Peter & Scarlett A Story by Jens and Suzye

I woke suddenly as the sunshine spread across my face and the birds outside my window began to chirp loudly. As I studied my surroundings, I was not pleased to discover I was on the floor of Claire’s bedroom, covered halfway with a sheet hanging awkwardly from her bed. There were clothes distributed messily all around the bedroom, including my own shirt from the previous night across the bedroom, being used by a sleeping Sean as a makeshift pillow. He was still sound asleep on his bare stomach, his straggly hair matted to his head, his body spread out over the floor. As I sat up, a sharp shooting pain spread across my head, the obvious first sign of a hangover. With that, the events of the previous night rushed back to me.

After Sean and Connor had serenaded the crowd with several hits, including an Irish folk song about a girl dressing up as a sailor to be with her love, the people of the pub were all very friendly towards our group. Sean and I had sat down at a table with a myriad of strangers and I specifically remember the burning of my throat as we threw back shot after shot. Connor and Claire had made their way to the dance floor while a new group of music makers crowded the stage to attempt to entertain the crowd. They did not partake in our fun game of shots, and looking back on it, I wish I hadn’t, either.

All I remembered was misted by a drunken haze. The night went quickly. I drank too much, trying to burn the sweet face of my mysterious Scarlett out of my mind, and now my body was punishing me. Maybe this is what I get for trying to forget her; despite the fact I knew I would never see her again. Boston was too big, and I was just a single person searching for another person, in a city of a million. The thought made my eyes burn.

I remember Connor and another strange man we had met at the bar helping Sean and I into the backseat, but everything after that was blurred. I had no more recollection of Connor or Claire. And even though we were in Claire’s room, there was no sign of either of them. I stood up and headed out into the main area of the apartment. The air inside was still and there did not appear to be anyone else awake in the vicinity. Through the window, I could see the sun relatively low on the horizon and the clear blue sky of the November morning.

After checking all the places a body could fit, I concluded that Connor and Claire had stayed across the hall at Connor’s, away from the drunkenness of Sean and me.

The clock on the counter read 11:00, and at that moment, I remembered the meeting I had that day at 12:30. Why in the world had I not thought about this last night? The most important meeting of my life and I decided to get more drunk than I ever had the night before. Way to go, Peter.

I cleaned myself the best I could, trying to wash away the drunken smell that lined every inch of my body. I brushed my teeth three times, used mouthwash, and combed my hair as nice as possible before heading back into my room and getting dressed for the day. Trying to pick the best outfit for the interview, I put on a pair of new blue jeans, a button up white shirt, and simple light blue tie.

When I had emerged from my bedroom, Sean was awake and sitting at the table, chowing down Cocoa Puffs. He glanced up as I walked across the hardwood, giving me a cheeky grin.

“Morning, mate,” he said cheerily, offering the cereal box to me. “Cocoa Puffs?”

I couldn’t help but smile back at the fellow. As I sat down and filled my bowl, I realized how much I was enjoying his new presence. It was a lot less lonely having him around, especially since Claire was out of the apartment a lot more often lately.

“How’d we end up in Claire’s room last night?” I asked.

Sean just shook his end, speaking through a mouth full of cereal. “Honestly, I’ve got no clue. I can’t even remember most of last night.”

“Me neither,” I said with a sigh, hoping that nothing too embarrassing had happened. Clair would surely remind me when she got home if something had.

“So,” Sean started, while swallowing a spoonful of cereal. “Who’s Scarlett?”

I almost choked on my first bite. How did he know about Scarlett? I hadn’t mentioned Scarlett to him. Claire couldn’t have told him, since I hadn’t told her. Actually, I hadn’t mentioned Scarlett to anyone, for that matter. “W-what?” I coughed.

Sean grinned at my reaction. “You talk a bit in your sleep, mate. I woke up in the night to piss, which is easy to believe after all those shots we hit, and I heard you mumbling something about a Scarlett. You actually shouted her name once or twice.”

“Oh,” was all I could manage out, as I glanced down at my bowl and stumbled with my spoon as I attempted to gather more cereal. I thought as I chewed. What was I to say about her? I barely knew the girl. Sean watched me as I struggled. He grimaced as my spoon slipped out of my fingers.

“You don’t have to say if you don’t want to,” he said, almost apologetically. “I don’t know if it’s a sore subject…”

“Oh, no!” I said, looking up. “No… anything but.” I added, sadly.

“Alright,” he responded, dropping the subject.

We continued to eat in silence for several minutes. He got up and poured two glasses of the orange juice Claire had squeezed just yesterday for breakfast. When he sat back down and gave me a glass, I couldn’t help but let out what had been haunting me over the past 24 hours.

“I’m not even sure if she’s real anymore,” I said bluntly.

“What do you mean?”

“I think I may have dreamed her up. I fell asleep on the bus after I met her the night before last… maybe I didn’t meet her at all. Maybe it’s all in my head.” I continued to gaze at my spoon.

“You think so?” He asked, giving me room to continue.

“It could be. I mean, the more I think about her, the more likely it is. She seems too perfect to be real. The way she moved, and spoke, and saw straight through me with her green eyes.” I said, letting the room drift back into silence after I closed my mouth.

Sean looked like he was deep in thought for several second before breaking the silence again, “What did she look like?”

“Brown ringlets, black rimmed glasses, small body, red lips,” I said with a shrug. “Much too perfect to be real.” I added with a sad nod.

“No, man,” Sean said, scrunching his eyebrows and shaking his spoon at me. “She’s real.”

“How do you know?”

“I think I met her yesterday,” he continued, giving me a mixture of a smile and a face of confusion.

My eyes widened at the thought.

He continued when I didn’t respond. “At the grocery store downtown. I couldn’t find the specific beef for the stew Connor wanted at the local store just down the street, so I went down into downtown Boston till I found a big chain store.” He paused to take another bite of cereal, despite my eyes being glued onto him, begging for more information.

“Is she real short?” Sean asked after swallowing.

“Yes,” I said quickly, hoping he would continue with his story.

He nodded, “That’s her then. After finding the beef, I went off to find some milk for our apartment. You know, it’s quite hard to live without having some milk handy. I like to have a glass before bed.

“Anyways, she was reaching up trying to grab a cartoon of fat free milk from the very top of the shelf, so I got it down for her. It was actually pretty amusing, I barely had to reach up, but the poor girl was standing on her tiptoes grabbing for the thing. She thanked me, I told her not to mention it, and then she asked me about my accent. From there we walked to check out counter together and I told her about how my brother and I had just moved in. After checking out, we went our separate ways. I didn’t even catch her name.”

I couldn’t even believe what I was hearing. “What store was this?”

He shrugged, “I’m not quite sure, sorry, man. I just ran in to the first chain store I found. I didn’t even take my receipt.”

Despite the lack of information, the fact she was, really, out there and that I could run into her at any moment gave me more hope and I couldn’t help but smile after that.

After breakfast, I gathered my things and waved goodbye to Sean, who had moved to the couch with his guitar and was playing chords from various songs. His hair fell awkwardly across his head and he hadn’t even bothered to put on clothing, but it didn’t seem to faze him whatsoever.

I headed down the stairs, clutching my leather bag, smiling all the way downtown. I felt confident for the interview ahead of me.