Five hours later they reached the river. It was as beautiful as the last time Scar had been here. Jesse seemed to love it just as much as her and she smiled as she started walking towards it. There was a log on the side of it and Scar sat down on it. Jesse set the pack down (he had insisted he take it after 3 miles. Even though Scar did this all the time by herself.) and sat next to Scarlett.
"It's really pretty," He said and looked over at her.
"Yeah, it is." She nodded. She had pushed the incident in the kitchen to the back of her mind. She did not want to think about it. And apparently neither did Jesse because throughout the walk here he had not said a word about it. They had been talking about a lot of things. Jesse apparently didn't like the quiet because he always had things to say or comment on. But all in all it had been a good time. Jesse had been nice and they told jokes and laughed. She answered a lot of his questions (nothing to personal) and it had been sort of fun.
Which was the last thing Scarlett had expected. Or wanted.
"So how did you find this place?" Jesse asked, still looking at her.
"It wasnt that long ago." She told him. "I had been mad about something, I forget what by now, and I had just left. It was stupid because I had no idea where I was going but I didn't care. I just kept running. Soon, I came to this place and some how it calmed me down. I sat in this exact spot and looked at the water. Eventually I came to my senses and came back home." She smiled at the memory and said, "My mom knew I had gone in the woods since I do it all the time. But it took a long time to get here and then get back. She had stayed up all night and waited for me. It was like 5:00 in the morning when I finally came home."
"Wow. How did you have the energy to run here and then go back? I mean, if your walking that's different. But you said you ran, right?"
"Yeah. I don't know how, but I made it. I love running anyway so when I'm running really fast like I was doing, then time doesn't really matter." Jesse was looking at her with wonder. Seeing the look, she started to defend herself. "Alright, I know that sounds weird but it's the truth."
"It's not weird." Was all he said though. Eventually Jesse looked away from her and got up off the log and started walking towards the river.
"Be Careful! You could fall in." Jesse looked back at her and smiled a mischievous smile and waved off her warning. Scarlett looked after him as he knelt next to the fast flowing river. She was kind of worried that he would fall in but he seemed fine. After a few moments he called Scar over to him. She got up and started walking towards him. When she got to him she knelt beside him and said "What did you call-" But she never got to finish her sentence. Jesse flung a whole handful of ice cold water right at her. She gasped as she felt the chill, whipping herself into a standing position. He started bursting out laughing and fell to the floor. She glared at him and stomped away, wiping the water from her eyes so she could see.
"Scar! Come on, it was just a joke!" He said when he finally got in enough air to breath. He was still laughing but he was running over to her. "I'm sorry. But I couldn't resist. And it was really fun-" His sentence was cut off when scar grabbed her water bottle and sprayed the entire thing on his head. It was her turn to laugh. Jesse stopped spitting out water and grinned at her while he picked up his own water bottle and said "It's so on."
By the time all the water was gone, both of them were soaked from head to toe and they were both laughing so hard they could barely breathe. They both sat own on the log while they caught their breath. They had been spraying each other with water for what seemed like 5 minutes but was really about an hour. They had kept on getting more water from the river.
"Okay. I will admit; that was pretty fun." Scarlett said running her hand through her hair, which has fallen loose.
"Yeah I know right," Jesse said and reached over to wrap his arm around her shoulders so he could take his other hand, curl it into a fist and gave her a noogie. Scar laughed and pushed him off. This was so weird. She wasn't used to bonding with someone so quickly but she felt surprisingly clam around Jesse, despite her fromer feelings for the guy. It was odd and she wished that it wasn't true because letting people in was never a good thing. But for now, she'd just have fun. She'd come to her senses soon. Besides, maybe he wasn't so bad.
Once they had both calmed down Jesse nudged her with his arm and said, as if he had read her mind, "See. I'm not as bad as you think I am."
"Nope your still pretty bad." Scar joked. "But yeah. Your alright. I guess." They smiled at each other. Scarlett looked down and saw that they need to get back before it was too late. Her mom would start to worry. When she told Jesse, his smile faded. "Sorry. But we gotta go." She said, and shrugged as she stood up.
"Alright." He sighed. He took up the back pack and they both started to walk back to Scarlett's house. After a couple of minutes of walking in silence (Which Scar was surprised at because Jesse liked to talk about everything) Jesse asked "Scar? Do you trust me?"
Scarlett shot him a confused look and asked "What kind of question is that?"
Jesse looked down at the ground and said "Just answer the question."
Scarlett thought about it. She still didn't know if she could trust him. Yeah, they had a really fun time and maybe Scarlett had been wrong about him. But could she trust him? After all he did hang out with the people that she hated. And even though they had talked a lot today, she still didn't know anything about him.
"I don't know." She answer truthfully. "I don't really know you. I've known you for three days and don't know anything about you, really. It takes a while to build trust."
He sighed and said "Yeah. That's true." Then he apparently got an idea because his eyes suddenly lighting up, "How about we play a game?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, pulling her eyebrows together, instantly suspicous.
"Every time I ask you a question, you have to answer truthfully and then you get to ask one question about me. Deal?"
Scarlett thought about it. It would be nice to know something about him. But what if he told someone what she said? "It's a deal. But only if everything we say stays between us. Everything I tell you, you have to swear to keep it to yourself. And I'll do the same. Okay?" If he told she could always ruin his life somehow. She had her ways.
Jesse seemed even happier with this so he agreed. "You go first."
Hmm. What did she want to know about Jesse? Then she thought of something that she knew she really needed to know. "Why does everyone stare at you like you're a god?"
Jesse's face darkened and he said "This is already starting to seem like a stupid game."
"You said you would answer. And truthfully. Come on, I swear I won't tell anyone. I just want to know." She shrugged. Jesse looked uncertain. "Please?" she added, trying to soften him up.
Jesse sighed and said "It's the Temptation."
"What does that mean?" Scarlett asked.
"Its my turn." Jesse said, giving her a meaningful look. She sighed but said okay. "Do you play an instrument? You look like the type."
Scarlett grinned at the easy question. She had been expecting something a little more secretive. "Yeah I play Guitar, piano, drums and clarinet."
"You're very talented." He smiled approvingly at her.
"Thanks. Alright back to my other question. What does "the Temptation" mean?"
Jesse lost his smile the second the words were out of her mouth. "Can't you ask a different question?"
"No."
"Fine... How do I explain it... Okay, you know how many people know something or someone is bad or evil but their attracted to whatever it is anyway?"
She thought about it. "Yeah. It's kind of like girls always falling for the bad boy." One of her friends, Ashley, has always liked the "Bad Boy" Type. Scarlett had never got it but a lot of girls apparently did. And even though they weren't really evil, she guessed it counted as the same thing.
"Well that's what that is."
"So your evil?" Which Scarlett didn't get. He didn't seem like the "Evil" type. Bad? Yes. Evil? Well.. not so much.
"In a way." Then Jesse realized his mistake and said "Just for that I get to ask three questions."
"That's not fair! I only asked you two." She argued.
"You broke the rules. Now you have to deal with the consequences." He chuckled when she crossed her arms angrily over her chest. "Why do you carry a knife in your pocket?"
Her head snapped around to his. "How do you know that?" She had not pulled her knife out in front of Jesse all day. So how was it that he knew she had one.
"Your not allowed to ask questions. It's my turn."
Scarlett bit her lip. This certain subject involved her father. But she had to play by the rules. So she took a deep breath and said, "My mom gave it to me after what happened to my father. And after that I always want to be safe. This is just a precaution." When she said "this" she patted the pocket that held her knife.
"What happened to your father?" Jesse asked. Oh, God. Scarlett couldn't talk about this. Not now.
"Please don't make me answer that. Please, Jesse." Even as she said that she knew she was about to cry. She could feel her nose prickling and knew it was turning red and she could already feel her eyes welling up with water.
Jesse put a hand on her arm to stop her from walking ahead. But she didn't turn around. She didn't want to see him. She still didn't know if she could trust him on this. Even though he had sworn, she still wasnt sure. And she had not even talked to Anna about this. She didn't think it was right to tell Jesse.
Jesse came in front of Scarlett and she looked down at the floor so he couldn't see her face. But he put his hand under her chin and made her look him in the eye. She eased out of his hand though. It was a little to intimate.
"I won't make you answer it. Yet. But you have to promise me that when you can trust me, you'll tell me. Promise?"
"I don't know, Jesse. If I tell you this then you'll take pity on me. You'll treat me like a bomb about to go off at any second. Every one does. And I can't take it anymore." She couldn't hold it back any longer and she started to cry. And once she started it was hard to stop. Her father meant everything to her. Thinking about him, even for a second, broke her down.
The next thing she knew, Jesse had his arms around her and he was hugging her and asking her to stop crying. That everything was gonna be okay. The usual stuff. But then he said "I promise I won't treat you like that. I swear. Just promise me that once you know you can trust me, you'll tell me."
Scarlett didn't answer, she just kept her head on his chest for a few more moments. Then she said "Why do you even care if I trust you? You don't know me. You know nothing about me. Why would you care if a complete stranger trusted you?" she sniffled and wanted to move out of his grasp. But he seemed to just hold her tighter.
"You're not a complete stranger. And I care because your different. I want to get to know you. Everything about you. You're the first person I've ever met who is able to resist me. At first it was so weird and shocking. Then I realized what a relief it was to be treated like normal. Your like a gift."
"You know I have no idea what that means right?" but when he said she was like a gift to him she blushed but didn't know why. It was all very strange to her.
Jesse laughed and said "I know." Then he pulled her away and wiped away her tears. "Let's get you home."
Scarlett nodded and then they started again on the long walk they had back to her house. On the way there she was stuck thinking about what Jesse meant by the Temptation, why she was able to resist it, and why he seemed to care so much.
She was more confused then when they had started tha stupid game.
When they had come back to Scarlett's house, it was almost 7:00 and Scars mom was already home making dinner. When she heard the back door open she said, "Hi honey! Did you have fun on your little adventure? You didn't get hurt I hope." Then when Jesse and Scarlett came around into the kitchen, her mom seemed to forget about what she had said and stared at Jesse for a second or two before shaking herself and asking "Hello. Who's this?" She smiled politely at Jesse.
"Hello, Mrs. Philips. My name is Jesse. Scar invited me on the hike today." He put one of his charming smiles on his face and directed it to her mom. Scar had raised her eyebrows on the word "Invited". Jesse saw and chuckled a little under his breath.
"Oh. Well would you like to stay for dinner? I can make enough for three."
"Sure. I'd loved to." Jesse answered. Scar looked at him incredulously. She had not expected him to say yes. Nor did she really want to. Just because she didn't hate him anymore, didn't mean she wanted him here for dinner. Especially since what he had said in the woods. She had thought it better if they didn't spend a lot of time together anymore. She was beginning to think Jesse was getting way to attached to her to fast. Even though she didn't mind it a whole lot, she still didn't know him so she was gonna try to keep her distance for a little while. But her mom just had to made that impossible.
"Lovely. Dinner will be done in about a half an hour. So Scarlett why don't you and our guest go do something to occupy yourselves?"
"Sure mom." Scar grumbled in response. "Come on, Jesse."
Scarlett's mom probably didn't even really want Jesse over. But she wasn't anything if not polite. She had to be nice. And Scarlett was the one who had to occupy Jesse for her mom's inability to be a little rude and say "Well Scarlett, dinner's almost done. Why don't you say goodbye to your friend at the door?" That would have been so much easier and simpler. At least in Scarlett's mind.
"Your mom seems nice." Jesse said as Scar led him up to her room.
"She is." Was all she felt like saying. When they came into Scarlett's bedroom Scar pointed to the bathroom and said to Jesse "You can wash up in there before dinner."
Jesse nodded and walked into the bathroom. Scarlett sat down on the bed and took off her shoes. She didn't know what to do now. She could just sit here and wait for Jesse to come back out so she could take her turn in the bathroom. But she was restless. She still was thinking about all the things Jesse had said in the forest. And she thought that if she kept on thinking about it all then her head would explode. Because none of what he had said made any sense what so ever.
So instead of hurting her head by thinking, she decided to play guitar. To get her mind off it all. She did this a lot when she got angry or upset or just when she had a bad day. When she wasn't in the woods she was playing guitar or reading. Playing guitar helped her calm down. She didn't really know why. All she knew was that it worked. So that's what she decided to do. She liked to put herself into the music and forget all about the things happening in the world around her. To just think of the music and only that. She was pretty good at guitar. She had always been a quick learner so when she learned guitar it had come surprisingly easy to her. When she learned a new song or she just came up with something right off the bat, it was so easy to understand it. Playing guitar was like second nature to Scarlett.
And that's what she had done when Jesse came out of the bathroom. He had come out and when he saw Scarlett playing he had stopped moving. He didn't want to bother her. She seemed so happy when she was playing. She had her eyes closed and a small smile was playing on her lips. He watched her silently. He didn't want to disturb her but he also didn't wanna leave. For some reason he liked listening and watching her play. It was nice.
Then Scarlett opened her eyes and looked over at Jesse as if she had felt him watching her.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you stop. I just..." He stopped with that sentence and instead said "Your really good."
"Thanks." Scar mumbled. She was blushing. Not many people had heard her play before. When she played she was usually alone. She was actually really flattered that he said she was good. It was nice to hear it from someone other than her mother, who is supposed to say things like that to her so she doesn't really know if it's the truth all the time. So it was nice to hear it from someone who seemed like he actually meant it. "Um.. so are you done in the bathroom?" she asked while putting the guitar back in its stand next to her other guitar, that one being electric.
"Oh, yeah. It's all yours," He stepped aside to let Scarlett walk past him and into the bathroom to wash up.
Jesse stood in Scar's room and looked around. It seemed like an ordinary teenage girl room. She had two guitars in stands in the corner of the room. One acoustic, one electric. She had a laptop with an iPod sitting on its dock next to the desk she had. She had a radio on her dresser with pictures of her friends and her parents. She had a lot of shelves holding a lot of books. Jesse didn't know she liked books so much. But from the looks of things she read, a lot.
Jesse had sat on the bed and was looking around the room but now he walked over to the dresser that held all the pictures of her friends and family. She had many pictures of her and Anna. She had other friends in some of the pictures but mostly Anna was the one in them. They ranged in age. Some of them looked like they were taken when Scarlett was 5 or 6. Then the pictures got higher in age because Jesse could see how each year left Scar looking less childish and more like a teenager. Then he saw a picture that held a man in it. Scarlett looked like she was 12 or 13 in the picture. She was sitting in front of a small cottage (Jesse guessed this was the one her father had made her.) and behind her was a man in his thirties. He looked strong and he had a tool belt on his waist. He was standing right behind Scarlett and he held his arms open and a big smile was on his face like he had just accomplished something and he wanted everyone to see it. Scarlett was sitting crossed legged with an even bigger smile on her face then her dad. She looked so sweet in the picture. Like nothing could bother her.
Jesse had picked up the picture so he could get a better look at it and he had not even noticed Scarlett come up behind him. She had come out of the bathroom and saw Jesse looking at her pictures. When he had held up the one with her dad in it she had begun to walk over to him. When she was right next to him was the only time Jesse noticed she had been there.
"Sorry. I was just looking." Jesse apologized.
"It's okay." Scarlett took the photo from him and said "That's my dad. My mom had taken this picture when he had finished building my house." Scarlett smiled down at the picture with her father whom anyone could tell she had obviously loved.
"You seem like you really loved him." Jesse didn't know what else to say.
Scar looked up at him and said "Yeah. I really do," Then to keep from crying for the third time today she smiled at him and placed the picture back on the dresser. "Come on. My mom is probably done with dinner." Scarlett started to walk out the door without waiting for a response from Jesse.