Un-breaking Scarlet

Verdict

ANDY

"Scarlet Farrah Black, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

"I do."

I watched as Scarlet took a seat in the witness stand for the third time. This was the final day of the trial, where we would hear the verdict.

They had questioned her, and questioned her, and she had even broken down a few times. I was even called as a witness. The trial was looking good for us, seeing as how we had direct evidence. Mr. and Mrs. Black were doing poorly. They claimed to have not written the emails, but their stories changed often, and the security cameras in the house proved that they were on their computers at the time.

"Ms. Black, is it true that you had a poor relationship with your parents?" the defense asked.

"Yes. Ever since freshman year of high school."

"Why is that?" he pressed.

"They were terrible people. When my brother came to them and told them that he was gay, they disowned him," she said.

"And, why did you care?" he asked arrogantly.

"He was my brother. I loved him very much, and I would defend him and his sexuality to the grave."

"Do you think, that possibly, your parents were right to disown Tobias?" He was crossing the line. "After all, it clearly states in the bible that being gay is wrong, so maybe your parents were doing right by God."

"Excuse me? What does the bible have anything to do with them blackmailing Tobias, pushing him to killing himself? Tobias was an atheist. I am an atheist. We couldn't care less if they 'did it for God.' It doesn't justify disowning your son."

The defense was quiet for a while, but then proceeded his argument. "Scarlet, do you know why they were blackmailing Tobias?"

"Yes. They wanted to marry him of to the daughter of another shipping company to invest, join the two corporations, and make money. He refused because, well, he was gay." I saw her arms start to shake ever so slightly, and I wanted so badly to rush over and hold her.

The trial played out, Scarlet being able to rebuttals all of the defense's questions.

The jury stepped out to decide their convictions, and Scarlet came back over to me. We sat and held each others hands as we got dirty glares.

Her breathing was shaky, and I knew she was holding back tears. This meant so much to her.

After what seemed like an eternity, the jury walked out. One juror stood, a small piece of paper in his hands.

"The jury find Mr. Walter Black and Mrs. Claire Black guilty of all charges, homicide, child endangerment, child abuse, and blackmail."

"Good," the judge said, "I sentence Both Mr. and Mrs. Black to 20 years in prison."

She exhaled a large amount of air and hugged me. The courtroom was filled with applause as Walter and Claire were walked out of the room in handcuffs.

"It's over," she sighed.

SCARLET

TWO MONTHS LATER

We were living in peace. I could sleep at night knowing that the two tormenters of my brother were behind bars.

"Andy, c'mere babe," I said. He walked towards me. I straitened his skinny tie and flattened his hair perfectly into place. We were headed to a couple photoshoot with AP to prepaid for our duel album release.

It was August, and even though the scheduled release date was in March, we had to start early. I was wearing the same outfit from the Bryan Stars interview because he should be posting the uncut version soon.

"What would I do without you?" Andy asked, placing his hands on my hips.

"I don't know. Probably go to a photoshoot with a crooked tie?"

He laughed, smiling that beautiful smile, but got serious. "Please don't ever leave me," he pleaded.

"Andy, hey, I wouldn't do that." I caressed his cheek and he layered one hand over mine. I could see that he wanted to cry, but I didn't know why he was getting so emotional.

"You promise?"

"Of coarse! Andy, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me!" He smiled weekly and hugged me.

~~~

We walked into the large building, hand in hand. Many people rushed up and started barking our schedule. We had to go to the studio where we would be prepped a little bit more, then be photographed. They wanted us together in each photo, doing cute couple things. All in all, it was pretty stressful.

"I could really go for a smoke right now," I whispered to Andy, even though we were both trying to cut down.

"Me too," he laughed.

Both men and women touched up our hair and makeup and sent us off to the actual shoot. It was a white set, plain and simple.

Andy and I walked to the middle, laughing at how silly we both felt. A few camera flashes went off.

"Ok. We just want you to act natural," the photographer said. We didn't even have to try.

Andy was a cute and lovey-dovey. He did what he always did, putting his hands on my hips. I got on my tip toes and kissed his forehead.

We did a lot of things that would probably make us gag if we saw others doing it in public (not that it was that dirty), but this little fuckwad decided to make it intense my looking me right in the eyes. It was the same look he was giving me earlier when he told me he never wanted me to leave.

The camera went off several times, and I placed my hands around his neck and kissed him. We were trying to keep the making out to a minimal, but it was to hard to avoid.

"Alright, that's a wrap!" the photographer said excitedly, but Andy and I continued to kiss each other. There were a few 'awws' from the stylists, and a few phone camera flashes, but I didn't care. I was with the man that gave me everything I could have even and would ever hope for. And, dammit, if I wanted to fucking kiss him, I would. That should be something that everyone has the right to do.

Andy finally pulled away, leaning his head on mine. Penny ran over, practically exploding with joy, and said, "I swear to god you two are the most perfect couple that has ever existed! Ugh, even after he stopped taking pictures!"

"Don't worry Penny, I'm sure we'll find you a man," I assured.

We walks out of the building and to our car. He opened the door for me and I slid in, but before he closed it he kissed me again.

After that I pulled out my phone to see I was tagged in a photo on Instagram and Twitter. It was one of the prep stylists who had taken a photo, and she tagged Andy and I.

I saved the photo to my camera roll and changed it to my background. Andy started the car and drove off to our house.

We got in and plopped on the couch, cuddling with the cats. We turned on a movie. Andy kissed my cheek and whispered for what seemed like the millionth time, "I love you."

"I love you too."

We never forgot to tell each other that once a day. It wasn't easy to forget when I constantly felt the warmth and safety he gave me.