Who Knew?

4

The days following the fourth of July were strange to say the least. Part of me was extremely giddy after meeting Owen, but the other half of me was conflicted about my mother's pregnancy announcement. I didn't know how to feel. Sure, babies are cute and all but how cute will it be when it's screaming at the top of its lungs at 2 in the morning? And knowing my mother she is going to want me to take care of it, and I just don't have time in my life for anymore responsibilities. The thing was, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it and I really didn't want to spend the next nine months worrying about what it might be like. Although my anxiety tried to keep me from staying calm, I fought against it and pushed the thoughts of the baby to the back of my mind for the time being.
               It had been a few days since I had seen Sawyer, but from his texts I could tell something was off. I could tell that he wasn't putting any emotion or thought into his replies. I could not have Sawyer added to my long list of problems so I decided to walk over to his house and hang out with him. His aunt and her three sons had been staying with him for the week which is why we hadn't hung out any, but I figured it wouldn't be a problem if I went over there for a little while.
               Before I left for Sawyer's house I put my hair up in a bun and grabbed my pool bag just in case he wanted to go swimming. I ambled over to his house and rang the doorbell since he still had company over. Soon enough, I was greeted by Sawyer and a boy that looked about 10 years old. In a matter of seconds, two more boys ran up behind them. One looked to be about 13 and the other looked like he was about 15. The oldest one looked at me with wide eyes and a smirk on his face. Immediately, I began to get uncomfortable under his gaze.
               "Hey, hot stuff," the boy said. At this Sawyer elbowed him in the stomach and shot him a look. "What? Oh, is this your girlfriend?"
               "No, she's not my girlfriend," Sawyer told him. "This is my best friend Scarlett. Scarlett, these are my cousins." I waved and sent them a small smile. "What are you doing here?"
               "I just wanted to hang out," I told him.
               "Oh," Sawyer said hesitantly. "Well I guess that would be fine. You just have to hang out with my annoying cousins too."
               I smiled at all of them and said, "That's fine with me!"
The boys all seemed excited and the two youngest started running upstairs. As I walked alongside Sawyer to his room, the older boy shoved Sawyer out of the way so that he was walking next to me. I jumped slightly in surprise and smiled at him awkwardly.
"Hi, I'm Austin, Sawyer's younger but better looking cousin," he said to me. At that, I laughed because I could just sense Sawyer rolling his eyes. He never said the nicest things about his cousins, especially Austin. According to him, Austin was a man whore in the making. He was only 15 but he had been a player since middle school. Let's just say Austin wasn't one to value relationships or commitment, like Sawyer. He and his cousin have always argued about how Austin treats girls and it's only getting worse as he ages and gets further into high school.
When we stepped into Sawyer's bedroom the two young boys, whose names I soon learned were Devin and Duncan, were sprawled out on his bed playing a video game. I went and sat down on his blue loveseat and made myself comfortable while all of the boys started playing their video game. Sawyer came and plopped down beside me, ruffling my hair. I shot him an annoyed look and he smiled.
"So, you finally get to see what my wonderful cousins are like. How lucky are you?" Sawyer said sarcastically.
"They don't seem that bad. They're just like most boys."
Sawyer lowered his voice enough so that they couldn't hear what he was saying about them. "They come to my house, play all of my video games, eat all of my food, and break at least one thing while they're here. It never fails. And my mom always puts me on babysitting duty because her and my aunt always have to go have a girls' day. And my dad and uncle decide to go fishing every single time. Even their own parents want to get away from them because they're freaking monsters." I laughed at Sawyer's dramatic description of his cousins. Sawyer was always one to over exaggerate everything.
"They're not even bothering you right now, Sawyer," I said with a smile still on my lips. "Hey, will you go get me something to drink please?" Sawyer looked at me with an annoyed face and I stuck out my bottom lip, trying my best to make him feel sorry for me.
"No," Sawyer insisted. After a few seconds of me staring at him, he finally sighed and gave me what I wanted. "Fine, I'll be right back."
I smiled wide and clapped my hands excitedly. "Yay! Thank you so much!"
"Yeah, yeah." Although he seemed annoyed, Sawyer was smiling just the tiniest bit. He walked out of his room and closed the door.
I began thinking about Owen and the events of the fourth. However, my pleasant thoughts were interrupted by a warm body plopping down next to me. I could guess who it was without looking because Sawyer had not come back yet and the other two boys hadn't even spoken a word to me. Austin's proximity was making me uncomfortable, and seconds after I had this thought, he made himself even closer by slinging his arm over my shoulder. My facial expression was one of disgust. I couldn't stand people who were so straight forward and pushy. After I realized he wasn't moving, I rudely said, "Can I help you?" and looked over at him.
"How do you do that?" he asked me. By now I had managed to scoot as far away from Austin as possible and got his arm off of me.
"How do I do what?" I asked skeptically.
"How do you look so damn hot?" His comment and the smirk on his face disgusted me and my jaw dropped slightly. Okay, maybe Sawyer was right, he is terrible.
Although I tried, I just couldn't let his little comment go unnoticed. "Excuse me? I don't appreciate the way you are speaking to me. Please go back to your video games and leave me alone." That should (hopefully) get him to go away, at least for a little while.
"No can do, babe. You've been on my To Do list since the first time I laid eyes on you." Not only was what he said even worse than before, the way that he said it made it worse. Austin was arrogant, cocky, and the definition of a man whore. I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up and walked out of the room without another word.
I sped down the stairs to find Sawyer and stopped when I saw him outside standing by the pool. He was looking at something closely, a look of serious concentration on his face. I walked through the sliding glass doors and joined Sawyer outside. He looked at me like I was a lunatic.
"What are you doing down here?" He asked, "You're supposed to be watching my cousins."
I sighed. "You were right. I couldn't take it anymore. As soon as you left Austin came over, put his arm around me, asked me how I looked so "damn hot", and told me that I was on his "to do list". I couldn't take the sexual harassment any longer so I walked out."
Sawyer covered his face and sighed as well. "Oh my gosh. What the hell is wrong with him? Why does he have no respect for women whatsoever?"
"That's how most guys act, sadly."
"Yeah, I know. Why do you think I hate it when you talk to idiots?" Sawyer inquired.
Laughing, I pointed out, "You think everyone is an idiot."
He shrugged and said nonchalantly, "That is true. But you know what I mean; People who look like they just want to take advantage of you. Like that guy the other night. Owen? He was a douche bag."
Owen didn't seem terrible to me. I thought he seemed really sweet, and I was taken aback by Sawyer's statement. "What's wrong with Owen? I thought he was sweet."
As soon as I said this I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. Normally I was completely comfortable around Sawyer, unless the conversation had anything to do with guys I liked, sexual things, or periods. Although it was rare, these conversations made me feel uncomfortable even with Sawyer. So even though he was my best friend, we didn't really talk about relationship things. I guess this was partly because he was a guy, but it was mainly because relationships in general make me feel uncomfortable if they include me. Don't get me wrong, I want to be in a relationship very badly, but since I haven't been I don't know what it's really like. I don't know how to talk about things like that with Sawyer because I don't usually understand what to think myself.
Sawyer scoffed, "Ha, yeah sure, as sweet as salt. That guy was obviously trying to get in your pants. That's all anyone tries to do at parties. No offense, but he probably found some slut at the party after he realized you aren't one." He sounded angry now, almost like he was in his own world talking to someone that wasn't me. Sawyer doesn't normally speak to me like this.
"Sawyer..." I said quietly. Honestly, I didn't really know how to respond to his sudden mood swing.
"Just please don't be one of the girl's that falls for his bullshit, okay? Please Scarlett?" His mood had changed once again and he was looking at me with concern in his eyes.
"I won't Sawyer, but will you please give him a chance? You don't even know him and you're already judging him. You do this every single time a guy talks to me and I always end up listening to you," I decided that I wasn't going to let Sawyer stop me from talking to Owen this time. "You may very well be right, but what if you're wrong? I could be missing out on someone great. If it turns out you're right you can say you told me so, but at least I will have given it a chance." I decided to take a breath from my long rant and let Sawyer speak for once, to let out all that I could see him holding in. But he didn't. Sawyer didn't say anything for a full minute. He just stared at the ground in front of him with an expression that I couldn't quite read.
I broke the silence again when I realized he wasn't going to speak yet. Softly, I said, "I want to know what it's like, being in a relationship," while looking at the ground and pulling on a string at the bottom of my shirt. "I want to know what it's like to kiss someone, or hold their hand. To have someone that loves me and will take me on dates to fancy restaurants or lie down on the grass and look at the stars with me. Honestly, I'm tired of being alone. Who knows, maybe I won't like the whole relationship thing. But how will I ever know if I push away every guy that ever tries to be with me." I had finally run out of words to say, so I anxiously awaited Sawyer's response.
After what seemed like forever, he spoke. "I guess I see where you're coming from. Although, like I said before, you know you always have me, even if I can't do all of that stuff. Just know that I will always be your best friend and I will always be here for you, through every boyfriend and every life changing event. You can always count on me. You know that don't you, Scar?" Sawyer finally looked back up when he said this.
"Of course I know that. I would just love it if you would support me in finding a relationship if that's what I want. And right now, I want to get to know Owen. I want to give him a chance, and I want you to give him a chance as well." Sawyer thought about this for a moment but he didn't answer quickly enough for my liking. "Please, Sawyer?"
He finally answered, "Alright, but I don't have to act civil towards him."
I sighed and giggled, "Oh Sawyer, what am I going to do with you?"
●●●
I stayed at Sawyer's house for about two hours, cooking his cousins' lunch and relaxing by his pool. At about 1 o'clock, his mother called him and told him that they were all going to go to the fair (much to Sawyer's disappointment) so I said my goodbyes and walked back home. Since my mother would be at work until who knows when, I didn't know what to do for the rest of the day. I really didn't want to be lazy, but I didn't have anyone to talk to. That's when I had a crazy thought: I could stop by Owen's house.
I thought about it for a while. It was an insane idea. I have no idea what I was thinking, but after mulling it over for what seemed like forever, I decided to take a risk and make up for the risk I didn't take on the fourth. To give Owen a chance and hopefully prove to Sawyer that not all guys are bad. It was almost as if Sawyer had proposed a silent challenge with his opposition to Owen. Now I felt that I had to prove him wrong. I had to show him that he could be wrong at least once in his life. (In the duration of our friendship I cannot think of a time when he has been wrong, but that doesn't mean it cannot happen.) It was my competitive side, and the fact that I really did like Owen and he was all I could think about since that day, that gave me the courage to do what I did next.

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Author's Note:
New long chapter! Yay!
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Love, ivy