“Fuck off. We’re just friends.”
“And do all of Scarlett’s friends call her Letty?”
“So because I have a nickname for her, I must be in love with her,” I scoffed.
“Okay, my bad. I’m just saying, if you want to know what Juliet meant when she said that, she meant Scarlett Joan Hart.”
“That’s Melissa Joan Hart, the actress.”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to know that kind of stuff,” Seb laughed.
“Did you forget I have a sister?”
A beat passed.
“Never,” he said, unusually serious.
“Scarlett’s middle name is Ruth, after her grandmother.”
Seb’s smirk said it all. Apparently, because I knew Scarlett’s middle name—and the origin story behind it—that was supposed to mean something. He was just as delusional as Wes.
5
Scarlett
“Wow, you look hot,” my younger sister, Aurora, cheered from where she was sitting on my bed.
I felt kind of bad. She was only in town for a few more weeks before she headed across the country to UCLA in September for her graduate program starting in the fall. This was the most time we’d spent together in almost a decade. At five years my junior, Rory was only thirteen when I moved out for college. Next thing I knew, I had moved across the state from western Massachusetts to Calla Bay, the quiet little coastal town on the eastern seacoast. Now that she had been staying in the spare bedroom of my apartment for the summer, I’d had a chance to reconnect with her—and loved every minute of it. So much so that I wasn’t sure if I should be spending my time going out on another date instead of hanging out with her.
“I’m sorry for leaving you hanging tonight. Are you sure you’re not mad that I’m going out with Eddie?”
“Of course not. Go. I’m an adult, Scarlett. You don’t need to watch over me,” she chided. “Plus, I want to be here to seeyour walk of shame in the morning,” she laughed, wiggling her eyebrows at me suggestively.
“There will be no walk of shame,” I told her.
“Why not? You two have been seeing each other for a few weeks now. Things are supposed to progress, or so I’m told.”
“Yeah, well, they can progress at our own pace.” I grabbed a pair of simple black, heeled sandals and sat on the bed next to Aurora. “So, what are your plans tonight?”
I adjusted the strap around my ankle as she started talking. “Probably go to Courtside’s, see if anyone is around,” she said, referring to the sports bar in town. I didn’t frequent it often, usually preferring to go to Harpoon’s Tavern if I were to go out for the night. “Maybe I’ll borrow a little dress from you, and we can do our walk of shame together.” She stuck her tongue out at me playfully when I leveled her a hard look.
“Okay, you’re right,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I won’t go on a walk of shame… because it isn’t anything to be ashamed about,” she laughed.
“Aurora.” I turned to her, my mouth open. My baby sister was grown up. I had missed so much of her growing up, it hit me hard sometimes to see the beautiful, smart woman she’d turned into and not the awkward teenager with frizzy, red hair and braces.
I stood up and smoothed down my dress, doing a little spin for her. The silky black fabric clung to my curves, thin straps showed off my shoulders, and the little bit of added height from the sandals made my legs look long and toned, if a little pale, but that was par for the course with my fair skin. I tied my hair off my face but left the ringlets to fall down my back. Light makeup finished off the Friday night date-night look.
“You look great,” Aurora told me again. “What time ishe going to pick you up?”
“He said 7:00 p.m.” The clock on the nightstand read 7:03 p.m. “But he’s usually a little late.”
Eddie and I had been seeing each other for a few weeks now, and almost every time he said he would pick me up at a certain time, he was late. It wasn’t like we needed to be anywhere at a specific time, so it didn’t really bother me. Much. But Eddie was great, so if a little tardiness was the worst of it, I had to consider that a huge win.
Another ten minutes passed before a knock sounded at the door. “I’ll get it. You stay in here and make him wait for a minute,” Aurora said.
“Thanks, but I’ll get it. I don’t want to play games. Plus, I’m starving.”
Eddie’s soft smile greeted me when I opened the door. “Hey, sorry I’m late. Again,” he groaned. He wore a pair of dark gray joggers and a plain blue T-shirt. He wasn’t late because he spent too much time getting ready, that was for sure.
