A New Life

Facing Aiden

The rest of the week, Scarlet avoided Aiden at all costs. He attempted to talk to Scarlet several times, but Scarlet always found an excuse to leave before he got the chance. Casey noticed the efforts Aiden was making, and she may not have known why Scarlet was keeping her distance from Aiden, but she felt they needed to talk. Casey saw the smile on both Aiden and Scarlet's face when they talked, and Casey wanted to see that again, so she got an idea to get the two chatting again.

During Science, a class Cassandra had with Aiden but not with Scarlet, Casey took the seat beside Aiden, and he was immediately confused. It was silent between the two as they stared at each other, both pondering on what they were doing. Casey finally decided to get to the point and make sure Aiden knew she didn't want anyone knowing about their conversation.

"First off, why are you trying to talk to Scarlet?" Aiden was surprised by the abruptness of Casey's question but quickly recovered and answered solemnly.

"I want to get to know her." Casey hesitated for a second before she decided on following through on the plan she had.

"I have an idea to get you the chance to talk with Scarlet. That is if you are interested." Aiden immediately became intrigued at what Casey had planned. He desperately wanted to speak to Scarlet. He thought things were going well with Scarlet, but then she started avoiding him, and he didn't understand what changed.

"What do you have in mind?" Aiden asked Casey, and she smirked, knowing that Aiden wasn't just intrigued by Scarlet, but he fancied her as well.

"I'm going to host a gathering at my place, and you will invite your friends Mark and Sebastian. I will invite Scarlet," Casey explained, watching Aiden digest the information.

"What if Scarlet doesn't show?" Casey smirked cockily.

"She will be there. I will make sure of that." Aiden agreed to Casey's proposal, and after Science was over, he told Mark and Sebastian about the invite. He left out that he was going because he wanted to talk to Scarlet and that it was a plan. Mark was all for going out. Sebastian, however, was shocked that Aiden wanted to go anywhere, especially to something that someone from school hosted. Aiden never went to parties. He was constantly paranoid that someone would found out about him, so he kept his distance from everyone except the people in his gang.

Instead of Aiden going up to Scarlet during PE, he kept his distance. He was confident that this weekend he would get what he wanted. Scarlet was surprised that Aiden didn't attempt to talk to her, but she was relieved that she didn't have to worry about if she would get away from him in time. Once school was over, Scarlet began walking to the diner when she heard someone call out her name. Scarlet turned around and saw Casey running after her. Scarlet waited for Casey to catch up, and when she did, Casey insisted on Scarlet coming over to her house on Saturday. Scarlet was confused why she was so eager, but she told Casey she would be there. Casey jumped in glee, then let Scarlet get back to walking to the diner.

Scarlet entered the diner and went to the back to grab her apron and notepad. She moved to her first table and took their order. Throughout the evening, Scarlet's mind was preoccupied but was unsure of what was bothering her. She felt like she should be looking out for something, but she didn't know what.

"Are you alright?" Rachel, Scarlet's boss and friend, asked. Rachel was tall, leggy, had short brown hair with bangs and light brown eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Scarlet responded, but Rachel wasn't convinced, and Scarlet could tell by Rachel's raised brow and tilted head that Rachel didn't believe her.

"Why don't you go home. I'll cover you."

"Oh, no, you don't need to do that. I only have thirty minutes until I'm finished."

"Exactly, it will be easy to cover for you. It's no problem, really." Rachel convinced Scarlet to let her cover Scarlet's shift, so Scarlet turned in her apron and put the pad in the pocket. Scarlet thanked Rachel again then left the diner.

As she was walking down the side of the road, Aiden spotted Scarlet from inside his car. His first instinct was to pull over and offer her a ride, but before he did, he froze. He knew he would see her tomorrow, and Aiden didn't want to seem like he was forcing himself into Scarlet's life. Aiden then realized that he was overthinking the situation, so he pulled over next to Scarlet and rolled down his window.

"Scarlet!" Scarlet froze at the sound of Aiden's voice calling her name. She didn't expect to run into Aiden, and there was no way of avoiding him this time. Scarlet then accepted the fact that she needed to confront and face Aiden. Scarlet did like Aiden and enjoyed his company, so if she could find a way to move on from the night of the ally, then things could go back to normal, but did she really want things back to the way it was? Scarlet still had to keep her identity a secret, and the ally confirmed her suspicions that Aiden was nothing but trouble. If she would start hanging out with him again, it would be like she was walking around school with a big arrow pointing at her screaming, "notice me!"

"Hey, Aiden. What are you doing here?" Scarlet asked Aiden as she turned her head to face him.

"I was just heading home, and I was wondering if you needed a ride." Lies. Aiden wasn't heading home. He was going to the warehouse to talk to Jack about the mystery girl from the ally.

"That's good because, for a second, I thought you were following me," Scarlet joked, making Aiden chuckle. Aiden unlocked the car and leaned to the passenger side to open the passenger door.

"Come on, let me give you a ride." Scarlet hesitated then agreed as she hoped in Aiden's car, and he smiled at his success. However, Scarlet hadn't thought it through all the way, and when Aiden asked for her address, she had to quickly make up a lie or distraction. Then Scarlet had an idea.

"How about we get a coffee? You up for that?" Scarlet asked, and Aiden gladly agreed to her proposal. He drove them to the coffee shop where Scarlet and Aiden first talked and got to know each other.