[Scarlet] Play My Way

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan picked the apple out of the bowl that was sitting on the counter in his and Dan’s kitchen. The way Rosie and Meredith filtered in and out of their apartment, at least it provided them with healthy food. He chewed it slowly, moving out of the kitchen as he made his way to the window where he looked out of the window at all of the rain that was coming down. Dan was out for the day, some publicity thing with Meredith. He’d skipped class for the day, and honestly he just felt cooped up. Ethan leaned closer to the window, looking up at the sky. It didn’t look like it was going to stop raining any time soon. He smiled as an idea came to him and took another bite of his apple, running over to the steps and taking two or three at a time until he got upstairs and headed to his room where he found his phone. He scrolled down to Scarlet’s name before he sent her a quick text, ‘ Field?’ he asked before setting his phone back down. He had time to finish his apple and sniff a questionable jug of milk before she texted back, ‘ It’s raining,’. Ethan hopped up onto the counter, spinning the phone in his hands before he texted her again. ‘So field?’. Ethan took in a deep breath and puffed out his cheeks in boredom. This time she texted back much quicker, responding to him a simple ‘ One hour’. Ethan grinned like a kid before he placed his hands on the counter and pushed himself off, running back to his room to change into something he could wear out to the field, even if it was raining.

Ethan changed into a pair of basketball shorts and pulled on a t-shirt that he thought seemed fairly clean. Not that it mattered…raining. He went to pick up his cleats when he remembered it was raining, he really didn’t want to ruin the field. He set them back down before he picked up his regular sneakers and pulled them on. He only stopped to grab a powerbar,which he stoked religiously in the kitchen drawers, and two powerades for himself and Scarlet from the refrigerator before he darted out the door and headed straight for his truck in the parking garage. At least he wouldn’t get soaked until he got to the soccer field. For the ride over he selected the latest album from The Black Keys to listen to. He sped his way through traffic, which really wasn’t that easy when you were in New York and pulled up to the field, which was all but deserted since it was so rainy out. Scarlet’s car wasn’t there yet so he grabbed the soccer ball from the backseat of his truck and brought it up to the front seat, but before he could unbuckle he saw her pull up next to him. He offered her a small wave before he got out of the car and headed in her direction, tossing one of the powerade bottles at her after she got out of her car. “Hey princess,” he said, smirking at her since he knew how much she hated being called anything remotely like that. He shook his head as he looked at her, ‘ Did you really get all dolled up for soccer? It’s soccer… and it’s raining…” he said as though she was mentally challenged.


Outfit

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

“ Dad, don’t you think it sort of isolates potential voters from hearing you out when you parade your daughter around in Tiffany’s latest catalogue?” Scarlet questioned in a hushed tone as she smiled at the next person who was coming up to shake her fathers’ hand. Once they said their obligatory hellos and he moved on Scarlet looked back at her father. ‘ Princess, we aren’t here to ‘reach out’ for potential voters right now. We’re here to get campaign money. In order for that to happen, you have to rub elbows with the right people. Now,.. you look lovely, despite your dress selection. Smile, look pretty. Be intriguing…. Go socialize with Mr.Collins, I saw him around here earlier. He’s already made a donation,” he said as if that was quite impressive. “ His name is Riley,” Scarlet said out of annoyance, “ And what exactly were you planning on doing with his donation? Oh maybe you could give it to Zach so that the next he stays the night we can buy me dinner… and breakfast,” she said, giving him a curt smile before she took the glass of champagne away from him and walked away. She had been back from Paris for about a week now and appearance wise in the upper east side it seemed like things were back to normal. Smile pretty, talk about how excited she was for her father, blah blah blah. Scarlet was nowhere near ready to forgive her father. But she did want to see him crash and burn.. and the higher he got up in the political ladder then the longer she had to watch him fall once she pushed him over the edge. But maybe talking to Riley wasn’t such a bad idea after all. He helped entertain her for a few hours anyways until she was back at her penthouse, Zach’s jacket spread out on the back of her couch, her fingers pulling back and forth at the diamond that dangled from her neck as she stared out the window and over New York. The vibrating from her clutch snapped her out of her daze as she looked away from the window and walked over to the pearl clutch, opening it to read a message from Ethan. What a silly boy, who played soccer at a time like this? But after another few text exchanges she gave up and went upstairs to change into something more appropriate for playing soccer.

Once Scarlet pulled up next to Ethan’s truck she waved back at him as he hopped out of his truck. She took in a deep breath and sighed, looking at her phone to see if Zach had texted her back yet. No one had actually. She puffed out her cheeks, keeping her door unlocked so that she could just toss her keys into the console and not have to worry about leaving them out in the stands with it raining. She reached up, catching the bottle of powerade before it could smack her in the face and rolled her eyes as he called her princess. “ Hey Hollywood,” she said cruelly since that was about degrading to him in his opinion. “ No, of course not… I had this..thing” she said, biting her ponytail holder off of her wrist before she quickly started to braid her hair before the rain completely made her a drowned rat. “ Ready?” she asked, stepping away from their cars and over towards the field.

Outfit 1
Outfit 2

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan ran his hand over his hair, already soaked as he watched Scarlet head off towards the field. Hollywood.Pfft. He stood in thought for a moment before he headed out after her. She was probably just trying to get under his skin the same way he had been with her. “ So how is the upper east side?” he asked non-chalantly as he dropped the soccer ball between the two of them. ‘ Charming’ she said with what sounded like annoyance. He made a confused expression before he looked down and realized that he just wasn’t going to handle wet fabric sticking to his skin as well as Scarlet was. He lifted his shirt off of himself before he tossed it to the side and then decided that if Scarlet wasn’t going to move for the soccer ball then he was going to take advantage first and kicked it up out of the mud before he headed down the field for it. “ But how was Paris?” he questioned as he ran down the field, sort of just enjoying running in the mud for a bit. “ I saw pictures of you two together there… he finally man up?” he asked , not paying attention to where Scarlet was before he finally felt all of her weight, which wasn’t much, barreling into his side until he fell to the ground and could just feel the mud covering basically every inch of him. Alright so she didn’t weigh much but apparently when she wanted to be forceful – and caught him offguard- she could knock his ass to the ground.
Ethan placed his hands in the mud, pushing himself up quickly and chased after her since she was already running down the field in the opposite direction. ‘ What are you talking about?’ Scarlet questioned. Scarlet was almost as difficult to talk to as Ethan was. Ethan pretty much only answered direct questions. Scarlet would answer any question, she just danced around a lot of stuff. Must’ve been the politics in her blood. He could feel the sting on his elbow as he ran and knew that when she knocked him over he must’ve sliced it. ‘ We were in Paris. We talked. We’re home’ she said before Ethan pulled ahead of her and dropped to the ground before he stuck his leg out to both trip her and take the ball back simultaneously. “ What does that even mean?” he asked, looking down at her for a split second before he kicked the ball down the field so she couldn’t get it back from him right away and then darted off to run for it.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet cringed as she hit the ground and pushed herself up off of the ground since she had landed face first and sighed, looking down at the mud she was covered in. “ It means exactly what I said. We’re home… what the hell anyways, how is New York? Are you still spending time with Rosie? Un contre un?” she asked, reaching up to touch the scratch across her cheekbone before he darted off towards the soccer ball. “Ethan!” she yelled out at him out of annoyance before she chased after him. “ I have no idea what uno cobra uno means…” he said before taking a step back and kicking the ball long enough to make the distance where it met the net and made a heavy sounding ‘swoosh’ noise due to it being wet. ‘ Very funny, smartass. You two still hanging out?” she asked, knowing if she wanted any answer from him it would have to be a direct question. ‘ Yeah,’ he said. Direct question, direct answer. Scarlet lifted her eyebrow and caught the soccer ball as Ethan threw it to her and walked it back to the center where she dropped it back to the muddy ground.

Scarlet placed her hands on her hips, catching her breath as she looked over at Ethan who was doing the same thing. ‘ So what you guys still sleeping together? Or at least want to?” he asked before tilting his head at the ball, letting her take first crack at it since he had last time. Scarlet pushed some of the rain away from her face, knowing that at this point some of it on her face was mud by now. “ Yeah, I mean… I guess I still want to, I’m not really sure about him,” she said making a slightly annoyed face at the laughter that came from Ethan. “ What?” she asked, before taking off with the ball. ‘ Nothing it’s just.. trust me, he still wants to have sex’. Scarlet shook her head as she ran, “You don’t even know him,” she said, turning her head to look at him as he chased after her. “ Trust me. I know guys.” he said. Scarlet shook her head, “ No I really screwed up with the Logan aspect of it. “ she said, growing irritated at the fact that Ethan was catching up to her. She dropped to the ground instantly and grabbed her ankle. “ Ow!” she said, waiting for him to come to a stop until he kneeled down beside her. “ Are you alright?” he questioned, kneeling beside her. Scarlet sat up and kicked him as roughly as she could in his sternum before she jumped back up and ran towards the goal, making her own before she put her arms in the air.

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan gasped for air and coughed, putting his hand against his chest as he tried to grasp for oxygen. “That was cheap,” he finally coughed out, even though it was choppy and he was still trying to catch his breath. He felt like a fish out of water and he leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees. “What about you and Rosie. Are you guys still hanging out and NOT sleeping together? Just cuddling on the couch?” she questioned, moving past him. Ethan watched her walk by, looking at the mud on her legs as his eyes trailed upward before he stopped himself and looked away. That was weird. When had he ever stopped himself from checking a girl out. “ Yeah,” he answered again bluntly. No need to go into great depth, she got her answer. Ethan finally took in a deep breath, though his chest still stung, and stood up straight. “ Gloves are off, princess” he said with a warning lift of his eyebrow. ‘Oooo..’ Scarlet said as she pretended to be scared and then scoffed, making her way back to the center of the field.
“ …. Scarlet, I don’t mean to sound like a dick. But hear me out..” he said, reaching her and the soccer ball. “ You and this Zach guy come from two completely different worlds. I started off as . without trying to be offensive.. invisible, as he was. Dating a high profile girl when you aren’t.. isn’t the easiest thing in the world. I know from experience. And I don’t know it just.. Scarlet, you had a line of lingerie named after you. An entire line was designed because of you. You’re … upper East side. You’re banquets and diamonds. Personal shoppers. I mean.. sure yeah. You’re all covered up in mud right now but.. what’s that shower look like at home? How expensive is that silk robe you’re going to slip on?” he asked, licking his lips before he shook his hair out, getting irritated at how much rain was pouring down on them. It was then that he noticed the shoe print against his skin. Nice, that would be a fun bruise. He made an annoyed expression before he looked back up at Scarlet.
“ How do you think he feels about getting photographed with you? Is it okay with him? You’re Breakfast at Tiffany’s and.. Diamonds are a girls best friend. You gonna give that up for family pasta night or lasagna with mr.italiano?” he asked, watching her carefully incase she decided to dart off with the ball. “ Okay,” she started off defensively, putting her hands up. “ First off.. it was ONE lingerie line. Second off.. he is not ‘ mr.italiano’. And you know I have a low carb intake.’ she said with a shake of her head. Ethan rolled his eyes and laughed. “ Right, what was I thinking. You two are perfect for each other,” he said sarcastically. Scarlet flipped him off before she kicked the ball down the field, both of them staring at each other, watching to see who would make the first move before they both took off in the same split second

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

.
Scarlet pushed her feet into the ground. Running was getting more difficult with how muddy it was getting. “ Besides… what about you? You want to talk about the line designed for me? You have a lingerie model LITERALLY in the palm of your hand. You’re an idiot if you think she isn’t in love with you. She looks at you with those ridiculously gorgeous puppy eyes.” she said, pushing him away from her as he tried to tackle her but ultimately failed as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her down to the ground. Scarlet let out a small scream at being tossed to the ground and threw her leg up as quickly as she could and caught his calf so that he flew a few feet ahead of her and landed into the ground as well. ‘Damnit’ she heard him grunt against the ground before he stood up and hopped on one foot for a second, seemingly having hurt his ankle. Scarlet scrunched her nose as she put her hands back out and pushed herself away from the mud and tried to take lead over him.
“ What do you think she wants from me exactly?” Ethan asked, needing someone to put it out blunt to him. But Scarlet just shook her head, moving past him to look for the ball again. “ Ethan, I am not a normal girl..” she offered, not knowing how to answer his question for him. She was probably the worst girl in the world to ask advice from about other girls. Cause honestly? Love sucked. And it ripped your heart out. And it lied to you, and disappointed you more than anyone else. Let you down. Scared the shit out of you. But alright whatever.. it was sort of this really awesome thing, too. And even though things had ended on a positive note with Zach and things seemed to be going alright she still felt like there was something not adding up in their relationship. Like she was walking on egg shells and the bullshit part of it was that she didn’t even know why.

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan nodded as he shook his foot out. Ankle stung like a motherfucker. What the hell did Rosie want? Cause she was sending him all sorts of mixed signals. And if he was supposed to pick up on them he was just confused. She was dating that Tyson guy. She came over and cuddled a lot. Why the hell was he supposed to assume what she want? Why couldn’t people just grab life by the balls and say what exactly it was that they wanted, what they expected. Picking up signals.. knowing what people are thinking, that wasn’t his expertise. People just needed to be blunt. If you wanted something in life, you went after it. You didn’t leave room for question. Ethan ran after her the best he could, not wanting her to get to the soccer ball before him before he decided to just forgo either of them getting it and tackled her from behind , pinning her against the ground. He needed a second to catch his breath, to make sure his ankle wasn’t going to need to be looked at. Scarlet squirmed in annoyance, trying to pull herself out from underneath him but every time her fingers stretched out onto the surface of the ground, they lost any grasp of getting away by slipping into the muddy earth.

Ethan took in a few deep breaths, looking down at his chest, which was bleeding but only slightly and over at Scarlet’s cheek which looked like it had quit bleeding but was still a bright red. The mud moved in patterns over their bodies, moving each time a rain drop hit their skin. “ Why do you think he hasn’t proposed?” Scarlet asked calmly before she finally squirmed away enough to kick Ethan in the shoulder and started to crawl away from him the best she could before Ethan grabbed her ankle and pulled her back in the mud. Propose? Had he heard that right? Ethan kept his grasp against Scarlet’s ankle as he looked down at her like she was a foreign animal. “ You are a normal girl” he muttered incoherently under his breath. “ You need to quit hiding from him,” Ethan said aggressively before laid back against the mud, holding onto Scarlet’s ankle as firmly as he could.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

Scarlet grunted in frustration as she tried to keep pulling from him. “ You need to quit hiding from yourself,” she said, referring back to his situation with Rosie. I mean what the hell? How were boys so dumb? Rosie pretty much spelled it out for him. Scarlet ran all over the city of Paris trying to get herself in trouble so that Zach would pay attention to her. I mean, what did a girl have to do? She kept trying to pull her leg away, knowing that eventually the rain would work in her favor and he would lose the grip around her. Finally she pulled away before she stood up, stepping on his hand as she ran away to head back towards the soccer ball. Alright, so maybe they were a little competitive. But her victory of getting away was short lived since he was already tackling her again. Seriously dude, get another move. Except this time, the soccer ball was only a few yards away. And at this point, she and Ethan were just wrestling on the ground to get away from one another so that they could get to it.

“ You need to tell him what you want,” Ethan said though trying to catch his breath and grunting while trying to contain Scarlet while at the same time get away from her on his own. It was mainly just a lot of hits to the sides and kicking each other. “ YOU need to figure out WHAT you want” Scarlet countered back, trying her best to push him away and crawl her way to the soccer ball. But apparently Ethan had enough of this cat and mouse game because he gripped her by her leg and flipped her onto her back before he came and laid beside her. Both of them laying still against the ground, covered in mud with their hands on their stomachs, trying to catch their breath as they winced in pain. She didn’t even lift her head to look at how much mud she was covered in. She was just thankful that she had thought to bring a towel to lay in her car so that she wouldn’t get mud on her seat. Actually, she had brought a few so she could give some to Ethan. Scarlet winced slightly, looking down at the redness on her arms and reached up to touch the cut on her cheek before she dropped both of her hands back in the mud and sighed. It was strange being back,.. it was strange knowing more about Zach. It was almost like he was the same person, but completely different at the same time. And now she wasn’t just worrying about her own secrets, but his as well.

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan felt the skin of his chest, which just felt raw from all of the attacks Scarlet had placed against him. Vicious little thing. He turned his head on the ground, looking over at her as she was trying to catch her breath. He was going to tell her he was sorry about her cheek but just closed his mouth. She would’ve just told him it didn’t matter anyways. And didn’t they both have more important things to think about right now anyways? What the hell did Rosie want? Why was Scarlet talking about proposals? Why couldn’t girls just say what was on their damn minds? He looked back over at her and smirked. One girl who used to enjoy having a good time with different guys. Himself, a playboy. People probably would have expected that they had hooked up by now, but.. honestly it would have never gotten to that point. Scarlet may have been attractive, but she was also a friend. And damaged. Not that it was a bad thing, but the point was – she was his friend. He didn’t want to demean her the same way other men might have. And he didn’t want to add another problem to the list she seemed to have. He grinned as he watched her, still trying to catch his breath. “ Should we hit the showers?” he questioned, giving her a serious look as she turned her own head to look at him. “ Zach could kill you with his bare hands in an instant,” she added, and she seemed so blunt about it that Ethan just had to laugh. Zach didn’t seem like he had a violent bone in his body, Scarlet.. funny girl.

Ethan picked himself up off of the ground slowly and walked over to get the soccer ball before he walked back to Scarlet who was still laying down on the ground. He held his hand out, helping her stand up before he steadied her and jokingly wiped some mud off the back of her legs before she shoved him away, saying how if Zach didn’t kill him she would. Ethan laughed, picking his soaked t-shirt up off of the ground and walked with Scarlet back to their cars. He stood at the head of his truck, watching as Scarlet opened her car door and threw him a few towels which he placed along his seat. “ Next week?” he asked, smiling as he watched her nod and answer back tiredly, ‘ Next week’ she said, giving him a small wave before she slipped into her car. He waited for a second, watching as she pulled away and headed home before he got into his own truck, settling back against the towel and turning on the heat. He looked out at the field and took in a deep breath before he puffed out his cheeks and sighed. He looked at the time, wondering if Dan was going to be home by now or not. If there was anyone that he was going to talk to about this – in complete depth- with, it was probably him. And even that would take a few beers. Or a dozen. Ethan licked his lips and changed the playlist on his iPod over to All Time Low before he put his truck in drive and headed home, hoping to find Dan.