Lullaby

The bright morning sun peaked through the curtains, lighting up the bedroom and warming Scarlett's pale skin. "No, go away," she groaned to the sun. Her eyes reluctantly opened slowly, but surely as she reached her arms towards the ceiling, letting out a squeak as she stretched. Mornings were Scarlett's least favorite part of the day. Someday, she was going to start a petition for days to always start at ten in the morning. Life would be so much easier. She extended her arm towards the small radio on her nightstand and turned it on. "It's ten minutes to eight on this lovely Friday morning," the DJ announced way too bubbly for this time of day. Scarlett shot up in her bed, "Shit!" Her first class of the day was going to start in twenty minutes and she wasn't even dressed yet. She rushed around her small apartment desperately searching for clean clothes. Finally, she spotted a pair of dark skinny jeans and a green plaid, button up shirt. Then, she quickly fixed her long strawberry blonde hair and gathered the things she needed for school. If she hurried, she could make it in time to catch half of her morning class at the university.

After grabbing her bag and keys, she swung her front door open to see a scruffy, but cute, brunette guy standing on her doorstep with a cup of coffee in each of his hands. Scarlett groaned and squeezed past him, closing her door behind her. Any other girl would have been thrilled to see a handsome boy, who happened to sing in a band, standing in their doorway with caffeine in hand and she would have been that girl if she wasn't running out the door so quickly. "Fuck! Sorry, Josh. I'm so late. I've got to get going," she explained to him.

"Good morning to you, too, sunshine. Always the chipper one, aren't you?" The man greeted with sarcasm lacing his voice. Scarlett heard footsteps catching up to her as she rushed down the hallway of the apartment building. "At least let me give you a lift, love. Yeah?"

The offer did sound enticing, seeing as she would have to walk, or run in this case, to her class. Being sweaty and out of breath was not a good look for her. She stopped in her tracks and looked over at Josh. "If you wouldn't mind?" She gave him a hopeful smile. He glanced up at the ceiling, giving off the impression that he was thinking about it. Scarlett rolled her eyes, she didn't have time to play along with his silly antics. Not today, at least. "Fine, never mind." She pushed opened the main door to the building and continued making her way to class.

"Scar! Scar!' Josh called out from a few feet behind her. Yet again, he caused her to roll her eyes. She loathed that name, she never let anyone call her by it, except for Josh. There was something about the sound of his voice and his accent that made the nickname sound better coming from him. "C'mon! I was joking around." Scarlett turned on her heel to face him. He was leaning against his car with a devious smirk plastered on his face. "Of course I wouldn't mind, even though you didn't thank me for buying you coffee, which you're obviously in dire need of right now," he told her as she walked towards him.

"You're a pain in my ass, Franceschi," she hissed. Although, it didn't take long for her lips to curve into a grin. Hopefully, that was enough of a 'thank you' for him. Josh chuckled, handing her one of the cups before jogging over to his side of the car and getting into his seat.

"Bloody arse!" Josh yelled at one of the rather slow drivers in front of them. Scarlett glanced over at him with a cocked eyebrow. "What?!" He questioned when he felt her eyes on him. "I'm trying to get you to your lesson and this bloody imbecile forgot how to fucking drive!" His hands were waving aggressively in every direction, as if his use of language and tone of voice didn't show how aggravated he was already.

"Alrighty then, I think someone's had enough coffee for the day." She grabbed his cup from the cup holder and took a swig.

"Ay! I need that." He immediately snatched the cup from Scarlett's grasp and took a sip himself. "Clearly you have lost your manners."

A gasp escaped from her lips. "Excuse you! I am a perfect young lady." She brushed her hands over her thighs as if she was smoothing out an imaginary dress before flashing him a sweet smile. As they approached a red light, Josh slowed down the car until it came to a stop. He looked over at the blonde next to him and stared in bewilderment. Then bursted out into laughter. Scarlett soon followed his lead, she laughed so hard her insides started to ache. She was far from being polite or a lady for that matter. She had the mouth of a truck driver and never cared about how she acted in public. She was often described as being 'one of the guys'. The two of them cackled for so long, they didn't notice that the traffic light had changed to green until there was obnoxious honking coming from the cars in back of them.

Scarlett slid down in her seat and rested her feet on the dashboard, crossing one foot over the other. "What are you doing up so early anyways?" She considered anyone who was willingly awake at this hour insane.

"What do you think this is? Your lounge?" Josh exclaimed waving his hand towards her feet. Scarlett nodded happily in return. He shook his head, but she swore she caught a tiny smirk come from him. "And you could say I haven't exactly gotten up at all. Sleep wasn't on my list of things to do last night."

"Of course it wasn't." There was no surprise there. Josh was always staying up at all hours of the night and sleeping most of the day away. It seemed to be a part of the life of being in a band.

He reached over and pinched her cheek playfully. "You better not be judging me, lady." Scarlett laughed and slapped his hand away from her face. He was the only person who could make her laugh and not worry about being extremely late for class.

As Josh pulled into an empty spot in front of one of the tall buildings of the university, Scarlett collected all of her belongings and shoved them in her bag, then took the last sip of her coffee. "Thanks for saving my academic career," she said while opening the car door.

Before she could step out of the car, she felt a hand grab hers, making her glance in Josh's direction. "Have a good one, yeah?" His thumb lightly grazed the top of her palm. The corners of her mouth tugged upwards and she nodded, finally getting out and closing the door. Just as she was about to enter the building, she heard his voice again. "Pub! Around eight." And with that, he gave her a small wave and drove away.