CHAPTER 14

"She had blue skin,

And so did he.

He kept it hid

And so did she.

They searched for blue

Their whole life through,

Then passed right by-

And never knew."

-Shel silverstein

'You need a guardian, you're under 18.'

'You don't have anyone to take care of you and no extended family in the country.'

I sat there crying as I realized they were all gone, and it was all my fault. They'd all left me. Tears ran down and I shook uncontrollably, I just wanted my family back. Pain raged through my chest.

"Scarlett?" A voice called out, and I woke up slowly, realizing I'd fallen asleep. "Scarlett, look at me honey. I'm Brianna, your mom's friend, remember?"

I looked up, my eyes blurry and my body stiff. "You need to come with me honey, it'll be alright. It'll be okay. I signed as your guardian, there's still a lot of procedure, but we'll get through it, okay?" I didn't reply.

"Honey, come with me." She offered me her hand.

"No, please leave me alone." I deserve to be alone, I thought.

"Nobody deserves to be alone, Scarlett." Brianna said as if she'd read my thoughts. Smiling softly and grabbed on to my hand pulling me up.

♡♡♡

We drove past my old house on the way to Evans', it's pretty much the same, except dad's abstract painted mailbox was gone and mom's beautiful flower garden had been replaced with a barbecue table and grill. It's recognizable yet unfamiliar.

Evans seemed to notice me looking it. "Your old home, I remember seeing you and your brother playing around here."

I grinned remembering too, Logan would chase me around because I'd steal his Superman boxers or his Xbox controllers, we'd be screaming while mom would scold us out the window.

Evans' house was only four or five minutes away from mine, we reached there in no time.

"This is the second time I've been here in almost 3 years, and it's the same." I say looking out at the lawn.

"Yeah, home sweet home." We walked up to the doorway and Evans opened the door with his key. "I don't think anybody's home. Ma has a night shift at the hospital and Mary, my older sister, is probably at her fiancée's place. So um, you could call over Zoey if you want." He explained as we made our way to the living room.

My insides elated as I realized he was trying to make me feel comfortable, but knowing it was Evans, I already felt safe. "That's alright, Evans, I think I trust you won't be murdering me tonight."

He paused for a second then laughed as he realized I was joking around. "Well, that's where you're wrong, Dev, I could turn out to be a serial killer." He made a scary face and I giggled.

"You're as scary as a bunny." I teased and flopped on to the couch.

Evans scowled then pulled out his phone to order pizza, he put his call on hold to ask my preference then continued with the order.

I really wanted to take a shower right now, I felt gross and there was sand between my toes.

Sighing, I walked around looking at the pictures on the walls while Evans recited his address. Most of them had Evans, a girl in her twenties with brown hair and brown eyes and an older woman that looked almost exactly like the girl.

I heard Evans finishing up the order, so I turned back to him and he looked up at me after ending the call. "Uh Evans, is there somewhere I could freshen up?"

"Oh yeah, upstairs, you could use my sister's bathroom." He got up and lead me to his sister's room, which was extremely organized and clean. There were posters of old bands and boys, like a typical girl's room. 

"My sister's got OCD or something." He mumbled. "Do you want to change, I'm sure Mary won't mind if you borrowed her clothes."

"Please." I replied, and Evans pulled out some clothes and a towel for me.

"If you need anything just give me shout." He said as he closed the room's door.

I stepped in to the shower and turn on the hot water, letting it steam my skin. After scrubbing every inch of my body furiously, my mind flashing back over and over to Eric, I sat there exhausted. Letting the water run over me.

Wrapping a towel around my body, I leave the bathroom and walked out in to Mary's room, where a loose t-shirt and joggers lay on the bed. I got dressed and walked down to the living room where there was a box of pizza on the coffee table, but no Evans.

Walking back up, I came across Evans' room which had the symbols A.E carved in and painted on the door. I traced my hand along the elegant work and knocked on the door. I could hear faint music coming from inside, maybe he couldn't hear me.

I opened the door and peaked in, "Evans?"

Getting no reply, I walked in to his room. And my goodness, calling it messy would be an understatement. There were clothes thrown everywhere, his schoolwork was cluttered on the study desk and his bed was covered with paintings.

I walked to his bed and picked one up, it was a painting of a dull green room caught on fire. The room had an old torn up sofa seat, bottles of beer and cigarettes thrown around, a belt on the floor, black shoes and ash.

It was hauntingly beautiful.

Another painting was of a park and two little children sitting on the swings eating ice cream which was adorable. A few other beautiful paintings lay on his bed and as I was about to pick another one up, when Evans walked out of his bathroom shirtless, and holy cream cheese.

My eyes traced his light outline of abs and up to his collar bones, then travelled up to his jawline. Finally landing on his lips, I realized he was smirking. And I was staring.

I looked away instantly, the heat rising to my cheeks.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Evans suggested, taking a step towards me.

"I didn't know- I'll just, uh, just leave. Wait outside." I muttered, rushing out, then glancing back I almost tripped. Oh Fuck me. I slammed the door behind me, and smacked my forehead. I passed a mirror walking down the stairs and my face was as a tomato.

I switched on the TV and put on some SpongeBob, bringing my heart rate back to normal, and get the image of a shirtless Evans out of my mind. Evans came in balancing two soda cans on top of the pizza box. He fell back on to the sofa and placed the box on the coffee table.

"Dig in." He grabbed a slice for himself.

"Sooo ... You paint?" I ask him picking up a slice for myself.

"Yeah, just a hobby, nothing special." He said nonchalantly.

"No way! Are you kidding, your paintings are beautiful."

"You weren't supposed to see them." He said blankly.

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean to pry..."

"No, I don't mean you specifically. I don't show them to anyone. Those paintings are like my personal diary."

We fell quiet for a minute, letting SpongeBob's voice fill in the silence.

"My dad used to paint, he would paint abstract. But it'd always mean something to him, he'd show them to us so we could tell him our side of the story, our view on the painting." I said quietly, not looking at him.

"What do you think the stories behind my paintings are? The room on fire?" He asked.

"You tell me." I say looking in his eyes.

"Some other day, maybe." He replied, smiling.

"Maybe."

♡♡♡