scarlett stirred the next morning in an unfamiliar room. pink walls greeted her, a blonde grinning back at her from pictures that adorned the wall. the blood drained straight from her body. she had not stayed over at regina's last night, there was no way this was something that was happening. she pulled herself up slowly and turned to where regina was still asleep, they must've fallen asleep midway through plotting because the notebook laid open, the only thing that was separating them from being practically on top of each other. scarlett pulled herself as far to the edge of the bed as possible and tried not to stress herself out.

the blonde had started to stir at the same time that scarlett pulled out her phone. she had multiple missed calls from louisa and their groupchat was filled with messages from last night, most of them being maria sending pictures of her, louisa and amber. scarlett had completely forgotten to text louisa once she'd gotten back to regina's, she felt bad enough lying without forgetting about them as well. although her messages from maria remained at zero, she wondered if the girl was mad at her for bailing.

"fuck what time is it?" regina leant over her shoulder to check the time at the top of her screen. scarlett did not like how regina was so comfortable getting so close to her as if she didn't despise her. "we fell asleep," scarlett groaned, leaning away from regina ever so slightly. "great solving skills!" regina rolled her eyes before she pulled herself up off the bed. "glad to see that you wake up in this mood," scarlett muttered, pulling up louisa's number in her phone. "wait, what are you doing?" regina questioned. "i'm calling my friend," scarlett frowned at her. "i was supposed to-"

"you can't call her from here!" regina tried to snatch the girls phone but failed miserably. "what if she finds out you're here?" scarlett snorted. "it's a phone call, she can't hear your evil nature from that far away." regina muttered something under her breath that scarlett didn't hear before she slunk off out of the room, leaving scarlett alone. she tapped her friends contact, aware that it was 9am on a saturday morning and the girl was probably passed out from the events of the night previous. or maybe she was hoping the girl wouldn't answer so she wouldn't have to listen to all her questions.

"what is wrong with you?" scarlett rolled her eyes almost immediately, louisa was an incredibly dramatic person but this time scarlett couldn't tell her she was overreacting because she had completely forgotten about her. and regina george had been the cause of that. "i thought you were dead!" she heard a muffled laugh come from the other side of the phone and knew that amber was probably on the other side mocking her girlfriend. "ok that part is just a little dramatic," scarlett replied. "and i'm sorry, i crashed the second i got home last night i completely forgot to text you."

"you crashed the second you got home last night?" louisa asked. "because i called your mom and she said you definitely didn't come home last night." scarlett, louisa and maria all had each other's parents contact numbers in cases of emergencies but none of them had ever actually used them. "like she'd notice," scarlett laughed bitterly from her end of the call. "so you are home?" louisa pressed. scarlett looked around her and grimaced slightly. "yeah," she lied. "my mom wouldn't notice if i was on fire in front of her, she never hears me coming in."

"oh," louisa's voice echoed down the phone, making scarlett feel incredibly guilty. her mom wouldn't notice her because she never did, she never cared but lying to louisa about being home was making her feel nauseous. she wasn't the type of person that held secrets back from her friends but she knew they'd intervene with her and regina's current plans. "do you feel better?" her friend asked. "yeah," scarlett sighed. "i'm fine." she twirled a strand of hair around her fingers, trying to numb the strange feeling stirring within her. "good because we're going to grab lunch, we'll pick you up in an hour!"

"no lou-" the girl had already hung up on her leaving her to grab her bag quickly just as regina reentered the room. scarlett had a sneaking suspicion she might have been eavesdropping but she didn't want to bring up anything that would keep her from getting home. "watch it!" regina barely missed her as she stopped short in her doorway. "what are you doing?" scarlett ran a hand through her unbrushed hair, suddenly very aware that regina was seeing what she looked like when she'd just woken up. it seemed like something she'd try and use against her for whatever purpose. "i have to go because my friends don't know the meaning of personal space!"

"you told them?" regina groaned. "you are so useless, you know that, right?" scarlett narrowed her eyes at her. "i didn't tell them anything," she snapped. "they think i'm at my house and if i'm not there by the time they get there, yeah i'm gonna tell them." regina moved the girl out of her way, gentler than scarlett had expected her to. the girl watched as she grabbed her car keys. "absolutely not," she shook her head, getting in regina's car willingly more than once wasn't something scarlett intended on doing. "you're not blowing this for me," regina shook her head. "come on." scarlett had never understood why people were so easily manipulated by regina and she still didn't understand it, all she knew was that she found herself willingly following the blonde to her car.

"you don't have siblings, right?" regina asked as she watched scarlett put her address into regina's maps. she wasn't about to spend the entire drive giving her directions, it seemed like something that would turn out to be incredibly stressful. regina turned her keys in the ignition and backed out of her driveway. "no?" scarlett frowned at her. "why?" regina shrugged. "i just wanted to know if i had to drop you a couple of blocks away," she replied. "i don't want anyone questioning why my car was at your house." scarlett rolled her eyes. "yes because that would be so awful," she mocked. "what would happen to your social status then?" regina gritted her teeth, keeping her eyes on the road in front of her. "you know that gretchen is very involved in your life," scarlett switched subjects, the awkward silence in the car wasn't something she wanted to experience again. "she'll definitely figure this out."

"she won't," regina replied. "and even if she does, it's gretchen, she won't tell anyone." scarlett scoffed, gretchen was known for being a gossip. surely regina wasn't that out of touch with everyone around her that she had missed out on the fact that her closest friend spread other peoples secrets through the school like wildfire. "it's gretchen, she'll tell everyone," scarlett corrected her. "she won't," regina said firmly which scarlett assumed was her signal for her to drop the conversation. scarlett's street came into view, the girl restrained herself from letting out a sigh of relief.

regina still pulled up a couple of houses back from scarlett's but it was better than her original plan of dropping her blocks away. "when are you free?" she asked the girl, not tearing her eyes away from her steering wheel. scarlett wondered if she was making her nervous, nothing seemed to unsettle regina but sometimes she couldn't bring herself to look at scarlett and the girl wondered what it was exactly. if the girl had a conscious, she'd say it was guilt. "what?" scarlett asked, her stress having completely made her forget they'd have to be in each other's space for this plan to work. it clicked in her brain pretty quickly but regina had already started talking again. "are you dense?" regina asked. "alright, i'm going," scarlett shook her head.

"oh my god, why do you take everything so seriously?" regina locked the doors from her side of the car. "how's monday for you?" scarlett crossed her arms. "you're inviting me to sit with you?" she asked a little teasingly. "you enjoy my company that much?" regina's face remained completely stony which made scarlett roll her eyes. "yeah i'm free," she sighed. "i'll pick you up?" regina offered, scarlett pressed a hand to her own forehead to check if she was running a fever and perhaps a little delirious. "what are you doing?"

"sorry that just sounded like a nice offer from you i thought i was sick," scarlett shrugged. "you are so weird," regina unlocked the doors. "i'll park behind the library, don't make it obvious." scarlett climbed out of the car. "obviously," she replied. "i don't want to be seen with you either." she turned and walked away before the other girl could figure out a response. she approached her house, incredibly grateful that she had left her bedroom window open slightly. she crept around to the side of her house, pushing the window open the rest of the way before she clambered in as quietly as she possibly could.

the really weird thing about being back in her house after one singular night at regina's was that even though they hated each other, she had still somewhat felt more wanted when she had been at regina's house.