TWO

"You know, Scarlett, I think every time I see you in here, you're laying on Eric's bed." The boys' dad says as he walks out of his kids' bathroom — he was just fixing the sink and the toilet.

"It's more comfortable than Cory's." The brunette tells him, and he then opens the boys' bedroom door a little wider.

"This stays open." He motions between Letty and Eric before exiting the room.

Her right eyebrow twitches upward slightly, but she doesn't comment on what he said. And her oblivious best friend wasn't paying any attention to Mr. Matthews anyway, so he didn't hear what his father told them.

"Move over." Eric says​ as he then walks over to his best friend, so she does as he asked. He then lays on his stomach with his head near where her feet are.

Cory walks into the bedroom not long after, complaining about his parents. "If they can't afford to buy toys for three children, why did they have three children?" He questions.

"Well, you're cute when you're born, but then you turn into this." Letty flicks Eric's shoe.

"Leave me alone, I'm trying to put Heather in my watch." Eric tells him, and Letty sits up as she looks at the back of his head, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

"And on that strange note..." The brunette gets up​ and goes back downstairs.

"Do you ever go back to your own house?" Mr. Matthews asks when he sees his oldest son's best friend in his kitchen.

"Not if I don't have to." She shrugs. "Can I have a soda?"

"Help yourself." Mrs. Matthews motions toward the fridge, and the teenager opens it to find herself a drink.

"Ooh, cold pizza. Is it alright if I take a couple slices for me and Miller?" Letty asks as she turns to look at Eric's parents.

"Yeah, I think that'd be alright." She nods, and the teenager grabs two slices along with the soda that they said she could take.

"Thanks." The brunette smiles. "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye, honey."

"Be careful, Scarlett." Mr. Matthews tells her as she heads out the door.

"Always am." Letty says through a mouthful of food, and he quirks an eyebrow as he looks down at his wife.

The teenager's walking into the trailer park soon after, and Miller jogs over. "Awesome, food." He sighs as he takes the pizza that she's holding out toward him. "Where's my soda?" He asks, and she narrows her dark eyes as she looks up at him.

"Don't drink it all." She tells him as she hands him the can that she's carrying.

"At least casa de Matthews is good for something."

"They're good people, you overgrown jackass."

"Your boyfriend is a putz."

"Eric and I are just friends."

"Yeah, because he's a dumbass." Miller says, and she looks up at him, a quizzical expression on her face.

"Was that a compliment?" The brunette asks, and he shakes his head.

"No. He's just an idiot for not seeing that you're obviously in love with him."

"I am not." She argues, and he laughs as he hands the soda can back to her.

"Whatever."

Letty rolls her eyes as she finishes her soda and then tosses the empty trash into a garbage can that they walk past. She doesn't want to bring anything from the Matthews' into their trailer, she doesn't want her dad asking where it came from.

The two teenagers are doing homework at the kitchen table when her dad stumbles in later that night. He grumbles something about them not leaving a mess before falling onto the couch, and then he's out cold for the remainder of the night.

"No, that's okay." Miller mumbles as he continues with his math. "We each had a slice of pizza a couple hours ago. There's no need for you to provide dinner or anything."

"You have enough money for bus fair?" Letty asks as she finishes the outline for her English essay, and he hums a yes. "We can head to that bar across town tomorrow, see how much cash we can scrounge up for food."

"Sounds like a plan."

—

Saturday afternoon, Letty walks past Cory, Shawn, and two of their other friends painting the low fence separating the Matthews' backyard from Mr. Feeny's. She heads inside through the back door and looks at Eric, who's standing in front of his younger sister.

"Come on, we're late. Your dad's gonna kill us." The brunette says, and he sighs as he looks over at her.

"I'm almost ready. I'm just waiting for Morgan to finish tying the bow in my apron." Eric says.

"I don't know how to tie a bow." Morgan tells him, and Letty bites back a smirk as he turns around to look at the little girl sitting on the island counter.

"So, why did you tell me you did?" He questions.

"'Cause I'm self-confident." She says with a smile.

"Come here." Letty says, and he walks over to her before turning so that she can tie his apron in the back. The brunette quickly ties it and then looks down at his younger sister. "Remind me later to teach you how to tie a bow, alright?" She tells Morgan, and the little blonde smiles at her.

"Okay."

"Now they want dessert." Cory complains as he walks past the other three, heading toward the freezer.

"How's work going, man?" Eric asks his younger brother, and Letty walks back out of the house to talk to Shawn.

"Hey, I think it's really cool that you guys are helping Cory paint the fence so that he can go play with you." She says, and they look up at her.

"He's paying us." Shawn says, and she nods.

"Of course he is."

"Letty, come on! We gotta go!" Eric calls, and she says a quick goodbye to the boys before meeting Eric back inside so that they can head to the Market Giant where they both work some days after school and on the weekends.

After work, Letty goes straight home, wanting to take a shower and then lay down and get some sleep. As soon as she shuts the front door behind her, her father grabs her upper arm, holding it tightly to keep her in her place.

"Where's my money?" He demands.

The nervous brunette quickly pulls her paycheck out of her back pocket, not looking up to meet his cold glare. Ever since she was a child, she's been afraid to look into his icy blue eyes. He takes the envelope from her and then pushes her in the direction of her room.

"Enjoy your beer money." The teenager grumbles under her breath as she starts walking away from him.

"What did you just say?" He questions, and she immediately freezes, knowing that she made a mistake.

Letty's eyes lock with Miller's as he looks up from his homework. She quickly mouths don't, and his jaw tightens as he watches her turn back to face her father.

"Nothing." The brunette lies, her voice shakier than she intended, and her father starts walking toward her again. She squeezes her dark eyes shut as she cowers away from the large man, and Miller's hand balls up into a tight fist as he looks away from them.

The next day, Letty walks into the Matthews' house, and they all look over at her. The family of five is sitting at their table having dinner, and they're all shocked by the sight before them. In all honesty, she knows that she shouldn't have come to their house, but she needed to get out of her trailer for a little while and she didn't know where else to go.

"Oh my God. Scarlett, what happened to you?" Mrs. Matthews asks, and the teenager looks at her.

"Oh, it's nothing, I just got into a fight in my neighborhood." The brunette lies, and the adults can tell that she's not being entirely truthful about where she got her injuries. "You should see what I did to her." She looks down, not liking the eyes on her busted lip or black eye.

"This is from a fight in the trailer park?" She questions, now on her feet in front of her son's best friend. She's aware that the teenager obviously doesn't want to discuss it, but has to make sure that Letty's okay.

"Is this why you weren't at school today?" Eric asks, and her dark eyes flicker to him.

"It was nothing, really." Letty insists.

"Are... Are you hungry?" Mrs. Matthews asks​, changing the subject. "Would you like to join us for dinner?"

"Oh, no. I don't want to impose." She shakes her head; she just needed to get out before Miller blew his lid from staring at how messed up she is from yesterday night.

"Don't be silly. Please, we'd love it if you'd​ joined us." She says, and Letty smiles gratefully before she takes a seat between Eric and Morgan.

"Thank you." The teenager smiles sheepishly at Eric's parents.

"I know you finished painting the fence for me today, Dad." Cory says suddenly, taking the attention away from Letty, which she's grateful for.

"It's alright, Cory." His dad tells him.

"No. It's not alright." He argues as Eric passes Letty some food to pile onto her plate. "You work all day, then you come home and work some more, and then you do my work. You're hogging all the work. And I'm calling you out."

Sounds like the exact opposite of my dad. Letty thinks to herself.

"Huh?" Mr. Matthews looks at his son, obviously confused.

Cory stands up in a sudden movement, his chair flipping back, and he pulls a water gun out from underneath the table. "I'm calling you out." He repeats as he points the yellow and blue gun at his dad.

"Cory."

"Draw."

"What are you talking abou—" Mr. Matthews starts, but Cory starts squirting​ him. "Hey, hey!" He yells at him.

"Cory! What do you think you're doing?" His mom scolds him as she quickly moves away from​ the table.

"I think I'm being a kid, Ma. I think I'm living up​ to my responsibility of being eleven years old." Cory says, and then starts squirting​ his dad again.

"Hey, hey! No, listen— Hey! I'm serious. I've had a very rough day." Mr. Matthews tells him. "We do not shoot water pistols at the dinner table."

"You would if you had one." Cory says in a sing-song voice.

"What?"

"Go ahead." He points at the table in front of his dad. "Maybe there's a little surprise taped underneath the table for you." He tells his dad.

Mr. Matthews reaches under the dining table and pulls a water gun out; it's identical to Cory's. He laughs, rather pleased as he looks​ down at it. "Hey, where'd you get this?" He asks Cory.

"Traded my 3000 for two 1500's." Cory tells him, and Letty smiles, thinking that it's such a sweet gesture.

"Cool!"

"Dad, I know you said you had a rough day, and that you only get to be a kid once, but I thought it'd be okay if you came back to visit." Cory tells him, and his smile widens as he looks between him and the water gun in his hand.

"Visiting hours are outside in the yard." His mom interjects. They both shoot her, and she screams as she jumps back. "No shooting water guns in the house!" She yells at them.

"Maybe you wouldn't​ feel that way if you checked under your side of the table." Cory tells her, and she quickly checks for a gun.

"There's nothing there." She says, disappointed.

"What do you think, I'm made of money?" He questions and then starts shooting her again.

Mr. Matthews shoots Letty and Eric, as his younger son chases their mom around the wooden dining table. Letty uses Eric as a shield as the two teenagers run over by the counter, and Morgan's screaming so her mom picks her up from her seat.

"Don't hit my hair!" Eric yells as he and his best friend run behind the island in the kitchen.

"Hit his hair!" Morgan yells, and Letty laughs, keeping him close to her.

"I don't even have a gun!"

"Trade the stupid watch!" Cory yells, and the brunette hiding behind his older brother laughs even harder.

Mrs. Matthews grabs the sprayer from the sink and starts using that as her own weapon. She quickly trades it for a squirt bottle as they all run outside to the backyard. Eric and Letty run around to the side of the house, but they're quickly found and start running around the backyard. The brunette grabs the hose and turns it on as fast as she can manage, using it as her weapon. Now everyone has one except for Eric.

Mr. Feeney runs outside into his own backyard then and starts trying to protect some of the flowers in his garden. "You're drowning my floribundas!" He yells at them, but none of them stop their water fight.

It continues for a while, and it's the most fun that Letty's had in a really long time. She runs around the side of the house again, and Eric quickly follows after her. The brunette laughs as she rings some of the water out of her now heavy t-shirt.

"You ever regret coming over here?" Eric asks, and she smiles as she looks up at him.

"No, never." Letty shakes her head, and he smiles as he reaches up to move her soaked hair out of her eyes.

"You've gotta be freezing." He says, and she shrugs.

"It's just a little water, it'll dry." Her dark eyes are on his lighter ones, and her smile widens as he takes a step forward, moving closer to her.

Before he can say or do anything more, Cory runs over and attacks the two teenagers with his water gun again. Letty grabs the side of her best friend's shirt and pulls him closer to her, using him as a shield against his younger brother's attack.