I Never Planned on You

by Stefanie Jenkins

  Emmett smirked, grabbing the blanket off the umbrella stand, and escorted me out the front door to the porch swing. Emmett took a seat, then pulled me into his arms. It was easily my favorite spot in the entire world. There was no other place I would rather be than with him. He covered us with the blanket as I leaned my back to his front, even though once the sun rose, it would be too hot for anything covering us.

  “What are we doing out here?”

  Em smiled before leaning closer to me and confessed, “I want to watch the sunrise with you. Today starts another chapter in our lives. I can’t wait till we are both out of this town starting our future. I’ve got big plans for us, Cupcake. One day…” He paused. “I’m gonna put a ring on this finger.” He laced his fingers with mine, then brushed his lips against where a diamond would be.

  “We’re both going to get to UPenn, graduate, get married, and have two kids and a dog. You can bake all you want at your own little bakery you’re going to have, but I might need to buy stock in a gym to keep off the weight from eating your treats. Although, I love eating your treats.” He gave me a playful wink, making me giggle and slap his chest.

  “I know all that will happen—we just have to get through these next two years and we are on our way.”

  Looking up at him, I was no longer sleepy. I felt all of his love, and I couldn’t help but smile. I turned my body toward his and placed my palm to his cheek. “How did I get so lucky to have you in my life?”

  He leaned his forehead against mine. “I’m the lucky one, Cupcake, and I hope I never have to go a day without you in my life.”

  I responded before placing a kiss on those beautiful lips of his. “Forever and always.”

  Then I had to pull away, knowing that if I didn’t, we would potentially not only miss the sunrise, but get caught by my parents in a position I didn’t want them to catch us in. I spun back around to snuggle up to Emmett, and we watched the beautiful sunrise. I couldn’t wait to spend the rest of my life watching all of the sunrises with this man.

  Lost in memories, I don’t even notice Haylee walking toward my car and opening the door. She makes me jump when she slams the door shut, yelling, “Happy first day of senior year, bestie!”

  She then pulls a single rose out from behind her back and rolls her eyes. “Em told me to give this to you.” She pauses and giggles. “He also told me to give you a big smooch, but, well, that’s not happening.”

  I break out into giggles too before leaning over the center console to smack a big loud kiss on her cheek. We both end up with tears in our eyes from laughing. “Shall we?” Haylee holds up Katy Perry’s latest album, Teenage Dream. We’ve seriously been obsessed with every song since its release. I’m pretty sure everyone in both our houses knows all the lyrics.

  I take the CD out of its case, place it in the player, and crank up the volume as we head down the road to school. Another step closer to the rest of my life.

  LATER THAT EVENING I sit at the dinner table with my parents discussing our days as we eat the traditional first-day-of-school meal, crab cakes and corn on the cob.

  “So how was your last first day, Dani?”

  I finish chewing the bite in my mouth and wipe my mouth with my napkin. “It was good. Weird without them there, but Hails and I survived. It’s the final countdown.” I sing the last part to the tune of the classic 80s song.

  “I just can’t believe you girls are seniors already. When did my babies grow up?” Oh Lord, here we go—my mom is getting choked up again. “I mean, you guys were just out back learning to swim, and now you’ll be going off to Pennsylvania and Haylee all the way to California.”

  “Mom, we’ll be fine. Were you this emotional last year with Zach?”

  “No, but you’re my…”

  My phone begins to vibrate and I reach for it, seeing Em’s name appear on the screen. I go to get up from the table.

  “Umm, excuse me, young lady, where do you think you’re going? You need to finish eating first.” My dad’s voice is stern.

  “But…”

  “No buts—you can call Emmett back.”

  “How did you know it was him?”

  He tilts his head and laughs. “Really, Danielle Jacobs? You think I don’t know that Emmett calls you every night for you to talk about your day even on days that you spent with each other.”

  “Oh, Adam, relax. Don’t you remember what it was like back then, to be young and in love? That boy is her whole world.”

  Dad sighs, knowing she is right. I have heard plenty of stories of both my parents and Haylee’s from their younger days.

  My mom turns to me. “Just finish up your dinner and then you can go.”

  I quickly finish off the last few bites of crab cake on my plate, shoving them all into my mouth at the same time. With a mouth full of food, I push my chair back. “Thanks for dinner, guys. It was delicious.”

  My dad laughs at my lack of manners, and my mom just shakes her head. “You are more like your brother each day. Lord help us!”

  I let out a loud laugh and hit Send on my phone as I walk out of the dining room toward the stairs. I drown out the rest of the conversation once I hear his voice. My day just got that much better.

  “Hey, Cupcake, how was your day?”

  T he only sound I can hear is the sound of our heavy breathing from our post-frat-party lovemaking session. I slowly climb off Emmett and lie next to him, naked and wrapped in his arms, only covered by the sheet. Em brushes the hair off my face. I can only imagine how attractive I look all sweaty and with my hair a mess right now, but, oh my God it was worth it.

  “You are amazing, Cupcake. If I could just live inside you, I would move there tomorrow.” He kisses my temple before pulling me closer to him. Our bodies are sweaty, but I don’t care. We can shower later since we have the apartment to ourselves. We left Zach at the party flirting all over some random girl. I swear, every time I come here to visit, there’s a new girl. Maybe one day, he will meet the right one who gets him to settle down and change his manwhoreish ways. I’m sure hell would freeze over before that actually happens.

  I go to ask Em if he wants to shower now or later when we hear a loud noise on the other side of the door followed by a giggle. My brother has returned home, and he is not alone. We hear a few loud bangs—mostly Zach walking into furniture, followed by some curse words, and giggles by his female counterpart. We are both trying to hold back our laughter at their sad attempt at making it to Zach’s bedroom. We then hear his door slam followed quickly by “Oh God! Yes! Fuck yes!” I try to cover my ears.

  Oh my God, gross! I am so not going to listen to my brother bang some random chick he will probably have me or Emmett kick out in the morning. Her moaning gets louder and louder, and Emmett can’t hold back his laughter. I slap his arm. “This isn’t funny, babe. This is gross. I’m going to have to go through so much therapy for this.”

  Em removes my hands from my ears. “Oh babe, please, this is nothing compared to the time Zach walked in on us, with you mid O-face. Plus, how many times has he had to hear us?” He continues laughing. I shake my head at the memory. Clearly this is payback.

  “Oh my God, yes! Oh Ethan, right there!”

  I instantly sit up and look at Emmett, both of us confused. “Did she just call him Ethan?”

  He nods his head yes because he is now laughing with tears in his eyes. Wow! Where does my brother find these girls? At least make sure she knows your name. Well, I can’t even guarantee my brother knows her name, so there’s that.

  I fall back on the mattress and sigh. “Ugh, I can’t unhear this shit.”

  I feel the bed shift as Emmett rolls over toward me. “Oh no? I can think of a way to drown them out.”

  Leaning on his bent elbow, he slowly comes down and sucks on the sensitive spot right behind my ear that makes me instantly ready and panting for him.

  I squirm as he continues sucking and licking. “Mmmmm, I’m in, well…”

  He shifts
his weight so he is on top of me and settles himself between my thighs.. “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

  He begins to tease me, grinding his hard cock against me. Emmett kisses me with such passion and fury, as if I am the air he breathes. His lips move down from my mouth, to my neck, to my chest where he licks, bites, and feasts on my nipples, causing moans to spill from my throat. His hands travel down to my sex where he begins to rub and apply pressure to my clit. He can feel how wet he makes me. This man is insatiable. I will never be able to get enough of him. I grab his shoulders as if needing him to steady me as an orgasm begins to build and rip through me.

  The moans from the next room have quickly died down—whether Zach passed out or maybe had a case of whiskey dick and couldn’t deliver, whatever it is, I don’t care. Emmett and I are in our own world, and he makes sure I forget those noises—twice in fact. Now extra sweaty, a shower would be the smart thing to do, but there’s no way I’m getting out of these arms. Falling asleep in my man’s arms is exactly how I want to end every day.

  The next morning Emmett and I are sitting at the counter eating breakfast when my brother’s door quietly opens. His figure appears, and by the way he closes the door, I can tell he hopes to not wake his overnight guest. Here we go again. Emmett and I both give knowing looks to each other. Zach has not noticed us as he creeps toward the front door.

  “Good morning, dear brother,” I say rather loudly as I bring a forkful of scrambled eggs to my mouth.

  Zach jumps, clutching his chest. “Jesus Christ! What the fuck, guys! I thought you were still in bed.”

  “Oh no, your welcome home last night was plenty to make sure we didn’t sleep well.” He doesn’t have to know that we weren’t bothered by the sounds that were or were not coming from his room while we were busy making our own, but I am having way too much fun messing with him.

  Zach shrugs nonchalantly. “What can I say, the ladies love me.” He brushes past us and grabs a water bottle from the fridge, his back toward us.

  Emmett chimes in. “Whatever you say…Ethan.”

  We both break into a fit of giggles as my brother turns around. I wonder if he has any recollection of his guest calling him the wrong name. “What was that, man?”

  “Oh nothing. Where you headed this early?” Emmett finishes off the food on his plate and begins to pick at what’s left on mine. I swat at him with my fork.

  “The gym.”

  I roll my eyes, knowing exactly where this is going. “The gym, huh? That couldn’t wait until after your little friend woke up?”

  Walking over to me, Zach places a quick kiss to the top of my head. “Nah, little sis. The early bird catches the worm.”

  “As long as that’s the only thing you catch.”

  Emmett spits his coffee back into his mug at my comment and lets out a roaring laugh.

  Zach places his hand over his heart as if my words had hurt him. “Shhh! You’re gonna wake up…wake up…” He bites his lip as if he is trying to recall her name. The longer he takes, I realize he actually doesn’t know her name.

  “Oh my God, Zach! You seriously have no idea what her name is, do you?”

  “I don’t need to know it. Not like I’m gonna call her and see her again.”

  I shake my head at him. Gathering up our dishes, I walk them over and place them in the sink. I walk toward my brother and slap his shoulder. “One day, Zach, we won’t be here to help you out of this situation. Now go so we can get rid of your skank.”

  I stalk to the bathroom to take a shower as I hear my brother grab his gym bag from the door and shout, “You’re the best! See ya,” before shutting the door.

  An hour later, Emmett and I have both showered and are enjoying a movie on the couch. Shocker, my brother is nowhere to be found. I wonder how long he is going to avoid the apartment this morning. We finally hear movement from Zach’s room, and my hand on Em’s thigh tightens to pull his attention to the door without making it too obvious.

  Appearing in the doorway is a skinny redhead with big boobs and legs for days. Ahh, so that’s Miss Fake Moans from last night. She is wearing one of my brother’s favorite Hopkins lacrosse T-shirts and a pair of his shorts, which makes me laugh a little. Well, payback is a bitch, big bro—maybe if he had been here, then he would have been able to save his clothes.

  “Hi.” Miss Fake Moans looks confused while searching around the apartment, no doubt looking for my brother.

  “Hey.” I reply.

  “Is Zach around?” Oh, so she does know his name. I bite my lip in an attempt to hold back my laughter and feel Em’s elbow in my side trying to get me to knock it off. When I don’t answer, he does.

  “Umm, no, he’s out.”

  Her face falls. “Oh, okay. I guess I should probably go, then.” Em nods and reverts his gaze back to the TV. She, who shall remain nameless since we have no clue what her name is, stands there for a few moments as if she’s expecting us to ask her to stay, but nope, not happening, sweetheart.

  Finally, she turns around and heads back into his room and moments later returns with her clothes, I assume, and purse in hand—still wearing Zach’s clothes. She heads toward the front door and pauses.

  Very quietly, only loud enough for me to hear, Em whispers, “Oh shit.” I swat at his chest.

  “Hey, can you tell him to call me?”

  I don’t even turn around and throw my hand up. “Yep, you got it.”

  “Don’t you need my name?”

  Fuck. This girl actually has a brain, sort of. I get up and look to find a piece of paper on the coffee table and walk toward her.

  “Sorry, I don’t have a pen.”

  “That’s okay, I have one.”

  Of course she does—she pulls a pen out of her purse. Oh my, my brother really knows how to pick them. She writes something on the paper and hands it back to me. I look down and see the note she wrote as she exits the apartment.

  I had a great time last night. Call me! Xo Whitney 215-218-8359

  As soon as I heard the door click I crumple up the piece of paper and throw it. Yeah, sorry, Whitney, there’s no way in hell my brother is calling you.

  Em’s phone vibrates and I see my Zach’s name appear, as if he had some sixth sense that she had finally left. I quickly reach for it before Em can and answer it.

  “Hello, my darling brother. For the record, Whitney is gone and she left a lovely note for you.”

  “Great. I’ll be home shortly. Just leaving the gym.”

  “Take your time. Oh, by the way, she took your favorite lax T-shirt and gym shorts.” I hear my brother curse but interrupt him by ending the call. I toss the phone on the table, satisfied with myself.

  “You’re evil, you know that, right?”

  I snuggle farther into Emmett and look up at him. “Would you have me any other way though?”

  He smiles and leans down, bringing his lips to mine. Just before they touch, he whispers, “I love you just the way you are.”

  We lose ourselves in each other on the couch, not even caring that my brother will arrive home soon. That’s what he gets for making us do his dirty work for what seems to be the millionth time.

  I had left that note on the kitchen counter for my parents earlier today after getting my early acceptance letter in the mail from University of Pennsylvania. My phone rings shortly after I am on the road and I answer. My mother’s voice chimes throughout my speakers.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hi, sweetheart. I just got home and got your note! Your dad and I are so proud of you!”

  “Thanks! I am so excited. I just couldn’t wait to tell Em.”

  “I know, just do me a favor and be careful. The roads are slick out there, okay? I heard there was going to be some ice tonight in Philly.”

  “Yes, Mom, I’ll be careful.”

  “I know you will, Dani. Doesn’t mean as your mom I don’t worry.”

  “Well, I see some traffic ahead, so I’m going to be a safe driver an
d get off the phone now.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You get your smart ass from your father.”

  I let out a loud laugh. “You know it.”

  “I love you, Dani. See you Sunday. Tell the boys I say hi.”

  “Love you too. Will do!”

  “Bye.”

  Happy songs play loud out of the speakers on the drive. I’m flying high knowing that I’m one step closer to being back with Em and my brother. Just like he had said, I did miss him—of course I do. Yes, I see him often, but it’s different when it’s just visiting and not him actually living down the hall from me.

  I hadn’t planned on being in Philly this weekend since Emmett would be studying for finals, but I couldn’t wait to tell him the good news. The drive flies by even though I hit some Friday traffic on the way, and the next thing I know I’m pulling into the parking garage at the apartment complex. I don’t see either Jeep in their spots, so I park in the guest parking space, where I typically park, and pull my phone out to call Emmett, but he doesn’t answer. That’s strange, but I’ll just head up to the apartment and wait for him.

  I grab my purse and the letter before exiting the car. I don’t usually bring an overnight bag with me anymore since I have quite a few things here already. Using my key to open the apartment door, I can’t help but imagine what our life will be like in the fall when I officially live here. A time when we will no longer need to say goodbye on Sundays, no more determining whose weekend it is to travel, no more nightly good-night calls, or going days without feeling the warmth of his embrace.

  My phone buzzes as I set my purse and keys down on the desk in Em’s room.

  EMMETT: Sorry I missed your call, babe. At the library for study group. Can’t wait for these fucking exams to be over.

  EMMETT: My brain is ready to explode.

  ME: It’s okay, I have a surprise for you!

  EMMETT: Oh yeah???

  ME: Yep!

  EMMETT: What is it? Is it a naked surprise?

  ME: Nope, but it could be when you get home…

  EMMETT: Wait, where are you?