devotion

baby steps

The next day Maddy came over to Cassie's so they could get ready together. Tonight was the towns founders parade which Maddy and Cassie described as "a fun way to get fucked up" and told her that it was their second chance to redo the carnival situation that had happened a couple weeks before Scarlett had arrived in this town. Scarlett was at one of her lowest points and besides Jules, Cassie, Rue and Maddy she felt completely alone. She knew that what she was doing wasn't smart but her bender seemed like a never ending way to numb all the things she had going on in her head. Maddy's outfit was a tiny pink romper that had a deep V neck and short shorts. Cassie has decided on white jean shorts and a baby pink tube top. Scarlett decided on a hot pink spaghetti strapped mini dress. The girls laughed at their decisions to all wear pink. They had a plan for the parade one that involved needing a ticket from Fez which almost made Scarlett back out of the plan. It had been over a week since he had said what he said to her. Her goal was to avoid him like the plague. The girls began their walk toward the main road which would be the beginning of the parade route. Cassie and Maddy told Scarlett to get a soda and wait for them. Fez saw the two girls approaching before they had seen him and they instantly made his mind go to Scarlett. He wondered if she was here. He wondered how she was doing. "Fez," Maddy said crossing her arms."Do you know where molly is ? Ive been looking for her for like 3 hours." Three. Fez wondered who the third person was but his mind only went to one place. Almost every kid he went to high school with knew who he was now. There were only a handful of people who wouldn't approach him on the job. But Fez just handed them the three yellow tickets and said "I think she's at the pretzel stand." The girls nodded and began their way back to where they had left Scarlett. "We're going to get the pretzels do you wanna stay here?" Cassie asked. "No I'll go see Ashtray we're still cool." Scarlett responded. They quickly spotted the pretzel stand and tried to approach it as lowkey as possible. Scarlett was the one to hand them the three tickets. Ashtray met her eyes "how ya doin Scar?" He knew that she knew. She knew that he knew. She didn't think seeing Ashtray would be this hard but she missed him. "Just hungry for a pretzel." She told him not meeting his eyes. "Scar Ion know if I could do this in good conscience you know he would kill me." Ash told her. "Just think of me as just another customer Ash. That's all I am anymore." Ashtray just nodded in response. "That'll be 35." "Damn. What the hell, each?" Maddy said. "Nah for all three of you." This made Scarlett look up. The special discount. It was their inside joke. It made her heart ache a little just thinking about everything great that came out of going to that convenient store. "Thanks Ash." Scarlett told him as all three girls reached into their bras to pull out the money. "Enjoy your pretzels." Ash said handing one to each of them. They looked inside the wrap around the pretzels one by one then walked by the trash can to throw away the pretzel itself while slipping the baggies discreetly into their bras.
As the parade started in full force they went in between food stands and took the molly. The reaction was instant. The girls looked at each other and all started laughing. They watched themselves start to react to the drug. This was only the third time Scarlett had tried it and the second time was under some serious pressure so she felt like this would be a better high. She hoped it would. The girls began to follow the parade route laughing and walking until they met up with Nate and his group of friends. McKay was there which made Cassie's face light up as she ran to hug him. Suddenly Scarlett felt out of place. She was rolling at this point and all this excitement was getting a little overwhelming. She sat down on the bench next to the group and tried her best to avoid eye contact with Caleb the best that she could. She sat there for a minute calming herself down. She heard Maddy tell Nate what they were on and Scarlett couldn't help but roll her eyes at how loud her announcement of it was. So much for lowkey, Scarlett thought to herself. She was starting to feel better when a guy in a jersey sat down on the bench next to her. When she looked up she recognized him, he was in her chemistry class and she knew that he was good friends with Nate and McKay but she couldn't remember his name.
It was as if he was reading her mind because he reached his hand out "Connor". She shook it back smiling. "Scarlett" but he just nodded his head in response "yeah I know" he winked. Scarlett liked Connor because what she knew of him wasn't much, which meant he kept to himself and didn't mirror everything Nate and the football team did. The two started talking back and forth about school, their class mates and teachers. "Oh my god did you see the way Ms Rodriguez looks at Mr Tate ? It's like she's literally drooling." Scarlett laughed a little to loud at her own point. "Oh that's nothing! Have you seen the way Mr Tate looks at Mr Campbell. That's drooling." When he said that Scarlett doubled over in laughter and might have even snorted. She couldn't tell if it was the molly or just Connor but Scarlett was having the best time on that bench. Maddy and Cassie went off with the rest of the group of boys to go get food but Scarlett and Connor sat their enjoying each other's company. She didn't know why but she felt like a year ago he would've checked all her boxes. He was nice, funny, cute and happened to be on the football team which in the past would have been the most important thing on her list. She was different now though but she didn't mind old habits at the moment. They felt comfortable. The parade speakers had started to play Rihanna which made Scarlett jump up from the bench to start dancing to herself. She didn't want to sit still anymore even though Connor was entertaining her. Connor only smiled as she danced around the bench. He could probably tell she was on something or maybe he had heard Maddy's announcement because he wasn't questioning her actions. When the song ended and Scarlett stopped dancing she heard clapping and looked to Connor to see him applauding her dance. As a response she took a dramatic bow saying "thank you thank you". Scarlett decided that she was hungry so they decided to get a real pretzel this time and made their way over to the stand. "Two pretzels please Ashtray" Scarlett said smiling. "I think you've had enough pretzels" Ashtray responded zeroing his eyes in on Connor standing a little too close to Scarlett for his liking. "Well Ash I'm talking about a real pretzel this time. Do you have any of those?" She asked stumbling back. As she tripped over her own footing Connor caught her around the waist making her wrap her arms around him throwing her head back laughing. When she looked back over to Ashtray he was dialing on his phone. She waited until she heard him say "hey fez" into the phone. Immediately she grabbed Connor's hand and began pulling him through the crowd. They ran until they reached an alleyway. "Why'd you run? What happened to the pretzels?" Connor said laughing. "I decided I didn't want one anymore." She smiled back at him. She knew it was just instinct for Ashtray to call Fez but right now she wasn't in the head space to care about that. She leaned back against the wall trying to catch her breath. When she looked back up at Connor she saw he was moved in closer. "Do you mind if I kiss you?" Connor asked leaning in. Scarlett just shook her head, she didn't think she would mind, this was what she was supposed to be doing. He leaned in closer meeting his lips to hers. They continued kissing. Scarlett realized there was no spark to it. The kiss was innocent and sweet but after a while Scarlett pulled away. The feeling of kissing someone else didn't sit right with her. She wasn't sure if it was the molly or kissing someone else but she began to feel sick. She disconnected their lips backing away. "Did I do something?" Connor asked looking concerned. "No I'm sorry I just don't think I'm ready to be doing this. I just can't." She told him. He nodded taking a second to think. "Well do you need a ride home or anything?" He asked but she just shook her head. "Well maybe we can talk again sometime I had a really good time hanging out with you tonight. Maybe as friends the next time?" He asked. "Friends. That sounds good Connor I'll catch you around." She said. She walked back up the alley way slowly and when she reached where the alley way met the street she looked to her left to see Fez leaning against the building wall. He was smoking a cigarette looking like he was trying a little too hard to be casual about it. For a moment they met eyes. He looked intense and protective. She didn't say anything though, Scarlett just broke the eye contact and gave Maddy a call so they could get a ride back to Cassie's.