𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘, 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑠

chapter one. we've all been drunk in front of the fbi headquarters

it was nearly midnight when scarlet threw up on someone's bed, pulling herself out from underneath the sheets in a rush to get away from her own bodily fluids. she had never been so drunk that she threw up on someone's bed before but she hadn't just drank two bottle of whiskey, she smoked two blunts and had roughly three lines of coke. she needed to get home, she was making her way through the house, drunk bodies laid on the ground, she tried not to step on anyone but it was hard, they were too many people in the building.

she called three of her friends to pick her up, she didn't have a car, someone drove her to the party and that someone was passed out on the lawn. she held her phone to her ear as she got yet another one of her friend's voicemail. everyone that wasn't at the party, was most likely in bed, it was almost three in the morning. she was cold, the wind whistling through her hair. she knew she couldn't stay at the party, she didn't feel comfortable with half of the people in that house. they were rich, asshole that she only spent time with because of their booze and drugs.

was she using them? yes.

did they care? no.

she had to go home so she did what she never wanted to but she had to be safe, she called the number she knew by heart, the person she knew would answer. she called her father.

it took him roughly twenty minutes to get there and she took that time to sober up, shaking herself and even going back in the house to chug ice water but nothing helped. when she got into the car, he knew. "is it too much to ask for you to not get drunk every day?" that is the first thing he asks when catches a glimpse of her, she tried to remind herself that it didn't matter because at least she was somewhere warm, somewhere safe.

scarlet and her father, marcus arguello, were never inheritly close. maybe because he hadn't been her real father, just her mother's husband but he raised her since she was a child so she never knew another father. that didn't make them close, that just made them civil with one another around her mother, laura. she was a good, kind woman who only wanted to see the two people she loved the most in the world get along but they would bud heads almost every day. her mother said it might have been because they were both fire signs but scarlet didn't believe any of that. she just knew that there was something wrong with her and marcus could tell, he never loved her because he saw how crooked and flawed she was.

"i don't get drunk everyday, you drink too, it's not big deal." marcus was the judgy type and scarlet was the type to get pissed when people were judgemental. it was something she found utterly stupid, why judge when you have your own problems? marcus didn't see it that way, in his eyes he had been better than her and that gave him grounds to talk to her however he wanted.

"you think cause you drink, you can talk to me however you like." scarlet recognised the route he was taking, he was going to stop at the gas station. "i never fucking said that." she rolled her eyes and saw his knuckles turn white as he gripped the steering wheel. "watch your mouth." he never liked swearing, came from a religious background and she couldn't recall a time where she heard him say one curse word. it fed into his holier than thou persona. "or what? you gonna flip the car?" she joked but she never knew how angry he could get so she didn't want to push him too far, he might actually get them both killed.

he didn't say anything for a while after that, staying quiet before he finally parked in front of the gas station. "just go buy your mother cigarettes, just buy the cigarettes." he handed her his credit card, she wasn't just going to get cigarettes, she got a popsicle as well. she paid for both and walked back to the car, her treat in the pocket of her low cut jeans. she handed him the cigarettes and his card as the car started again. she sat quietly and she listened to the radio, the radio was set to her favourite true crime chanel so she didn't feel the need to talk. she rolled down her window to get fresh air before pulling out her popsicle, it hasn't melted yet when she popped it out of its package.