“Hi, again,” I say, feeling a little ner vous.
“Hi,” she says with a shy s mile.
“Are you following me now?” Her question takes me by surp rise.
“NO!” I blurt out faster than I can t hink.
The three of them let out a small laugh at the same time. I must sound more anxious than I hoped. I smile, nervously running my fingers through my hair.
“I parked my car right over there,” I add, pointing towards the LC. Paige’s eyes light up when she sees which car I point to, but Scarlette only glances towards it and then turns her eyes back to me quickly, without reac ting.
“Well, that’s good. I wouldn’t want a stalker on my hands,” she says.
I can see a smile starting to pull at the edges of her m outh.
“No, no stalker,” I respond with a teasing tone.
Scarlette looks over at Liam as if she’s just noticed he’s t here.
“Hi. I’m Scarlette, and this is my friend P aige.”
Liam nods at Scarlette then looks back at Paige and sm iles.
“It’s nice to meet you girls. I’m Liam.” Paige brushes her curly red hair behind her ear self -c onsciously as she smiles back at him. Then, she opens the car door, looking pointedly at Scarl ette.
“We should probably get home,” Paige says.
I can tell Scarlette isn’t ready to leave, but she’s hesitant to stay standing too close to me. You really feel the cold January weather standing outside this long. Scarlette reluctantly takes a few steps back towards the door of the car and with one hand on the handle turns to look at me a gain.
“See you Monday?” she sugg ests.
I don’t want her to leave, but she shuts the driver -s ide door of the Honda and brings the engine to life. I sigh as Liam and I walk towards the Lexus. Taking my key out of my pocket, I press the unlock button, and Snow White lights up. Liam gets straight in while I stand for a few seconds outside of my car, watching the silver Honda drive out of the parking lot. I sigh again, open my car door, and sit in the driver’s seat, pressing the start button to wake Snow White out of her power nap.
After a few minutes of driving, my phone starts to ring through the speakers of the car, interrupting the loud music I’m playing.
I look over to see that it’s Philip calling and press the answer button on the sc reen.
“Phil?”
“Hey, El, I’m sorry about tonight, man. Leanne feels awful about the way Madison a cted.”
“Tell Leanne not to worry about it. It’s cool.”
Although we both knew it hadn’t been the best course of action from Madison, Leanne wasn’t the one to b lame.
“You know, when you drink alcohol to get attention, it often means you’re using it as an excuse, something to blame your behaviour on the next day,” Liam says, looking out the wi ndow.
“Ha, you always have to make it so serious, Mr. Psychologist,”
Philip rep lies.
“There’s an explanation for everything, my friend.” Liam lets out a chu ckle.
Liam’s never the type to abuse alcohol; he prefers to stay in control of things. Philip and I, on the other hand, have had a few bad nights with drinking, and mine were probably worse than Phil’s. I cut down my drinking after I got myself into a few really bad brawls when my temper flew out of control. I also found myself drowning my sorrows, thinking about the night I found the girl in the alley. Liam was the one to make me see that drinking was bringing out all of my emotions when all I wanted to do after that night was bury them. Liam tried his hardest to get me to talk to him about what was bothering me so much, but I wouldn’t give anything away. It was then that I decided to cut my drinking down to a min imum.
“So, Elvis, that was the girl from your class?” Philip asks, interrupting my thoughts. I can see Liam smiling to himself while he looks out the car wi ndow.
“I finally know her name, Scarlette!” I say with a sense of re lief.
Liam turns his head towards me when I say her name in a way that tells me I sound as relieved as I feel.
“That’s good to know. I’ve got to leave you boys now, Leanne awaits me,” Philip says with a chu ckle.
“Bye!” Liam and I say at once, then end the call.
The music comes back to life, blasting through the speakers as I make my way off the highway, heading towards the mountains of
West Vancouver. I pull up to Phil’s house so that Liam can pick up his car. He hops out and waves goodbye, pressing the button on his keyless remote. The headlights flash, illuminating his royal
-b lue Carrera in all its be auty.
As I pull into my driveway, all the lights surrounding my home are still on as usual. My mom always asks us to keep the lights on if one of us isn’t home yet. Once the lights are all off it means we’re all home, sound asleep in our beds. I park the Lexus in the garage for the night and make my way into the house.
Everyone must be sound asleep, so I run up the stairs as quietly as possible, taking two steps at a time, and walk into my room.
I barely have my jacket off when I hear: “Tell me everyt hing!”
Because I wasn’t expecting Allison to be standing at my bedroom door, it makes me jump. “ Alli!”
“Well?” she asks as she strolls into my room and takes a seat on my bed.
I lean against the wall, running my hands through my hair and say her name. “Scarl ette.”
“Who is she? You seemed very interested, and she doesn’t look like your type. She looks innocent, Elvis,” Allison looks at me levelly, lifting her eyeb rows.
“I know, she does seem very innocent. But it’s not like that, Alli. I don’t have the intentions you might think. I just want to get to know her.”
“Wow! That’s a first. Maybe she’s your soulmate, Elvis.”
Allison’s big brown eyes light up as she beams a t me.
“Soulmate?” I blurt out. “Alli, don’t get ahead of yourself. I barely know her. That’s why I said I would like to know more about her.”
“And since when do you care about getting to know a girl for more than one night?” she a sked.
“Get out of my room, Alli,” I reply with a l augh.
“Fine,” she says, laughing too.
She stands up from my bed, but just as she turns to leave, she looks at me thoughtf ully.
“What’s so different about her, E lvis?”
I look at Allison dumbfounded, not sure how to answer that question, so I say the only thing that comes to my mind.
“From the first time I looked at her, I have been ho oked.”
“Aww, Elvis, it’s love at first sight,” she says, the smile on her face even bigger this time.
I instinctively grab my pillow and throw it at her but miss as she runs out fast, giggling down the corr idor.
I change into a pair of shorts and a T -s hirt , quickly brush my teeth, then flop down on my bed. Scarlette’s face is still in my head. Love at first sight ? I replay Allison’s words in my mind, shaking my head at the thought. Only Allison would dream of t hat
…
CHAPTER FIVE
My eyes open on Monday morning before my alarm can wake me. I feel surprisingly alert, considering I usually enjoy sleeping in until the very last minute. Putting my feet down on the cold floor, I walk over to my bedroom window and open the curtains to a clear -b lue winter sky with the sun shining thr ough.