𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘, 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐓

FIVE: MINES

hawthorne, california | year of 2009

tyler was walking into his house as he got a text from tyler on his iphone 3gs. he read the message as his heart rate increased. in the hospital lol. come visit. he panicked and turned back around and got onto his skateboard, skating in the direction of where the hospital was. it was gonna be long but it was worth it.

after a few minutes of skating, he made it to the hospital. he sprinted inside and went to the lady at the front desk. "i'm here to see scarlet."

"what's her last name?" the woman asked.

"fuck, i don't know," he responded, shaking his head.

the woman pursed her lips, slightly sighing. she decided to type in the first name and was only given one scarlet in the whole system. scarlet santiago. "scarlet santiago is in room a-102."

"thanks." he quickly wrote his name on a visitor sticker and placed it on himself-upside down-and made his way to scarlet's room. a bunch of possibilities ran through his head as he made his way there, clutching his skateboard. he found the room and opened the door, seeing scarlet with a black eye, a bunch of bruises and bandages. playing on a small speaker was tyler's song, "sarah." she was sitting up, eating hospital food. "scarlet."

she looked over at him, drinking orange juice. "damn, you came quick." her eyes were brighter and slightly green, making tyler cock his head to the side as he observed.

"you wearing eye contacts?" he asked her as he took a seat and scooted closer to the bed.

she giggled and shook her head. "nah, my eyes change from grey to green from time to time." she rubbed her arm and winced as she rubbed on a sensitive bruise.

"why you in here, and be honest." scarlet stared at him for a long time, a dead look on her face and breathed uneasily. "he did it to you didn't he?"

scarlet had tears starting to well up in her eyes. she bit on her bottom lip. "i felt scared to say anything. h-he was getting more and more controlling. i didn't even want to move to begin with. it was him." her voice cracked and tyler sat, not having a clue of what to do. he felt bad. "i-i don't have a place to stay. i can't live with him anymore and-"

"stay with me...for now," tyler suddenly said. it caught both of them off guard. tyler didn't even know if he meant what he just said. "i..."

scarlet's face started to become a bright pink. "tyler, you don't have to do that for me."

"i want to though," tyler continued to persist and involuntarily he put his hand on hers. he brought it back immediately and cursed under his breath, feeling embarrassed. "i ain't mean to do that."

"don't worry about it, you're so cute when you get embarrassed. you do it a lot around me," scarlet comments as she smiles sweetly. "i can say this stuff since i'm single now." tyler licked his lips and grinned. it was the first time he had ever smiled like that in front of her. "i kinda had a crush on you since we first met."

the words made tyler's heart skip a beat. he was excited. "man, i was really disappointed when i saw him for the first time. i wanted you to be mines since i met you. i don't know what it is about you." they stared into one another's eyes and they had dumb smiles on their faces. "can you be mines?"

scarlet giggled and sat back in her bed. "tyler...uh, what's your middle and last name?" she asked.

"gregory okonma," he answered, putting his chin into his hand. "how about you?"

"santiago. i don't have a middle name," she answered him. "but, i think scarlet okonma sounds better."

the name rolled off her tongue so well. tyler loved the way she said it. they weren't even dated and she already had pictured herself with his last name. it made his heartbeat a different way.