Tempting Her

Soundin' very Minnesotan

"We were supposed to hang out tonight." I ran my hand through my hair, leaning on it as my elbow rested against the small table, "I mean, later but..." I sighed, glancing at my flowery phone case, "She hasn't responded since right after school ended."

Reign sighed, "You're probably overthinking it." When she looked up from stirring her coffee, her demeanor changed, "She's probably taking a nap, Scarlett."

I nodded, turning my gaze towards the window. The sun was setting and I knew it was about to be really cold. I also realized that the road to my house was being worked on and the streetlights were down.

Reign sensed my mood shift and started putting on her jacket, "Come on." She stood up, staring at me expectantly.

"What? I thought we were staying until the lanterns turned on?" I grabbed my chai and put on my jacket while following her out of the small cafe. "It's half past six."

I knew I sounded annoyed by the look she gave me."We are going to Dylan's." She unlocked her Camry and opened the door, "He's home alone."

I sighed and got into her car, "I don't want to play Mario Kart for five hours."

She laughed and turned on the heat as she began to back out of the space, "We're just gonna make you feel better."

"Fine." I connected my phone to her car and we listened to Lana Del Rey the entire way to Dylan's house. I knew Reign wouldn't complain because she's the one who introduced me to Lana.

She watched the Great Gatsby in Freshman English and thought I would like Young and Beautiful.

Dylan opened the door to reveal Richie and Cooper behind him in the living room. He moved aside to let us in, "Welcome to the party that's not allowed to be a party." He peeked his head out the large wooden door frame and looked at the doorbell which featured a camera, "Four friends, Ma!"

I shook my head laughing as I made my way into the old, Victorian style home. "What's up, Richard." I smiled at the tan boy and then looked at the shorter, now nearly bald, Cooper, "Cooper Dougan."

"Scarlett Santoro." He smiled and dapped me up, "How's the douche brother?"

I rolled my eyes, "Not planning on beating him up again?"

He shrugged and fell onto the couch beside Reign, "Nah. Maybe eventually but no one's asked me to for a while."

Reign grabbed the flask from Coop and began unscrewing the cap, "Where's Lexi?"

He shrugged again, "I think in Denver at the moment." He smiled widely.

"Oh! She's flying back from Cali right now?" Reign reached across the table and handed me the metal container, "I thought she was coming back on Monday?"

He shook his head and blew out the smoke from his little vape, "Nah, she and her brother switched flights." He nodded to me, "Where's your chick?"

My cheeks got hot and I wasn't sure if it was the gulp of whatever was in there or the fact that I drunkenly told Cooper about my crush last year at Rocky's birthday party. Now we're close and he's been calling her my 'girl' or my 'chick.' "I don't know what you mean."

Richie snorted, "You realize we skip in Taylor's car?" He raised his eyebrows and took the flask from me and started laughing when he realized I didn't understand. "The back lot is right by the field."

"Oh barf!" I covered my face with the hood of my jacket and slumped against the bean bag chair, cringing to my core.

"Yeah, we saw you all cuddled up and shit." Richie tapped me with his shoe, "But we ain't really say nothing 'bout it, you know? We 'on't play around wit people's relationships like that."

I sighed and sat up. I have nothing to hide, of course. I like Natalie with every part of me. My twin flame or whatever. "Whatever, Richie." I shrugged, silently grateful he was a good guy, "She's not texting me."

Reign snatched the flask from Rich right before he brought it to his lips, handing it to me she said, "Don't get her started on that."

Coop raised his eyebrows, "Why isn't she?" He watched as I took another drink of what I think is a cheap vodka, "Is she with Sydney? Oh, if she's with Yoda she ain't touching that phone." He laughed.

I shook my head and shrugged, "I don't know."

Dylan leaned back on the couch, "Did she go home or something? Maybe she's asleep."

God, they don't understand. They don't know what Natalie's dad is really like. I can't tell them. I don't feel the urge to but I wish they could just understand that not everyone's parents are laid back like this, "She doesn't take naps after school."

Which is such a lie because anytime she's at my house, she's asleep.

Cooper nodded, his posture upright and his phone face down on the table, "She doesn't." He cleared his throat, "I needa shit real quick." He grabbed his stuff and walked down the hall.

Richie raised his eyebrows as he drank directly from the bottle of Tito's, "Ima go out on a limb and say he's not takin' a shit."

"So you're volunteering yourself to go in there after him?" Reign raised her eyebrows at the boy.

He shook his head quickly, "Ima give him the benefit of the doubt, actually." His eyes narrowed as a small smirk played on his lips, "Can we just talk about Olivia real quick?"

I sighed, "She's gay, Richard.

Dylan started laughing hysterically, "Scarlett has had enough to drink, eh?"

"Soundin' very Minnesotan over there, bud." Reign nodded at Dylan as she mocked his accent slip while stretching her legs out on the now spacious sofa.

I was two shots deep when my phone rang.

Reign looked at me with a small grin on her lips while handing it to me, "Nattie is calling."

Richard laughed and Dylan had to cover his mouth with his hand.

I answered, "Hello."

"Hey!" Her voice was too chipper and a Nelly song was playing in the background which made me think she was at Mo's house because of how much that guy loves old R&B.

"What's up?"

"I didn't text you because my Dad fucking sucks and I'm gonna explain but not when we're both with people."

I stepped on the back porch and looked at the reflection of the house in the pool, "I'm also kinda drinking a little bit of a lot at this moment."

She giggled into the phone, "Coop told me y'all were about to get hammered so don't even worry about it."

My chest fluttered at the sound of her laugh and I had to sit down before I fell into the pool, "I'm not as think as you drunk I am."

She laughed again and it took her a moment to stop, "Okay, Scar." Her voice was playful and light and I was falling so hard. But backwards because I don't want to fall into the pool.

"I'm not too drunk to say I really like you."

"And I like you, Scar."

"I like when you call me my name. My name name." I felt how hot my cheeks were and decided to focus on the stars. There are so many stars in the sky right now I like looking at them.

"Don't do anything stupid before we make this official, Scarlett."

"I don't think I'll mess up that soon."

She sighed contently, "You need sleep."

"Goodnight, Natalie."

"Goodnight, Scarlett."

I sighed and held my phone against my chest as if that was the best phone call I've ever had. It was. I'm drunk. But that was great.