“Hey come in. What are you doing here?”
She strode in and scanned the room. Emmi had put a few of her own things out in the apartment like ruffled pillows and potpourri.
“It looks like a girl lives here,” she said, instead of answering my question.
“A girl does live here.”
“Oh, so you’re finally going through with the final operation?” she jested giggling.
Smart ass. I scowled at her as we sat down in the living room.
“My roommate is a girl.”
“Oh, are you sleeping with her?”
“Callie!” I shouted shocked.
“What? It’s an honest question, brother,” she laughed, motioning her eyebrows up and down.
“First of all, I don’t care to discuss my love life with my sister. And second of all, you’re seventeen. You shouldn’t be thinking about things like that.”
“Riiight, like you never thought about sex when you were seventeen? I know you weren’t getting any. You were a giant dork, but I’ll bet you thought about it plenty.”
I fiercely shook my head at her. I couldn’t believe we were having this conversation. I had to change the subject.
“What brings you by, Call?”
She grinned. The little shit knew I was purposefully changing the subject.
“So you don’t want to talk about it, fine. I have a date on Friday,” she said.
“Well that’s good, right?”
Callie was a beautiful girl, but unfortunately she suffered from the same old crap syndrome that I did in high school. She had no self-esteem, at all. Dad did a fantastic job of chipping away at both of us until it was completely gone.
She shrugged. “I guess. I hate to ask but…”
“You need money?”
“No, well, maybe for something to wear. I don’t want him to pick me up at our house. I told him I would just meet him somewhere, but he’s one of those guys who still has manners, wants to pick the girl up, pay for the date, and take her home. Go figure.”
“You don’t want to risk him meeting Dad. I get it. You want to have him pick you up here?”
“Yeah, if that’s okay. Your girlfriend won’t mind, will she?” she giggled.
“Who said she’s my girlfriend? No, she won’t mind. How much money do you need?”
She shrugged. “Thirty bucks?”
“You’re going to buy a whole outfit for thirty bucks? I don’t think so,” I told her.
I opened my wallet and handed her six twenties.
“This is too much.”
“Callie you live with that horrible man. You put up with so much shit from him and he does nothing for you. You deserve this. Just take it.”
She tenderly pulled the money from my hand.
“He says that he’s going into a program you know.”
“Yeah, he came by today. It was touching, as usual.”
“Did you get in a fight again?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.
“No. I was trying to be nice. He’s the one who always wants to pick a fight. He said something about wanting his kids to be proud. I told him he had to earn it. That was about it.”
She stood up.
“You are right bro. I guess I should get home and fix dinner. Thanks Braxton. I hope I get to meet your girlfriend soon,” she chuckled.
“She’ll be coming to your soccer game with me on Friday,” I said, without thinking.
“So she is your girlfriend?” she taunted with a grin.
I shrugged. “I was perfect in every other way. All I was lacking was a good woman.”
She laughed all the way out the door. I could still hear her laughing when I closed it. That was the great thing about family. They were always there to knock you down a few pegs when you got too far up on your high horse.
CHAPTER SIX
EMMI
When I got home from school the day after we had lunch, Braxton had dinner made for me. He made chicken… at least I think that’s what it was, and some kind of noodles… or rice? It was the worst meal I’d ever eaten, but at the same time, the best. Sometimes you spend all day thinking about someone and you wonder if they think about you throughout their day too. It’s things like this that make you realize they do.
After we cleaned up the kitchen, we snuggled on the couch and watched a movie. It was a real boyfriend and girlfriend kind of night. I never imagined something like this would happen after my last boyfriend cheated on me. I fell asleep on his chest and woke up in the same position in the morning. He hadn’t moved all night. If he kept it up, I might just fall in love with him. I treated him to another course of shower sex before we went to class. It was the whipped cream on the pie.
On my way to my Photography class Zoe ran up to me and wrapped her arms tightly around me.
“So what are you doing tonight?” she asked.
“I don’t know. But guess what I did last night?”
“What?”
“Braxton cooked dinner for me and then we watched a movie and fell asleep together on the couch.”
“Sounds cozy.” I wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or not.
“He’s really trying Zoe,” I told her.
“That’s good. I hope he keeps it up, Emmi. I really do. You know I want you to be happy.”
I smiled at her. “I know. I am, Zoe. He makes me really happy.”
“Good. I have to get to class. I’ll call you later.”
She seemed to be trying to avoid a fight over Braxton again. Thank god.
Photography class was a lot of fun. We got to learn how to develop film. It was old school in a dark room. I doubted that it was a skill I would ever use in the age of digital cameras and computers. I had two other classes after that and then I went home for lunch. I ate, did some homework, and then dozed off reading my sociology book. It’s better than melatonin. I slept a few hours and when I woke up the sun was setting. I marched into the living room and I could tell that Braxton had been home by the way his school stuff was spread across the coffee table. It didn’t seem like he was there now. I found a note in the kitchen.
“You looked so peaceful and beautiful I didn’t want to wake you up. I have a sparring session scheduled tonight. I’ll probably be back late. I’ll make it worth your while if you wait up though.”
He signed it with a smiley face with devil horns. I laughed. I searched for something to make myself for dinner when I heard my phone ring. I hurried all the way down the hall to my room hoping that it was Braxton. It wasn’t, it was Zoe.
“Hi Zoe.”
I took the phone back to the kitchen, my stomach rumbling.
“Hey girl, what are you doing tonight?”
So far the peanut butter was a contender.
“I think I’m making a peanut butter sandwich, taking a shower, and reading or watching television until Braxton gets home. Why? What are you doing?”
“A few of us are going over to Lou’s Tavern for a beer. Come out with us.”
I slathered peanut butter on my bread and wished I had a beer.
“Nah, I think I’ll pass, but thanks.”
“Aw, why? You’d rather watch old re-runs than spend time with your BFF?”
“Of course not, it’s just…”
“I never see you anymore. You’re always with Braxton. You said he’s out tonight right? Come out with me and you can be home before he even gets there.”
I bit into my sandwich. I could see why choosy mothers chose Jif because it was way better than all the other brands.
“What time are you going?” I asked, forcing the sticky butter down my throat.
“In an hour.”
“Okay, I’ll try to be ready.”
“Good!” she shrieked enthused. I didn’t want my friendship with her to suffer because I was spending too much time with Braxton. I’d seen others do it and then they were lost after breaking up. “I’ll see you then,” she added.
After I finished my yummy peanut butter dinne
r and washed it down with a glass of milk, I got ready to go. I didn’t fuss too much- it was weird having a boyfriend and going out without him. I didn’t want to look like crap. Most of what I did was worry about what other women were going to think. I didn’t want to go in a skirt that showed too much or a top that was too low. It seemed like advertising sold goods and I didn’t want to get guys’ attention. I wore my nice jeans and a new blouse that I had bought a few weeks before. Before Zoe got there, I wrote a note for Braxton.
“Went to Lou’s Tavern with the girls. Home soon to take you up on your offer.”
I set it in the same spot I had found his earlier.
The bar was crowded for a Wednesday night. They only had a tiny dance floor so everyone mushed together. The chairs along the bar were full and so were most of the tables. Zoe and her two sorority friends and I squeezed into a high top table in the back. We purchased our beers and then plopped down.
“So, I haven’t heard you mention Mike lately.”
Zoe stared blankly. “I don’t think it’s going to work out.”
“Why? What happened?”
Zoe’s face erupted into flames. If you knew Zoe you would know that blushing wasn’t her thing. She rarely got embarrassed. She gulped down a drink of her beer and commented on a girl’s shoes as she walked by. After a few minutes I thought she wasn’t going to answer me.
“I think he’s gay,” she revealed.
“Mike?” I asked her, shocked.
“Yeah, I think so,” she said, thoughtfully.
“Why would you think that? Did you see him with another guy?”
“No,” she said, her face blotching red again. “I was at his apartment a week or so ago. He was in the shower and I got snoopy like I do. I opened up the history on his computer. It wasn’t pretty… Well, actually some of those guys were hot but they were gay and doing things to each other that I’ve never even imagined.”
“Oh,” I softly said. I didn’t know what else to say. I thought about how Zoe was the queen of jumping to conclusions. “Maybe he has a logical explanation. Does he have a roommate?”
“Yeah. Brett Lancaster is his roommate.”
“The football stud?”
“Yep...”
“Maybe it’s his stuff?”
Zoe laughed. “Brett slept with more girls last week than Braxton did all last year. What does that tell you?”
“I don’t know why we have to bring Braxton into it,” I hissed, defensively.
“Oh don’t get your panties in a bunch. It was just an example. Anyway, I wasn’t in love with the guy and I’m nobody’s beard so I’ll just cut my losses.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but I heard a chilling voice from the past say, “Hi Emmi.”
Shit! It was Trent. The friend of Zoe’s who had been on my left had gone to dance and never came back. It freed up her seat and Trent had just plopped himself down in it. Zoe leaned over me and shot him a seething glare. She shook her head.
“I’m going to dance. Scream if you need me.” Then she stared Trent in the eye. “Watch yourself.”
When she was gone the slime ball rested his hand on my knee. I pushed it off.
“What are you doing here Trent?”
“Having a beer.”
“You know what I mean. What are you doing here in town?”
“I’m staying with a friend who goes to school here,” he paused, looking like he was gathering his thoughts. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Em. I knew if I hung around the University hangouts long enough I’d run into you. I want you back.”
The hand was on my leg again. Once again, I knocked it off.
“Are you crazy?” I asked him. “I walked in on you screwing Krissy Star. I’m sure as soon as we graduated she went on to her job as a stripper.”
“She didn’t mean anything to me. I was going through a bad time, Emmi. I was trying to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be…”
“You thought you’d find that in Krissy’s vagina did you?” I sneered.
The son of a bitch put his hand back on my leg.
“I was lost and confused. You were always what I wanted. I just wasn’t smart enough to figure that out.”
This time I pinched his hand hard when I removed it from my leg.
“You’re a liar and a cheater, Trent. I don’t believe fucking a word that comes out of your mouth. I really don’t know why you’re here. Why are you even trying? We’ve been over for a long time.”
“I don’t want us to be over any more, Emmi. I want you back. I was looking at the yearbook the other day from our junior year. You remember when we did Hamlet together? It was fun...”
“That was a long time ago.”
He laid his hand on my knee and before I could grab it, he slid it up my thigh. I felt nothing but revulsion for him. He leaned in close, too close.
“Remember the first time we went skinny dipping at the lake?”
Instead of remembering that, I thought about the night Braxton and I went to the lake. It was the first time I had seen him in all of his glory. Even though I was embarrassed as hell, he was definitely magnificent. I didn’t want to remember Trent.
“It was all a long time ago Trent and none of it was real. There’s no point in thinking about any of it now.”
“We could make new memories,” he whispered, his lips way too close to my ear. “You look so hot, Emmi.”
“Stop it, Trent. I have a boyfriend. I’m happy. I don’t even want to talk to you right now, much less do anything else. Now take your hand off my leg before I do something to it that you’ll regret.”
“I was your first, Emmi. Girls always remember their first. No matter what you say, I know you have to remember all those hot summer afternoons in my truck…”
I was boiling inside from anger building up.
“I said knock it off Trent. I don’t want anything to do with you. You’re a fucking cheater. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that you’re cheating on someone just being here right now.”
He didn’t deny it, so it was probably true. Instead he tried to turn the tables on me.
“I could say the same about you. Where’s this boyfriend of yours? All I saw was Zoe. I know how girls are. They say they have a boyfriend to make the guy chase harder. You don’t have to lie to me Emmi. I’m already right here.”
“You’re disgusting. You think I would make up a boyfriend to get you to want me? I don’t want you to want me, Trent. I could care less if you remembered my name or not. Don’t you get it? You mean nothing to me anymore. You broke my heart when I was a kid. I’m not a kid anymore and I have a relationship that you wouldn’t understand.”
He licked his lips. Ew. I really had no idea what I ever saw in him. He went from being a huge, stage craft kind of dork to thinking he’s Brad Pitt. How did that happen? I thought about Braxton and the story he told me about high school. The difference was Braxton really looked hot like Brad Pitt. Trent resembled more of Joe Pesci. I just wanted him to go away. I tried to stand, but he put pressure on my thigh with his palm.
“Don’t go, Emmi. Let’s talk, please. I screwed up when I let you go, badly. Do you want me to apologize, because I have no problem doing that. I’m sorry, Emmi. I’m sorry that I screwed up. She was so not worth losing you over. None of them were.”
Although I wasn’t naïve enough to assume that I had walked in on him the only time he decided to cheat, he had never admitted to having others before. I wished that Zoe would come back.
“I don’t want your fake apologies, Trent. Having sex with someone isn’t an ‘accident’, you didn’t just fall into it. You thought I was working that day and you planned it. If I hadn’t walked in on you, then I may have gone on being a fool for a lot longer than I did.”
“You weren’t a fool Emmi,” he said, massaging my leg now.
I pushed his hand away once more.
“No, I finally realized that I wasn’t. It was you who was making a fool of yourse
lf. But none of it matters now Trent. I’ve moved on and I’m really happy, deliriously so. Please go away and leave me the fuck alone.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
BRAXTON
I showered and went home after my sparring session. We finished early because Sam had somewhere to be. He was acting weird and kind of nervous too so I wondered if he had a date.
I was teasing him about it with, “So who’s the lucky girl?” At first he just gave me a “mind your own business” look, but I was feeling ornery so I didn’t leave it at that. Instead I said, “Or is it a lucky guy?”
“Don’t make me kick your ass a few days before your big fight, boy,” he growled at me.
“Well then, share some details. I thought we were friends.”
“Her name is Violet and she works at the juice bar in the mall, okay?”
I pictured the juice bar. Any time I was ever there I had only seen two different women. One weighed at least three twenty and she sported a mustache that would have made Tom Selleck jealous. The other was a really quiet girl with mousy brown hair and glasses. She rarely spoke and when she did it was in a whisper. I grinned.
“So which one is it?” I almost said the mouse or the behemoth but I was afraid if it was the behemoth he would punch me out. You didn’t say things about a guy’s girl, no matter what she looked like.
“Get the smirk off your face. It ain’t the big girl with the mustache, okay? Now get the hell out of here. Surely a stud like you has somewhere to be.”
The only place I wanted to be was with Emmi, but I was thinking since it was still fairly early I would see if she wanted to have a beer. I rarely ever drank. Too many empty calories and the risk of turning out like my old man kept me from it. Occasionally I got a craving for a beer though and it was one of those nights. I also had the craving for Emmi, but I had been thinking about how easy it would be to take advantage of her living there. I needed to remember to ask her to do things and take her out for dinner or to a movie sometimes. I didn’t want her thinking I was only using her for the sex, although, I did love the sex and she seemed to be enjoying it too.
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