The Queen of New Orleans

Chapter 7

Hope dreamt about Landon that night. The next day she still couldn't shake all the battling feelings inside of her. She missed him already, she needed his closeness. She wondered if he would be at the bar that night as well. Now that she told him somewhat about the truth she felt a little lighter, she never opened up about this to anyone. Then she felt the sadness and the guilt all of a sudden. She knew she needed to tell him. He deserved the truth and maybe she would feel slightly better about herself if she didn't have to lie anymore. She decided that she will go for it and tell him everything. She knew Landon would listen. He would probably hate her. She didn't think he would understand her decision but he would listen to her as he listened to her the day before and that knowledge gave her confidence.

Her phone buzzed around 2 in the afternoon.

'Do you still want me to come over?'

It was Scarlett. She never texted her back. She replied to her quickly.

'Sure, I'm waiting for you.'

'Ok. good. I hoped you weren't mad at me.'

'God no. I was busy last night.' 'And honestly didn't know what to reply to you about the whole lonely thing. you were kinda right about that.'

'I'm sorry, shouldn't have said that'

' Don't apologize. You say what's on your heart. I like that about you.'

'😊 '

When 3 o'clock came, Hope was sitting in the courtyard reading. She wasn't wearing her paint stained clothes this time. She made sure to clean up before Scarlett arrived. When Hope heard the opening door, she got up and walked there to greet the girl.

"Hey" Hope said smiling. She still felt confident, nothing could ruin that day.

"Hi" Scarlett said, returning the smile.

"How was your day?" Hope asked her while they were walking to the living room.

"It was fine." She replied and looked at Hope with questioning eyes.

"What?" Hope frowned at the girl's expression as she sat down on the couch.

"Nothing" Scarlett shrugged. Hope rolled her eyes at her answer. "I don't know. You're different. Why are you asking about my day?" Scarlett asked suspiciously.

"I just want to know about your day, it's a friendly gesture to ask." Hope added.

"Okay. It was fine"

"Really," Hope rolled her eyes

"Really it was. I had a math test I totally aced. Most of my classes were boring, except science. It was the highlight of my day. So there." Scarlett said without any enthusiasm, finally sitting down next to Hope on the couch.

"You like science?" Hope asked her interested. She turned to Scarlett, pulling one of her legs up on the couch to sit on it.

"Not really" Hope looked at her with questioning eyes. Scarlett blushed a little. "Fine. I have a crush on my lab partner. He is so cute. I don't even know what the class was about. He is so freaking distracting." Scarlett blurted out.

"You know you should pay attention to your classes... but I totally get it." They laughed. "So tell me about him."

"His name is Oliver and he's so handsome. He has like the best jaw line and these big dark expressive eyebrows. His eyes are so dark brown that they are almost black. He really is beautiful." She was gushing.

"He sounds like a prize. What is he like? Is he a nerd like you?" Hope asked her, smiling.

"Heey." She frowned "But yeah, he is kind of a nerd...like me. We read comics sometimes together. He even read some of my fics he said it was really good"