Chapter Twelve

The Pink Lady said "YES!"

Scarlett's POV

You've ever entered a life size pink bucket? Well, fear not. Florence still exists.

Question is.

Why is everything, pink?

Coral pink and pale walls. Pink spring paintings. Her personal full length poster of pink panther. Those flower curtains. And don't even start with the lamps, they're strawberry shaped.

I'm not a fan of pink. But, I never really hated it. Until, I saw her room.

Yup, I'm pretty much mentally rebuking her room. Glaring over her white pink bed sheet. While she's sitting in front of me and shouting at. Uh. Whoever is unlucky enough to go deaf? Damn, her pretty pink phone. It reminds me of when Amie, encountered this room.

"Too much pink makes me want to puke pink." She actually meant sick, but anyway I laughed too.

"I have nothing to do with it!" She shouts again. Oh my God. That's five times in a row. I put my pinkies in my ears. I close my eyes and I want to protect myself from this pink. Because, this much pink should be unholy.

She mouths me a sorry, when she sees my protection gesture.

But, right now. Pink. Should be the least of problems. After all, my wonderful friends have thrown me to the wolves, so I can ask their permission. That's the thing, they don't understand. Wolves don't say yes I do, they say devour 'em.

Stop being dramatic, my inner conscious scolds.

Yeah right. After all, it's a wolf and not a pack. Plus, she loves me. How hard can it be, right? She screams again, "That's bullshit. He's framing me!"

Oh, it's not going to be a piece of cake. I touch her hand, as it starts trembling.

Oh no.

She has anger issues. Too much stress makes her angry. Not being able to control makes her angry. And when, she's angry. Her hands start shaking. I reach for her and caress her hair lightly. I whisper, "Breathe. Breathe, Nista."

She puts the phone down and breathes heavily. She puts it back on.

"Bluestone lane coffee shop. Broadway. Tomorrow at 9 in the morning." I can hear her manager arguing, but she keeps on speaking. "Bring your files, Emmett. Do your homework." And that's it. She drops the line dead.

I rub those lines of her forehead. "How bad is it?" I ask, softly.

"Nate's manager declined to collaborate with us, in our new product launch." She says, lowly. "But, wasn't he going to launch a song for your brand?" I question, confused.

"Not now, clearly he doesn't." Florence says, hopelessly. "Florence..." I start. "He literally wants to ruin my career, before it takes flight. I didn't know, he'd stoop this low." She says in that zoned out tone. "Hey, you told me how his manager influences him to do things. Maybe, Nate doesn't want that." I try making her feel better.

"Nate's his boss. He pays him. Scarlett, please don't defend him." She states. My head is filled with all those but's. But, I know better than to argue with her right now.

"Fine. If he wants to play dirty. I'll make it worthwhile. I'll play messier." She says, glaring at that poor pink rug. "I'm talking out, Cindy."

"What!" I exclaim. "You mean, THE CINDIS?" Pause, realization hits me like a truck. Celebrity gossip has been my new diversion.

"You can't, Nista. That's his ex." Nope, this is bad. Aren't they rivals too?

"They are rivals too. Plus, Cindy wanted to sign up for this before, Nigel Reigns ever did." She says, oh God her looks are seething.

"She won't sing for you on a short notice. Come on." I say, convincing myself.

"That's Emmett's job. He booked an appointment. She's ready to meet us. We just have to make our discussion convincing. And I'll discuss this with him tomorrow. So, don't you worry." She pecks my hand and I probably look weary. Because, when she talks revenge. She doesn't look like my Florence. She looks almost like how Tony looked. That day on the staircase.

It's like, they are two very different people. People I know nothing about. Which is weird, because I know them longer than I can remember.

"So, what did you want to talk about? You sounded awfully serious on the phone." She inquires and I give out a nervous laugh, remembering my version of the day.

Flashback

"You told them!" I shout, at the idiot standing in front of me.

"What? Don't you think, they deserved to know?" After breaking a promise, Ethan Marshall has the nerve of arguing with me. He's unbelievable.

"Calm down, Scarlett. It's good, Ethan told us. We could figure out a way to cheer Florence up together." Michelle cuts in. Ever the peacemaker.

"Michelle, you don't understand. I promised Florence. But, Bree." I glare at my despicable form of a friend. "She forced it out of me and this Ethan." I clench my fists. "You know, how important promises mean to the besties."

"So, do the secrets. No?" She mocks. I swallow. You know she's right there.

"She was going to tell you guys. She wasn't just ready yet." I whine back.

"Point 1 for Michelle. Point 0 for Scarlett." Ethan cuts in, smiling innocently. I give him my best death glare. Ethan raises his hand in the air, "Sorry, sorry. My bad."

Michelle gives him a look and then says, "It's not really his fault, Scarlett. I forced him to tell us." Okay. I don't know, what to be more shocked at? Ethan giving in to Michelle or Michelle camouflaging Ethan's mistake.

"You know, Scarlett. We've even figured out a way!" Ashley adds, cheerfully. "And what's that?" I inquire.

"Camping!" Besties chorus together.

"Yeah." I scoff. "I hardly believe she'll agree to that." My pessimist self talks sooner.

"Oh, come on. You can talk her out. She never says no to you." Michelle persists.

"And who says I will?" I ask. Because, no way are they talking me into this. "Please." They all start pleading. Oh God, not this.

"You know, this is for her, right?" Bree says. I give her a look. Still not okay with her on this. "She needs us." Ruby adds. "Don't you love her, Scarlett?" Amie drives her words to my heart.

No. Not the love card.

I sigh, "Fine." I hear everyone squeal.

End of Flashback.

"Kitten?" Florence waves a hand, in front of my face. I give out a chuckle. "Sorry, I zoned out." She creases her eyebrows, "Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's just." A thought rises; if she has a meeting, how will she go? "When's your meeting with The Cindis?" I ask.

"On Thursday. Why?" Our plan's not until Saturday. So, she can go.

"Florence, I..." Pause. "Not I, I mean we" Pause. "I mean me too" Pause. "Obviously." Oh gosh, can my nervous self be any more dubious? Florence looks at me closely and patiently waits for an answer.

"So, well. We wanted" Pause. "We as in, me and the Besties." Pause.

"We want-" Florence cuts in, "Scarlett, what is it?" She stares at my nervous form and gives me a calming smile. "You do realize, the suspense is killing me." I laugh with her.

"But, promise me. You'll say, yes." I put up my stupid condition and give my best "puss in boots" look. She laughs harder this time. "Oh my kitten. How can I say no to that?" She smiles, as she adores me.

"So, you are going camping with us!" I squeal.

"What!" Florence exclaims. "Camping? When? How? No."

"You promised." I whine. She seems cross, when she looks away. Sighs. Then, looks back at me. "I'll talk to Uncle Kent about arranging –" I don't let her complete as I ambush her with a bear hug. We both end up, a laughing mess. As my force of hug results falling on the bed. We are so candid. NOT.

We spent another two hours, just laughing and catching up on our deeds, the past two years. Oh yes, she's a bit cross with Tony. Especially, when I blurted out. That he gave me a go kart, in that trolley. When he took me grocery shopping, after a hectic test week. Oops.

About two hours later, when I closed her bedroom door. She was sleeping soundly. I bumped into Tony on the stairs.

"Sneaking out, are we?" he catches me, off guard. I bite my lip as I turn. "It's not exactly called sneaking out, when you are going back to your own house." I reply snidely.

"It's late. Scarlett, stay." He sounds so tempting. Florence's bed was so cozy.

"It's late, Tony. That's why I'm leaving." I give him a reassuring smile and leave before I get something, that I can't answer.

On my way back, I call Bree. She picks up.

"Scarlett! So how was your detour to pink princess ballroom?" Can't get enough of that humor, can we? "Don't reply back in silence. I already said, sorry a dozen times." She makes that annoying noise.

"Six times to be exact. And I forgive you."

"Boo, but I love you. So, what did she say?"

"Start packing. She said yes." I reply.

And move my phone away from my ear.

As she screams, "Yay!"

Big mistake. The entire society heard.