erik menendez // if you love me..don't let go

chapter two

"Ugh, what is that noise?" I squeezed my head with my hands, getting annoyed at this weird popping noise that's been going on for an hour.

"Look out the window." Annabelle suggested. Confused, I went to one of my windows. This window was at the back of the house and faced the house behind me. And sure enough, there was a large tennis court right there. I could see someone playing, going back and forth so fast with this machine that kept on popping out tennis balls every second. He looked really good. His legs almost had this rhythmic movement about them. It was like there was this choreography that he followed. He had such smooth movements that flowed so easily and just meshed together. It looked so easy.

"Well?" I snapped out of my daze at the sound of Anna's voice.

"Huh?" I breathed, losing track of our previous conversation.

"What is it? Your head is taking up the whole window." She joked.

I let out a laugh and moved my body so she could take a closer look.

"Oh! It's that kid from my drama class!" Anna exclaimed. "What's his name? Hm.." She put her finger on her chin as if deep in a thought.

"Oh." I whipped my head back to the tennis court, where the boy now had slammed his racket on the court, then kicked it into the fence. He turned around, giving me a full view of his face. Oh. It's that same kid from homeroom. For some reason, he was all over the place, and I only just noticed him. How interesting.

***

The first week of school was finally over. It consisted of nothing but boring syllabuses, icebreakers even though we've all know each other for three years, but no more weird stares from that boy. For some reason I wasn't able to remember his name. I knew the last name was Menendez because I always had to sit near him because of alphabetical order. But he was a very quiet person. He seemed pretty shy and never raised his hand. In the meanwhile, I was a very talkative person. It was very difficult to get me to shut up. Just ask any of my friends really. I could talk for days.

A few days ago I was told that me and my dad had to go to someone's house so he could discuss business or something with a guy he works with. Something about entertainment, I never really caught on to it. Apparently they were just on the other side of the block, so it was an easy walk. But it being a Friday night, I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was get cozy in my comfy bed and sleep for a whole day. And then I was so rudely dragged out of my bed before I could even put the blankets on.

Looking in the mirror, I honestly felt like myself. I loved to dress up yet I couldn't just do that on any normal day, so my mood was brought up a teensy bit. I was wearing a basic yet cute dark red, short sleeved dress that hugged my curves almost perfectly and went out just at my hips. My dark hair was in a bun with some loose strands which is something that I rarely had done, but it looked good nonetheless. 

"Could we not have taken the car, Dad?" I groaned, cursing myself for wearing these stupid heels. I could feel the blisters on my heels continuously grow.

"Scarlett, are you serious? They're around the corner. I assure you you will live." Dad let out his big dad laugh. Of course he didn't understand the pain. He looked so comfortable in his fancy, new, tailored suit and flats.

***

"Now, just act normal. Oh, and be professional." Dad warned me as we walked up to the front door of the house. 

"Be professional? Who is this guy, the president?" I joked, but Dad didn't seem to find it funny. My smile turned into something more serious.

"Jose can be..let's just say he doesn't like to play around. I'm just asking you to be careful." He raised his arm and knocked on the door twice. "But don't worry too much, I'm pretty sure you'll mostly spend time with his two sons."

His two sons? But before I had time to ask, the door swung open sort of aggressively and popped out a very tall man. He was wearing a very fancy suit that somehow looked way more expensive than Dad's suit. He opened the door a bit more to let us in, greeting us both with handshakes.

"Scarlett." I smiled up at him as I took his hand.

"Jose." He said, giving me one of the firmest hand shakes I've ever had. His hands were so sweaty and sticky, I couldn't wait to wash my hands. After he let go, I secretly wiped them on my dress, hoping he didn't notice.

The foyer was humongous, with a big staircase that led to a balcony. It was almost the same layout as my house, but you could tell this one had so much more money involved in it. There were millions of rich looking painting and random abstract items around the walls and floors. Looking through a room at the back and out the window, I spotted a tennis court. I walked the tiniest bit closer, recognizing that tennis court. And that's when I saw my house as well. Shoot. This is that kid from my school's house. 

"Boys! Come down now, we have guests!" Jose had this booming voice that made me ever so slightly jump at the sound of. It snapped me out of my thoughts as I looked up at the stair case and saw the very boy I laid eyes on on the first day of school. My stomach quenched and my hands got sweaty. This was going to be so awkward. Next to him was who I presumed was his brother. They both wore fancy, black suits and looked so clean and just screamed rich as they walked down the stairs. It was like they were having a photo shoot or something.

"Hey, I'm Lyle." The shorter, yet older looking one said once he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm Scarlett." I said, shaking his hand. 

"I must say, you're a very beautiful woman. You go to Beverley Hills High School, right?" Lyle asked.

"Oh wow, thank you. And yes I do." I laughed. I could feel heat rushing up to my cheeks. Gosh.

"I was asking because you look just like this girl that my brother over here was describing. Erik?" 

I whipped my head around to where the boy was shaking hands with Dad. He looked toward me with those blue eyes of his and it was like I was put into a trance. Ignoring whatever Dad was telling him, he walked over to me all casually and put his hand out.

"I know you, Scarlett?" His eyes never left me as he took my hand. I nodded my head, having too many emotions to respond. Why I felt this way? I had no idea. "It's Erik."

Erik.

"Nice to formally meet you, Erik." I said his name a bit slowly, seeing how it feels on my tongue. His handshake was more of a holding-my-hand, instead of a real handshake. But nonetheless, I didn't feel awkward about it. His hand felt so soft unlike his fathers. There was no cracks and I had a feeling that it smelled good. Maybe that was a weird thought.