Chapter 8
Scarlette opened her eyes and lazily rolled over on her side, realizing that she was on a bed and not the table. She sat up so fast she gave herself a head rush.
"Where-" She looked around the room and spotted the mattress on the floor. Empty, but it had definitely been slept on. "Crow..." She said with a small smile on her face and feeling heat in her cheeks again.
She got up and walked down the hall, seeing the ladder down to the kitchen. Wondering how Crow got her up there, Scarlette knelt down at the sound of his angry voice. It sounded like it was coming from the floor below the kitchen.
"There you are, Jack! I have a bone to pick with you!"
"What's got your knickers in a twist this morning?" Jack snapped. "Doesn't anyone say hello anymore?" (These statements made Scarlette roll her eyes.)
"What were you thinking when you put Scarlette to sleep on the table?!" Crow thundered.
"Do you really want to know?" Jack sighed. "In that case...My thoughts were: 'And for our next course, we'll be having small, redheaded Nether-girl.' Happy?"
"Oh sure...The first time you're ever humorous and you gotta be sadistic about it!"
Scarlette crawled down the ladder and met Bruno and Yusei.
Bruno was cleaning up after breakfast and Yusei was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee.
"Good morning, Scarlette." Bruno said.
Scarlette shushed him involuntarily and crossed over to the railing by the stairs and watched Crow and Jack.
"Well. I thought it was funny." Jack stated.
"We don't want to eat her, Jack!" Crow snapped. "Food and cards go on the table. Not guests!" Spotting Scarlette above, Crow stated that he was ending the conversation and Jack walked outside.
"Hey Scarlette." He addressed.
"How did you get me up there?" Scarlette asked, pointing at the ladder.
"How did you sleep?" Crow counter-asked.
"Answer my question." Scarlette replied, putting her hands on her hips.
"You answer mine first." Crow argued, crossing his arms.
There was a stare down between the two for a few moments until Scarlette giggled.
"I slept wonderfully." She finally said.
"Good." Crow replied, making his way up the stairs towards her. "It wasn't easy at all to carry you up there. But I didn't feel right just leaving you on the table."
Scarlette blushed lightly. "Thank you. You didn't have to go through all the trouble."
"I just said it wasn't easy." Crow stated. "I never said it was trouble."
At the table, Bruno leaned towards Yusei to whisper.
"The two of them are adorable."
Yusei watched Crow and Scarlette for a few moments before nodding.
"Hey Scarlette." He spoke up. "We saved some breakfast for you. Do you like toast or eggs?"
Scarlette shrugged. "I don't know."
"I'm sorry, what?" Bruno replied.
"The eggs didn't taste so well on my face, and I've never had toast before." Scarlette clarified.
Bruno blinked.
"First off...Eggs taste ten million times better cooked than raw...and second... What do you people eat?"
Scarlette looked at the ceiling, in deep thought.
"Roots...Ginger...Some of us manage to grow and sell small potatoes...Animals that we farm down there...Mostly horses and ponies, sadly...And some of the housewives founds out how to make some soups from the water that we filter from what seeps from the rivers and lakes...That's about it. Not much to eat or even breathe down at the Berth." She shrugged again. "I'm sure most of the food you have will be new to me."
"Could that be why your skin has such a greyish color to it?" Crow asked. "Malnutrition?"
It was difficult to see on Scarlette, but her skin did sport a light grey pigment, mostly around her cheeks; this made it obvious when she blushed, Crow noticed.
"Yes, actually...Some believe that the lack of resources we have causes our skin to create a greyish or even bluish pigment." Scarlette explained. "We call it Berth Cyanosis."
"That's an actual medical term..." Bruno spoke.
"Yeah." Scarlette supported.
"Well, what were you eating when you were living in that mine shaft?" Yusei asked her.
"Roots, some mint plants I restored and farmed and whatever I could hunt." Scarlette answered. "It was no trouble." She added, seeing the three guys with shocked faces. "I don't eat much anyways."
Crow put his arm around Scarlette's shoulders and held her close, making her cheeks flare up.
"Well, welcome to the surface. There's tons of good thing up here, but don't get crazy."
"You don't think I don't know what you mean." Scarlette said, making Crow shift his eyes a couple times. "I'll have you know I have a cousin who had to go to a boot camp in the Machinima district to lose 300 pounds off her...You don't need to assume we don't have people with weight problems. You can get fat off anything...Which is why I don't eat much."
Crow paused. "I...I didn't mean to offend you, Scarlette."
Scarlette smiled. "I was only making a statement. I never said you offended me."
"Oh...Throwing my own words back at me, huh?" Crow laughed, patting Scarlette's back. "What a smart little mouth. Now go try some toast. I have to get to work."
He grabbed his yellow jacket and was off.
"You like him, don't you?" Yusei asked, taking Scarlettes attention away from the door.
"What do you mean?" Scarlette asked, putting a hand on the back of her neck.
"Come on, it's obvious." Yusei said, standing up and walking over to Scarlette, making her nervous at first. "You blush madly whenever he talks or touches you...You let him touch you, any of us put a finger on you and you jump back."
"I do not." Scarlette argued.
Yusei reached his arm towards Scarlettes shoulder and she turned it away to avoid his touch. Scarlettes silence signalled Yusei to continue. "I rest my case...Also, you talk to Crow the most..."
"And you look at him all the time." Bruno added; Yusei nodded towards him.
"So what, I look at somebody." Scarlette argued again.
"Scarlette..." Yusei said, taking Scarlette gently by the shoulders to avoid startling her. "It's okay...He likes you too."
Scarlette backed away, breaking free of Yusei.
"No. No. No. No. No. No. No." She started to weep, holding her head and shaking uncontrollably. "I can't. I can't. I don't. No!"
Scarlette ran past Yusei and Bruno and climbed the ladder, making her way back to Crows room. She closed the door and opened the window, climbing on to the roof and weeping. "I'm...I'm in love...I'm in love with a Surface-Dweller..."
She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her forehead on them.
She cried for a few minutes as quietly as she could before hoisting her head slightly enough to see Yusei and Bruno leave with Jack. She wasn't sure where they were going, but she was okay, Scarlette thought a little while by herself would be good. She slid down the roof and let herself fall off the edge to catch the windowsill to Crows room. She climbed up and paced around the room and attic hallways for a while.
She wandered around the living quarters more and watched people walk and drive by from the windows. Over thrity minutes later, Scarlette climbed back up to Crows bedroom and layed down on the width side of the bed and let herself drift into a nap. It took a few minutes, but she managed to let sleep overtake her dispite the time of day.
