The New Girl From London

Problems

Scarlet's pov

Jared sleeps downstairs and I decide to stay up in my room. Jordan comes home in the morning, smiling broadly. 

"Scarlet..." She drawls out in a singsong voice. I blink as she opens my door and see that her clothes are disarrayed and her makeup is smeared and smudged. "I had a great night." She stumbles over to me and I hop up and grab her arm. She smells like alcohol. "I drank too much." 

I grimace, "I see that Jordan. Why are you drunk?" 

She gives me a goofy smile. "I slept with Jessica. We celebrated." 

I sit her down on the edge of my bed but she bolts to the bathroom and throws up nosily. I grab clothes that are too small for me and set them on the bathroom counter. "I'm glad to hear your happy Jordan. But I really don't care about who you have sex with." 

Jordan wipes her mouth and peers at me. "I think I love her. She's so perfect. You look at Jared like I look at her." She sighs and I crouch down next to her. 

"You should get some clean clothes on and go to sleep. I'll let you crash in here." 

She nods and I leave the bathroom. She groans and pukes again. "Good idea Scar." She giggles, her voice slurred. "I'm super tired." 

She stumbles out of the bathroom and collapses on my bed. I pull the blankets over her. "You shouldn't drink Jordan, it's bad for you." 

"I agree," she mumbles. "Jessica-" 

I cut her off. "Nope, we are not talking about you sleeping with the neighbors daughter. No." 

She gives me a goofy grin. "I'm going to go to sleep now. Sleep off the drunkenness." Not even a minute later her head hits the pillows and shes snoring softly. 

I snort and change into shorts and a tank top. The sun is shining outside and it's already feeling hot in here. I go downstairs and see mom standing in the kitchen with a cup of coffee as she watches Jared, who is sleeping on the couch. 

I go over to her and take a drink of her coffee and grimace. "Black coffee, hate that stuff." 

Mom stops looking at Jared. "Then why do you keep taking drinks of my coffee?" 

I shrug and hand her the mug. "I don't really know." I lean against the counter and cross my arms. "But, might I ask why you were staring at Jared before I came in here?" 

She tucks a red strand behind her ear and sips her coffee. "You seem to really like him. It's odd. I always thought you would get together with Miles. It's just startling to see you growing up and loving somebody." 

I bite my lip and study the freckles on the back of my knuckles. I adjust my glasses on my face, "Would you say I love him?" 

Mom smiles softly and her gazes wanders over to Jared. "He loves you. I talked to Mary, he never dates. I know you guys haven't made it official but I'm not blind. You never act like that around anybody. Miles adored you but you never bat an eye in his direction." 

I look over at Jared's sleeping form and feel my expression soften as I take in his peaceful face and relaxed posture. "Jared's different. He knows. It's funny that you say that." I turn to look at her. "Jared feels more present in my life than Miles ever did. Jared knows more about me than Miles did. I assume dad told him about London after we left to turn them against me. I almost feel like Judy was always like this, I just never noticed since I wanted somebody so badly." I clear my throat when I realize that I've been rambling. "So, yeah." 

She has a soft smile on her face and she places a hand on my shoulder. "Its nice that you're willing to talk to me. I think Jared helps with that. You're learning how to trust, I think you're also forgiving yourself for what happened back at home."