Scarlett, the Found One

Chapter 12: Scarlett

The car ride leaving Ann Arbor was pretty peaceful. I laid my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes. Alexii was a quiet driver. Charlotte played games on her phone. Alexii made up disconnect our phones from the internet before getting into the car.

Outside of Ann Arbor was mostly cornfields and scary church signs for dozens of miles.

"Sooo since you're both from Vastoria, what's it like over there?" She asked.

Charlotte had grown up in Michigan. Grosse Pointe to be exact. Her mother was some engineer and her father owned his own restaurant in downtown Detroit.

I kept my eyes close and tried to remember what my old home looked like.

"Well...I left the palace at 13 so it's been a while. I remember being inside a lot. My house was huage. I could go a full day without saying either of my parents until bedtime." I said.

I'd drive my mother crazy with my constant running up and down the halls almost knocking pictures off of the wall.

"We have a lot of festivals too. Rose fest, fruit fest, water day, and ice week." Alexii chimed in.

Water day was my favorite day of the year. My paren't would make an appearance at all of the lakes and beaches in Vastoria and would give speeches about how to keep our shores clean. I didn't care about that part though. Mars and I would play in the water the entire time.

Talking about home made me start to miss it. I didn't know if I was missing my parents or just missing being a kid with so little worries. I hadn't been to a beach in so long. The closest lake nearby was Kensington Park half an hour away. I went my freshman year of college with Charlotte and some of her friends.

"Vastoria is also known for it's wide selection of fruit grown on farms around the inner walls of the kingdom." Alexii went on to explain.

Charlotte listened in awe and wonder.

"Well I needed a vacation from this boring ass place anyway." She said. She lied down across the seats behind us.

"How much longer until we're in Wisconsin anyway?" Charlotte asked.

Alexii checked the GPS.

"We're heading up north. Once we get to Ludington then we'll board a ferry to take us straight to Green Bay." He answered.

Charlotte groaned, "I hate boats!"

I felt a sense of excitement heading to Wisconsin. As dire as the situation was it was nice to take a break from the mundane life of going to class, studying, drinking in the same bars every damn week.

I leaned over and turned on the radio.

A random country song played over the speakers.

"What kind of music do you listen to?" I asked Alexii.

He sat and thought for a moment before smiling brightly, "I love Morgan Wallen."

Charlotte and I groaned. He lost at least ten attractive points just for that answer.

"He's a racist prick!" Charlotte exclaimed from the back.

"And he's a wife beater!" I added.

Alexii shuddered, "I didn't know!"

I crossed my arms, "How could you not know? It was all over Twitter when it happened." I said.

He shrugged while keeping both hands on the wheel,

"I don't have social media!" He said.

I turned back to Charlotte who made a WTF face at me.

I looked back at Alexcii, "What are you, eighty-eight?" I said sarcastically.

"I'm twenty-three and social media is a waste of time. I don't want people I don't know in my business. Plus, if the average person knew how much information about them could be discovered just by a single picture nobody would ever post again!" He said, his Vastorian accent slipping out.

It took me a year to get rid of my accent. It has been described at a mix between Canadian French and New York Italian. It has the potential to be the coolest accent ever or the most horrendous thing ever heard.

"You'd get so many followers!" I said excitedly.

He looked at me out of the side of his eye, "And why is that?" He asked.

I caught myself before I called him any type of cute or attractive.

"Because you're literally hot and that gets a lot of clicks!" Charlotte blurted from the back seat.

I felt my face grow red from second-hand embarrassment.

Alexii ignored her and kept his eyes on the road.

"Well, I for one can't wait to get back to Wisconsin. Charlotte, you'll love my aunt. She's like really chill and stuff." I said.

I relaxed into my seat and thought about the look on my family's face once they see me. I wonder if Uncle Cassius knew his brother was sick. Surely, he did. I also wondered if I would run into Maya. It had been three years since I had seen her and even then, it was while she was in the hospital, unable to talk.

I found peace knowing that the last memory we had together was a sweet one. Not a day had gone by that she hadn't crossed my mind. With that final thought I tried my best to fall asleep.