Craving Scarlett

|17|. When Best Friends Fall

Wooing you, of course.

Wooing. Me. Tom. Best friends. What?!

"Could you repeat that because I think I might be hearing things. I thought you said wooing just now but that must have been a mistake right? My ears aren't what they used to be, I'm afraid. And could you please step back, it's getting a little hard to breathe in here."

He immediately let go, obliging me and I let out a sigh of relief. His nearness had made it impossible to think properly. I straightened my sweatshirt and meandered over to the crumpled box of pizza on the vinyl flooring.

I picked it up and set it back on the table. Only now noticing the bottle of wine Tom had brought. One of my favourites, the Pinot Noir. I picked up the bottle, thoroughly examining its content.

"Scar, you still with me?"

I spun to face him. "You brought my favourite. The Pinot Noir," I blurt out as if he didn't already know. It wasn't like I hadn't told him a hundred or so times.

"I know that, that's why I bought it and remember I owed you pizza and some fine wine to quote your own words."

"Oh yeah. Yeah I do. Thanks. For the drink. It means a lot. It really does," I rambled trying to fill the awkward silence.

He sighed and thrust his hands into his pocket and gave me a weary smile. "You must be tired now. I suggest you get some rest for tomorrow. I'll be taking my leave, alright?"

He turned to the door but stopped in his tracks. "Promise me one thing. You'll think about what I've told you. I mean it, Scar. It's you I want and I intend to fight for you." He walked towards me and kissed my forehead. "Good night scar." And with that he rounded on his heel and departed.

God, I just hope I haven't lost my best friend.

★★★

I tossed and turned throughout the night. My brain refused to shut down for even a minute. Although, if you think about it, how could a person sleep when you had just learned your best friend, almost like a brother, planned to woo you and to fight for you? It didn't happen except in TV shows. This stuff didn't happen in real life! At least not to people like me.

Obviously, the alcohol he consumed the other day must have done more damage to his head than I thought. What happened to the all consuming love he had for Audrey and where the hell was she anyway? This was her mess to clean up. She had to tell Tom everything and sort this whole thing out, 'cause I was really starting to freak out.

Then maybe I could understand my relationship with Marco and why the hell he hadn't called either. Perhaps, he has been too busy and couldn't call but he could have sent a text surely? It didn't take that long.

Argh, I changed position and lay face down on my soft pillow. Maybe, this way I would sleep faster. God knows, I haven't been getting enough sleep these days. Even now, I could see streaks of bold orange and furious scarlet with shy touches of blush emerge and break from the clutches of the vast umbra that is the sky, alerting me to the fact that it would soon be daybreak and I haven't gotten a wink of sleep yet.

Rrrrrrrnnnng! Rrrrrrrnnnng!

I cringed at the deafening volume of my alarm clock. Why was it so loud? Then because I was angry and cranky that I hadn't gotten any sleep yet and my alarm clock had the nerve to wake me when I was not even sleeping in the first instance, I flung out my right arm and punched it off my bedside table. It fell down and died, emitting one low whine before passing away to the great unknown.