𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘, 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐓

TWENTY-ONE: HIT AND RUN

los angeles, california | february of 2018

"you look good, baby."

scarlet saw tyler in the reflection of the mirror in the bathroom and smiled. "thanks." she started to put on her hoops earrings. she turned to tyler. "you don't look so bad yourself."

"i try," tyler says, smiling, showing off his grills and he had a glint in his eyes. his arms snaked around her waist. "it's been so long since we had a chance to go and have fun."

"i know. i'm not letting anything ruin the night," scarlet says. she kisses her cheek and takes his hand. "let's hurry. we already late to the function."

after a short drive, they arrived. "hey, uh... is it alright if i get a couple of drinks?" tyler asked scarlet.

she sighed. "but you've been doing so good..."

tyler cut her off. "i know, baby. but please."

scarlet pursed her lips. "alright. but not too much."

tyler and scarlet walked inside of the house. keith, the host of the party looked to his left and saw tyler and scarlet walk in through the front door. "yoo! my man, tyler, wassup?!" they dap each other up.

"nothing much man. just chillin', you know?" he responds. scarlet stood off to the side. she wasn't used to be around so many people in spaces like this.

keith flashes his grills as he smiled and nodded at scarlet. " hey, how you doing?"

she waved shyly. "hi, i'm good." she latched her hand back onto tyler's arm.

keith's girlfriend, ryan was calling for him so he excused himself and walked away.

tyler turned to scarlet. "you want me to go get you a drink? or are you gonna wait?" he asked, pointing to where the beverages and food were.

"no, baby, i don't want anything to drink," she says softly, speaking over the music a little. a spanish boy had approached her and they engaged in small talk. she explained her paranoia in the moment and they both made self-deprecating jokes that lightened her mood a little bit.

tyler walked over to the two and cleared his throat, trying to get scarlet's attention. he sipped his drink and smacks his lips tasting the drink.

"...yo espero que si," she says to the spanish boy and smiles at him. she turned to tyler and felt happier seeing him. "oh, tyler. i made a friend. his name is manu and he's from spain." she turns to manu. "habla usted ingles? tyler es mi novio."

manu smiled and nodded. "hi, tyler." he smiled, exposing his white pearls.

tyler took a sip of his drink and finally spoke. "hey..." he spoke dryly. manu got the message that tyler probably wanted him to leave so he turned to scarlet and gave her his number. in spanish, he asked to be friends and talk some time and scarlet agreed.

scarlet brought her attention to tyler again who seemed dry. "lighten up, baby. i'm socializing," she says with a laugh and looks into his cup. "don't drink so much, tyler. okay. i'm still a bit on edge and both of us have to be somewhat sober tonight."

"one more drink..." tyler says. scarlet gave her a look. "thats it. i swear." scarlet said nothing and went and walked away, socializing with others.

tyler had two cups of ciroc, he was already on his third drink and he chugs it down, walking up to scarlet and placed his large hands on her hips, moving slowly to the music. her hope moved side to side against his part. he pulled away to get more to drink. he stumbled a bit as he made he way there.

scarlet made her way to tyler and grabbed his arm before he grabbed another cup. "no more, tyler! you shouldn't be drinking this much!" she was frustrated.

tyler's eyelids hung low and he began to grown upset with her. "scarlet, for once. treat me like your twenty-seven year old boyfriend because that's who i am. i'm not your s-son. just let me...let me have fun." his words slurred. he stumbled over to the alcohol again and got another cup and poured more ciroc into it. he huffed and closed his eyes and chugged it down.

scarlet wanted to cry.

she snatched the cup of alcohol away from making it spill everywhere but she didn't care. she grabbed a drunk tyler and dragged him outside and started making her way to the car.

with tears falling down her face, she began to lecture tyler. "all i ask is for you to not drink so much! you scare me."

tyler didn't have time to even say anything back.

scarlet didn't look before she crossed the street and a car was driving full speed and not paying attention to the couple who was walking across the street. everything happened so fast. scarlet couldn't react. all she can process was the flashing headlights. she quickly pushed tyler out the way and the car hit scarlet hard.

she flew backwards into the air and as she fell to the ground, her head hit the concrete, immediately killing her and the car continued driving. a hit and run.

tyler threw up before he got onto both of his feet. he was confused as to why he even ended up on the floor. he became more dizzy to hear a commotion behind him. people were screaming.

he looked on the ground, seeing scarlet on the ground, bleeding from her head. he stumbled to her and felt his heart sinking. he tried to focus. but everything would stay still but then double and twist again. her eyes were open, mouth closed, a cold body. he lifted up her head and started to shake feeling her warm blood under his hand. "scarlet..."