People Watching - EJ Caswell ¹

"You aren't denying it!"

It hadn't been long since EJ had dropped Scarlett off, yet his car seemed to be pulling up to her house for the second time that day, along with Ashlyn, who was now continuously knocking on her door. She shouted out to the girl, telling her that she'd only be a minute and that she could stop knocking, but the redhead chose to ignore her, just to annoy the brunette.

Scarlett quickly tied her shoelace before swiping her bag off the table and opening the door to Ashlyn, who held an amused smile. "Are you ready?"

"Get in the car." She replied with an eye roll as she locked her front door and made her way to their ride, which was parked on the street outside of her house. She opened the door to the backseat, and climbed in, sending a smile toward the boy in the driver's seat. "How's it going chauffeur, back again so soon?" She teased as Ashlyn got into the passenger side.

EJ rolled his eyes as he began to drive with a small smirk on his face. "Shut up. If you could drive I wouldn't need to be here so often."

Scarlett placed a hand on her heart playfully as she sunk into her seat. "I can't believe you don't like driving me everywhere. I'm hurt."

Ashlyn looked back and forth between the pair with an amused smile as she watched them interact in a manner she had never seen before. She smirked knowingly as she looked straight forward at the road, attempting to drown out their endless playful banter.

______

The ride was short, Big Red didn't live very far away from Scarlett's house, so soon enough they were knocking on his door and making their way into his crowded basement.

After a couple minutes of awkward silence, Scarlett sat on the floor beside the two cousin's legs as they waited to see if anyone else would show up. Snacks were laid out on the table and they sat in a makeshift sort of circle, waiting for somebody to speak up and say something. Literally anything.

"This is a terrible party. There aren't even pretzels." Natalie finally said and everyone looked toward her as she twirled the ends of her hair around her finger. "What are we all doing here?"

Ashlyn sighed. "We all ended up in the same basement after a really bad day, so someone should say something." She stated her opinion and Carlos jumped at the opportunity, ready to get something off of his chest.

"Fine, I'll say something. I'm mad at Ms Jenn." He announced with less anger in his tone than Scarlett assumed he wanted, he sounded more disappointed than anything.

Gina looked over at him from her spot beside Ricky. "Why?" She questioned with a scoff. "Because she has a couple of skeletons in her closet?"

Carlos shook his head slightly. "No, because she's giving up." He sighed quietly. "She was the first teacher to not see me as a punchline, and now she's not even a real teacher?" He explained sadly.

"Define "real teacher"." Scarlett defended.

Kourtney crossed her arms. "He's got a point."

"Does he, though?" Natalie asked, curiosity in her voice.

Big red, leaned forward ever so slightly. "Guys." He stopped their argument before it could officially start before sitting back in his chair.

"So, why are we all here, then?" Natalie repeated.

EJ nodded his head, using his hand to point to the girl acknowledging her point. "Yeah, good question. This is a waste of time." He replied, and Scarlett rolled her eyes at his bluntness.

Carlos hesitated for a moment before deciding to speak his heart. "Honestly? Because she gave me a shot. And it's been a long time since someone gave me a shot." Seb placed a hand on the boy's knee as a way to comfort him as Nini spoke up.