Life in Search ✔️

25 ~ Fighting

Scarlett's a cute sleeper.

It sounds weird but I'm stuck in a basement with nothing else to look at, so here I am. Focusing on her.

It's only ten, I thought it was closer to midnight. Time is passing so slowly; I'll just lay my head back.

*****

"Ashton." Someone says.

"Ashton." My shoulder shakes.

"Ashton, wake up!"

I jolt awake, finding Sages face extremely close to mine. "What the hell do you want?" I demand, slightly annoyed he woke me up.

"I want to take my sister home, sleeping beauty." He says.

Remembering the whole reason I'm down here, I find Scarlett's face pressed into my chest.

"Oh." Sage begins to reach for her. "It's cool, I'll carry her out."

Standing up, my legs feel wobbly from lack of use, but I start walking. Ella meets us upstairs, a bag in hand. "Can one of the twins ride with me?"

Wait. "You're going to their house?"

"Yeah, Stella and James left ten minutes ago and I'm not staying here with the drunks." She tells me, layering another jacket over the sweatshirt she has on.

"Can I go with y'all?" I ask, my parents still chatting away.

"Sure." Sage offers, motioning for the twins to grab a sleeping Saffron.

After placing her in the passenger seat, I pass by Ella on my way back in. "Can you drop me by my house so I can grab my truck?"

"Of course."

Entering the house, I try to warm my hands up just as mom finds me. "You're coat?"

"Is with Scarlett, save the comment about me getting sick." I say before remembering I need permission to go to their house. "Is it cool if I go to the Rhodes house, all the other kids are going, and I want to hang with them."

Mom presses her lips together, clearly not a fan of the idea.

"I'm obviously not sleeping with Scarlett; I'll be with Sage and the twins."

She still seems unconvinced but Abuela rests a hand on my shoulder. "Of course, it's boring here with no friends."

I look to see if mom's going to protest but she nods her head.

Walking back out, I duck into Ella's car. "Why don't you like driving alone?"

She shrugs, turning onto the road. "I get bored."

"With the twins it's never a dull moment." I say. Or any of the Rhodes children for that matter.

She smiles, "Never."

"How did you even become friends with them?" Because Ella is nothing like Scarlett or Sage.

She's so gentle. It's odd for our group.

She sighs, "Stella and I have been best friends since kindergarten. Two months into first grade, Scarlett showed up to school latched onto Gabe's hand with Sage clinging onto hers."

"When their mom had to pry Sage away to take him to kindergarten, he bawled and ran all the way back to her. Even then Scarlett acted like she wasn't scared, grabbing his shoulders and telling him to make one friend and it would be okay. He walked up to me and said 'we're friends now.'" She laughs, "I wasn't much but his mom took him back without complaint."