CHAPTER EIGHT
"not like this one."

( episode five ━━ midsummers )

WALKING INTO HER HOUSE AND actually seeing her parents there... Scarlett was beyond stunned at the sight. "Hey when did you guys get in?" She greets her parents, running to hug them. "I wasn't expecting guys so soon."

"Why would you think that? We told you before we left that we'd be back for Midsummers." Margaret chuckles while reminding her daughter what she had said before they left.

"Yeah, but you guys say a lot of things. I didn't think it was true."

She feels sad listening to her daughter speak, the guilt beginning to take over. The woman knows that she hasn't been the best parent lately, and neither has her husband, but she knew it that was all about to come to an end.

"That, and Ward is being coronated as Guardian of Knights of the Rhododendron." Willam adds, walking out of the closet and holding his suit jacket. "We couldn't miss it."

Scarlett pauses and scrunches up her face, confused at her father's words. "I have no idea what that means, but okay, if you say so."

"Have you picked out an outfit yet?" Margaret asks, curious as to why she wasn't dressed or getting ready.

"No, a lot has happened over the past few days so I was just planning on staying home."

"What?" William scoffs, appalled at Scarlett's choice. "Honey, you can't miss this party."

"I know, it's just I talked to Sarah and she doesn't want to go either." Scarlett explains while realizing how sad it sounded that the middle Cameron sibling was her only real friend. "So I'm not really gonna have anyone there with me."

"What about Ward's son? Haven't you two been going out? I thought he was your date this evening."

Scarlett tenses at the mention of Rafe. It wasn't her mom's fault for asking, she didn't know, but the girl would rather just not think of him at all. After he had shown his true colours, she felt disgusted for even associating with the Cameron boy at all.

"Uh, no." She starts. "Rafe and I were just friends, and we aren't even that anymore."

Margaret moves Scarlett's hair out of her face and gives her a sad look. "I'm sorry to hear that sweetie."

"It's okay." Scarlett shrugs, trying to play it off as no big deal. "My friendship circle is just dwindling year by year. No big deal."

"Well, aren't there any other boys you could go with?" William asks.

Her face scrunches up at the mention of the word boys, but tries her best not to let how uncomfortable she was show on her face. However, Margaret saw, and began to grow more curious.

Scarlett sighs and attempts to answer her father's question in the most generic way possible. "Yeah, I don't think there's really any boy that I'm interested in."

She made sure to emphasize the word any, thinking that would help them understand what she really meant, but they still didn't.

"Scarlett, come with us to the party." The woman attempts to convince her daughter one last time. "We haven't gone anywhere together as a family in a long time."

The small girl thinks over her mother's request for a moment. As much fun as going to the party sounded like, there were a lot of people Scarlett was attempting to avoid. If she went, there was always the possibility of running into Topper, Kelce, or even worse, Rafe.

Then there was Kiara. Scarlett had been avoiding her for what felt like forever, but that night at the movie screening, when they had been fighting Rafe and his goons together, had really made Scarlett feel like Kiara could maybe forgive her for everything she'd done. Until she had gone and fucked it up.

In her defence, she didn't mean to. When she had dropped everyone off after the fight, she hadn't expected Kiara to practically reject her. So, she panicked and decided to hurt Kiara back even worse, still regretting it completely. Sadly, she had no way to take it back.

"I don't know what to wear and Sarah isn't going so I have no one to get ready with."

"I'll help you. Unless you think it's too uncool to hang out with your mom." Margaret jokes, secretly hoping that the girl would take her up on her offer.

Scarlett's mouth almost drops open from shock. This was the last thing she expected to hear, yet she wasn't complaining. "The opposite actually. I think hanging out with you is just what I need right now."

"I'll leave you girls to it, I love you both." William kisses his wife on the cheek and smiles at his daughter before leaving the room. "I know you'll look amazing sweetheart."

"Thanks dad."

☆

"We can pin it up, or leave it down. What do you think?"

Scarlett looks down at her hands while sitting in her desk chair. Her mom was currently attempting different hairstyles and seeing what worked best with the chosen outfit, also waiting for Scarlett's approval on which she liked best.

"Leave it down." Scarlett shrugs, not really caring about how she looks right now.

Margaret let's go of the girl's hair, spinning her chair around so that they could face each other. "Are you okay? You look quite upset."

"I just really missed spending time with you. I mean, it feels like I don't even see you or dad anymore." Scarlett continues to look down as she speaks, afraid that if she were to look up that she'd start crying. "I know it's lame of me for to admit that, but it's how I feel."

Margaret's guilt started to get a whole lot worse the more she listened to her daughter speak. Knowing that she was keeping things from her made it all the more harder on their relationship, and it was time for that to come to an end.

"Scarlett, there is something I have to tell you." The woman starts, taking a deep breath and sitting down across from Scarlett. "Your father wanted to wait until after Midsummers, but I don't want to keep this from you any longer."

"Mom, what's going on?" Scarlett sits up in her chair, nervous for whatever news her mother was going to spring on her. "You're sort of scaring me."

"Your father wants to get out of Outerbanks and the reason we've been traveling so much is because we've been scouting different places. Right now our favourite option is looking like Chicago, or maybe even somewhere in Canada."

"Get out of here? Why?"

The point wasn't clicking in Scarlett's head just yet, so Margaret decided to try another way to explain, without outright telling the girl what was really going on.

"He wants to move the Law Firm somewhere else. Explore other options, and I agree with him."

The small girl slowly processes her mothers words, finally understanding what she was attempting to tell her. "Wait, we're moving?"

"Not yet." Margaret attempts to calm her down, not wanting her to get upset and riled up. Probably at the end of the summer."

"The end of summer?" Scarlett shouts and jumps out of her seat. "Mom, that's so soon. What about my friends?"

Margaret shrugs, not understanding what the big deal was. She knew Scarlett would be upset, but she would have never predicted this reaction. "Well, you said it yourself that your friendship circle is dwindling."

"Yeah, but I just— I can't. There are certain people here that I can't leave."

Sarah was one of them, that's true. However, the first person that came to Scarlett's mind was Kiara. She couldn't imagine leaving without fixing things with her, but even if she did, would there be a point? She would still be leaving regardless, so maybe it was better to leave things how they were.

Margaret smiles softly at her daughter, thinking she finally uncovered the big secret as to why Scarlett was so against moving away. "Scarlett, is this about a boy?"

"No Mom, it's not trust me." Scarlett cringes and tries to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"Nice try, you can't lie to me." Margaret playfully points to her daughter, still smiling. "I know the look when somebody is in love."

"You do?"

Scarlett sits down on the bed, her mother joining quickly after as they continue to talk it out. Margaret throws her arm around Scarlett's shoulder as she continues.

"Yes, I do. I know you think that you're never going to feel like this again, but you will. There will be other boys."

Listening to her mother go on and on, this time she did roll her eyes. Scarlett couldn't help herself. "I don't want a boy."

"I know you feel like that, but you are only 17. I bet he feels like the only guy in the world to you right now—"

"No mom, you're not listening." Scarlett cuts her off, taking a deep breath and looking anywhere else in the room but at her mother. "I don't want a boy."

Seeing how upset she was, and finally taking into account all the words her daughter made sure to emphasize, it finally all made sense to Margaret. "Oh." She moves some of Scarlett's hair out of her face, feeling a pit in her stomach as she watches the tears fall from her eyes. "Honey, why are you crying?"

"I just really don't want you to hate me." Scarlett wipes her tears away as quickly as she can, hating the feeling of crying in front of anyone, even if that person was her own mother.

"Well I wish you would have told me before my whole rant about boys, now I feel embarrassed." Margaret laughs, attempting to bring humor back into the conversation.

"Wait, you're—" Scarlett pauses, looking up at her mother and processing her reaction. "You're not mad?"

The older woman looks over at her child, appalled. "Mad? Why would I be mad?"

"I don't know, I just assumed you would be." Scarlett shrugs, not really having a reasoning for her thoughts.

While she listened to her daughter speak and watched her attempt to stop the tears from falling, Margaret could not believe what she was hearing. Had she really been that bad of a parent that Scarlett could have really thought she would disown and hate her for something that was beyond her control?

Although right now, this wasn't about her. This was about Scarlett, her daughter, and how she should be comforting her and making her feel better. Her feelings would always come second to her child's.

Margaret cups Scarlett's face in her hands, whipping away her tears as she attempts to hold back her own. "Scarlett, you're my daughter, and I love you no matter what. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand." Scarlett nods, smiling as this was the happiest and most like herself she'd felt in years. "Thank you."

She reaches up and hugs her mother, who wastes no time wrapping her hands around her and hugging her tightly.

"What I said still applies, there will be other girls." Margaret whispers as she slowly breaks away from the embrace to face her daughter. "I promise you."

Scarlett shrugs, knowing that she was right but didn't exactly want to hear that right now. "Yeah, but not like this one."

Margaret smiles at the thought of her child so smitten with someone. "Do I know this special girl?" She teases, finding it amusing.

"Hey, why are you two still sitting around here?" William enters the room, confused as to why his wife and daughter both look like they had been crying. "We gotta get going."

Margaret looks over to Scarlett, waiting to see if she is going to tell her father, to which the small girl just slightly shakes her head.

"William, get the car started." She dismisses him, hoping it didn't sound like too much of an excuse. "We'll be right down."

He shrugs his shoulders and leaves, muttering something about women on the way out. The girls both ignore him and Margaret turns back to face Scarlett.

"If you want to skip Midsummers, that's okay with me. I won't force you to go."

"No, I'll go." Scarlett informs her, feeling more confident and determined than ever after coming out to her mom. "I actually realized that there is something I have to do tonight."

author's note.
i'm so so sorry this chapter took so long, writer's block is a bitch :(
but i'm so happy for scarlett finally coming out <33