Page 23 of Legacy
And I swear to God, it feels like a countdown’s begun.
Every second ticking closer to an explosion I know I won’t survive.
And the sick, stupid part?
I want it.
“Scarlet,” I say, leaning forward slightly, needing to clear something up before it festers. “I’m not mad at you... but I’m not a virgin.”
She blinks at me, then laughs—laughs,bright and careless.
“Oh, Angelo,” she grins, catching her breath. “I kind of figured. But thank you for clarifying.”
I smirk. “Areyou?”
Her eyes meet mine, steady now, dark with mischief.
She chuckles, wicked.
“Guess you’re gonna have to find out.”
We spend the day in a blur of nothingness that somehow feels like everything.
She steals one of my shirts after her shower; oversized, falling off one shoulder and I let her. I even pretend not to notice when she loops the sleeves so the cuffs don’t swallow her hands. She makes coffee in my kitchen like she’s done it a hundred times, asks if I have oat milk like this is her place too.
We walk around the block once, just to get air, and she ends up dragging me into a corner shop to buy three different kinds of tea“for later.”
She talks with her hands. Like every word needs a little drama.
And I let her talk.
I let her be.
It’s dangerous, how easy it is to fall into rhythm with her.
By the time the sun dips low and the loft is bathed in that warm, honeyed glow, she’s flopped across my couch with a menu in her hand.
“I’m ordering pizza,” she declares, already typing. “We’re doing cheese and pepperoni. Non-negotiable.”
I smirk. “What happened to letting me pick?”
“You can pick what we watch. Food is sacred.”
I almost push just to see her get feisty, but honestly? That logic checks out.
***
The pizza box is half-empty between us, her feet tucked into my lap, her head leaning back against the cushions. We’re watching Law and Order, an episode I know it by heart.
I know all of them by heart.
“Okay, that woman definitely killed him,” she mutters, pointing at the screen.
“No way,” I say, mouth full of crust. “It’s the tenant.”
“What? The guy with the guinea pig?”
I nod. “You can always tell by the way he didn’t quite answer the first question.”
