"Ugh, my head's killing me." Were the first words that left Scarlet's mouth when she woke up. The next words were, "Why are you two staring at me like that?"

Juliet and Blake were sat on their respective mattresses as they stared intently at the black-haired girl. Blake had told Juliet about how Scarlet was undeniably drunk last night, and how the both of them had heard the slurs that were just spewing out of her mouth about the one and only Katie.

"Who's Katie?" Blake opted to ask as he stared at Scarlet, who looked like she had seen a ghost. "How do you know that name?" Juliet and Blake's eyes squinted at Scarlet as she squinted her own back at her cousins.

"We asked you a question first."

"I'm older than you."

"I'm the exact same age as you." Blake retorted as he smirked triumphantly while Scarlet sighed audibly. "She's my... friend." She spoke as she tried not to make eye contact with her two cousins while holding her throbbing head.

"We heard something truly different about her last night." Juliet spoke with a smirk on her face as she wiggled her eyebrows at Scarlet. "Yeah, something like 'Katie, I loved you!'."

"I did not say anything like that." Scarlet argued as she looked away from her cousins, denying to make any type of eye contact. "Yeah, you did." Blake had a smug look on his face when Scarlet sighed.

"She was my girlfriend." Scarlet emphasized as she rubbed her aching head. "She cheated on me." Blake gasped but Juliet stayed indifferent since she already knew.

"We should hunt that bitch down." Blake practically growled as he pounded his fist on his open palm.

"Woah, woah. Back up. No cursing and definitely no hunting anyone down. And please don't tell anyone else about the fact that I had a girlfriend." Blake nodded his head frantically as Scarlet gave him a look that basically said, 'behave'.

"Now, you answer my questions."

"Okay, what do you want to ask?" Juliet crossed her legs as she leaned back on her hands. "First, why does my head hurt like I slammed it hard on something?" Scarlet asked as she groaned loudly.

"That, my sister, is called a hangover." Blake smirked at the confused look on Scarlet's face. "Boy, you're really ignorant to the things that you don't like."

"It's because of the heavy drinking you did last night." Blake explained slowly as he glanced at Juliet.

"I drank last night." Scarlet's face held horror and recognition as bits and pieces of last night surfaced from the back of her head to the front.

"I drank last night!" She yelled before she looked at her cousins. "Does mom know?"

"No, we got you covered there." Blake waved his hand dismissively as Scarlet looked at him in gratefulness. "You should thank Lauren, she's the one that brought you home last night." Blake added.

"And also apologize to her, you kept calling her Katie." Juliet smirked when Scarlet groaned audibly. "Well, look at the bright side, at least Stewart is gone."

Scarlet looked at her cousins with an eyebrow raised while her cousins shrugged. "Thank Lauren for that too."

"I don't want to talk to her." Scarlet groaned as she got up to clean herself up. Her body smelled distinctly of vomit, so she knew that she needed a much-needed shower and change of clothes.

"You have to, because she's gonna stay until Van's wedding which is only a few weeks away."

Shaking her head, Scarlet entered the bathroom after grabbing a pair of jeans and t-shirt. She closed the door behind her with a sigh, as she tried to think her way out of even looking at Lauren's face.

"Oh yeah, it's lunch time already, so come down when you're done!" Blake yelled from outside the bathroom which made Scarlet groan again.

The Payne house was buzzing with the fact that Stewart was gone. The men complained of how they had let him go alive, while the women laughed at how he had peed himself. The kids were all bickering with each other about which game they wanted to play while the young adults of the family; Juliet, Blake, Vanessa and Scarlet, were all sitting in the living room away from the adults, with Lauren and Kevin with them.

"I hate that the kids get to sit with the big people, but we don't." Blake complained as he pouted. "Maybe that's the reason why." Vanessa pointed at him as the others laughed.

"And maybe that's the reason why kids don't like you." Blake retorted as Vanessa glared at him. "You both are such kids." Juliet chimed in as she made faces at Blake. "Hey, hey. No calling my girl a kid." Vanessa smiled at Kevin as he smirked wrapping his free arm around his soon-to-be-bride's shoulders. "Only I can do that."

Everyone laughed as Vanessa slapped Kevin's arm with a pout on her face. Kevin smiled a little before he pecked her lips lovingly making Vanessa smile as well.

Lauren and Scarlet were the only ones that were quietly -- awkwardly -- eating their lunch as everyone around them conversed with laughs and teasing. Scarlet looked at Kevin and Vanessa with a longing look as they only reminded her of how Katie and her were like that too.

"Stop brooding." Blake whispered in Scarlet's ear as he bumped shoulders with her, making her glare at him. "I'm not."

"Yeah, and you aren't sneaking glances at Lauren either." He rolled his eyes at Scarlet, while the girl glared at him. "I feel left out." Juliet whispered from beside Blake while leaning in closer so that she could look at Scarlet as well.

"Eat your food." Scarlet ordered as she turned back to her half-eaten sandwich that looked less appetizing now.

She sighed before getting up from the circle, in which they were sitting in on the carpet, before making her way to the entrance of the living room. Everyone was now looking at her in confusion but she just simply lied, "I feel home sick."

"This is your home, woman." Blake retorted getting a glare from the said girl. "No, New York is." Scarlet mumbled to herself as she went out of the living room and opted to go to the guest room to get a shut eye for a while.

"She's been this way since Stewart showed up." Vanessa sighed and Kevin held her hand, getting an appreciative peck on the cheek from Vanessa. "We know who else to blame." Lauren mumbled to herself as she took a bite of her sandwich before getting up herself.

"Now, where are you going?" Juliet asked as she stared at the blonde woman. "Uh, to pee." Lauren lied with a nervous smile.

"Uh huh, with Scarlet." Blake snorted which made Juliet ram her elbow in Blake's ribs making him groan loudly while clutching the place she brutally assaulted.

Vanessa and Kevin looked at the two weirdly and Lauren took this moment to get out of the living room.

She ascended the stairs with nervousness creeping up inside her while she thought about all the things that Scarlet could do. She could never again talk to Lauren ever again but the most common thought that was finding way into her mind over and over again was the thought that Scarlet could go running back to Katie, and that was what made Lauren afraid.

Reaching the guest room, Lauren found the door open and Scarlet laying on her back on the mattress she was using, with her eyes staring into thin air.

Lauren didn't know what else to do than to knock and that she did, catching Scarlet's attention which was given all to the ceiling.

"Can I come in?" Lauren asked and internally face-palmed herself at the dumb question. Of course, she could. She was using the room too.

Scarlet, instead of answering, turned her back to Lauren. Lauren feeling hurt, stood there awkwardly as she decided in her mind to not enter the room without Scarlet's permission.

Lauren leaned against the door and sighed loudly, trying to catch Scarlet's attention. Unbeknownst to her, Scarlet had all of her attention on the woman without her even trying.

"I won't move away from here, until you say that you want me to enter this room." Lauren spoke as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Go away." Scarlet groaned out as she placed a stray pillow on her head. "Nope." Lauren shook her head even when she knew that Scarlet couldn't see her do so.

"Everyone I trust just ends up being a liar behind my back." Scarlet muttered and Lauren felt an ache travel through her heart to her head which then commanded her to go to Scarlet, and that she did.

Walking into the room, Lauren plopped beside Scarlet, who in turn scooted away from the blonde woman.

"I'm truly sorry." Lauren apologized but it all went in from one ear and out the other for Scarlet. "Everyone is, when they're caught." Scarlet mumbled sourly as she sighed heavily with the pillow still on her head.

"I never wanted to hurt you, Scar. I just-" Scarlet snorted before she turned to look at Lauren, who was sitting beside her. "And yet you ended up doing it anyway."

"Can you just shut up and listen to me." Lauren snapped and Scarlet glared at her before sitting up to face Lauren better. "You don't get to snap at me. You're the one at fault here."

"I know, but you-" Lauren was cut off again as Scarlet began to speak again. "No, you lied to me. You made me feel like I had a friend that understood me but you were just pretending so that you could get an ice-cream sundae. Was an ice-cream sundae worth more than my feelings to you?" Scarlet looked at Lauren with a look of anger and disbelief. Lauren shook her head and opened her mouth to speak but Scarlet didn't give her a chance.

"And don't even think that I'll forgive you just because we became friends over the past few weeks."

Lauren nodded her head before she placed her palm on Scarlet's mouth making the said girl frown. "Can I speak now, or do you want to talk some more?" Scarlet looked at the green eyes of the woman before she glared at her.

Lauren smiled at her before she scooted a little closer to Scarlet, leaving little to no space between their bodies. Scarlet could've felt Lauren's breath on her lips if she didn't have the blonde's open palm on her mouth.

"I'm sorry." Lauren spoke as she stared deep into Scarlet's eyes and the way that Scarlet's breath hitched was unnoticeable to the blonde woman but Lauren was feeling the exact same way. Her breath was fast and yet she felt a bit breathless as she looked into Scarlet's eyes and Scarlet did the same.

The both of them were so entranced in each other's gazes that they didn't even notice the way they were leaning closer into each other. Lauren's hand slowly moved away from Scarlet's mouth to her cheek.

They were only a breath away from each other and were still leaning closer into each other as if they didn't want any space left between them. Lauren's eyes fell shut as she breathed deeply against Scarlet's lips, making the said girl's eyes to close as well.

Breathing the same air as each other, they were just about to close the little gap when a knock came from the doorway.

Lauren and Scarlet flew away from each other and both of their cheeks were colored a deep red as they looked up to see Blake and Juliet standing beside the open door with similar smirks on their faces.

"Did we disturb something?" Juliet mocked as she smirked at the two women. Lauren groaned before looking at Scarlet, who looked lost in thought. "We could leave and let you continue what you were about to do." Blake jumped into the mocking as his eyebrows wiggled in suggestion.

"No, you didn't disturb anything." Scarlet spoke as she got off the mattress, purposely avoiding Lauren's eyes as she walked to the door where two of her cousins stood.

Looking at the two, Scarlet just sighed and went out of the room, thinking about what she was going to even do and why she was feeling disappointed that it couldn't continue on.

While Lauren, groaned before falling face forward into the pillow. Her heart was beating wildly and her lips were still feeling the warmth that Scarlet's breath had provided her with.

A hand went to touch her lips and a ghost of a smile came onto her face but it quickly disappeared when she thought about how Scarlet would ignore her now, again.

"She looks really disappointed." Juliet commented as she walked over to Lauren with Blake following close behind.

"I hate you both." Lauren spoke loud enough for the two to hear and they both glanced at each other before they smiled widely.

In the moment, both Lauren and Scarlet had one thing on their mind. Each other's lips.

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