Scarlet's Mate

Part Twelve

As soon as I walk in the door grandma is waiting for me, "how are you feeling honey?"

"I feel fine," I bend down to take off my shoes and grandma's eyes follow.

She gasps, "Scarlet John, what the hell happened to your hand?"

That was the first time I had ever heard grandma swear, it shocked me and I immediately stood back up, "grandma, seriously it's no big deal, I was getting out of Derek's truck and I fell, seriously it's not even a big cut, I just made him wrap it because well you know how I get around blood."

She scolded me for a moment, trying to decide if she believed me or not.  I kept my face composed and eventually she nodded, "let me see it."

She led me to the bathroom and I sat down on the toilet, I closed my eyes and held out my hand to her.  She unwrapped my hand and chuckled, "all that wrapping for this little thing?"

I heard the wrapping being thrown into the trash and heard her open a cupboard.  There were sounds of paper ripping and I felt her press a band-aid onto my hand.  Slowly I opened my eyes to examine, "I guess I might have overreacted a bit to the blood," the band aid is small and I can't see anything surrounding it. 

"So, grandma, what's the verdict on tonight's party?"

She sighed, "I guess-"

I didn't let her finish, I jumped up and threw my arms around her, "oh thank you!  I promise I'll be careful!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Okay now, calm down," she laughed as she hugged me back, "you have to remember to text me now and then while you're there.  What time are you leaving?"

"Derek said he'd pick me up around 8:30."

Grandma's face scrunched up as she thought about something, "hm, I work late tonight, I'm not sure if I'll be back before then or not.  If I'm not then don't forget to lock up when you leave."

"Why do you have to work late?"  I ask as we head back to the kitchen.

"The other doctor I work with requested off due to personal issues.  Myself and another doctor agreed to split his shifts."

"Oh," I walked to the fridge and pulled out the leftover tacos from the other night.  I throw them on a plate and heat them up.  I sit at the counter and pick at my food while grandma gets ready to head back to the hospital. 

Grandma looks over at me, "alright, I have to go now, please be safe tonight Scarlet."

"I will be grandma, I promise," I give her a reassuring smile.

She smiles back and goes to leave, I stay at the counter and finish my tacos.  After I clean up the kitchen, I go to my room and lay down on my bed.  I pull out my phone to check the time, 3:30 pm.  I decided to text Derek, 'if you wanted to come earlier and hangout before the party, we could, if not that's cool...I'm bored.'

I hit send and threw my phone across the bed, feeling cringy about the text I just sent.  He's not going to respond.  Maybe he will.  I hope he does.  Not even a minute goes by and  I hear my phone ding.  I reach over to grab my phone and see a notification from Derek, 'okay, I'll be there at 7:30 then.'

I sigh, that's still 4 hours away, I guess it's better than 5 but still, I'm bored right now.  I send a quick, 'sounds good,' then go in my closet to find my hiking sneakers.  I don't usually hike, so they aren't easy to find, but eventually I have them on and laced up and I'm ready to go.  I plug in my phone and leave it next to my bed, I'm not planning on going far so I should be fine without it.

I go to the kitchen and head out the back door.  Once outside I scope the surrounding woods, trying to find an opening.  In the far right corner, there's a little spot between two trees that vaguely resembles a path.  I make my way towards it, I stop at the edge of the yard and peer onto the trail.  It looks legit enough I guess.  I start moving forward, slowly, careful not to step on anything that might try to trip me.  Up ahead there's a huge tree laying across the path.