A Better Boyfriend (GirlxGirl)

Seventeen- Scarlet

My eyes slowly opened the next morning and I found myself in a stranger's bed. Okay, no, it was no stranger's bed. I remembered, after a few moments, that I was now staying with my best friend, with Destiny. Each morning, things seemed a little clearer, as my memories slowly returned to me. It was a good thing, really, but I still knew that I really needed to contact Chase. I wasn't sure what I was even going to say to him, but I supposed that I could start with the very basics, really, that I was alright, and that I was still breathing.

The major problem was that I didn't currently have a phone. Mine had been smashed along with my skull when that car had hit me.

At least one of us had made it out of the incident alive.

"Morning sleepyhead," Destiny greeted me, with a warm smile.

We were still here. Alone together. Her dad hadn't really spoken to either one of us once, since I had been here, so I had to assume that the two of them didn't necessarily get along. The memories of their bond were hazy, though, so I wasn't entirely sure.

"Good morning," I replied, returning Destiny's kind expression.

A small squirrel scurried along the windowsill, taking my attention away from Destiny for a couple of seconds.

Once I looked back to her, she was just wearing her purple bra, getting ready for the day ahead.

I swiftly looked away, so that she wouldn't catch me staring at her. Not that that was what I was doing, of course. I didn't stare. At least, I tried not to, but I couldn't deny the fact that Destiny was more than a little captivating.

A dog barked, diverting my attention once again, and I noticed that the bark had come from a black Labrador in the garden of Destiny's next door neighbour.

"Heh, Stanley," Destiny muttered to herself and I could only assume that Stanley was the name of the dog next door.

"Do you like dogs?" I blurted absentmindedly.

"Yes," Destiny said. "Do you?" she asked.

"I love all animals," I replied.

Destiny's eyes grew warmer, then.

"That's the Scarlet I know, alright," she said, with a gentle smile. She took the hairband off her wrist and tied her hair up into a ponytail- her classic hairstyle. Destiny had the perfect facial structure to rock a high ponytail, basically. She had high cheekbones, a small nose and a perfect jawline. To say I was slightly envious of her would be an understatement, but beauty was incomparable. At least, that was something that my grandmother had used to tell me before she passed on. There were many different forms and shades of beautiful.

There was no sense in comparing one to another, really.

We always wanted what we didn't have. It was human nature.

"Are you feeling okay?" Destiny asked me.

My physical health was actually rapidly improving. My head didn't hurt as much anymore. I didn't feel nauseous so much in the morning, these days, and my memories were continuing to return.

"I'm all good," I told her with an encouraging grin.

Destiny released a breath of relief.

"Hey. I was going to ask you something. Are you alright if the two of us head out to find me a mobile today? I'd like to call up Chase and let him know that I'm still alive and well and he's probably been worrying about me..." I trailed off.

At least, a person could hope that their boyfriend had been worrying about them.

Destiny seemed to hesitate for a moment before she responded. She cleared her throat.

"Yeah. Of course, Scarlet," she said.

"I'm sorry, if this changes things. If my memory loss changes things between us- I do care about you. I wish I remembered more. I'm sorry-"

"Stop apologising," Destiny said abruptly. Realising she had sounded very curt, she continued. "There's no need," she said gently. "It wasn't your fault, Scarlet. You're alive and well and that's all that matters to me. You're all that matters." I wasn't sure if she had said the last part of that statement, as it came out in a much quieter voice, but I could hear the sincerity behind her words, all the same. "You say sorry way too much sometimes. You always have. You shouldn't be sorry for anything, Scarlet. It's more than okay."

She didn't say anything more on the subject after that. Instead, she wandered over to the desk beside her bed and pulled out a sketchbook.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I'm going to get started on some drawing for the day," she explained.

I thought over that for a moment. It was amazing that she could draw. It was actually incredibly impressive. I had tried, but most of the people I had tried to draw had more often than not ended up looking like potatoes.

"Can I see?" I asked her.

She looked up to meet my gaze, her long lashes casting shadows under her eyes.

"You can when I'm finished," she said.

"Thank you," I said. "What do you tend to draw?"

"It depends on my mood but for the most part, people. People I know, people I don't know, people I've seen in dreams. People I wish I knew," she said.

That sounded amazing. I couldn't wait to see all of her drawings. I just wanted to know her more. It was crazy to think that I didn't know everything about my best friend anymore, but that gave me time to work things out.

"I think drawing people helped me out with my self esteem a lot," Destiny said, after a couple of moments of sketching the outline of her most recent piece.

"How so?" I replied.

"'Cause you just see features of a person as... features, you know? There's no good. No bad. It's all the same. We're all human and that is beautiful in itself," she said.