Anew

32

Sunday morning Scarlet awoke to Heather’s high-pitched voice.

Again.

“Scarlet Marie Jacobs!”

Scarlet didn’t have a middle name—at least not one she remembered—but Heather gave her one anyway. Probably so she could yell at Scarlet at times such as this.

“What?” Scarlet grumbled from beneath a fluffy pillow. The sunlight in her room was too bright and cheery. Scarlet wanted to disappear back into the darkness of sleep.

“I’ve been texting and calling you for two days! W-T-H?”

“I’ve been busy.” Scarlet rolled over so her back was to her sunny window.

Heather shuffled over to the side of Scarlet’s bed and sat down next to her face. “Busy? Doing what, exactly? Laura told me you stayed in bed all day yesterday.”

Laura told her that?

Agh.

Her guardian and her best friend were in cahoots.

“I had a rough weekend,” Scarlet said, squeezing her eyes shut in a futile attempt to beckon sleep back to her mind.

“Rough, how?”

Scarlet sighed and opened her eyes. Sleep was a lost cause. “Just…some stuff with Gabriel.”

“What stuff with Gabriel?” Heather looked at Scarlet with narrowed eyes. “What happened?”

Scarlet twitched her lips. “Well….” What was she going to tell Heather?

The truth?

Heather leaned in closer to Scarlet. “You found out he was hiding something from you, didn’t you?” Her eyes were wide and accusing.

Scarlet wrinkled her brow, about to deny, but realized she could spin this to her advantage. “Well, yeah he—”

“I knew it!” Heather interrupted, shaking her head. “He’s in the mob, isn’t he? That bastard! I knew he was a gangster drug-dealer—“

“No.” Scarlet shook her head. “He’s not in the mob.”

“Then what was he hiding?” Heather gasped. “Is he married?”

“What?” Scarlet furrowed her brow. “No. No, he’s not married.”

But he almost was. To me.

Agh.

“No he….” Scarlet thought about telling Heather everything. Her multiple lives, her multiples deaths…but she couldn’t.

At least not yet.

Would Heather believe Scarlet’s story?

Maybe. Probably.

Heather liked aliens and vampires and UFOs, so she could probably get onboard with immortal twins and a resurrecting best friend.

But Scarlet wasn’t ready to involve anyone else. And, honestly, she was still so confused she wouldn’t know where to begin.

Hey, so, because of a curse, I’m going to die. My heart is breaking as we speak, and I might just keel over at any minute, but have no fear! I’ll come back to life in a few decades. No biggie. Oh, and, B-T-W, Gabriel’s totally immortal.

No, she couldn’t tell Heather the truth. At least not until the truth made more sense. So, she decided to tell Heather a half-truth.

Scarlet cleared her throat. “Gabriel has…a brother. Named Tristan.”

There. That was good enough…right?

Gabriel had lied about having a brother.

That was his big secret.

Heather would buy that…right?

“He has a brother?” Heather gasped again. “Why, that little, lying, son of a…. Wait,” Heather interrupted herself, switching from Protective Heather to Flirty Heather. “Is this brother hot? Does he live nearby?” Heather wagged her eyebrows. “Is he seeing anyone?”

Scarlet breathed a sigh of relief. For once she was glad her best friend was boy-crazy.

“Uh,” Scarlet pressed her lips together, “he’s Gabriel’s twin brother so…yeah, he’s attractive. And I’m pretty sure he lives with Gabriel. But I don’t know if he’s seeing anyone….” A pang shot through Scarlet’s chest at the thought of Tristan having a girlfriend.

Scarlet reprimanded herself.

Why do I care if Tristan’s dating?

Heather’s eyes grew large and her mouth dropped open. “Gabriel has a twin? And he didn’t tell you?” She shook her head wildly. “Why wouldn’t he tell you about his twin?” Heather lowered her voice suspiciously. “Is his brother, like, an evil twin? Is he in the mob?”

“No, Heather! Nobody’s in the mob.” Scarlet sat up and ran a hand through her long hair.

“Oh!” Heather’s eyes brightened. “Maybe Angie didn’t see Gabriel in the park at midnight after all! Maybe she saw his twin! And I bet it was the twin I saw in the warehouse district, too.” She nodded, like she’d just solved a great mystery.

Scarlet thought about it. “Yeah…it was probably Tristan.”

Heather squinted. “But…why would Gabriel’s brother be hanging out in the park and doing shady business in warehouses? Unless he’s—“

“He’s not in the mob, Heather.”

Heather shrugged and shook her head. “Whatever. I’m just saying it’s weird behavior. Gabriel’s twin is weird.”

Scarlet nodded. It was weird behavior. She would have to ask Tristan about it later.

“How did you find out about this brother, anyway? Did Gabriel just, like, confess?” Heather asked.

Scarlet made a face of embarrassment.

Heather smiled. “Oh, no. What did you do?”

Scarlet told Heather about following Gabriel/Tristan into the woods, leaving out the part where Scarlet wanted to run her hands all over Tristan’s body.

“You followed him into the woods…like a stalker?” Heather raised a brow.

Scarlet nodded shamefully.

Heather laughed. “That’s awesome! You’re a crazy person.” She laughed again then furrowed her brow. “But why did Gabriel keep him a secret at all? Why hide his twin from you?”

Scarlet shook her head, confused by that same question. “I’m not sure.”

“You didn’t think to ask Gabriel why he lied?”

Scarlet shook her head with a groan. “I wasn’t thinking clearly, okay? Agh.” She dropped her face back into her pillow, heaviness settling over her. “My life is crazy.”

Heather rolled her eyes. “It’s not that crazy.”

You have no idea.

Heather continued, “Gabriel lied to you…so, what? There’s no reason for you to sulk. It’s just a silly brother…a silly, hot, secret brother. Get over it.”

Scarlet didn’t care about the silly hot brother secret.

She cared about her imminent death.

But Heather didn’t know that. And Scarlet wasn’t ready to have Heather start working on a eulogy.

What could she tell Heather that would justify her emotional behavior?

Scarlet thought for a moment. “I also found out Gabriel used to be engaged to someone.”

Oh, crap. Why had she said that?

“He was what? Engaged? You have got to be kidding me! That’s insane! He’s a teenager! W-T-H?”

Okay, obviously, the engagement thing was going work as a cover story for Scarlet’s upset behavior, but it just added another string of lies to the fragile web Scarlet was spinning.

Scarlet nodded, feeling like the worst friend in the history of time. “He was engaged, and I didn’t know about it.”

“Well, where’s this hussy now? Is she in Avalon? Does she live in New York? Is she allergic to strawberries? Because I’ll send her a gift basket that’ll make her wish she’d never laid eyes on Gabriel’s deceitful—albeit delicious—body!”

Scarlet shook her head quickly. “No. She’s not in New York. She, uh…died.”

Somebody shoot me now.

Two days ago, Scarlet was enraged by Gabriel’s half-truths and secrets. And now she was doing the exact same thing—to her best friend; a girl who’d accepted Scarlet without question, without judgment.

Scarlet didn’t deserve her friendship.

Heather’s vengeful face became subdued. “Oh. Well. I guess no gift basket then.” Heather looked at her in sympathy. “I’m sorry, Scarlet. That sucks. Are you okay?”

Scarlet nodded. “Yeah, I just…I just need to regroup, you know?”

Heather nodded in understanding as Scarlet crawled back under her covers and turned away.

She wanted to be alone. She wanted to process everything she’d learned from Gabriel and figure out what her next step was going to be.

And she wanted to cry for lying to her best friend.

Heather remained at her side for a minute longer, and Scarlet assumed she would leave her alone to cry into her pillow.

Nope.

“Okay, get up.” Heather jumped out of Scarlet’s bed and clapped her hands.

Scarlet peeked from under her pillow. “Why?”

“Becaaaause,” Heather said, “you’ve moped long enough. And also because I’m almost certain you’ve been in the same pajamas for two days. Yuck.”

Scarlet looked down at her cozy jammies and shrugged.

Heather rolled her eyes. “Here’s what you’re going to do: You’re going to get up, get dressed, and let me take you out for a girls’ day. We’ll shop and eat ice cream and cry or whatever. It’ll be epic.”

Scarlet groaned again. “I don’t want to get up.”

“Well, that’s too bad.” Heather yanked the covers off Scarlet, threw them on the floor, and marched into her closet. From the closet, Scarlet heard, “You don’t get to hole up in your room and whine all day because your boyfriend lied to you, Scarlet. You’re not a helpless baby.”

Heather stuck her neck out of the closet and looked at her friend. “You’re a super smart, beautiful brunette and some stupid, hot, lying boyfriend isn’t going to change that.” She blinked. “And I will not stand by and let you stew in a filthy pair of cotton pajamas one minute longer.”

Scarlet scrunched her face. “It’s not like I’m covered in mud and sweat, Heather. My pajamas are clean.”

Heather looked Scarlet over with a lifted brow. “Okay, obviously the filth has gone to your head.”

Scarlet’s heart lifted. Heather’s persistent joy and stubbornness were exactly what she needed today.

In that moment, Scarlet decided she was definitely going to tell Heather the truth.

Soon.

Heather deserved honesty. And as soon as Scarlet figured out how to explain her “situation” without freaking her out, she was going to sit Heather down and confess.

Heather disappeared for another minute before exiting the closet with an outfit over her arm—which she threw at Scarlet. “Take a shower and get dressed.”

Scarlet caught the clothes with a yawn. “You’re bossy.”

Heather rested a hand on her hip. “Well, someone needs to take charge. This,” Heather made a wide circle in front of Scarlet, indicating Scarlet’s appearance, “is no good. You look like you were raised by a pack of wild pajama wolves.”

Scarlet gave Heather an annoyed look before reluctantly rolling out of bed and heading for the bathroom.

“I love you!” Heather called, her normal perkiness returning to her voice.

“Whatever,” Scarlet called back.

But she did love Heather.

And Heather was right.

She did need to shower.