Scarlet rolls her eyes. Awkwardly disentangling herself from Theo's grip, she straightens her robe and makes a dramatic show of a curtsey.

"Of course Your Majesty." She grins wickedly. "Actually no, if you will permit me, Your Majesty, I have a much better idea." She taps her chin for emphasis. "How about Dora?"

Theo rolls his eyes.

"Hmm!" Scarlet hums. "I like it."

Theo visibly shudders when he takes in her seriousness. "You wouldn't dare!" he roars.

"You see," Scarlet continues, ignoring him. "There is an advantage to having an easily separable name! Take me for example, some people call me Scar, others Letty. So from now here on, I baptise you Dora!"

"Scarlet!" Theo growls.

"Dora!" Scarlet deadpans wanting to hunch over and just laugh. This is too much fun.

"Goddamn it Scarlet my name isn't Theodore! It's Theo. Just. Theo!" A low growl that chills her to the bone- in a good way.

Scarlet is shaken up a bit by the volume of his voice all right. But that doesn't deter her from accomplishing her mission here. She smirks evilly as she continues taunting him.

What's getting him so worked up anyway?

Scarlet mentally rolls her eyes. Men and their egos. He has to have a test of how angry she felt when she heard her little girl spewing the b word like she was suggesting bacon for bollocking breakfast.

Her stomach growls at the thought.

Not now.

"Gee, calm down Dora!" She coos, moving around the desk and plopping into her swivel seat. "If I didn't know better I'd think someone has wounded your male ego." Scarlet intertwines her palms as her elbows rest on top of the desk.

Theo's fists clench. He's getting mad all right.

"Very. Funny." He states, in that bored tone of his.

"Here's the thing." She says, all the anger that's been bottled up inside of her resurfacing. "Do you have any fucking idea what I do whenever I feel like fucking cursing in this house?" She whispers.

Of course, she doesn't expect an answer for this but she pauses anyway.

"That's right. You don't. So let me enlighten you; I either settle with keeping it in my head, or lock myself in the bathroom then curse!" She emphasises each word with a poke of her finger on the desk, as if trying to drill a hole in it.

"She's five." Theo states.

"What?!" Scarlet exclaims.

"Celine, she's five years," he rolls his eyes.

"You don't fucking say?!" She raises her eyebrows, her voice rising a note higher it makes Theo take a cautious step back.

That's right. Run. Scarlet gets up from her desk, feeling a sudden urge to just tackle the stupid man in front of her right now. Is he seriously trying to justify his actions? More so with an excuse as pathetic as Celine being five?

Don't do it. Don't jump him. Don't do it! Her subconscious chants, glaring at her.

Scarlet takes a deep breath. Calming herself from her murderous thoughts. She knows she might want to attack him but her hands may not follow through with the plan. They may stray and instead head to his face, his silvery eyes, his perfect jaw, those very kissable lips, his short curls, his...

Alright enough!

-- ahem restricted areas.

"Look Dora." She recollects herself, and for some reason she's really grateful for, Scarlet isn't blushing.

Theo grimaces at the name.

"I honest-to-God appreciate what you did for me. You could have run off after hitting me and I could have died. Many things could have happened after that but above all else my baby would have been motherless right now. She has her mother because of you. For that I'll be eternally thankful.
I can't kick you out of here because for some unknown reason, Celine adores you. But I don't appreciate you just waltzing into our lives and start teaching her that it's okay to curse at the first chance thank you very much."

She takes a much needed breath.

"I know she's five. I know she knows all this. I know she can say "fuck" or "damn" or "bitch" hell, she just did! I just don't want to give her the impression that it's okay to just throw those words around because it's not. I want her to hold on to her innocence for as long as it can last. God knows she might lose it before she even turns eleven." By the time she finishes her rant, Scarlet's chest is heaving up and down. But she does feel better.

Theo gives her a look.

"What?" Scarlet glares at him before her eyes widen in realisation. "Wait what? No! Oh my God! No! No! I swear I didn't mean it like that!" she screams, hiding her face in her palms.

Then she bursts out laughing.

Theo follows suit. 

They continue laughing. Scarlet clutches on to her stomach, taking in sharp breaths. When she finally learns how to breathe, she looks up to find Theo looking at her. It looks like he was done laughing a long time ago. He's looking at her. Actually, he's staring at her, with way too much intensity. Scarlet tries collect herself as she shifts uncomfortably in her seat and under his grey eyed gaze. Has he been watching as she laughed the whole time?

Talk about embarrassing.

No, talk about creepy.

"You know," he says breaking the awkward silence. "You didn't even warn me."

Scarlet raises her eyebrows in question, grateful for the change in the atmosphere.

"I mean, that rant earlier, if anyone had walked in on us, they'd have thought you've been warning me countless times to stop teaching your girl "bad words" but I've refused." He air quotes.

"Oh." He does have a point.

"Ahuh. But I'm sorry, I guess I should have known better." Theo shrugs.
"I mean I'm not all for kids but for some known reason I adore Celine too and I would hate to be a bad influence on her." He gives her an apologetic smile. "But hey, in my defense, the girl acts like she's ten and not five."

Scarlet doesn't realise she's gaping until Theo clears his throat. Not only is he hot but he literally just confessed that he adores Celine. Her Celine. He couldn't get any cooler. If that actually makes sense. Can someone be hot and cool at the same time? And to top it off, that's the longest she's ever had him talk.

"Oh...um."

What's that thing they say when someone apologises again?  Oh right!

"Um...it's okay...um I guess?...why is she stuttering?...um...Why are you here anyway Theo? What do you want?"

Way to go Greene! Her subconscious fist pumps in the air.

"You." He states, looking straight into Scarlet's eyes. 

She nearly chokes on air. What?! Her?

Gee calm your tits! Her subconscious chirps. He doesn't mean it like that!

Of course he doesn't.

"Um..." Theo gulps. "We actually moved into this neighbourhood a few days ago."

"You did?" Her voice is too collected and calm, everything she isn't right now. They what?!

Fuck! Scarlet should be ecstatic about this, she should see herself having the two of them over for dinner in the near future, having girl time with Ivy, being best friends with the both of them.

She should.

But she isn't. Not that she knows why.

"Yeah. And Ivy asked me to drop by and invite you guys to dinner tomorrow"

"Oh," What?! Of course she did!

How stupid of her to think he came here on his own will! I mean the guy has been avoiding her like the plague since she was discharged. Why then would he want to show up at her home all of a sudden? Unless of course, his girlfriend asks him.

"That makes a lot of sense." She mumbles, more to herself than him.

Theo gives her a blank look.

"I mean," Scarlet clears her throat, embarrassment creeping up her neck to the tips of her ears. "Ivy is such a nice person. And she is. You're really lucky to have someone like her. Of course we will come." She chimes, a nervous smile on her lips.
Scarlet can't help the slight pang of disappointment in her gut. Was she hoping Theo had come to see her? That's sick! She knows he has a girlfriend. A very nice girlfriend at that.

And Scarlet isn't attracted to Theo. Maybe he's hot and all, any girl would gawk in his presence but that's about it.

Right?

Right?

Dinner.

Dinner with the two of them.

How awkwardly hypocritical is it going to be with her smiling at Ivy when not too long ago she was fantasising about her man's lips? Hoping he had wanted to see her?

No! Her subconscious chastises. You weren't hoping that he wanted to see you. Got that? You weren't!

Yes. She wasn't. Not at all.

"All right." Theo interrupts. "I'm just gonna go see Cee and then I'm out. See yah!" Lifting his index and middle fingers, Theo gives Scarlet a mock salute and heads for the door.

"I'm sorry Theo." Scarlet blurts after him. She basically attacked him for something so small. Maybe it's a big issue but she still overreacted. They could have talked it out like two civilized human beings but no, she decided to just shout at him like the ape she is. Now that she thinks about it, she may have gone overboard given Celine might have already had the words somewhere in her vocabulary.

But Scarlet knows, she knows all too well why she yelled at someone first chance she got.

Theo just happened to be around.

He just happened to be that person. But he doesn't need to know this.

"I'll come back." Theo says, turns around and winks at her before walking out.

All the blood in Scarlet's body rushes to her face.

Great! Very helpful Theo.