Red Roses ~Marcus Lopez Arguello

5~ Icarus

Scarlett's Dorm, November 3, 1987

The coldness of her room woke Scarlett up from her sleep. After drinking up on the rooftop, she thought the cold air would help sober her up. She could usually hold her liquor, but Petras mixture had been too strong for the mafia leader to handle. She had showered as well, and was almost certain that her hangover would've been worse if she hadn't. With her eyes half shut, she got up and closed the window, then returned back to bed, the warmth of the blanket causing the girl to doze off once again.

•••

Marcus' eyes slightly open as he's awoken by the bright light on in the storage closet. His hangover not wanting to deal with the day. He shields his eyes from the light and hears a very familiar laugh. "Billy what the fuck dude?"

"You need to get up and take a shower. You smell like a hangover."

"Yeah, no shit." He goes to turn off the light and plop back on his bed.

Billy turns the light on again. "You have to hurry, the showers are full right now."

"Fine, I'm up." Slowly, he gets up and throws on a shirt and grabs the extra uniform. He walks out of his room before stopping, "Do I have to shower right now? The showers are full right?"

Billy nods his head. "Almost yeah."

"I'm not showering next to a bunch of sweaty naked dudes right now."

"Why not?" Billy grins cheesily.

"I'm too hungover for this." Marcus rubs the bridge of his nose.

"You can try Scarlett's. Her room has a shower."

"Fine, which room?" He yawns.
Marcus walks towards the room only a hall up from him, still slightly dazed from the alcohol and just waking up. He knocks on her door and rubs his eyes.

Silence.

He knocks again before hearing the groan of the groggy teen on the other side of the door. He knocks one more time.

"I'm going, calm your tits." Scarlett states, getting up from her comfy sheets once again and opens the door revealing Marcus, his shirt not fully put on, looking as if it is cut off a little bit above his belly button. His baggy pants, slightly falling from his hips, and the top of his boxers visible.

Marcus looks at the girl, her hair disheveled from the amount she moved in her sleep. Her sleepwear consisted of a nice pair of black shorts and an Iron Maiden t-shirt, big in size and it draped off her shoulder on one side, revealing a black lace bra strap. A rose tattoo is visible on said shoulder.

"Hi, Argüello." Her voice was lighter in volume, and it slightly rasped. "What are you doing here?"

Marcus, now fully awake, staring at the attractive girl in front of him, doesn't respond, taking in this moment.

Scarlett notices and laughs slightly. That laugh has him even more head over heels for this girl. "Take a picture, Lopez, it'll last longer."

He shakes his head, snapping out of his trance. "The showers are full right now, can I use yours?"

His morning voice wakes the girl up, his tone almost domineering. "Sure." She pushes off her hand that was leaning on the doorframe, and she walks farther into her room, ruffling her hair a bit as she yawns.

Marcus walks in and stares at her room, it is organized, other than her messy bed, unpacked boxes, and papers on her desk. He looks at the pictures scattered on a bulletin board as she walks towards the bathroom to turn on the water and brush her teeth. The board consists of multiple pictures of Scarlett varying in age, with Billy, Petra, Chico, and even a teenage boy who he's never seen. He's in quite a few pictures with Scarlett. The one that throws him off though is a picture of Scarlett next to a different boy who looks a lot like her, with Scarlett holding up a white rose, and the other boy holding a red rose. Not a natural red rose though, it looks almost as if it's been dyed a dark red. Their childish grins match perfectly, the happiest picture ever seen. The thing that's different about this picture however is that Scarlett doesn't have her scar, and both of her eyes are brown.