went to to get this internship, although Felicia's brother was signed here, probably easy to get in. Hopefully they actually did work and did';t just goof around. Logan didn't sound like the kind of guy that would keep them around if they didn't though. So by the looks of things, the pair of them were acting like adults. Impressive. Zach wondered when Scarlet was going to be back, he hadn't realized he'd been starving. Stalking her was hard work.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet dropped Logan’s sandwich on his desk. She’d been in there a few minutes and she’d already forgotten about how she was going to talk to him about her parents.” The cab came FLYING out of nowhere, and homeboy came at me like he was Superman doped up on some flying something or other… but here’s the weird thing” she said,pointing her finger at Logan as though nearly getting ran over wasn’t the weird part of her day. “ I was speechless. Me. Logan. You know I don’t get speechless around guys. You’ve known me since I was like..a kid. Ever since I moved to Cali from Texas. The day we met I walked up to you and kissed you. We were like, ..eight!” she yelled at him. “ I don’t get shy around guys.. I think it was the fact that I almost just died.. I mean.. I owed him a lot, ya know?”She shook her head, and hadn’t even realized that she had been pacing back and forth in front of Logan’s desk. “ Plus I told him that my name was Scarlet Harrington. I just don’t want him to think that I’m some spoiled little girl who gets everything she wants,…” she looked at Logan and frowned. “ I mean, you understand why I am the way I am… but god, Why does it matter what he thinks ?I’ve known him for two seconds”. Scarlet bit the inside of her cheek before she looked back at Logan. " I mean seriously,.. you're the only other guy,ever, that's given me butterflies like that. And we were 'not' together for how long? It was a hell of a long time, and jesus christ you know me better than literally anyone. Anyone, Logan. There isn't a thought that's entered my mind that I've ever been scared to tell you,, or a side of me that you haven't seen,"

Scarlet took in a deep breath, watching Logan. He was her best male friend.Whom she had known forever. I mean yeah she had slept with him. But once he started dating Blake they cut that off completely, but things were never weird between them. They were friends first, and it had always stayed that way. “ Ugh.. eat your stupid sandwich. Quit grinning at me. You’re an idiot” she said as she walked away from him. “ K love you.” she yelled out as she walked out of his office. In all honesty, if Logan hadn’t met Blake, he would be the ONLY guy she could have ever seen herself marrying. Only because she knew that he was the same exact way. They understood each other, they could let each other breathe and live their own lives, do things without having to explain it because they just understood. She ran back inside quickly , “ I almost forgot!” she said quickly before she ran behind his desk and kissed his cheek, always doing so before she left him. “Dick” she said before running back out of the office again. Scarlet caught back up with Zach and Zoe, leaning in to wave at Felicia. She loved that girl, she’d learned so much about her from being childhood friends with Ryan. “I doubt you’re keeping out of trouble, you’re with Scarlet” Zoe had said though there was a smile across her lips. ‘ Use protection’ Zoe said before slamming the door to the studio in Zach’s face. Scarlet blinked and smiled with an awkward expression before she turned and looked at Zach. ” You lead the way…” she said before she held up their bag of food and offered it out to him.

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Zach just rolled his eyes at his sister when Scarlet returned, that was great. Nice going Zoe. He barely knew her, his sister was going to make him sound like every other horny guy in the world. Or maybe it was Scarlet he had to worry about. Did she get with a lot of guys? No, she flirted a lot though, Zach knew that just from following her around for as little as a half an hour. Zach walked back outside with her, heading down the street looking for somewhere to sit down and eat. "Don't take my sister seriously, we haven't really seen each other in like forever. She probably thinks I'm really living it up out here, partying, girls." Zach shrugged. Yeah he partied, he had his fun. He just wasn't the type that hooked up with girls left and right. Just wasn't him. "So do you guys all hang out then? Like one big family? You guys all just moved out here, right?" Zach wasn't sure why he was trying to get a grasp on Scarlet's life and who she was friends with and why she was here. He only just really met her, and yet here he was trying to find and detail about her that she'd give him. He couldn't honestly think he had a chance with this girl, plus he had a job to do. He couldn't let personal feelings get in the way of what he was supposed to be doing anyways. And that was for her benefit, so she was safe.

Zach was kind of dreading going back to the house later to discuss the change in strategy, maybe he'd just hang out with Scarlet a little longer. "You know I could give you tour of the city. I'm sure you've already been here, but there's some stuff you only see when you live here. You just have to know the right people, I think today's your lucky day Scarlet." Zach smiled, his hand bumping against his leg where his switchblade rested in his pocket. He looked over t Scarlet, again noting how pretty she was. He was in deep shit, he knew. He couldn't fall for her, that wasn't safe either. Yes, at the moment he wasn't as obvious, but the more they saw him with her, they'd find out whatever they could about him. They'd know who he worked for. And if they knew he was romantically involved with her too n top of the fact that his job was to make sure she didn't get killed, then it was likely they'd both just get killed. So, so messy. And way to much to think about. He'd just have to, befriend her, but keep a distance at the same time. Yeah. Let her live her life, watch from the sidelines just in case. As much as he thought he might like to date her, he just didn't think it was an option right now, given the situation.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet smiled and waved off the interaction between Zoe and Zach. “ What else are little sisters for?” she said, though her voice got caught at the end of her sentence as she thought of Noah, instantly clearing her throat. She smiled before she looked back at him and kept up with his pace, walking down the street. “ Oh my gosh yeah. I have the greatest group of friends in the entire world. I’d say my closest friends are Logan, Shane and Ryan. I grew up with them basically and they’d been with me through everything that’s sort of.. happened.. in my life,” she said, smiling again as she thought about the different ways the three of those guys had been there for her. Shane and Ryan could make anyone smile, laugh, no matter the given situation. Logan had held her close a lot of nights when she had cried over the losses in her families, came to get her from banquets when she couldn’t take it anymore, helped her pretend that atleast for the night none of it was real. “ Um let’s see there’s…. Logan, Shane, Ryan, Riley, Lance, Kiersten, Mackenzie, Madeline, Samantha, Chad, Blake, Kat,…’she narrowed her eyebrows, trying to think of who else was in that main group. “ Then I have my other close friends Stefan and Anthony,but I haven’t seen them in a long time..”. She didn’t know why she was rambling on about them, but her friends really were important to her . “ Logan is probably the person that knows me the best in the… entire world. “ she said, smiling sadly to herself. “ But uh.. he’s with Blake, and they’re really happy . So that’s awesome.” she said giving a small nod. She could convince herself.

“ A tour of the city sounds great,” she said, smiling at the idea that she agreed with him that it was her lucky day. He was cute, and he seemed harmless. She stepped out on the curb and lifted her hand for a cab, taking her chances that it wouldn’t be one that was horrible at driving this time. “We have to go to my place. If you’re taking me around New York City I need to be in something more comfortable. And we need to eat,” she said with a small laugh and slid into the car. After telling the cab driver to head to the upper eastside- her father had gotten her a penthouse. There was no way he’d let anyone see her going into a home that wasn’t reeking of money. So much for him being “ in touch with the people”. Scarlet smiled at Zach before she head inside and onto the elevator which opened up into her ‘apartment’ as she called it. Scarlet gasped as Dallas came running towards her and picked him up quickly. “Hi baby,” she cooed to him before she held him to her side, petting his head. ” This is Dallas, my most loved possession” she said with a small laugh before she set him down to let him inspect Zach. He was about the size of Zach’s foot, but he thought he was the size of a lion whenever he growled at people. Scarlet set the food down in the living room before she went into her room to get something to wear.

After picking out a few things to wear she realized she wanted to continue her conversation with him so she came back into the living room where she had left him with the food. ‘So what about you?What are your friends like?” Scarlet realized she had left her jacket at the restaurant, but didn’t really care. She stepped out of her heels and moved her hair over to one shoulder as she stepped out of her dress after unzipping the back. She leaned forward to put on her jeans, looking up at Zach as she looked at him through her hair. Scarlet stood up straight and buttoned her jeans before picking up the tank top and pulling it on quickly. She sat down on the couch by him and picked up the boots, pulling them on over her jeans before she looked at him and put her chin in her hand with a small smile. He was going to be an interesting guy to get to know, and she was sort of looking forward to it.

Outfit

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Zach walked beside her, listening to her talk about her friends. She had a pretty big group of friends, nothing like Zach's little family. Zach had people he had been friends with in high school, but he'd really lost all those ties when he'd moved to New York. He had one best friend back home that he hadn't talked to in a while, Nate who he'd met when he moved here, and just Giovanni and his family. They were kind of like Zach's family now, in more ways than one. He was taken a little by surprise by the way she talked about one of her friends, Logan. By the sounds of it to Zach, they were more then just friends, but as she proceeded to explain to him that they were friends and Logan was married, Zach couldn't help but notice the pained look on her face that she tried to hide. Clearly there were some lasting feelings a marriage couldn't erase. It made Zach wonder just how long it took for fall out of love with someone. He wouldn't know. Some days Zach even wondered if he'd ever find someone, anyone, that he could see himself spending his life with. So far since moving here, he hadn't met any girls he thought were particularly special. Plus, he was busy with work anyways. Maybe love and all that cold just wait until he wasn't knee deep in illegal activities. "It's good to know my sister at least hangs out with good people." Zach had never been the type to hover over his sister like a super over protective brother. He kept an eye from her but mostly let her do her own thing. He was glad to hear she was surrounded by people that weren't bad. Or criminals. Or killers. Or anyone like who Zach hung out with.

Zach agreed they needed to eat, Scarlet leading the way to her penthouse so that she could change her clothes. It was nice to talk to someone new, who didn't know much about him and Scarlet didn't see like she would judge him too harshly anyways. That didn't mean he was about to share all the details of his life with her though. Zach bent down to pet her dog before she came back out, changing her clothes right in front of him. "Uh..." Zach hesitated, willing himself to look away. Of course, he was a guy, he didn't exactly want to look away, but he'd only just met her. She might be pretty open with strangers, but Zach had been raised to treat women with respect. He looked back at her dog that was now sitting beside him and staring up at him with huge eyes. Maybe next time they hung out it wouldn't be so weird if she just decided to take her clothes off. At least then he'd be used to it. He realized she had asked him a question, looking back at her as she sat down on the couch to put her boots on, and Zach thought for a moment about his friends. Well, Nate was normal. That was a safe topic. G, Matt, Milo, Giulia, not such safe topics. At least, not the first day you meet someone. "Well, I met my friend Nate when I moved here, he's a cool guy, we're pretty tight. I mean, I have other people I hang out with, the group of them. They're all a pretty fun time." Zach didn't know what else to say about them. They were fun because they were careless and destructive criminals with a lot of money who carried weapons around like it was normal? He looked around, hoping to change the subject. "This is a really nice place. You're from California, let me guess. You're a model. Or an actress. Or a singer?" Zach laughed, "You have this whole huge penthouse to yourself, you must be doing something right." Of course Zach knew where she got her nice things from and who her father was, but she didn't know that.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet smiled as she watched Zach sitting against her couch, paying far too much attention to her dog and not to her. She laughed quietly beneath her breath as he seemed to re-enter the conversation that the two of them had been having. “ Well if you like fun times and groups, then you should try meeting my friends sometimes. I mean…we’re pretty clique-y when it comes to who we consider our “family”, but we’re nice to anyone, as long as they want to have a good time. It’s just this…. Insane, strong, powerful, trusting, bond that we all have for one another. Literally every single one of us would do absolutely anything in the world we could for the next, and for such a group of different type of people, it’s kind of insane that we all love each other for our differences.” she said with a small smile. Her group of friends had certainly made her appreciate a lot more things in life than she probably would have without them. Without Ryan she would never fully appreciate vegging out and watching things like discovery channel, without Shane she wouldn’t understand the importance of anything cheesy from Taco Bell. She owed a lot to her group of friends, and how they were each there for her in such different ways.

“ Oh” she said with a pained expression, “ I think it’s in everyones best interest that I never, ever enter a world of singing for a career. And I did modeling when I was younger but that was just when I lived in California and did beauty pageants up until my senior year of high school,” She looked around her apartment. She hadn’t said her last name, but she hadn’t anticipated having to explain where exactly her wealth did come from. She smiled nervously before she shrugged her shoulder. “ I’m just a lucky Columbia sophomore, majoring in Political Science. I really want to focus on human interests and personal rights. It’s not right how people can control how other people live. People shouldn’t tell you who you can love, what religion is acceptable, who you can marry. I mean… I don’t believe in love and marriage anyways, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want other people to be able to express themselves however they want to,” Scarlet bit the inside of her cheek before she smiled back at him. ” The more you get to know me the more you’ll see I don’t exactly express myself in the greatest of all ways. Or most lady like. But.. it’s legal. I’m allowed to express myself however I want and though my family disapproves, it’s still my right. And.. other people should have that right too. Cause if you can’t express yourself then what’s left?” Scarlet knew what her public image was. Wearing dresses too short , sneaking off with guys at her fathers’ banquets, jetting off to different countries. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have a big understanding of who she wanted to be in the future, of what her future goal would be and how she needed to get it. “Anyways,” she said, knowing that she was making herself look stupid. ‘’ You were going to show me New York,” she said again with another smile as she looked over him. It was sort of insane how handsome he was, like old Hollywood handsome with the stand out features that separated him from others. A small part of her felt sad, knowing what she had given up in life as a result of being too afraid to be hurt. The only person in the world that could understand how she felt didn’t feel the same way, so there wasn’t a chance in hell she could ever expect anyone else to.

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Zach nodded, thinking her friends sounded pretty cool. Maybe he would have to hang out with them sometime, after all, Zoe hung out with them. They had to be pretty cool. She seemed a lot more down to earth that he had anticipated her being. Not at all stuck up. And she didn't seem to brag about her money either. In fact, she more or less implied that her parents didn't exactly approve of her lifestyle. Maybe there was more to her then a rich, preppy upper east sider. Zach was even more surprised when she told him about what she wanted to study in college. He just hadn't been expecting her to be anything less then a spoiled rich girl. Besides the fact that she was gorgeous, she was appealing in other ways. She was chill, liked to have a good time, didn't really flaunt her lifestyle. And she had goals to have a career and make something of her self, not just to be a trust fund baby. Zach noticed that she still tip toed around the topic that was who her dad was and what he did for a living. The thing was, Zach already knew what he did and who he was, so the fact that he knew she was outright lying was so... interesting. It made him wonder why she was hiding it.

Scarlet reminded him that he was going to take her around and show her the city and Zach was just about to tell her they still could if she wanted, but he felt his phone go off in his pocket. Zach quickly pulled it out, looking at the screen and recognized the unlisted number all too well. "Oh hey, I have to take this really quick. Excuse me a second." Zach stood up, walking to the other room and answered the phone, "Yeah?" The voice on the other end sounded less then pleased. "Boss wants to see you. Now." With that, the caller hung up, leaving Zach to listen to the line go quiet after it cut off. He groaned quietly, shoving his phone back into his pocket and walked back out to were Scarlet was sitting, "Listen, I'm really sorry I have to go. You want to hang out again or something? Take a rain check?" Zach apologized again, and after their goodbyes, Zach left her penthouse and began walking back to the west side. It wasn't that far, maybe he'd catch a cab. But he'd rather prolong his walk. He knew whatever his boss has to say to him wouldn't be what Zach wanted to here.