Sixty-One Letters

.Two.

"So, are you gonna knock on the door or just stand outside of it like a moron?"

Caroline turned away from the door to glare at her boyfriend.

"Shut up. Just give me a minute."

"Caroline, we've been standing out here for while...don't chicken out. It literally took us two months to find her so it would be stupid if it were all for nothing-"

"I know that," she snapped. Obviously, she knew that. Without a last name to start with, Caroline had to dig. While Grayson continued to ignore the life going on around him, Caroline had been inhaling dust and going through old photo albums in the attic, desperate to find any bit of information on the girl dubbed 'Scarlett'.

And she eventually found it.

On the back of an old photo of Grayson and a teenage brunette in front of a library, the words Grayson Manning and Scarlett Renege, Sophomore Year.

From there, it still took some hunting and tons of phone calls, but they eventually found the address of the white house they were standing in front of. It was small but nice, with dark green shutters and a garden full of beautiful, colorful flowers surrounding the front porch.

"Carolin-"

"Ugh, fine." And she reached forward to ring the doorbell without a second thought.

Oh, fuck.

Immediately, Caroline's palms started to sweat and her heart rate picked up. Just what exactly was she doing? Stalking down her brother's ex-something? Like some sort of psycho? What was she exactly expecting to get out of this? Why hadn't Adam talked some sense into her?

She immediately turned to glare at her boyfriend when the front door swung open.

Her eyes snapped to the woman standing at the door, her head tilted a bit as brown hair flowed past her shoulders, a tint of copper undertones displayed in her hair as the sun beat down on it. Her brown eyes were big and sparkling and, although she was clearly a bit confused, she had a beautiful smile on her face.

"Hi, can I help you?"

Caroline blinked at her, unable to speak as she continued to take in the features of the woman her brother was in love with.

Adam cleared his throat.

"Hi, are you Scarlett Renege?" He questioned, his voice much steadier than Caroline's voice would have been.

The brunette nodded, running her left hand through her wavy hair.

"Yeah, I am...is there a problem or..." She sounded slightly concerned at this point and Caroline shook her head furiously.

"No...no, there's no problem..." Caroline swallowed. "I just...I mean..."

She wasn't usually this ineloquent. As a Manning, she had been raised with the impeccable ability to charm anybody she wished to charm and put down anyone she wished to put down. However, for some reason, this whole situation was not something her upbringing had prepared her to deal with.

Luckily, she had a boyfriend who was more than willing to step in at her distress.

"No, everything is fine," he assured Scarlett. "We've just been looking for you for a while and really need to talk to you. My name is Adam Drake and this is my girlfriend, Caroline Manning."

Instantly, Scarlett's eyes snapped to meet Caroline's.

Her mouth opened a bit and she stepped back in surprise.

"Caroline Manning...as in Grayson's little sister."

It wasn't a question but Caroline nodded anyway.