SCARLET FOUND THE CHALLENGE to live harder than anything she had ever done in her life. All of her instincts told her to go back home, to keep checking her phone, to keep making up terrible what-if scenarios in her head. Standing inside the auditorium felt wrong.
Out of place.
Rehearsals went by as usual. She sat at the end of the stage, away from performers, working on painting the pillars a bone white before other skilled artists could come back to add little details to make it look worn down and aged.
Jake ran his lines a few feet away from her, declaring his undying love to Lindsey. Scarlet rolled her eyes at the dramatization and continued with the painting.
"Still looking over at the enemy, I see," Elliot whispered in her ear. She shook her head and paid him no attention. She pretended like his presence didn't affect her, but her knuckles turned white around her paint brush. "You have to be careful, Scarlet."
His voice sent a thrilling shiver down her spine, and she cleared her throat hoping it could get rid of it.
"You said that last time," she pointed out, moving to the other side of the pillar. Elliot followed close behind her.
"I'm serious, Scarlet." He reached for her arm, but she moved just in time to paint the pillar. "He's not what you think. He's a player. He's playing with you."
She stopped her painting to turn to him. His skin shone with a layer of sweat, highlighted when he crinkled his forehead as he stared down at her. "Look, I get that you're very concerned, but everything is fine. Thank you for worrying, but I'm pretty sure I got this."
Elliot narrowed his amber eyes. The lion inside looked like he waited to pounce on her, the poor gazelle. Finally, he took a swig of water from a bottle he had on hand. The cool liquid must have brought some sense back into him because the intensity behind his dilated stare softened.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to see you get hurt. You know that, right?" He extended his hand as if he expected her to take it, but she nodded instead. His hand fell limp at his side as he studied her. "Are you okay?"
Scarlet sighed, staring at the pillar in front of her. It needed a better coat of paint. She was never going to get it done nicely. Fortunately, the focus of the play wouldn't be on the set, but more so on the actors if they performed well. She counted on them to deliver a more than mediocre performance during the functions. That way she could continue doing her own mediocre job whilst ignoring Elliot as he followed her every step.
"Scarlet?"
"Yes, I'm fine, Elliot," she snapped. He took a step back, and she sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry, alright. I'm tired. I really don't want to be painting pillars. I wanna be home, okay. I shouldn't take it out on you."
"Yeah," he snorted. "Hey, I'm sorry that you're not feeling it. If you want, we could skip out of here. Maybe go somewhere else?"
Scarlet walked away from him past the stage curtains to refill her paint. He followed, breathing down her neck as he waited for a response. She didn't know how to respond. She didn't want to go out again with him after what happened the last time.
He grazed her arm. "Scarlet?"
"Elliot, please, no." She stepped away from him, holding the tub of paint and brush between them. "I... you know my situation. I can't leave the auditorium. I'm sorry."
"It could be like last time, Scarlet," he pleaded. "We could get a good distraction."
"She said no, man."
He jumped to the side to find Jake behind him. Elliot glared at him. Amber eyes on blue in a striking stare contest. Scarlet held the paint to her chest, not even caring that her shirt was stained in bone white.
YOU ARE READING
Forever Crimson
Teen Fiction"The vultures are disguised as humans." Scarlet Turner has her last semester of high school planned out: graduate as best as she can and take care of her sick mother. But when she's told she won't graduate because of the pile of tardies she's collec...
