⌜ chapter thirteen ⌟

Letty knocks on the backdoor to the Matthews' house, and Mr. Matthews quickly lets the brunette inside. "Scarlett, you're just in time to see Amy open her present." He tells her, rather excited by the current events.

"Right. Happy anniversary." She says, and they both smile at her.

"Why, thank you."

"Thank you, sweetheart." Mrs. Matthews says with a smile and then she tears the paper off her present.

"Yes!" Mr. Matthews jumps, excited to see her reaction.

"Oh... Wow." His wife says, looking down at the big brown box. "A trash compactor."

"Yes." He's really happy with this.

"Thank you." She's less than enthusiastic about the gift.

"Yeah, we were just putting our names on the—"

"Cory." Eric smacks his side, cutting him off. "To Amy, with love​, from Alan." He reads off the card. "Just Alan. Nobody else. See ya." He then pulls Cory out of the kitchen, and Letty quickly follows them up the stairs.

"Eric, can I talk to you for a minute, please?" The brunette asks when they get to his room, and he just looks at her.

"I'm gonna go see what the dog's doing." Cory says as he turns back toward the door.

"We don't have a dog." Eric looks at his younger brother.

"I'll find one." He closes the door behind him.

Letty hasn't taken her eyes off of her best friend. "You've been avoiding me since the night of the dance." She says, and he shakes his head.

"No, I haven't. I just don't have anything to say." He says as he sits down at his desk.

"You're mad about the present that came in the mail."

He shakes his head. "Why should I be?"

"Eric—"

"It's not like I tried to kiss you last Valentine's Day and got rejected because of the guy — a guy who's name I don't even know, by the way." He says, and she sighs as she looks down. "You haven't even seen this guy since you were a little kid and yet you still seem to be more interested in him than in anyone else."

"That is not true." She argues.

"Yes, it is." He says as he gets back to his feet, and she looks up at him again. "You love getting stuff from him, even if it's just a letter. How is that supposed to make me feel, Letty? Especially when you know how I feel about you. I've told you. I told you that I wanted to talk, but then you took off after Shawn. It seems like everyone else is more important to you than I am." The second he says it, he sees the hurt on her face.

Letty scoffs as she looks past him for a moment. "If you really believe that...then you clearly don't know me at all." She turns away from him and opens the door.

Cory falls on the floor and then looks up at his brother's best friend. "I wasn't listening. I was, uh..." He trails off, and she walks past him to leave their house. The younger boy looks down the hall as she quickly disappears, and then he looks back over at his brother; Eric's eyes are closed as his head hangs and his jaw tightens.

» » » « « «

Letty's walking down the school hallway and she sees Cory and Shawn gasp as they both point at Harley. The older boy starts backing them up against the lockers outside of Turner's class, and the brunette gets between them.

"What can I do for you, Black?" Harley asks as he looks down at her.

"You can back off my little brother and his dopey friend." She tells him. "I'm in a real bad mood, and I'd hate to see you make it worse."

"Hey, Scarle—"

"Go to class, Shawn. Now." She tells him, and he grabs Cory, pushing him away from Letty and their bully.

"But, Shawn—"

"Walk, Cory. Walk."

"You scare them." Harley says, obviously amused by what just took place. "You don't scare me."

"I don't really care who is and who isn't afraid of me." Letty tells him. "Now go back to your girlfriend, Keiner."

Something off to the right of her catches his attention, but then his eyes return to her. "You're lucky. I have an appointment." He says and then walks away from the brunette.

"That was bitchy." Miller says as he walks over to Letty.

"Shove it, Miller." She turns then, but her movements are halted when she sees Turner watching them; she doesn't acknowledge the teacher. Instead, she walks past him and heads to her next class.

The next day, Letty's walking through the backyard to Eric's house and she sees Harley. "What the hell are you doing here?" The brunette questions.

"What are you doing here?" He asks.

"My bozo best friend lives here, and I need to try and fix things with him." She tells him.

"I'm kinda doin' the same thing." He says, and they walk past the patio together.

The teenage girl knocks on the backdoor, and Mrs. Matthews answers it. "Hi, guys. It's good to see you, Scarlett. We've missed you around here​." She says. "And who's your friend?"

"Oh, uh, this is Harley Keiner." She tells her. "Can we come in?"

"Of course." She steps to the side, and the two teenagers walk past her. "Is this the Harley Keiner that everybody's afraid of?"

"You flatter me." He says with a smile.

"Everybody but me." Letty tells her.

"You don't." He says, and the brunette smiles at him.

Letty then turns her attention back to Mrs. Matthews. "I'm guessing he wants to talk to either you or Cory. Is Eric home?" The teenager asks her.

"No, sweetie​, he's not back yet. But you can go on up to his room and wait for him." She says, and Letty nods.

"Thanks." She says and then heads up the stairs.

Letty's sitting at Eric's desk in his room for awhile before she hears him yelling downstairs. She quickly gets up and runs down there to see what's going on. Eric's looking at Harley, and his mom's getting them some more tea.

"Hey there, Eric." Harley greets.

"Harley Keiner's​ drinking​ tea in my kitchen." Eric says, trying not to freak out. "What's going on?"

"It's personal. And I don't think Harley wants to talk about it in front of you." His mom says as she makes him back up toward Letty, who's still standing on the stairs.

"Oh, he's getting in touch with his inner thug?"

"Don't be a jerk." Letty says, and Eric looks up at her. "Can we talk please?"

"I don't know. Can we?"

Letty turns around and goes back up the stairs, so he follows after her. "I don't exactly have an easy time talking about personal stuff." She says as they walk into his bedroom. "My family, my life before I met you... The stuff in my life that I keep to myself — I do it for a reason, and it's not to hurt you or anyone else."

"Then why do you do it?" He asks.

"To protect myself."

"From me?"

"From everyone. From everything." She tells him. "There are some things that I just can't talk about. And you have to be okay with that, Eric."

"I have to be okay with how happy this guy makes you every time you hear from him?" He questions. "How exactly am I supposed to do that?"

"He's not here, Eric. He's just a guy who sends a letter or a present every now and then. It's not like I ever talk to him or make plans with him." She says. "I don't know what he looks like, I don't know what he sounds like. I don't know who he is besides the occasional letter and a gift. And there is so much more that's important than that."

"And still... The way your face lights up after you hear from him. The necklace you haven't taken​ off in over a year. He is important to you." He argues. "And you don't know what he looks like or what he sounds like. And I can't compete with that, Letty."

"Nobody has ever asked you to compete for anything, Eric." She tells him.

"Why is this guy so important to you?"

She shakes her head. "I can't talk about it. I really am sorry, but I just can't."

He nods. "I think you should probably go, Letty." He tells her, and her gaze falls to the floor as tears well up in her brown eyes. They somehow seem darker now than they usually do.

Letty quickly moves past him, not wanting him to see her cry, and she makes her way back downstairs. The distraught brunette then walks past his parents and Cory, and she doesn't say anything to any of them, even when they call after her. She keeps going until someone makes her stop. She reluctantly looks up and finds Harley standing there, looking down at her.

"Are you alright, Black?" The older boy asks.

"No, not really." She quickly wipes a tear from her cheek as she looks away from him.

"Do you wanna talk about it? I'm feeling in the mood of helping."

She shakes her head. "Not really, no."

"Do you want me to walk you home?"

"Wherever that is." The brunette mumbles.

"What?"

"Sure, Harley." She nods, looking back at him. "Thanks." She offers him a sad smile, and the two start walking in the direction of the trailer park.