You & Me.

Scarlet.

“Scar, it took you thirty minutes to just change your clothes. It takes me at least ten minutes to take a shower,” He shook his head, as he started driving. I told him that I wanted to change the clothes that I've been wearing for almost two days now and so he suggested that he'd wait in the van and I'd use the diner's ladies room.

“Well, I take my time in everything.” I said, putting on my sunglasses as the warm sun lightly hit us.

“We're not stopping anywhere from now on. We need to get there as fast as we can.” John said, keeping his eyes on the road in front of him as he held the steering wheel firmly.

“Okay.” I said grabbing john's iPod as Cautioners by Jimmy Eat World started playing. I started mumbling the lyrics slowly and I could feel John looking at me from the corner of his eyes.

“You like Jimmy Eat World?” He asked, and I nodded my head.

“Mhhm. They were literally the only band I listened to in high school,” I laughed, “I remember trying to cover one of their songs at this talent show and totally failed, embarrassing myself in front of the entire school.”

“That would've been an interesting thing to make fun of.” He said and I hit him in the arms.

“Shut up.” I rolled my eyes.

“Dammit, stop hitting me Scar. I'm starting to get bruises because of you.” He rubbed his arm in the place I hit him and I only laughed.

“So why don't we listen to more songs by your band?” I grabbed his iPod trying to do anything to not feel bored, “Let's see...” I scrolled down, looking for a song to play, “Jenny.” My eyes went up to his. “Who's that?” I smirked, guessing that it's probably his girlfriend or something.

“My mom.” He said, and I was shocked by his answer. John O'Callaghan. The guy that I met in a bar with a groupie, wrote a song to his mom? That was a quite interesting thing. I was starting to find out so many things about him that changed the way I thought of his personality.

“Let's hear it.” I said as the song started playing.

"Before I go please now I'm trying; trying to be a better man. Before I leave please don't get angry, just dry your eyes and take my hand. I'll make this right, oh I will try.
Jenny don't you cry, close your eyes. Everything is gonna be alright. You're so young and still so free. Jenny, take my hand. Understand, I will try to be a better man. Without you there is no me.

The way these lyrics were written. There was no way I'd believe that a person who gets wasted every night and doesn't care about anything would write something like that. Something that should've been written by someone who has too many thoughts in their heads, kindness formed in their body and spent too much time staying up late at night writing. Not John . But it was him, and I was completely taken away by that.

Tears were starting to form in my eyes without noticing. For some stupid reason, I remembered my mom and how I wish she was here and she was alive. Nothing would ever happen and my dad would've never left. I sniffed, hoping John wouldn't notice anything.

“I wrote this two years ago.” He started, “I wrote it when she got sick and had to get to the hospital. I remember clearly thinking, 'What would happen to me if she's gone?' I would be gone too. I mean sometimes she'd get too emotional. She'd cry when our album sold a lot of copies, or she'd cry when I leave home for tour. When I told her I wrote a song about her, she promised she wouldn't cry while listening to it.” He chuckled, “But she sobbed like a baby.” I smiled weakly, imagining how lucky John is to have a mother like her. I know that I met her for probably ten minutes but she was so caring and sweet.

What does it feel like to have a mother these days? I knew that as I grew older I would love my mom even more than I already did but she was gone, I wasn't able to hug her and tell her how much I loved her and that made me feel stupidly emotional.

~~~~~~~

John.

It was dark, as I drove on the highway. 10 hours had passed and all that we did was laugh over stupid things or listen to music so the time can pass quickly. Scarlet fell asleep after eating an entire bag of gummy bears. I shook my head as I chuckled softly staring at her. She held the bag loosely in her hands and her hair was covering her closed eyes. I noticed that she was getting paler, and dark circles were forming under her eyes. I had no idea how will she be like when she meets her dad but what I knew that she was so stubborn and strong, she'll probably pretend everything's alright. I haven't seen her cry, at all. Not even once. It was a strange thing for me, but I knew that she's been hiding everything inside of her and my fear was that she'd end up breaking down one day and no one can ever stop her. What was wrong with me? Every single time I'd look at her, my stomach turns and my mind goes blank. Something was definitely going on but I refused to think of it because I knew that thinking of it would only lead to chaos. I sighed, and my phone started ringing which only made Scarlet jump from her place waking up. She rubbed her tired eyes and I quickly grabbed my phone to answer it.

“Hello?” I answered, and mouthed a 'sorry' to Scarlet for waking her up unwillingly. She just nodded her head, trying to wake up.

“Hello.” an unfamiliar voice spoke up, and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

“Who is this?” I asked, curious.

“Are you Jay's son?”

“Yes?” I answered still confused.

“Is my daughter with you?” Suddenly I realized who it was, and I felt my entire body heat up, as I heard him cough tiredly. “Can I.. talk to her?”

“Y-yeah. Just a second.” I didn't know how I did it but I did. I handed the phone to Scarlet, and she asked who it was but I only asked her to talk on the phone.

“H-hello?” She answered.

“Scarlet.” Her father spoke. I could see her entire expression changing. She was starting to understand who it was.
There was a moment of silence, her blue eyes watered like a puddle, as she covered her mouth with her hand.

“D-dad?” She said it, a soft cry leaving her lips. I couldn't do this anymore, I had to pull over. I needed to be there for her. “Is- is this y-you?” She asked, pain in her voice.

I pulled over by the sideway, as my body faced her.

“It's me.” I heard her father's voice; he was crying as well. It was obvious from his voice as I kept hearing him sniff.

“Don't cry.” She simply whispered to the phone, rubbing her own tears. “How-how are you?” She tried to breathe in and out, I wanted to do something. Anything that could comfort her in a way, but I knew that she could handle herself.

“I'm sorry for leaving.” Her dad said through the phone, she glanced up at me, tears started to form again in her eyes as she covered her mouth to stop herself from crying. She wanted to be strong, she wanted to show her dad that she's okay. But she wasn't okay..

“No.” She spoke, her voice was low. “Don't be sorry d-dad.. it's - it's okay I promise.” The words left her pink lips as she bit them. She bit them so hard that I thought it would bleed in any moment.

“No, I'm sorry. S-Scarlet I-I'm so sorry.” He cried into the phone, “I've missed you so much.”

“I- I've missed you too,” She replied and I realized by then how her entire body was shaking badly, “I'll- I'll be seeing you soon o-okay?” She rubbed her tears with the back of her hands, breathing in.

“I'm waiting for you.” He said, “I love you so much, sweetheart.”

“I love y-you too dad.” She closed her eyes as she ended the call. We just sat there in silence, and I knew that she was trying to hold herself from doing anything. I kept looking at her, waiting for her to say something.. anything. But she kept her eyes closed, and I noticed how her fingers were shaking.

“I'm really scared.” She held her breath, not wanting to burst into tears as she looked at me. Her eyes looked like pools as the tears swelled up in her pupils.

“I know.” I whispered, turning my body to face her. “I know.” I let my hands move to her cheeks as I cupped them. “It's gonna be better, alright? You just need to understand that,” I was trying my best to help her, and do whatever it takes to make her feel better.

A tear slipped down and I lightly rubbed her cheeks with my thumbs. A soft sob left her mouth and my hands moved to her shoulders. “C'mere.” I whispered, not realizing how close our faces parted until I felt her hot breath against my chin. She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me as I pulled her closer rubbing her back lightly. Maybe I did that to assure her that I'm still here, that it's gonna be okay. She cried into my arms and I tried to comfort her with my words, but we all need to cry every once in a while. To clear our heads and look at things from a new perspective, so I let her cry. After all maybe it was a good thing for her since all she did is hide her feelings in some kind of box and one day the box couldn't handle anymore. She didn't let go of me, and moments later her cries were slowly decreasing. She let out a breath giving an audible gulp as she let go of me, slowly trying to even her breathing.

“I-I'm sorry.” She ran a hand through her hair.

“N-” Before I could say another word she interrupted me.

“I-I'll drive.” She said softly, “You need some rest.” Her voice sounded much calmer now but I can still feel the lump in her throat as she talked.

“You do-” I wanted to complete my sentence but she stopped me from saying anything as she opened the passenger seat's door and started walking towards the driver's seat door. I sighed and did what she said. I motioned to the passenger seat and Scarlet pulled the ignition to the van as the engine roared. I put my seatbelt on and just like that Scarlet was driving silently as if nothing ever happened.

I hated it whenever someone does that. Pretend like nothing happened as they keep running away from their problems. Maybe if she talked about it, I would know how to help her and keep her stronger or at least let her know that it's gonna get better. But I kept my mouth shut, staring out at the dark road in front of me. I couldn't recall the last time I had a good night sleep, I've been awake for more than 24 hours now and I could feel my eyes heavy as the tiredness took over my body.

My eyes shut and my last thought was Scarlet, and how she cried into my arms clinging onto my body as if she wanted me to protect her. I will always protect her because that's what I promised my dad. To protect her .