Loverboy - EJ Caswell ²

"When did I say, Gina?"

It was 12:00. Officially Valentine's day. EJ stood outside of Scarlett's window, throwing up pebbles like he usually did, just normally at a more socially acceptable time. The brunette woke up to the sound of the small rocks hitting her window, and she groaned tiredly, checking the time before stumbling over to her window, dragging a blanket with her to try and escape the cold. She attempted to stop the wide grin spreading across her face as she looked down at the boy who held a proud smile, red tulips in his hands. Her favourite.

She tugged the window open, popping her head out to call down to him. "What are you doing here?!" She whisper-shouted and he chuckled, slightly shivering in the cold, early February air.

"It's Valentine's day?" EJ called back. "Come on, Scar."

She shook her head with a laugh. "Are you kidding me?!" EJ rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet, and Scarlett sighed with a breathy laugh before looking toward her bedroom door. "If we get caught, I'm blaming you."

"No problem." He replied, placing a hand on his chest where his heart would be.

Scarlett let out another giggle of shock as she quietly closed her window and grabbed an easy pair of shoes to slip on before grabbing EJ's sweater that she had never given back from Thanksgiving last year. Exiting her bedroom as silently as she could, she began to make her way down the stairs, making sure to miss out on the creaky steps.

"Don't be out too late."

Scarlett gasped, grabbing onto the handrail to stop herself from falling down the stairs at the sound of her mother's voice. She placed a hand on her heart and took a deep breath before looking back at her mom, who smirked down at her. The brunette smiled sheepishly back in return, nodding her head before moving down the stairs at a much quicker pace and opening the door after unlocking it and swiping the keys.

She pulled the door shut behind her before turning to EJ who smiled warmly at her. She reciprocated the grin, before grabbing his free hand and dragging them toward his car, hoping that it was already warm from the drive over here. He laughed, tripping over his feet slightly as Scarlett swiftly moved to the vehicle but she stopped in front of the car door, turning to face him again with a dopey smile. She pulled him into a sweet kiss and took the flowers from his hand gently. "Thank you." She almost whispered and he smiled contently.

"You're welcome."

______

Scarlett yawned as she sat at the piano. Her and EJ's 'spontaneous' outing earlier that morning had easily become one of her favourite memories ever, but the lack of sleep she had gotten was really not proving to be useful.

"Okay, people. The title song of Beauty and the Beast is the centrepiece of our show. Written at the height of Ashman's and Menken's power, and it's their most romantic ballad since Suddenly, Seymor." Carlos stated and Scarlett leaned her head on her hands, letting her eyes rest for a moment as he continued to speak. "As a reminder, Belle is finally falling for the Beast, and it's not just because of Stockholm syndrome. Love is love."

Kourtney nudged the brunette's shoulder and she shot up, continuously blinking to try and feel a little more awake. "Ricky and Ash, it's time to review the waltz," Gina announced. "Let's take it way under tempo." She said, nodding her head toward Scarlett and Kourt, who returned the nod.

Scarlett then began to play, waking up a little as she got into the mindset she usually did when she played. Nothing else was there with her, just the keys and the notes they made when she guided them through the song.

"Tale as old as time. True as it can be. Barely even friends..."

The brunette looked up and realised that even in her tired state, she was probably the best one there. Kourtney had seemingly lost the voice she had proudly shown just a couple of weeks ago, and was now so quiet that barely anybody could hear her and Ricky was... being Ricky. His dancing was truly not the best, which seemed to really aggravate Ashlyn who very passively aggressively kept making comments toward the boy.