Chapter 224: 9.99

"What??" Scarlett repeated, now sitting up and looking me dead in the eyes.

I gave her a wide grin.

"Are you kidding, right?" she asked again.

"No, she's going, and she said she’s bringing a friend," I replied. "So, 10?" I asked smugly.

"9.99," Scarlett replied playfully.

"Poor Brit, not even worth the extra 0.5 at the party," I said as I sat back down next to Scarlett.

"And what if I told you Britney considers me her BFF (Best Friend Forever)?" I said while putting my arm around her shoulder.

She quickly turned to me. "I’d probably think you’re lying or being a braggart. But if she’s going tomorrow, you couldn’t fake that..."

"And what if I’m telling the truth?"

"Absolute 10 out of 10. I’d be totally shocked tomorrow," Scarlett said, staring straight into my eyes.

"Why wait for tomorrow? Let’s go to my place and meet up with my crew," I said, already calling Britney.

"Hey, Britney, how are you?" I said after Britney answered. "I’m at Scarlett’s place... yeah, the one who did Lost in Translation."

"But the plan is to go to my house and gather the usual gang."

"I’m in!" was heard before I could even invite her.

"Ayo girl, you have too much energy..." and she replied that I was a lazy bum. But soon after, she said goodbye and I told her we’d meet there.

"Were you really talking to Britney?" Scarlett asked, incredulous, even more shocked by how casually we talked.

"I told you, I’m her bestie."

"Okay, mister. But if you’re pulling a prank, no more kisses this month," she said playfully.

And she continued, "What do you even talk about? Hair products? Lip gloss?" Scarlett smirked, "Snake-handling techniques?"

It almost made me choke.

---

Arriving in my room, Britney was already there.

"Hey bestie," she said, hugging me.

"Don’t call me that in front of people outside our circle," I said to her.

Even with the tabloids under control, Britney having a 14-year-old boy as her best friend could still cause confusion (even though we had countermeasures, like me revealing I’m Marshmello and dropping a bomb on whoever tries to stir drama. Still, it’s better to avoid it).

"I know the consequences it could cause, I’m not dumb," she pouted and lightly slapped my forehead. (Seriously, stop copying me.)

"And this is Scarlett," I introduced.

Lettie had wide eyes, but quickly composed herself and said:

"Scarlett Johansson."

"Britney Spears,"

I pulled Scarlett to sit on the couch, while Britney lazily threw herself onto the bean bag.

"Lettie, that other secret I wanted to tell you… it wasn’t about Britney," I said, taking one of her hands.

"Okay, I can take it. You're the best friend of the biggest star of the moment, what other secret do you have?"

"I’m not, he is the biggest star of the moment," Britney corrected, pointing to me, before I could say anything.

"An Oscar nomination wouldn’t be that big of a deal compared to Britney’s fame. Unless you were..." Scarlett's eyes widened.

"Yep, Marshmello," I nodded.

She took a deep breath. "Wow." After a moment, she tried to joke, "Now I get your confidence in making me say 10 out of 10." But it was clear she was still processing everything.

"I’m going to the bathroom, be right back," Britney said, leaving us alone.

"What are you thinking, Scarlett?" I asked.

"The strangest things," she replied. "One of them being remembering when we first met, in Japan. You were already at the top of your career."

I nodded — I had already released my first album, and it was #1 everywhere.

"But what really amazes or impresses me is not just your fame, but how you became so famous. In the past few months you’ve released one hit after another.

And the Super Bowl halftime show???"

"Well, it was almost entirely my idea..." I nodded, "but not everything — the part with the two hoodies was Eminem’s."

Scarlett laughed in disbelief and covered her face with her hands. "And you’re an Oscar nominee..."

"Now I understand why you don’t seem to care that much about the Oscars, and why you say writing scripts is less than a hobby. One day you win an Oscar, the next you win what? 10 Grammys?" she said, still in disbelief.

"10 is too much, and I don’t care about Grammys either," I pointed out, leaving her even more incredulous.

"Do you care about anything?"

"Family, friendship, money, you," I began to list.

"So I’m after money?" she said, amused.

"Yeah, money doesn’t tease me about snake-handling," I retorted and kissed her.

---

Someone coughed next to me, making Scarlett and I pull apart.

"If it isn’t my great friend Carly," I said, going to hug her.

she didn’t say anything else, probably already used to it

I saw the rest of the group had arrived too: Sam, Freddie, Cara, Cher, and Regina. Britney was right next to them. Paige was at Caltech and would only come tomorrow 

"Lettie, I think you know almost everyone here, except for her," I pointed to Cara. "She’s Freddie’s girlfriend."

Cara smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you, Scarlett."

"You too," Scarlett replied with a polite nod.

Seeing that everyone had already greeted each other, I asked, "Is everyone going tomorrow morning?"

They all let out an excited cheer.

"Isn’t the party just tomorrow night?" Scarlett asked, intrigued.

"Oh yeah, there was another thing I wanted to tell you and also invite you to, Lettie. Britney and I are recording a song together tomorrow with Shakira"

"What??"

"See? The 10 was always in the bag!" I joked