S C A R L E T

I was heated. Hailey and Savannah really do get on my nerves. What did they want from me? Did they want me to kill them? Because right now I want to smash their heads in.

Get a hold of yourself Scarlet, don't let them get to you.

Compared to me, they're no threat. Do you hear yourself? You sound ridiculous. I sighed irritably, storming back to the house. I need to take my mind off those girls otherwise I was going to punch someone.

"Zoey! We need to talk right now!" I yelled, not even looking up at her.

"O-okay?" I heard her say from upstairs. She was on the balcony, guarding the house.

I came in through the front door, slamming it shut behind me. Zoey appeared from the top of the stairs, raising a brow at me before jogging down the stairs.

"What happened?"

"Zoey I'm- I'm going to hurt them Zoey." I stated, walking into the living room.

"Hurt who?" She asked, following me into the living room and sitting down on the sofa.

I let out a frustrated groan, and began to pace in front of her. "Those two gringas!" I yelled, throwing my hands in the air to show my frustration.

Zoey furrowed her eyebrows. "Why?" She had the nerve to ask. I gave her a look.

"Why?" I narrowed my eyes. "Why?!" I repeated, my tone rising, now facing Zoey. Zoey looked uncomfortable in her seat and she sat back slowly. "Because, Zoey." I began to pace again. "They think they can just waltz in my land, in my house, take my clothes, and go after my Nico." I stopped pacing, facing Zoey and huffing in anger.

My chest was rising at an odd pace, from how fast I was breathing. I was that mad.

"Alright first. Breath." Zoey ordered, looking at me cautiously.

I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, evening out my breathing. I nodded.

"Okay and second, your Nico?" A teasing grin appeared on her features and I rolled my eyes.

"Zoey! I'm serious I'm so mad I want to punch them and feed them to the walkers!" I said, moving some of my curly hair away from my face. I'm going to do two Dutch braids later on today, that way I won't have to deal with it for a while.

"Alright I'm sorry." She laughed. "But you shouldn't worry about them going after Nico, I already talked to them." She said.

I sat down beside her on the couch. "I'm guessing you were the one who told them that Nico was my boyfriend?" I questioned, closing my eyes. I really should have stopped my stupid self from saying Nico was otherwise.

"Yeah. You didn't you confirm it?" She asked, and I could feel her stare on me.

I winced, preparing myself for Zoey's loud reaction.

"Scarlet!? What were you thinking?!" Zoey yelled, slapping my arm. Really hard may I add.

"Owe!" I whined, rubbing my arm and opening my eyes to look at the now furious pale Mexican.

"I've been patient with you. But I've had enough! You need to stop acting stupid and realize you and Nico are meant to be. You two are soulmates for Christ sake!" Zoey ranted. Her face turning red.

I looked at her, scooting away subtly. Just far enough so that she wouldn't claw my eyes out.

Zoey took in a deep breath. "Go, and talk to him Scarlet. Actually you know what? I was just about to go and take everyone some water, it's in the kitchen already prepared. Take the car, and give the water to everyone. Use that as an excuse to talk to Nico." Zoey ordered, pointing to the door.

I looked at the door, then to her. A part of me did not want to have the 'What are we?' talk. Wouldn't that just be awkward? However, nothing is awkward between Nico and I, but still. I don't want to have that talk.

"Go!" She demanded, a determined look on her face.

But then again, I didn't want to face Zoey's wrath either.

~*~

"I brought you some water." I smiled up at Haviel and Nico, who were both standing on the platform leaning against the wall. They both turned around to face me, and Haviel smiled kindly catching the water bottle when I tossed it to him. "Ah thank you! I've been dying of thirst out here." Haviel chuckled.

I faked a small laugh.

Nico however, saw through me, but thankfully he didn't say anything instead he gave me a boyish smile. "Couldn't stay away from me could you?" Nico teased with a sly smile.

I rolled my eyes, a grin creeping onto my features. Instead of reaching down to grab the bottle, or waiting for me to toss it to him, he climbed down the ladder that leads up to the platform and down to the ground.

He walked up to me, implanting a small kiss on my cheek, taking me by surprise. "Thanks babe." He took the water bottle and climbed back up the ladder, leaving me on the ground frozen to the spot with wide eyes. Butterflies flew everywhere in my stomach and I felt fireworks or electricity in my body, like a tingling sensation. All from a kiss on the cheek.

I felt my cheeks flush and I looked up to see Haviel laughing lightly, as if my confusion was something to laugh about. Ha ha, very funny. Nico drunk his water, oblivious to the way he left me feeling.

Gathering myself back together I cleared my throat awkwardly.

"Scarlet, do you mind taking over for me? I feel like I need to take a cold shower, or else I'm going to pass out from this heat!" Haviel exaggerated, obviously lying because he winked at me to let me know. "Also I think Zoey radioed me, she said she wanted me to take over for her back at the house." He added.

That's when I caught on and I nodded slowly. Oh Zoey, what in the hell are you trying to do? "Yeah, okay." I agreed, going to the backseat of the car and grabbing my rifle. I had my honeybadger with me because I found some extra ammo for it. Better to use it anyways, I was always a better shot with it, not to mention it had a scope.

"Great. Gracias neña." He tapped my shoulder gratefully, and hopped into the driver seat, taking off before I could say anything in reply.

"You're welcome I guess." I said sarcastically, watching him leave before turning around and looking up at Nico.

Nico furrowed his eyebrows, looking at the clearance Haviel was driving through to get to the house before looking down at me. "What was that about?" He asked, suspicious of the way Haviel was acting. Thankfully though, his tone was more of, 'he's acting weird I wonder why.' Not 'you're up to something and I know it.'

I shrugged, not even knowing myself. "No idea." I put the strap over my head, letting my rifle lay on my back so I could climb the ladder. When I reached the top Nico helped me up, pulling my hand before letting his hand rest on my lower back to help balance myself. I smiled. "Thanks."

Then I walked over to the wall, leaning onto it and looking out at the neighboring houses and streets. Everything seemed so abandoned, it made me remember just how alone we really were in this world.

That's when I heard multiple growls, and I looked down to see a couple of Walkers walking around aimlessly.

Don is so evil. We barely have enough living humans as it is and all he does is kill them. Like they weren't souls who deserved a chance to survive just as much as he did.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Nico leaned on the wall beside me, he was so close to me his arm was touching mine. I didn't mind, even if I felt like I was burning up from the heat, him being close to me was a feeling I found myself addicted to.

"Do you even have a penny?" I retorted, a smirk playing on my lips.

Nico rolled his eyes, with a smile on his features. "Yeah....I'm going through some rough times so I'll have to give it to you later." He replied.

I scoffed, shaking my head. "Unbelievable, you don't have a penny? Why do I like you again?" I joked, looking at him. Of course I didn't expect him to have any kind of money on him, it was the apocalypse after all, everything is free.

However Nico being my kind of guy, decided to play along. "Because I'm amazing, and one of a kind." He said, his tone confident and cocky.

I mirrored his smile. "I don't know about the amazing part, but you're definitely different from everyone else I know." I tore my gaze away from his vibrant green eyes, checking our surroundings and making sure everything was still cleared.

The last thing we needed was for someone to sneak up on us while Nico and I were distracted with each other. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so I turned back to him biting back a smile.

Nico feigned hurt, holding his chest where his heart is. "My feelings, are so....touched. You think I'm extraordinary."

I giggled, that's not exactly what I meant, I wanted to say, but instead I told him. "Maybe just a little." The wind blew my hair back out of my face, and I felt myself smile lightly. A breeze is exactly what I need right now, it's so hot outside I feel like I'm going to melt.

Nico grinned at me, before looked away and down out at the ground below.

We were up pretty high, high enough to climb over the top of the wall and possibly break a few bones if we jumped. The only reason we were up this high however, was because of the platform Logan, Emmett, Juan, and basically everyone (yes, even me.) helped build. They were guarding posts pretty much, we had them on each side of the land. One in the middle of each wall. One in the front, one in the back, and one on each side.

A silence fell over us, and I glanced at Nico, feeling my stomach do summersaults at the question I was about to ask. 'Are we a couple?' Why was it so hard to ask such a simple question?

I mentally gagged. I can't believe I'm tormenting myself over this. Don and his men are looking for us and I'm worried about being his girlfriend. I hate feelings.

I opened my mouth, getting ready to ask, but stopped myself, looking away from him and straight ahead instead. I sighed, shaking my head at myself. I can't do this. What if he laughs at me? Knowing him he probably will, I know it'd be in a teasing way though, he wouldn't mean to hurt my feelings. But I'm too prideful to be laughed at, I'd feel so stupid if he did.

"Can I ask you something?" Nico said, suddenly breaking the silence. Did Zoey talk to him too?

My eyebrows rose at the question, and I turned my head to look at Nico. "Shoot." I said, looking at his eyes before turning to look at his hair.

He was wearing it in a low ponytail today, and I wasn't going to lie it was a good look on him. I saw a loose strand and I moved it behind his ear, He smiled lightly at the gesture, before grabbing my hand and intertwining it with his. Suddenly, I felt a new found of happiness well up inside, the same feeling I always get whenever we hold hands or hug or do anything that involved touching.

"Hailey and I were talking earlier today, and she said something that kinda threw me off." He told me, looking down.

That's when my stomach dropped, and instead of happiness I felt anxious.

I furrowed my eyebrows. What could she have possibly told Nico? "What'd she tell you?" I asked, suddenly getting nervous. Why was I getting nervous? I didn't do anything wrong.

Nico wouldn't look me in the eyes, and he kinda avoided my gaze. Now I had a reason to be nervous. What the hell did that kitchen sponge say to him?

"Be honest when I ask you this Scarlet."

I think my heart was in my throat at this point. "I never lie to you Nicolas." And it's true, I can't remember the last time I lied, unless it was me telling him that I was fine when in truth I wanted to murder someone but that's different. Yeah I do harmless lying, but when it really came down to it, I never lie to him. Hell, I never lie to anyone, I don't see a reason to.

Nico looked down at our intertwined hands, before letting mine go. He dropped his arm so it rested on his side. He kept his stare on me, as if he was studying me. "Do you like Zack?"

I was taken aback by this question. I was so taken by surprise that I started to laugh. It wasn't a fake laugh or a short laugh, this was a genuine laugh. And when I was somewhat able to get a hold of myself after laughing for about a minute or two, one look at Nico's face and I was back to laughing.

At this point tears were forming in my eyes and I held my stomach, pretty much rolling on the floor.

"Are you-*more laughter*-serious?!" I broken into another fit of laughter before wiping my eyes.

I took in a few deep breaths, standing back up and giggling. I looked at Nico, who seemed a little annoyed by me, but I could tell he was still fighting back a smile.

"Nico?!" I giggled again. "Of course I don't like Zack! Not like that anyways. He's like a brother to me are you crazy? Dating him would be the equivalent of incest." I laughed.

Nico smiled, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me closer to him. I stopped laughing immediately, the close proximity being the only thing on my mind. "That's so reliving to hear. Because I was getting ready to beat the living daylights out of him." He joked, at least I hope he was joking. The last thing poor Zackie Chan needed was a beating from his bestfriend.

"Yeah right." I called his bluff.

Nico smirked. "I'm serious. Nobody goes after my girl."

My heart warmed at the words 'my girl.' So simple yet so touching. It's like music to my ears. Who knew?

"I'm glad you feel that way, so when I beat Hailey and Savannah to a pulp you'll understand why." I smiled a toothy grin.

Nico rolled his eyes and shook his head in amusement. Awe that's so cute, he thinks I'm joking.

'Bang.'

'Bang.'

Nico and I ducked behind the wall as soon as we heard the gunshots. I felt his hand on my back but I don't think I fully registered the movement. What the hell was that? My heart was speeding in my chest, and I looked at Nico, a panicked expression most likely on my face. He grabbed my hand, as if trying to calm me down.

'Bang.'

Wait a minute.

I peered over the wall, Nico tugged me down and that's when I realized that the gunshots sounded far away. Like they weren't anywhere near us, a couple of miles away at the most. Nico seemed to realized this as well because he stood up first, before tugging me up.

"That sounded close." Nico stated, looking straight ahead, his eyes roaming everything in sight.

I used the scope to my honeybadger, raising it to look through it. As I scanned the area I couldn't see anything so it put my heart to ease. For a second there I thought Don and his gang had found us.

"Thankfully, not close enough." I responded, setting my weapon down again. "But I think we should tell Logan, because the only person dumb enough to shoot a gun that loud is the only evil bastard who resembles the anti-Christ."