“Okay, I take it back. They prey on young people.” Scarlet whispered harshly into Vanessa’s ear as she tried to pry off the dog that kept climbing up her leg.

There was one thing that Scarlet couldn’t handle, and that was attention. And at the moment, the whole living room had its attention on her, as in, everyone was conversing about her – even Granny Payne.

Lauren was enjoying everything as she was sat beside Granny Payne that was talking about all of the embarrassing days that Scarlet had encountered in her life, as if they were scenes from a comedy film.

Scarlet looked at Granny Payne in horror before she mouthed, ‘traitor’ to Lauren, that was laughing pretty loudly at the embarrassing moments of Scarlet.

Before Scarlet had found herself being the center of attention, she was introduced to Mrs. Anderson. On first glance, Scarlet had come to a conclusion that Vanessa was indeed exaggerating when she defined Kevin’s parents. In fact, they were incredibly sweet and easy-going.

That all changed when Mr. Anderson asked Scarlet a simple life related question, “Are you in a relationship, child?” That was the initiation of the whole, ‘let’s talk about Scarlet’ movement.

Before Scarlet could answer, Laura jumped into the conversation, “She was cheated on by her boyfriend, so she’s single now.” Mr. and Mrs. Anderson shook their heads in pity while looking at Scarlet, who in that moment was awkwardly smiling at the couple.

“Boys these days are hard to find.” Mr. Anderson commented as he clicked his tongue in distaste after his sentence. “They play hard to get.”

“Yes, and there must be something that you had done to have such a thing happen to you, darling.” Scarlet wanted to scowl at the woman that was implying that being cheated on was Scarlet’s own fault. Lauren looked at Scarlet with worry as she shifted in her seat beside Granny Payne.

“Wait a minute. It wasn’t Scarlet’s fault that the boy cheated on her.” Andrew, Scarlet’s father, came to her defense as he piped in the conversation with a frown. “The boy seemed like trouble just from the first look.”

Laura nodded her head in agreement as she looked at Mrs. Anderson. “Well, whatever the outcome now, don’t worry. We’ll help you find a great hunky man.” Mrs. Anderson went from pitiful to excited in a minute. Scarlet, cringed subtly as she wondered if people used the word ‘hunky’ nowadays.

“She can’t keep a man by her side for long. Not with her manly charm, anyways.”

“Mother!” Uncle Jared yelled at her for saying such a thing but she just shrugged innocently. “It’s not like there’s no truth in it.”

Andrew placed a hand on Uncle Jared’s shoulder as he was about to say something else at his mother’s words.

Scarlet sighed when Vanessa grabbed a hold of her hand and squeezed as to show her support.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson glanced at each other before they looked at Scarlet. “You do need a makeover.” Mrs. Anderson muttered and that’s how Granny Payne and her friendship bloomed.

And now, Scarlet was cringing at the old high school stories of herself that Granny Payne and Laura were sharing with Mrs. Anderson while laughing heartily. Lauren was amongst them as well as she was giggling now and then when she would hear something terribly humiliating that happened to Scarlet once upon a time.

“Your love life is going downhill, man.” Blake whispered in Scarlet’s ear as he was now occupying the place where Vanessa was sat a while ago. Now, Vanessa was out with Kevin discussing something serious.

Scarlet gave him a side glare before she sighed, “I will never be able to live this down.” She placed a hand on her face while she shook a little. “Dude, are you crying?” Blake asked as he poked Scarlet in the ribs. “No, I’m laughing. At myself, if you’re wondering. I just…. I had such bad luck back then.” Scarlet spoke as she wiped a stray tear away.

Not far from them, Granny Payne was trying hard to laugh and speak at the same time, “And that one time when she peed herself in school.” Scarlet made a horrified expression as she quickly got up from the couch and went over to the four women that were having a great time discussing about all of her embarrassing moments.

“Lauren, I need your help.” She spoke as she smiled politely at the three women charmingly. “Why?” Lauren whined as she looked over at Granny Payne. “She was just getting to the good part.”

Scarlet shook her head before she grabbed Lauren by the arm and dragged her away from the three women that just laughed at the red-faced Scarlet, as she escaped from the living room with the blonde woman in tow.

“Where are, we going?” Lauren asked as Scarlet took her up the stairs and then into the guest room. Closing the door after entering the room, Scarlet leaned against it before taking a breath of relief.

“I didn’t know you did ballet.” Lauren giggled as she spoke. Scarlet groaned before face-palming, “Only for a month.”

“It still counts for something.” Lauren smiled at the woman that was blushing madly as she tried to look away from the blonde.

“Yeah, if you consider the brutal remarks of my instructor or the way I almost broke all of my toes.” The exaggeration in Scarlet’s voice was noticeable to both of them as they both burst out laughing just a minute later.

“I hated that pink tutu.” Scarlet added as she grabbed Lauren’s hand and tugged her towards herself. “I would love to see you in a tutu.” Scarlet frowned when Lauren laughed at her. “Don’t say that in front of my mom, she’d take those old albums out and you’ll have pictures for all those embarrassing times as well.”

The way Lauren’s eyes sparkled made Scarlet regret about even telling the blonde that there was photographic proof of it as well.

Scarlet groaned loudly and Lauren laughed before she placed her arms around Scarlet’s shoulders. “I used to do ballet too.” This caught Scarlet’s attention and she raised a questioning eyebrow at the blonde woman. “Judging by the gracefulness of our body, I’m guessing you didn’t stop after a month.”

Lauren blushed before she spoke, “You observe my body.”

“Yeah, well. Before, I had a job to do. But now, I just look at your body when you aren’t noticing.” Lauren opened her mouth in surprise before she closed it and squinted her eyes at the older woman.

“Are your hormones on a regular level?” Scarlet burst out laughing while Lauren glared at her. “What? Answer me.”

“You……you think I’m horny.” It was a statement, rather than a question which made Lauren’s cheek color themselves a deep red. “Y-Yeah well, a normal person wouldn’t look at other peoples’ bodies if they weren’t horny.”

Scarlet shook her head as a soft smile came on to her face, “I meant that I look at the way your body moves when you do as little as pour milk into a glass.”

The blonde’s blush didn’t disappear when Scarlet wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her closer to her own body. “I like how graceful you are in everything that you do. And to answer your previous question, yes. I am really horny.”

Lauren stared at Scarlet with her mouth agape as she tried to move out of Scarlet’s hold subtly. Scarlet, who was joking, pulled the blonde closer and leaned brought their lips close.

“I really want you.” Scarlet whispered against Lauren’s lips making the blonde’s breath hitch. “I-I….” Lauren was lost for words as her mouth opened and then closed as if she was a fish out of water.

Scarlet, seeing the effects that she was causing in Lauren, laughed after pulling away from the blonde leaving Lauren at a loss of warmth.

“I was just kidding.” Scarlet spoke as she looked at Lauren, who was now looking at the ground with mixed emotions. She wasn’t ready to sleep with Scarlet, but at the same time, she was more than ready to claim her as hers. And between all of this, she was confused as to what to do.

“Hey, are you okay?” Scarlet asked as she placed a hand on Lauren’s arm to bring her out of her thoughts. Lauren glanced at Scarlet before she blushed and nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay then.” Scarlet spoke awkwardly as she opened the door and walked out of it before offering a hand towards Lauren.

Lauren glanced form the hand to Scarlet, and decide in her head.

Taking Scarlet’s offered hand, she smiled and got out of the room as well.

‘I’ll be ready when she’ll be.’