Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
Scarlett
23 Years Old
“Red alert! I made out with Colin, guys.” The front door to Harper’s house swung too wide with Scarlett’s grand entrance and hit the wall with a loud smack. She winced, both because of the noise and the company she hadn’t realized would be at her sister’s house for their weekly wine and telenovela night. The information had been bubbling up inside of her for days, and she needed to debrief with all her favorite people. As expected, her sister was sitting on the couch, but so was Piper Hartrick.
“What the fuck?” Harper gasped. “Why would you do that? Was this why you left the gala early?”
Kashvi and Saanvi poked their heads out from the kitchen, eyebrows arched in matching sisterly interest. “Finally!” Kashvi exclaimed and walked out with a tray full of charcuterie, setting it on the ottoman in the middle of the room. “How was it?”
“Uh… I…” Scarlett bit her lip and deflated a bit, looking nervously at Piper.
“I already know,” Piper said casually, sipping water from a glass.
“He told you?” Scarlett’s cheeks flushed. She felt an undercurrent of satisfaction as well as something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It wasn’t quite joy, but there was a certain thrill from knowing that Colin had gone straight home to tell everyone that he had kissed her.
“Pearl told me.” Piper paused, the corners of her mouth hitching up while she was clearly trying to hold back a smile or laugh. “Then Carter… then Colin.” The breath Scarlett had been holding while Piper was speaking finally released. “Via text,” Piper tacked on, holding out her phone to Scarlett.
Gingerly, Scarlett took the phone and stared down at the text message Colin had sent just this morning to the sibling group chat appropriately labeled “The Hartrick Orphans.”
Colin 6:23 AM
Pearl told me I need to share more, so I’m informing you that Scarlett and I made out outside the charity gala last night. 10/10 would kiss again. I also told her I still love her and she said she didn’t believe me, so that part sucked, but the physical part was great. I will work on the rest.
The text was so Colin-coded it made her want to laugh out loud. The ending, however, had her intrigued, so she read on.
Carter 6:25 AM
Dude, you woke me up. It’s too fucking early for you to be blowing up this gc with that kind of information.
Colin 6:28 AM
Oh, sorry.
Piper 6:30 AM
Carter is in a depressed post break-up funk. Don’t worry about him. The rest of us are up and out of bed.
Cooper 6:32 AM
I think I heard him crying last night.
Pearl 6:33 AM
Definitely crying
Carter 6:33 AM
My life is a deep, dark pit of despair.
Colin 6:34 AM
Would it help if we told you that your girlfriend sucked? I don’t usually make unilateral decisions about people’s character, but I feel confident that Stella was a bad person. If Scarlett was like Stella, she’d be easy to get over.
Cooper 6:35 AM
Colin’s decisions are usually wrong, but he’s right this time.
Pearl 6:36 AM
Coop, give Colin a break. We get it, you’re an angsty teen who can hold a grudge for way too long.
Piper 6:37 AM
Coop, if I can forgive you for tattling on me to Walker when I tried to sneak out the window in high school, you can forgive Colin.
Cooper 6:38 AM
Shouldn’t you be thanking me? Your klutz ass would have fallen off the roof.
Scarlett held back a laugh. The windows were frequent fliers in the Hartrick household, apparently. She wasn’t sure what Cooper was holding a grudge over, but her urge to defend Colin was a surprising and unwelcome thought.
Carter 6:39 AM
Everyone shut up, I’m trying to wallow.
Pearl 6:41 AM
Turn your phone on dnd, old man.
Piper 6:42 AM
Coop, I’m gonna tell Walker you said “ass.”
Colin 6:43 AM
Cooper, will you just tell me exactly what I need to do to get you to forgive me? I’ve already run through a list of suggestions from Google
Cooper 6:45 AM
Make a time traveling machine.
Scarlett went to scroll on, and Piper quickly grabbed the phone before she could. “I shouldn’t let you see the whole conversation,” Piper said sheepishly.
“Why? What did he say?” Harper demanded.
“It’s just a bunch of personal stuff that I think he’d rather say in person,” Piper said.
“Probably should have said it years ago,” Harper grumbled, unknowingly mimicking Cooper’s thoughts. Piper, for all her bubbliness, turned toward Harper and delivered the most venomous look Scarlett had ever seen.
“If you expected an eighteen-year-old autistic boy who just lost his parents to be able to articulate all his feelings perfectly, then that seems like more of a you problem,” she said contritely.
Harper blanched but met Piper’s gaze directly, and it felt like a trainwreck Scarlett couldn’t look away from. Except the trainwreck was her life, and she was just watching from the sidelines. “I never said I expected that. I just expected him to not destroy my sister on his path to well-being.”
“Stop it,” Scarlett cut in, tone sharp and directed at her sister. “He did not destroy me. I’m fine.”
“You are now .” Harper pursed her lips. “And that’s why I’m worried. You’re finally over it, and you’re just going to fall right back into it.”
“I was never fucking over it, okay?” Scarlett snapped, her voice way louder than she intended. The room went dead silent, and she caught Kashvi’s brief look of shock before she squinted her eyes shut. “Look, I can appreciate that you want to protect me, H. And I know I made several stupid decisions when I was eighteen, but I don’t regret any of those mistakes. I also know that I went a little off the deep end back then, but it felt like the person I was in love with had just died, so I think that warranted a bit of a depression. I’m so grateful for you.” She gestured to her sister then looked up to toss a glance between Kashvi and Saanvi. “All three of you. But if I want to fuck up my own life, I’m going to. I make my own decisions, and I’ll learn from them. I get to come here hoping to have a girls’ night and freak out over accidentally making out with my ex in the rain until his fitness watch lit up like a Christmas tree because I made his heart rate spike.”
“Oh my God!” Kashvi gasped and wiggled in her seat. Out of everyone, Scarlett could always count on her best friend to have an appropriate reaction. Saanvi glared at her sister, either for interrupting Scarlett’s long-winded rant or because she thought this wasn’t a cause to be cheering for. “What? You have to admit, that’s romantic as hell.”
Scarlett bit her bottom lip and straightened her shoulders, blushing slightly. “It’s the best thing that’s happened to me all week. All year, maybe.”
Piper was clearly feigning disinterest, looking up at the ceiling and awkwardly fingering a string on the couch that had come loose. The strange part was that Scarlett didn’t even care. If Piper wanted to immediately text Colin after this and tell him everything she had said, it might be a bit embarrassing, but it was still true. Finally, when Scarlett braved a glance at her sister, she was surprised to find that Harper was no longer maintaining a harsh facial expression. It had softened significantly, her eyes sincere as she gave her a microscopic nod.
“And then,” Scarlett’s voice cracked, her face falling. “I get to tell you that he told me he loved me, and I didn’t cave. I didn’t accept it at face value, because I learned my lesson the first time. I don’t believe him, and I’m not sure I ever will.”
“Oh, Letti,” Harper said glumly. She waved her arms toward herself, beckoning a hug. Scarlett obliged, letting herself fall into her little sister role where Harper would tuck her under her chin and stroke her hair. “I don’t think not believing that someone loves you is the win you’re thinking it is.”
“It is,” Scarlett argued, sniffing back the tears starting to form in her waterline. “I fell for it the first time, and I’m not doing that again. He may believe he’s in love with me, but just like last time, he’s not.”
“Can I just—” Piper raised her hand politely. “I don’t know if you want my opinion or if it matters to you, but for what it’s worth, I know my brother, and he’s so in love with you he barely talks about anything else other than his job, and even that is—” She cut herself off with a shake of her head. “I promise, he loves you.”
It took Scarlett a moment to respond, weighing her options. Nothing Piper said had swayed her, but putting it into words was hard. “Maybe I’m a hyperfixation of his right now, but I wasn’t for five years. My dad taught me everything I need to know about leaving, and even if my dad thinks he loves us, it’s not real love because you don’t give up on people you love.”
Piper nodded and swallowed, her eyes going glassy. “I, um, I have this thing I’m working on where I purposely don’t get attached to people and I don’t let people in because I get scared that the more I love them, the more it’ll hurt when they leave. When Harper invited me over today, I had the thought that we were maybe getting too close and that was a bad idea since she’d eventually leave or die.”
“Wow… that’s fucked,” Kashvi said. She and her sister were sitting on the ottoman now, leaning forward in interest.
“So, are you saying Colin is the same?” Saanvi asked.
“I’m saying all of us are a little fucked up, and he fell in love with Scarlett right after our parents died. Not to mention he was undiagnosed.” Piper turned to face Scarlett. “I think he was really confused and dealing with a lot, and you were his comfort person. He didn’t really talk to Walker or any of us about his grief. He talked to Carter, but it was mostly about you. I’m not trying to give him an excuse for hurting you, because he clearly did, but, from the outside looking in, it felt like you guys were in this happy little bubble, and then Colin’s bubble popped before yours did. He hit reality with the force of a brick wall while you were still in that happy place.”
“He was cruel about it,” Scarlett whispered.
“He knows.” Piper gave her a solemn smile. “I think you should talk about what really happened that day, because I know your stories are very different.”
“And in the meantime…” Kashvi pumped her eyebrows. “You could go back to banging him because you two were clearly good at that.”
“Ugh,” Piper gagged.
“What is wrong with you, seriously?” Saanvi chastised her sister.
“I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t like Colin. I was his friend, too. I know what he did, but I also know how happy Scarlett was when she was with him. Maybe I’m just into red flags.” Kashvi shrugged before adding, “I also haven’t gotten laid in like,” she held up her hands as if to count then sighed dramatically. “Eight months, maybe?”
“Have you considered sleeping with Varo?” Piper suggested. All eyes swiveled to her, scandalized, and she let out a puff of laughter. “What? You two married Diaz men.” She pointed at Harper and Saanvi. “And I’m with Leo, so it seems like…”
“We all have fantastic sex lives?” Saanvi asked, patting her pregnant belly.
“I mean, I do.” Harper grinned.
“Exactly.” Piper looked at Scarlett. “I think my brother would agree that our small case study on Diaz men would conclude that the fourth Diaz brother must also be…” She trailed off suggestively.
“Colin would say it’s a hypothesis that has to be tested.” Scarlett laughed. “So, I guess it’s a good thing one of us has , in fact, tested it.”
Harper gasped. “Letti?”
“Not her.” Kashvi waved them off. “That would have been my eight months ago.”
“Was it bad?” Piper’s eyes widened.
“No, it was great. He’s just an aimless floater who’s never around. Plus he’s in the middle of a bus conversion to replace his van conversion.”
“Ah, I guess it’s settled, then.” Piper gripped the sunflower necklace at her neck before she swiveled her finger around the room. “No one tell Leo that I mentioned his brother.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that.” Harper tossed a hand in the air. “Saanvi and I are aware that the Diaz men are the jealous type.”
“I wish Colin was the jealous type. He met Braiden and seemed like he could care less.” Scarlett blew out a breath.
“I kept telling you to date Leo or Varo. If you did, then you’d get a big heap of jealousy,” Harper said.
“Just to be clear, I am also the jealous type.” Piper straightened her shoulders.
“You’ll be happy to know she was uninterested.” Harper chuckled.
“Now I’m kinda offended on behalf of Leo. Why were you uninterested? Because you’re secretly still in love with my brother?” Piper leaned forward with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, and Scarlett avoided the question about Colin entirely.
“Varo is more Kashvi’s type. And Leo… is terrifying.” Piper had started to take a sip of water when she choked on it and started a coughing fit, waving her hand in front of her face as laughter bubbled up intermittently between coughs. “Be honest, how many times have you had to use a safe word?” Scarlett egged her on, happy to draw focus to Piper’s love life instead of her own.
The entire room was in fits of giggles now as Piper wheezed into a tissue she had ripped out of the box on the end table beside the couch. “I’ve never had to use a safe word.” She paused and tilted her head to one side with a smirk. “Leo’s used it once, though.” The room erupted again. “Listen,” Piper giggled. “I really don’t think Scarlett, out of all of us, has any room to talk about kinks. I wish I could burn my retinas after seeing one of your weird-ass sex experiment charts.”
Scarlett flipped over and pressed her face into the carpeted floor with a groan.
“She wouldn’t even let me read them!” Kashvi huffed.
“You can blame Carter, actually. He was snooping after you and Colin apparently stole all his condoms,” Piper said. “I didn’t know what I was reading until it was too late, and Carter’s an asshole.”
“I had just managed to forget that you’ve seen one.” Scarlett whined, voice muffled by the ground. “I think I’m going to hide forever. I’ve made a home here on the floor, and if I can’t see you, I’m convinced you all can’t see me. If I need sustenance, you can just throw charcuterie at me like a blindfolded petting zoo.”
“But we’re blindfolding the animals?” Kashvi cackled.
“Sure.” Scarlett nodded, the carpet making a burning friction against her nose. “Kashvi, would you still love me if I was a worm?”
“Always, babe.”
“At least you didn’t walk in on them in the shower,” Harper said to Piper
“ No ,” Piper gasped before letting out a long, drawn-out “ ewwww .”
It took an extreme amount of self control to not shout about how the scales had definitely evened between Scarlett and her sister given her accidental run-in with Harper, Marcos, and their kitchen counter.
“I’m scared to ask.” Scarlett shyly looked over at Piper, wincing. “Colin told me which chart you saw, but… how far did you get? Because that particular day was not my shining moment.”
“I looked at it for the least amount of time possible so I didn’t actually see a lot. I read a sentence about your tongue that was revolting and then something about candle wax being a no-go, but I don’t even know what that means?”
Scarlett had vowed to herself to not look back on her and Colin’s time together so she wouldn’t end up rewriting it, but this particular incident had been the exception to that rule. It was so clear now how badly she had fucked up by inadvertently crossing one of Colin’s unspoken boundaries while he had crossed over hers at the same time. The lack of communication on her part had backed them both into a corner.
“What the hell were you doing with candle wax?” Harper squeaked.
“Something really sexy, I imagine.” Kashvi grinned.
“I worry about you sometimes.” Saanvi looked in disapproval toward her sister.
Instead of answering the what of the question, Scarlett buried her face back into the carpet, shaking her head in misery. “It wasn’t sexy. It was something we never should have tried.”