Chapter 10 – the plot thickens
Chris slowly removed his arm from the wall, turned his body around and started walking towards the bookshelf where his phone had begun the song once more.
When you hold me in the street and you kiss me on the dance floor
He grabbed it and stopped the looping song before putting it in one of his pockets. Silence fell through the apartment after the song was stopped. The only sounds heard were coming from outside.
His eyes moved and looked towards the bathroom, wondering what she'd say if he were to knock on the door. Only one way to find out. He walked towards the bathroom, his feet moved at a slow place, and he began knocking gently on the door.
"Scarlett, talk to me." He pleaded with a soft voice, hoping that she would just open the door. "Please, say something. Anything. I need to know you're okay." He laid one of his hands against the length of the door, waiting, desperately so, for an answer from her. "Even just 'kay would be fine."
He was about to talk again when his phone began ringing, cutting through the tension of the apartment. He sighed in defeat and grabbed his phone from his pocket.
He and Scarlett needed to speak after what had happened. He didn't know what came over him. One minute he was dancing with her and the other he was kissing her. Seems like being alone with her these past days had rekindled his feelings for her.
He looked at his phone and a frown formed when he was the id of the caller. Robert. But not the one you think. It was one of the directors of 'The Nanny Returns'.
"Hey, Robert. How you doing?" He politely asked after picking up.
"Good, Chris." Robert quickly replied in a hushed tone before clearing his throat. "Listen, is Scarlett next to you? I need to talk to you both." He seemed a bit nervous, as if he was about to tell them something wonderfully dreadful.
"Uh, yeah." He faced the bathroom door and put the phone on speaker. "Scarlett, it's Robert on the phone. He's gonna tell us something." He spoke loud enough for her to hear but not loud enough for Robert to suspect anything. "Um, We're listening."
Robert didn't speak for almost a minute, trying to find the right way to break his absolutely incredibly terrible news. "How do I break it to you?" He finally said before momentarily pausing. "Look, there's no easy way to say this. Uh, do you remember that nurse who came a few days ago?"
"Yeah."
"Well… Turns out she isn't as professional as we thought she was." Robert humorlessly chuckled.
Chris immediately thought the worse, but he didn't want to let his anxiety jump to conclusion. "What do you mean by that?" He pursued, encouraging Robert to say what he had to say.
"She tried to sell your samples on the internet." He explained in a breath, barely pausing between his words.
"What?"
Robert let out a nervous giggle. "Yeah, we got a call from the lab saying they never received the samples. We looked into it and realized that she had tried to sell them." He talked in a fake-enthusiastic way.
"Are you serious?"
What kind of person does that?
"Yeah. So, that means you guys are going to have to stay longer there."
Chris was about to reply when the door of the bathroom swung open and Scarlett grabbed the phone from him. "What the fuck? Robert, you gotta be kidding me!"
"I know, I know. But to make sure you're both safe, you'd need to get tested two times in a period of 8 days. One once you'd come in – which is no longer available – then one after spending 8 days in quarantine to make sure you don't have any symptoms."
"How long are we in for?" Chris asked, his eyes briefly glancing at Scarlett and trying to depict what she was feeling. But her eyes were on the phone, ignoring him.
"We're sending you another nurse as soon as we are sure we can trust her with the samples. It could take a couple more days." Robert quickly spoke the last part as if he was afraid of saying it.
"What?"
Scarlett cut to the chase."How long are we talking exactly?"
"I'd say one more week than what we usually planned." He said. Two weeks tops."
"That'd be 3 weeks here then?"
"Robert–"
"Oh, would you look at that! Somebody's calling me. I gotta go. Sorry. Bye!" He quickly hung up, glad to have broken the news.
"That fucking asshole." Scarlett muttered under her breath as she clutched the phone in her hand. She was tempted to throw it but it wasn't hers. It was Chris'.
Chris. We kissed. Oh, God.
"Scar–"
She looked up at him when he tried to get her attention but she turned around to lock herself in the bathroom again when she saw the look in his eyes. That desperate, pleading look of his.
Chris grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him. "Wait."
"Let go of me." She said after letting out a gasp. Who did he think he was?
Chris removed his hand from holding her arm and gave her a soft look. "We should talk, Scarlett."
"No, thank you." She turned around again.
"Scarlett, please."
"No." She started walking into the bathroom but he pulled her back and pinned her to the wall. A gasp escaped past her lips as she eyed him with fury.
"Would you just listen to what I have to say?" He asked.
"What?" Her tone was harsh.
He let out a deep sigh and looked down at her. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like you've betrayed Colin. I didn't want to put you into an awkward position and this is exactly what I've done."
Scarlett pushed herself off the wall and tried to escape the talk but he gently pulled her back against the wall. "I'm not finished."
"You're sorry you kissed me, I get it." She expressed with a roll of her eyes and tried to escape again but Chris moved closer to her and trapped her against the wall as his hands came up on each side of her head.
"I said I was sorry for making you feel like a cheater, not for kissing you." He said, making her stop struggling and looking up at him. "I'm not sorry for kissing you the way I did, it was something I've longed to do for a long time and I took my shot." He paused, intensely watching her reaction to his words. "But I know you're not sorry about that kiss either. You wouldn't have kissed me the same way if you didn't feel anything."
Scarlett's mouth gaped slightly and she tried desperately to hold in her feelings. "I said I don't want to talk about it." She reminded him, looking away from him.
"Will you stop being so stubborn?" One of his hands moved from the wall to her cheek. He gently made her look at him. "I could apologize for anything, but I could never apologize for kissing you or for wanting to do it again, and again, and again, until I can no longer breath."
"Why are you telling me this?" She swallowed and her tongue darted out to wet her lips.
Chris leaned in, his eyes fixated on her lips.
"Because it's time you've come to know how I feel about you."
