Chapter Fourteen
559 Words
Scarlett POV
After dinner, Annika pulled me aside. She
had been busy for most of the day in charge of entertaining her. younger cousins, so we hadn’t spoken much. “I think I’m in love,” she exclaimed to me. “With…?” “Rhett! Isn’t he gorgeous?” She looked to me for confirmation that yes, he was indeed a god. “He’s handsome. In a slightly clichéd way,” I toyed with her.
She scowled at me and then sighed in defeat.
“Scarlett, I wish I could date him. But whatever.”
“Who says you can’t?” At some point she would
be an adult. Would her parents really forbid her from dating outside her religion and culture?
“I just can’t. None of us can. You wouldn’t
understand.” I put my arm around her and squeezed. “Don’t worry about it. Nothing can stop ‘tu wuv.’ Don’t you remember The Princess Bride?” I smiled. A little girl, about five-years-old, ran up to Annika and tugged at her dress.
She sighed in defeat.“I have to go. The girls want to play Barbies.”
After Annika left, I wondered if I was
stepping on her toes by leaving with Rhett and thought I should cancel, but I changed my mind when I glanced at Dev from across the
room giving me his usual disapproving look. I wanted him to see that I was desirable to someone as amazing as Rhett, so I decided
to keep our date. We had made plans to walk to the creek at seven. I glanced at the clock on the wall…6:45. I decided to go freshen up
in my room and put on some better walking
shoes. I was applying lip-gloss in my bedroom
mirror when I heard a decisive knock. I opened the door to a somber and serious Dev, which was about normal for him. Great.
“Scarlett…may I talk to you?” It felt odd to see him standing at my bedroom door, so close to where I dreamed of him. My stomach quivered
slightly. “Okay,” I managed to squeak out.
He didn’t move from the doorway. “Rhett told me you’re going out with him later.”
“He wanted to see Berry Creek. I was just
going to walk over with him.” He got straight to the point. “I have to respectfully ask you to not go with him. I was confused. “Why not?” He shuffled his feet, obviously feeling uncomfortable. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea. I figured it out. I clenched my hands in
rage. “Oh, I understand. He’s the son of a powerful banker who might give you a job. You don’t want him to hang around people like
me and make a bad impression.”His face fell. A tense moment hung between
us. “I never meant that,” he uttered, weakly.
“Well, the last time I checked, I don’t
belong to you. You can’t tell me what to do,” I barked. And then, like a cherry on top, I slammed the door in his tortured face.
It felt good…and horrible…and confusing. A
small voice inside suggested I might have misread him. But I decided not to listen to it.
That was a mistake.
- Writer
