“I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long, I will stay with you. There’s nothing you can ever do to lose my love. I will protect you until you die, and after your death I will still protect you. I am stronger than Depression and I am braver than Loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust me.” -- Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love.
~
The next day started with Nathan arriving at Scarlett and Autumn’s apartment early in the morning. He had stayed up all night reading Autumn’s story, the dark patches under his eyes and his tousled hair to show for the lack of sleep.
Scarlett opened the door, not yet ready for work. She had a wet towel in her hand, her showered hair still dripping wet.
“Nathan?” she asked, mild surprise in her tone. “What are you doing here so early in the morning?”
Nathan kept his promise to Autumn and didn’t speak of the story. “Just thought I’d drive Autumn to work.”
Scarlett let him in and asked, “So, you’ve heard?”
Nathan was confused. He replied with another question, “Heard what?”
“The rumour,” Scarlett replied, asking him to sit. “About Zayn and his ex-girlfriend.”
Before he could reply, Autumn entered the room, her formal attire indicating that she was ready to go to work. Upon seeing Nathan she asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I just read this book and wanted to discuss it with you. Then, I thought that I could just do that while dropping you off.”
Autumn nodded, picking up a bottle of water and drinking from it. Nathan couldn’t help but notice the fact that she seemed a bit lost.
“Which book?” she asked, in a neutral tone.
Nathan bit his lip seeing as his subtle hint had gone unnoticed. “Uh…” he said. “Blazing skies.”
Autumn stiffened suddenly, finally understanding what Nathan was talking about. She still wasn’t prepared to let Scarlett or anyone else know that she had written a story. So, she said, trying to act normal, “Right. Okay, then. Let’s get going.”
Scarlett, who was listening to all this didn’t give any of it a second thought.
Soon, Autumn and Nathan left the apartment and the first thing Scarlett did was take her phone and call Zayn.
After a few rings, a familiar voice answered, “Hello?”
“What the hell is the matter with you?!” Scarlett said, not bothering with a greeting.
“Scarlett?” he asked, “Do you even know what the time is? Can’t you just wait till the sun comes up to yell at me.”
“It’s called time zone, idiot.” She said. “And I couldn’t care less about your sleep!”
He groaned and said, “I’m not here on vacation, Scarlett. There’s a concert in a few hours and I need to cram some sleep into my life before that.”
”Not on vacation?” she repeated his words. “But, all that becomes irrelevant when you have to hook up with your ex girlfriend, right?”
“I knew you’d jump to conclusions.” He said, calmly.
“How can I not?!” she yelled. “I swear, nowadays I feel like I’m living a chick flick.”
He sighed. “I don’t feel any different.” After a pause, he said, “Okay, honestly, please just tell me you don’t believe all that crap about Victoria.”
YOU ARE READING
Little Things
Fanfiction"This is just how it's going to be, Scarlett." "No, Autumn! You don't have to agonize over this! Just tell him how you feel!" Scarlett's temper was flaring looking at the sadness on her long-time friend's face. "I can't. He sees me as his best frien...
