The Scarlet Man

The return flight from Twinbrook was, thankfully, short. Jerod managed to sleep the whole time, whilst Amelia gazed up at the stars in the early dawn with a small smile tugging at the edge of her lips. That was her... A star. A star amongst many, yes, but still a star.

It was still before sunrise when they finally arrived in town, so they took a cab to Jerod's place to spend the rest of the morning together. They shared a glass of nectar before they slowly migrated out to the large deck off of his loft, one that gave a bird's eye view of the rest of the city. For a while they merely stood in silence, soaking up the ambience together, but occasionally she could hear him mumbling poetry under his breath.

He certainly was an artist of many forms.



After a while, though, as he began to stretch uncomfortably, Amelia reached out a hand to grasp towards his. "What're you thinking about, love?"

"Honestly?" he said darkly, his eyes thinning as his gaze washed over the skyline. "I'm thinking about that money your grandmother left you. It's..."

"It's overwhelming," Amelia finished. "I mean, I've always known my family was rich, but I wasn't expecting it to just be dumped in my lap, you know?"



Her boyfriend merely nodded, his expression still serious, and his eyes distant. She could tell he was in deep thought, but when he had dark moods like this, she was always too nervous to try and break it. If she'd learned anything the last few weeks they'd been together, it was that she could keep her mouth shut if she wanted to.

After a few more minutes of silent city-watching, Amelia turned her eyes towards Jerod again. "So... If you were in my position..." she began to ask, her voice unneedably quiet. "What would you do? With the money, that is?"



"What would I do?" Jerod began to smile. It was as if, for the last 24 hours, he'd just been waiting for Amelia to finally ask. "What wouldn't I do? Travel, explore the world, see everything I'd never have been able to see before, experience everything in life that was denied me just because of circumstance..."

"That's it? You'd... travel."

"You don't get it, babe. Life is a road, but it branches off so many places. You have no idea what I'd do to be able to see all of them, experience all of them." As he spoke, he sounded more excited than he had in quite a long time. "Besides time, money is the only thing that's stopping me from tasting every bit of what the world has to offer... And that's all I live for. For art, and for new experiences. They're like my drug, darling."



"I don't know... I mean, that sounds great and all," Mia slowly responded. "But I feel like my family built up this fortune to actually do something with it, you know? Not just blow it on plane tickets and boat rides."

"There's nothing that says it can't go multiple places, dollface."

"Yeah," she shrugged. "I guess you're right. I'm just so confused right now. I just wish I could talk to her, or that she had left me a message, or something to tell me what I was supposed to be doing."



"You're worrying way too much, blondie. This is your life, not your family's. You do it how you wanna do it. Walk the way you wanna walk. They're just holding you back, and you know it. It's about time you started to set yourself free from caring what everyone else thinks."

"Yeah... I guess you're right." Sigh; again.



"Awww, c'mon, sugar," he said with a wicked smile as he began to draw in closer. "Don't sound so heartbroken. I'm here to take care of you, remember? You and me, we're partners... Partners don't let each other down, mm?"

Amelia smiled and batted her eyelashes. "They sure don't."

Jerod winked his eye at her, but then his expression became even brighter. "Oh, that reminds me--" he began excitedly. "I've decided to throw a party for our one-month anniversary this Saturday, and I invited a bunch of my friends that you haven't met yet."



The declaration caught Amelia with a bit of surprise, but she did her best to hold back getting too giggly about it; Jerod teased her when she used to do that. 'Only kids jump up and down like maniacs, you know,' he'd say as he laughed.

"That's... amazing," Amelia sighed happily. Her boyfriend not only remembered their anniversary, he planned a party! One where she'd get to meet the friends he'd been hesitant for her to get know. 'They just aren't your type of usual crowd, you know? I don't think you'd like them much.' He finally was trusting her. She couldn't show it, but she was thrilled.



Jerod only smiled in response, gazing deeply into her eyes with That Look. You know, that one; the one that melts your heart to pudding, and sends you to your knees... Man, she was lucky.

But apparently, not lucky enough; as they mezmorized each other with their eyes, Amelia felt her cell-phone vibrating in her pocket.



She pulled it from her pocket, and instantly, her heart turned to stone.

Naomi.



She'd totally forgotten about Naomi. She'd forgotten about Lamont, about Gwen, about everyone that had lied to her--and seeing her blonde-haired roommate's name pop up on her screen made her stomach turn inside out as it all came flooding back.

"It's... It's Naomi," she said as she clicked a button to read her message. "She just sent me a text... Says she thought I'd be home by now, wanted to make sure I was okay." Amelia groaned. Yeah; like Naomi cared about her feelings.



"You should probably get back," Jerod said with a quirky smile. "Before the ringmaster gets too fiesty with you, mmm?"

"Not funny," Amelia growled at him. She still hadn't told him about what she had learned about Naomi's feelings towards her, and she didn't want to; somehow, she felt that secret was something she had to confront before sharing it with Jerod. He was likely to be pissed, and she wanted first dibs on kicking Naomi's butt.

Or... something. To be honest, she wasn't actually sure why she didn't want to tell him; that's what she had told herself, but there was something else nagging at the back of her mind. Something she didn't want to admit, even to herself.



"Want me to walk you home?" Jerod asked, reaching out to grab her neck and pull her closer to him.

She nodded. "Yeah," was said between beared, fake-smiling teeth. "I'd love that."



As they kissed, she tried to let it all fall away... Naomi, Lamont, Gwen; she let herself be absorbed in his arms, and let her wayward thoughts drift up to the night sky.

If there was anything that Jerod was good at, it was helping her forget.

---

As she watched the two love-birds saying their goodbyes, Naomi could feel a rock sinking in her stomach. It was bad enough that Amelia was with him at all, but the way she paraded him around for everyone to see?

'You're just being selfish,' Naomi thought to herself, but even logic couldn't change the way she felt.



"Hey, Mia," she finally said, as the pair hadn't seemed to notice her yet. They still didn't respond to her existence, though; it was like some kind of joke, to them. 'See how long we can make Naomi wait'. 'See how much we can piss Naomi off.'.

She could feel her cheeks growing warm, but she kept her mouth shut. She knew she had to...



... but it didn't make it any easier.

"So, I'll see you Saturday then, hmm? Make sure to wear something nice," Naomi heard Jerod say to Amelia in that husky, dark voice of his. "My friends aren't particular, but I still want to present you as... attractive as possible."

Amelia giggled; Naomi wanted to gag herself.




"You know I wouldn't dare to look anything but my best, sweetheart," Amelia said as sweetly as she could in return. "Where'd you say this party was again?"

"Someplace special. We haven't been there before, but I'm certain it's right up your alley. You'll see."

The two kissed one last time, before Amelia turned away from him and--with a rather sour look in her direction--walked right past Naomi through the double doors of the building.



"Um... Yeah, I'm just popping out to get some groceries, I'll be back in a few!" Naomi called after her, hearing Amelia's finger mashing the elevator 'up' button several times before the doors finally closed behind her.

Naomi couldn't help but flinch; man, what was up with her? Things had been tense between them ever since Amelia had come home with news of her Grandmother's death, but she figured Mia would at least be a little bit heartwarming now that she was home again.



Still, it was all for the best. As she heard the elevator reach the ground floor--and inevitably Amelia leave her behind--she turned her gaze towards Jerod, who hadn't made it far up the sidewalk.

There were butterflies in her stomach, but she knew what she had to do. She had no choice--or rather, she had a choice... But the alternative wasn't what she wanted.

So she took a deep breath, and she began to walk.



The distance between them never grew too close, she was careful to ensure. Though she doubted he'd recognize her if he did look back--he hadn't spared her a second glance when she'd interrupted them on the sidewalk--she had good reason to be cautious.

Still, as the bumble of the city began to grow louder and busier, she found it harder to keep track of him over the winding toil of sidewalks and the crowds that were beginning to appear.



She got lucky, though. He descended into a part of the city that had still not yet awoke--or perhaps was even just falling asleep--so it was nearly impossible to lose him.

Naomi kept hanging back further and further, ducking behind shrubbery when he looked too far to the side. 'I shouldn'tve worn yellow,' she kept thinking to herself; but she didn't realize she'd be following him, this morning. Not until she'd heard what he said.



Naomi felt she had a right to be suspicious, and it was her obligation to make sure she didn't overlook that.

Something about Jerod just wasn't right. She'd known that since the first day she met him, but it wasn't until now that she really was beginning to get worried. He followed Amelia home to her Grandmother's funeral; why? And what was this party he was throwing... who were his friends? It didn't sit well.

As she got closer and closer, she realized that he'd stopped; through the silence of these streets, she could hear why. He'd gotten a phone call, and he'd stopped to answer.



Naomi slowly began to sneak closer and closer, but she found that as he talked he began to get animated, and began to turn in her direction.

'Plumbob!' she almost said aloud as she swiftly ducked into the hedges to the side of the sidewalk, catching her hair on some branches and causing her to trip onto her knees. 'Dangit, that was not cool,' she groaned, but she didn't have time to waste. She immediately got back up and kept going, despite the scratches on her legs.



She had to be quick. With a few running bolts, she finally caught up to where Jerod was, but she was careful to make sure there was plenty of greenery between him and herself. Naomi tried not to breathe; anything that would interfere with her hearing. The roving cabs nearby were already making that task hard enough.

"Yeah yeah, she agreed to it. I know, it's like stealing candy from a baby, isn't it? That's fine, I'm pretty sure the only reason she would've said no is if that roommate of hers disapproved. That woman's like a hawk... I almost thought this would be impossible with that broad constantly breathing down my neck."



Naomi could feel her face growing hot again, but she tried to keep her personal feelings aside; this wasn't about her. This was about Amelia... about her promise.

"Yeah, yeah... I'll make sure of it. Please, stop freaking out, alright? Everything's going according to plan. Trust me. Amelia Kane's as good as yours."



Naomi's eyes and mouth fell agape in horror. "Oh no," she whispered, her hands trembling. "Oh, plumbob, no..."