[Zach] Better Run , OutRun My Gun

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet looked down at the drink that was set in front of her on the bar and smiled sadly at it. She nodded to herself, only slightly , before she lifted the glass and looked up at the guy across the bar who had bought it for her. He didn’t even know her, or maybe he’d heard of her, but he wasn’t buying her a drink for her personality. If anything it was for her dress. Or her reputation. Either way it definitely wasn’t a ‘ hey I’d like to have a three hour conversation with you’ drink offer. Scarlet took in a deep breath and finished the drink quickly before she set the glass down against the counter and stepped away. She stood on her heels as she tried to look through the crowd to find him. Scarlet hadn’t actually met anyone for anything , outside of the family, ever since Logan Bolton. But then she had sort of felt like she was living a part. She’d already slept with him, started being ‘in a relationship’ before they started to do things to get to know one another. Foster The Kids was Scarlet’s favorite band, and even small details like that she didn’t give out freely to people. Zach was already proving himself to be finding out more about her than most strangers got a chance to. And she certainly had more butterflies in her stomach than she would ever admit to.

Scarlet moved her bangs away from her eyes as she scanned the crowd again.She wasn’t sure what all would happen tonight, but one thing she prayed to God wouldn’t happen is someone outing her as a Harris instead of a Harrington. She narrowed her eyebrows as she saw a familiar face. He’d been standing on the opposite side of her street sporadically for a while. He never did anything, he just stood there. It was so,… Nightmare On Elm Street. Scarlet opened her mouth , thinking she had the courage to say something to him until she found herself in a moving stream of people, trying to fight against them was like trying to swim upstream against a strong current. When she turned back over her shoulder he was gone. Scarlet frowned and stood still in place. Maybe she was seeing things. She had been really stressed out lately, so it wasn’t crazy to think that her mind was playing tricks on her. Scarlet went backstage to talk to Ryan , the lead singer of Foster the People, quickly. The band had formed back in Los Angeles, where she’d met them and she had convinced her father to match whatever they raised tonight in ticket sales to go to The Big Brother and Big Sister charities in New York, so a few flyers had been made to go around saying who all had helped sponsor it. She made him swear that if he was going to say her name he would say Scarlet Harrington, and though he looked confused he wasn’t one to argue.

Ryan took to the microphone jokingly, “ If we don’t find this girls date we’re going to start auctioning her off,” Scarlet laughed quietly as she pulled away from him, moving his arm away from her waist. “ He’s not my date” she said nervously before she backed away from the side of the stage where she had stolen a few moments from him as he set up. She took a few steps down and found herself back in the crowd. Scarlet went back to the bar counter and hesitated for a moment, trying to decide what she wanted to drink before she settled on a bottled Budlight. Taking the drink she took a small sip before she smiled against the bottle, seeing Zach. She gave a small wave before she headed over to him. ” You came” she said, slightly surprised. The fact that she was surprised, sort of surprised her. She was used to getting what she wanted from guys, but she found herself feeling like the was off her game with him. Or somehow like she’d forgotten all of the rules and was starting from square one. “You look great” she said over the music as she leaned in to yell it to him, placing her hand on his chest as she closed the distance between them.


Outfit

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

The fact that Zach was seeing Scarlet again was surprising and it wasn't. It wasn't surprising that he had wanted to see her again, she was beautiful, why wouldn't he? But the fact that she'd invited him out, wanting to see him, was. Zach still found it funny that a girl like her would even want to spend time with a guy like him. He didn't find himself particularly attractive. He wasn't ugly or anything, just wasn't a model type. He wasn't exactly wealthy, if you didn't count the money he made working, which he didn't. If you counted it, he was, to be put bluntly, rolling in dough. But he was saving it. And he really had no ambition when it came to his future. Hence why he wasn't in school at the moment. Scarlet seemed to have everything going for her, she was smart, studying something she had a lot of interest in, actually wanted to make some sort of difference, lived a comfortable life, had good friends, was beautiful, her social status was actually existent... Zach just couldn't see how she'd even want to hang out with him. But he'd take what he could get. Plus now that he'd given himself away and she knew who he was, he had very strict orders. He was to befriend her, be friends enough that if she 'coincidentally' ran into him he could easily explain it off and so that if she was going somewhere at night or in the city where he thought he needed to keep a closer eye on her, he could casually ask to join her as friends. Just friends. So she wouldn't take out a restraining order on him for thinking he was some stranger that was stalking her. However, he was absolutely not allowed to hug her in any way other then platonic, kiss her, hold her hand, make out with her, not allowed to date her, and absolutely not allowed to sleep with her. 'Romantic relations' he was told, put them both in danger and at risk. If he was seen with her too much, he'd likely get targeted and if he was in any way 'distracted' from the job at hand, they could both get seriously hurt or worse if he wasn't on top of his game and paying attention to their surroundings. Like tonight. Zach was fully aware of the guy outside of the club that had been watching her. And if he wasn't mistaken, he was pretty sure Scarlet had seen him too.

But the man had disappeared, for now. And Scarlet had located him as soon as he came inside after making sure the area outside was secure. From here he could see both doors and the bar. They were fine for the moment. Zach shrugged when she commented that he'd came, sounding surprised. He was surprised at them hanging out too. "Yeah, of course. You invited me, I wasn't about to turn you down." Zach lead her over to the bar, ordering himself a drink. "Thanks, you look..." Zach looked her over, stunned for a second. Flawless. "You look great too." Friends. Just. Friends. This was proving to be difficult the more he discovered that he really had the hots for her. And she was turning out to definitely not be a bitch like he'd anticipated. Even better. The bartender handed him his drink and Zach took a drink, looking at Scarlet, "I would not have pegged you as a Foster the People fan. I'm a little surprised, but not bad, like good surprised." He had to admit the more he got to know about her the more he was finding she was not your typical upper east side princess. A pleasant surprise.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet smiled as she stood in front of Zach,thankful that he had showed up. Which was sort of a surprising feeling to her. She never cared if people showed up, hell sometimes they showed up even when she didn’t want them to. But Zach was here and that gave her this nervous, flutter in her stomach. She frowned slightly, feeling nauseous. What, he made her feel sick? Maybe that was her gut telling her that he was a bad guy. Always trust your gut,right? And she felt sick standing there in front of him. It was all so new and confusing. “ I love Foster The People,” she said excitedly as he seemed to be okay with her choice in music. ” They’re really underrated, but they’ve got great music. It’s a perfect background no matter what you’re doing..” she said before she realized she was rambling. ‘ Wow, Harris. So not yourself’ she thought before she placed on a smile and forced herself to slow down. ”Let me get your first drink since you came all the way out,” she said slowly as she tilted her head to look back up at him. Scarlet opened her clutch and took out a few different bills before she placed them on the counter and picked her own drink back up. She smiled as she watched him for a few more moments. ”Come on,” she said as she lowered her hand to Zach’s and pulled her through the crowd with her.

Scarlet moved her hair from her eyes again as she got close to the stage and turned to look at Zach. She smiled again, before looking back at the stage. Breathe in, she thought to herself. Scarlet never hid behind anything. Well, unless she was running away from a relationship,label, or something she didn’t want to do for her father. But she was up front, even if it made her look vulnerable. She was always in control when she was with a guy, and she always knew what their next step was going to be, even when they made it. But Zach was so… different.Scarlet licked her lips before she opened her mouth to say something, but smiled instead. Seriously, she never got shy. She took in another deep breath before she leaned in. She pressed her hand against his chest and leaned in to whisper to his ear, “ You make me nervous,” she admitted , keeping her body close to him and her lips near his ear. She didn’t want to move. He scared her. But she wanted to be honest with him at the same time, after all.. she had no idea what any of it meant. If she was going to be confused and lost, she might as well be honest about it.

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Zach grinned, nodding when she talked about the band and he knew that Scarlet really did like them. She knew about them, knew they had a lot to offer with out being mainstream. It was kind of cute how she stopped herself from rambling, as if she'd never rambled in her life. She probably didn't. From what Zach could tell, Scarlet was pretty smooth with guys. Scarlet also paid for his drink, which he was surprised at but grateful. "Oh, thanks.." Zach hadn't anticipated her being so... normal. Zach could feel his heart speed up when she took his hand, leading him out into the crowd to get closer to the stage. He really liked her, and it sucked. The more he knew about her the more he liked, and the more it just reminded him of how he wasn't supposed to like her. But it was so hard not too. And then she did something that shocked him. As she leaned in and whispered in his ear, what he was hearing was not what he would have ever expected her to say to him, of all people. He made her nervous? How was that? She made him nervous, but that was obvious. He liked her a lot, and on top of the regular nervousness he got just from liking her, there was the whole, you-could-get-kidnapped-or-killed-at-any-moment-if-I'm-not-careful thing. As if he needed any more stress.

Zach blinked a few times, registering what she'd said, but then looked at her and shrugging, saying as calmly, "Well you make me nervous." Zach couldn't even help his heart pounding ruthlessly in his chest. Her face was so close to his he could kiss her if he wanted to. But he wouldn't. Because he wasn't supposed to. It was almost unbearable how the one girl that he came across that was pretty and everything else that he really actually liked and she actually was showing that she liked him too, he wasn't allowed to date. Or do anything with. It was unfair. And it sucked. Her hand was still on his chest, he was sure she could probably feel his heart pounding. His job just got a whole hell of a lot harder.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet curled her fingers slightly against his chest, just eager to touch a bit more of him now that she realized how warm his body was. She wasn’t surprised when he said that she made him nervous too because she was sort of used to that. What she wasn’tused to was the fact that he didn’t react to it. He hadn’t leaned forward to kiss her, he didn’t put his hands on her. It threw her off guard completely. At first it pissed her off but now she sort of felt like.. she wanted more of him, instead of feeling rejected and turning away. She smiled as she leaned away to finally look him in the eyes. ”… I have all of their cd’s” she said before she bit the inside of her cheek.”What if we went back to my place? There’s a Yankees game on right now… “ she said, talking about the baseball game that was scheduled for that evening. Taking off her dress and changing into something comfortable and lounging on the couch sort of sounded fun too.

“… We could even get pizza ,” she said in a quiet sing song voice, trying to get him to agree with her. She was inviting him to her place, but it wasn’t like she was trying to sleep with him. She had the strangest need to get to know him, to just talk to him. She wanted to know what he thought about the world, how he saw it, his most embarrassing stories, his proudest moments. She wanted to see a side of him that no one else got to, that way when she finally kissed him she would actually feel it. She didn’t want to kiss him in the middle of a club where everyone else could see. She wanted it to be just for them, no one else to judge. The entire situation confused her beyond belief. ‘ Yankees, pizza… my couch is comfy’ she said before she took a step backwards from him and turned back into the crowd to make her way towards the exit.

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Zach was practically holding his breath, willing himself not to make a move on her. Kissing her would e so easy, just close the gap... but he really couldn't. He had already kind of almost messed things up, and messing up for real wasn't an option because her life was basically at stake. He had this itch to just grab her and kiss her, just from the way she was holding onto his shirt, but there were so many people... and he wasn't supposed to do that... Either way he felt like his insides were doing the party rock shuffle in there. Scarlet looked at him, explaining that she had all their cd's, Zach couldn't even look away. "Do you." It wasn't even a question, more or less a statement. Like he was weighing his options. She continued, talking about a baseball game, "Is there." Zach sighed, thinking. He knew what she was thinking. When she talked about ordering pizza and going to her place he just nodded, "We could." And for some reason, he knew what she was implying. This conversation and the way they were standing so close, it could be taken the wrong way. Like just going to her house to hook up. But he just got eh feeling she really did want to watch the game and eat pizza. He'd seen her with guys before. If she wanted to just hook up he kind of had the feeling she would just say so. She'd been up front n telling him he made her nervous after all.

Zach followed her through the crowd, looking up and down the sidewalk when they got outside, looking frantically to make sure no one suspicious was around before hailing a cab and opening the door for her. Zach slid into the cab behind her and closed the door, kind of relieved to be leaving a public place. Protecting her was easier when they were in her penthouse.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet smiled as she looked over shoulder and saw him following her out of the club. He might be different than the other guys, but he still knew how to follow the trail. She thought about the pizza joints closest to her place, wanting to order a pizza right now that way it would be there shortly after they got to her place. She narrowed her eyebrows as she looked at her phone. “ Holy crap my dad called eight times and I have five voicemails…do you mind?” she asked as she held her phone up, wondering if she could go ahead and check them, “ I know it’s rude but it seems important,”. She made an apologetic face as she held her phone to her ears and clicked through the voicemails, each with her father frantic to have her call him. Scarlet slid into the backseat and called him back. ‘ Scarlet! Are you alright?’ Scarlet made a face as she looked out of the window. “ Uh.. yeah….Is there a reason I shouldn’t be alright?” She laid back into the seat before she put her hand over her phone and looked at Zach and tried to smile at him in the sweetest way she could. “ Could you order the pizza? My dad sounds worried and wants to talk about something. … I like cheese” she said as she smiled and then turned her attention back to the phone.

“Scarlet… you haven’t heard? It’s… it’s about Logan. “. Scarlet narrowed her eyebrows as she looked back out the window. “Dad this really…really isn’t the best time” she tried explaining before she got cut off. “He’s died,sweetie. He was.. look I got told that he was leaving a bar after he pissed a few people off and they got into a fight. One of them pulled a knife on him and well.. he’s gone,Scaret.I’m so sor-“ he said as Scarlet hung up the phone. She looked over to Zach and waited for him to finish the phone call for the pizza. “ Sorry.. that was my dad. He goes sort of crazy if I don’t answer my phone after a while.I have a habit of…. well anyways, he was just freaking out because ex-fiance got knifed outside of a bar.” she said, waving her hand slightly as though it was insignificant. “ He died….who carries knives anymore?” she said with slight confusion across her face. When they reached her penthouse Scarlet got out of the car quickly and made her way inside. It was a lot colder than she remembered and she just wanted to get inside where it was warm.

When they got inside Scarlet dropped her keys back on the counter, bent down to pet Dallas and stood back up. She reached back to unzip her dress and felt a pattern forming with Zach coming into her home and her clothes just coming off so she could change. After she stepped out of her dress and heels she went into her room to pick out something to wear. She picked up the clothes and a spare blanket and came back into the living room. “ I know it seems cold of me to write off his death so quickly,” she said before she leaned down to pull on her victoria’s secret shorts and pulled the baggy tank on over her shoulders and let the fabric drop to her hips. “ I just..” she bit her lip nervously. Telling Zach about this made her feel more exposed than stripping down naked in front of him. “ …My mom died when I was younger. Cancer. But.. uh, our parents didn't tell my brother and I because they thought it would be best.I mean.. my father thought it would be best for his children to wake up one day without a mother, and with no chance to say goodbye. Instead of letting us know our time was limited, giving us a chance to say things we want to sa-“ she coughed,stopping herself.She was getting off track, talking about how she hated her dad instead of what she wanted to tell him. “ My brother and I were really close after that. My dad stayed in the church as a Pastor. Then when we were sixteen.. Noah died. And um, that was really unexpected, too. He died in a car crash by a drunk driver,” she said, trying to make it sound more casual than it was. “ He was the only other person who saw my dad for who he really was..is… I swear sometimes I think that he’s waiting. Maybe today’s the day Scarlet will join them. Maybe today’s the day I can finally have the picture perfect Stepford life I’ve been trying to create ever since my wife died.”She blinked, before she forced a shadow of a smile across her lips and looked back at him. “ You should live each moment like it’s your last.. I mean, I try to.You never know when your time is up. So why spend it in a bar, counting your sorrows, when you could be out living. Doing something.” Scarlet sat down on the couch, pulling her blanket over her legs as though it was some sort of security blanket.” I don’t open up to people, easily” she said as a statement. It was true, cold hard truth. But Zach just made it easy, that alone should have scared her. ” Did they give an estimate for when the pizza would be here?” she said before she turned to the television and started looking for the Yankees game.

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Zach didn't mind that she had to check her messages from her dad, Zach was working for him after all. And paying him a lot. Scarlet could talk to him all she wanted. Zach ordered them a pizza, a large cheese, and then hung up, looking at Scarlet who had hung up her phone too. She explained that her ex-fiance had been killed outside a bar, and Zach was kind of shocked to hear of crime anywhere else in the world then right here were he was swimming in it. For a second, he stopped, his thoughts going to the knife that currently rested in his own pocket, but as the statement she made sunk in, he turned to look at her. She had brushed it off so casually. There had to be more to the story, but Zach wasn't going to ask unless she wanted to talk about it. There were things he didn't mind knowing about her, and there were things he'd be okay not knowing right away. Especially when he knew some of it already. He knew this Logan guy, Bolton or something. Zach knew her history. Being part of the "family" kind of opened doors into other peoples families whether you wanted to know their business or not. Then again when doing a job like this one, it was helpful and smart to do your research on the person. Know who you're dealing with.

When they got to her place, she was once again taking her clothes and dressing right in front of him. Judging by the way he was feeling at the club, and if this was going to become a major occurrence, he couldn't make any promises about his future behavior. Even if he'd told Emilio specifically, swore he wouldn't get involved with her, he knew that task might prove to be harder then keeping her alive. Zach sat down on the couch and listened as she opened up about her life. Zach would never admit to he that he already knew, but the fact that she felt she could tell him about it now was... unexpected. But nice. They didn't really know each other all that well but there was no time like the present to start getting to know each other. He understood where she was coming from. You really didn't know when your time was about to be up. She really had no idea how close she came some days. And he understood that given the situations he'd been through, she knew first hand that it could be taken away from you like nothing. "No, I don't think you're cold at all. A life isn't something that should go wasted moping and feeling sorry for yourself. The best to way to live your life is to just live, right? Just live like you won't have the chance again. Makes sense to me." Zach gave a smiled smile and shrugged. Her ex sounded like someone who had no idea what living meant. Zach knew not to take life for granted, he couldn't. He never knew when he might get whacked off. It could happen. Zach could tell she had said what she had wanted and was ready to change the subject. He'd felt like they had a little connection there, she'd let him in a little bit. And now she was done talking about it. That was fine, she'd said a lot already. It was nice that she felt she could say anything at all. Zach looked at the time on his phone, "Uh, they told me a half hour, probably only ten now." He looked at her, now dressed in shorts and a tank top. She looked like she was ready to just hit the couch for some casually TV watching and pizza eating. That was fine with him. He was allowed to watch TV and eat pizza.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet curled the blanket around her legs tightly as she watched Zach process everything she was saying and she couldn’t help but smile as he seemed to have the same outlook on life and death as she did. ”Yeah exactly, it makes absolutely no sense for people to act the way they do sometimes. If your life was a book, would you want your last page to have you playing the part of the victim or would you rather go out with a bang?Guns blazing. In the fire” But just as quickly as she had dropped the conversation, he seemed to be just as willing to let her. Thank God. Her father, Logan Bolton, other men.. they tried to push her into telling them more, tried to get more out of her. But Zach was more likely to get more out of her with this method, letting her do it on her own time, instead of her inevitable shutting him out like she did the rest. “Ten minutes feels like forever when you’re starving”

Scarlet moved on the couch to sit closer to him and scooted up closely against his side. She pulled the blanket over herself and him as well as she laid against his chest and wrapped her arm over his waist, as though she’d done it a thousand times before.Scarlet groaned as she turned on the game and saw the score, “ Burnett seriously needs to get his head out of his ass. Three losses in a row and they’re still expecting him to pull it off with the pinch hits but he’s trying to focus too much on the defense, when he has no control over that. The ball leaves his hands and he literally loses all control of the game. His only control is the offense, the delivery. If we’re going to let Gardner and Jeter just walk the frikkin’ diamond for us then we might as well just put a couch out on the pitching diamond and let Burnett take naps cause he’s about as useful asleep as he is awake. If he’s expecting a heater for the Yanks then he has another thing coming because I’m starting to think that other teams are buying him off. I mean seriously, NO other pitcher is that bad, for that long.. and still gets to start the game.”

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Scarlet really was something else entirely. She could go from talking about something really serious to just rambling about baseball. It kind of reminded Zach about his own life at the house. Talking serious one minute about jobs and business and then next thing you know everyone's sitting around the dinner table talking about pasta and life and who is getting married and how many people are getting invited. You had to be able to shut it off because there was a time and place for business in his type of job. Because at the end of the day, they were still family and had to separate the two. It was just so... attractive. The way she never got hung up or dwelled on something. She knew how to not kill the mood, even if it was just TV and pizza. And now she was sitting all up on him, touching him and being so nonchalant about it. But Zach was going back to the club all over again. He could feel his heart beating in his chest, knowing she was right there. Damn, he just wanted to fucking kiss her. Just one kiss. How was he not allowed one kiss. And the more he thought about it, the less he was listening about baseball. Maybe he couldn't quite kiss her without feeling like he was breaking rules, but he couldn't help it. He was barely listening anymore. As she talked on about who knows what, Zach cut her off, staring blankly at he TV, his arm wrapped around her, "I really wanted to kiss you earlier. At the club. I kind of want to right now..." Zach stopped to look at her, unsure of how those words had even left his mouth. He must have gone nuts. She made him feel like an idiot. He said stupid things, he couldn't think straight and the entire time she was rambling about baseball he'd been just staring at her mouth. Dammit. She had him all love struck. He had had strict orders not to do anything about it. But at this point he figured, did we not just say that life was short? He didn't want to die tomorrow knowing he hadn't at least tried to kiss her. And besides, they were in her penthouse. No one had to know what happened in here, they couldn't really find out could they?

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet looked over the couch as she heard the elevator start to open. She continued talking about baseball as she climbed over the back of the couch and made her way to the elevator.She’d told them downstairs that she was expecting a pizza and to let him up when he got there. After a quick exchange with the delivery guy she carried the box over to the couch and dropped it on the coffee table. She picked up a few pieces and ran to the kitchen quickly,putting the pizza in the freezer. If she left it there for just a few minutes, it would be the perfect amount of cold that she liked to eat it at. She ran back to the living room quickly and jumped back onto the couch, reclaiming her place she taken previously when cuddling with him. It made her nervous to have his arm wrapped around her like that, sending chills through her spine and making it harder for her to focus. When he started talking, Scarlet looked up at him to listen to him and felt herself smile at what he was saying. Seriously? He was the strangest guy she had ever met. Most guys would have just kissed her but he was just so…different. And it was appealing. There were a thousand warning signs that were popping into her mind right now, but all of it hailed in comparison. She couldn’t sit there and talk about living your life, doing what you want, and then not do it. She wanted it too, and she wasn’t going to be hypocrite.

Scarlet moved the blanket away from her upper body before she turned against Zachary’s side to get a better look at him. She smiled as she reached her hand up to the side of his jaw and leaned in closer. It was sort of surprising to her how the closer she got to him, the more she could feel her nerves pulsing through every inch of her skin. She’d known him for a few days, and she already knew that he was going to crumble her whole world, one way or another. Scarlet sat up closer, until she was basically kneeling on the couch instead of sitting on it anymore, and closed the gap between them. She kissed him softly at first, almost scared that if she wasn’t gentle he’d run away or disappear like he hadn’t been real at all the whole time. After a few moment she smiled against his lips and wrapped her other hand into the back of his neck and held on tightly where her fingers could still grip into the back of his hair. She honestly didn’t think he would sleep with her,not with the way he behaved. And certainly not with the way he had looked at her. Guys that looked at girls like that didn’t sleep with them on the first..she wouldn’t call it a date,…hangout? Scarlet nibbled down gently against his bottom lip as she abandoned her blanket completely and moved into his lap so that she was straddling his hips and gripping one of her hands against the fabric of his shirt, while the other clung tightly into the side and back of his hair.