Emma's Story

by Mitchel Grace

  “Let me pick them up,” she said.

  “Are you sure? I don’t want them to murder you,” he joked.

  “I’ll be fine. We’re just going to have a friendly chat. By the time I’m done, you won’t have anything to worry about.”

  “If you say so. Thanks. I really want this week to be good.”

  “It will be. Your mom just needed time to adjust. She’s had it now. I’ll be back in a few,” Emma said and kissed him goodbye.

  As she drove to the airport, Emma started to lose her nerve, though. What if this was awkward? Even worse, what if they told her off? Paul was going to be there and everything. She couldn’t talk to them in front of him, could she? Ultimately, Emma picked them up and drove them silently back to their house. Chloe put one hand on Emma’s when the guys got out to signal for her to stay.

  “Now that they’re gone, I want to talk to you,” Chloe said.

  “It’s about our engagement, isn’t it? I want you to know that . . .”

  “Emma, just let me do the talking. It’s hard for me to let go of my little boy. It was hell just letting him come here because in my heart, I knew he would never be coming back home permanently. He’s loved you almost his whole life. You marrying him isn’t a mistake. You’re both young, and that makes this even harder for me, but it’s my issue. You’ll understand when you’re a mother. What I’m trying to say is I approve of you marrying my son. I still remember when you were fourteen, and you were so upset about having to go home. You and Jasper had just started dating, and it was new, but I could already tell it was going to be serious some day. I told you back then not to worry about it because if it was meant to be, it would happen. It has, just like I knew it would. I’m glad. It’s just going to take some getting used to, but I want to welcome you to our family. I’ve always thought of you as family, and now it’ll be official,” Chloe said and hugged her.

  “I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much. You reacted a lot better than my parents.”

  “I had three days to gather my thoughts. Believe me. If you had been talking to me three days ago, I would’ve completely overreacted. I trust you, though. If you guys are rushing this, I know you’ll realize that before it’s too late, and if you’re not, then you’re taking a step in your life that you were always going to take with him eventually. I would’ve loved to have seen Nathan’s reaction, though. That had to be priceless,” Chloe joked.

  “Jasper had to convince him, so I don’t think he thought it was too priceless,” Emma said and smiled.

  “It wasn’t too bad, was it?”

  “No. It just took a few minutes for him to accept the idea. I still think a little part of him is battling with this, but he’s my dad. He wants me to be happy, so he’ll accept it.”

  “Good. Do me a favor. When we go in, let me have a little fun with Jasper. He already thinks I’m angry, so play it up some.”

  “All right, but don’t go too hard on him.”

  When they walked inside, Emma looked very distraught. Jasper didn’t understand. His dad seemed fine with him getting married. Why wasn’t his mom? As Chloe motioned for him to talk to her in the kitchen, he gulped. Jasper was fearless in almost any situation, but for some reason, his mother’s stare was still the most frightening thing in the world.

  “What do you have to say for yourself?” Chloe barked at him.

  “I . . . I love you, and I’m sorry?” Jasper asked curiously.

  “You’re sorry! Really? You’re sorry.”

  “Look, Mom . . .”

  “No, you’re going to be quiet now because I have to tell you how great this is.”

  “But, Mom, I . . . wait a minute. What did you say?”

  “It’s great that you have someone who loves you, and even if you’re too young, I support you. Besides, I was always hoping you would end up with Emma anyway.”

  “Why did you make me think you were about to kill me then?”

  “I had to see how grown up you were. I’ve got to tell you. If you still cower at my mom voice, then I don’t know if you’re ready,” Chloe said with a grin.

  “You were just having a little fun at my expense, huh?”

  “Pretty much. It’s good to see you. I’ve missed you,” Chloe said and hugged him.

  “It’s good to see you, too, Mom. I’m glad you’re finally seeing where I live.”

  “I haven’t yet. Give me the tour.”

  Jasper showed her around the house, and when they were done, they all met back in the living room.

  “I hate to run, but we’re supposed to see Nathan and Sam this afternoon. Plus, Paul keeps talking about some girl you’re going to introduce him to,” Jason said.

  “Wait. What girl?” Jasper asked.

  “You mentioned someone named Sarah before,” Paul said.

  “You must mean Sadie, and I didn’t say I would introduce you to her.”

  “You said you had a friend who was female and single. What more did you have to say?”

  “All right, we’ll leave you guys to it. Don’t marry him off, too,” Chloe joked as they walked out.

  “So this is your place? It’s nice. You got anything to drink?” Paul asked as he walked into the kitchen and started rummaging through their fridge.

  “Uh, yeah. Help yourself,” Jasper said awkwardly.

  “You said you wanted us to introduce you to Sadie. Why? What happened with Lily?” Emma asked.

  “We dated for a while, and it was pretty great. Then it got boring. I don’t do boring.”

  “You know all relationships get a little boring at some point, right?”

  “Come on, you two. Don’t bust my chops about this. I’m looking forward to three things this week. First, I want to have a summer fling. Second, I have to spend time with my brother and his new fiancée. Last, it’ll be really nice to reconnect with Evan. Why don’t we do all that tonight? We should go out and invite Evan and Maddie.”

  “For the last time, it’s Sadie,” Jasper said.

  “Yeah, whatever. What do you say? Are you guys up for showing me around town? It’s better than staying here all night.”

  “Wait. Aren’t you staying with Emma’s parents?”

  “No. You guys have a house of your own. Why would I do that? I figured Evan and I could hang out here and get away from the old people. It should be fun.”

  “Well, thanks for inviting yourself,” Jasper said sarcastically.

  “No, he’s right. It’ll be fun. We can babysit for a week,” Emma teased.

  “You know I’m older than you, right?” Paul asked.

  “Yeah, but I don’t know how,” she joked.

  “All right, so are we doing this or what?”

  “I’ll call Evan, and Jasper can get in touch with Sadie, but Paul, be on your best behavior. Sadie’s my friend, and she’s Jasper’s, too. You really don’t want to mess this one up.”

  “Message received. It’ll be fine. It’s not like this is anything more than us all hanging out anyway. What could possibly go wrong?”

  That last statement made Emma nervous. Asking what could possibly go wrong seemed like a recipe for disaster. Even so, a night out amongst friends couldn’t hurt. She called Evan and had him come over. Then they planned a day out on the beach. After Sadie got there, they left. Throughout the drive, Paul talked it up with Sadie. She seemed to like him well enough. Jasper figured they would be good friends in no time. While they talked and Emma made engagement plans with Jasper, Evan just sat in the back blankly. No one seemed to notice that he wasn’t doing very well. At that point, he felt invisible.

  When they got to the beach, Paul continued to talk to his new friend, and Jasper and Emma hit the water. After a while, so did Paul. Sadie hung back for a second, though. She had noticed that Evan hadn’t said a word since they got there.

  “Are you okay?” she asked as she sat down beside him.

  “Yeah. I’m just thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “I don
’t really want to talk about it.”

  “Look, I know we’re not good friends, but I’m best friends with your sister and her fiancée. That means I need to be better friends with you, too. You can trust me.”

  “You wouldn’t understand. How could you? Emma and Jasper have each other, and then there’s you. Paul’s falling all over you. A pretty girl like you has probably never been in my situation.”

  “I still don’t know what your situation is, and for your information, Paul is just Jasper’s brother to me. Sure, I want us to be friends, but I’ve got no plans of things going further than that. I don’t think he even likes me anyway.”

  “Trust me. I’ve known him his whole life. He does.”

  “Okay, but why does that matter? I’m asking about what’s going on with you.”

  “My first serious girlfriend just broke up with me. Her name was Candice.”

  “There’s no hope of you getting back together?”

  “I don’t think so. Things started to get really serious fast, and I freaked out. I mean, I’m only eighteen. I want love, but I wasn’t willing to move as fast as she wanted. Candice was already talking about marriage and babies. I know that’s Jasper and Emma’s thing, but I couldn’t deal with it. I wasn’t good at hiding it either. Candice was just about perfect, but for some reason, she wanted to move a lot faster than I could.”

  “How close were you two?”

  “As close as two eighteen year olds who have been in a relationship for half a year can be. That might not mean much to some people, but it did to me. I want what Emma and Jasper have, but I want it to come a little slower. I don’t exactly have everything in my own life figured out, so I need time to do me before I can be extremely serious with someone else.”

  “Believe it or not, I know what you mean. Jasper and Emma keep pushing guys on me. There’s nothing wrong with Paul. As a matter of fact, I like him, but he comes on a little strong. I want someone I can grow with, too. I might not look it, but I’m actually pretty messed up. I’ve got to get that under control before I can be what anyone really wants.”

  “All right, it’s your turn. I can’t commit. How are you messed up?”

  “It’s a bit more complicated in my case.”

  “Come on. I trusted you.”

  “It’s private, Evan. Maybe when we know each other better I’ll tell you.”

  “Fair enough. You seem normal to me, though. I’m pretty sure you’re what most guys want.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. If I wasn’t getting over someone, I might be the one who wouldn’t stop talking to you.”

  “Hey, Sadie. Are you coming?” Paul yelled out from the water.

  “Yeah, we’ll be there in a minute,” she said and turned back toward Evan.

  “Thanks. Maybe I will share part of what’s wrong with me. I’m afraid to get close to anyone, and I don’t mean like you are. I can’t be intimate with a guy, and I’m not just talking about sex. I don’t share anything with men. The closest I’ve come to sharing is with Jasper, and that’s just because he’s only a friend. I can kiss and be a good date, but anything under the surface stays there.”

  “Do you think you’ll ever be able to share yourself with someone?”

  “Eventually, or at least I hope so.”

  “Then any guy in his right mind would be satisfied with good dates and kisses until he got to know the real you. Don’t sell yourself short. Intimacy can be overrated.”

  “That’s the first time I’ve heard that from a guy.”

  “Well, this is coming from a guy who has made the mistake of being intimate with someone before he could fully commit. It hurts afterward. You should be sure you can trust someone and your own feelings before you give any part of yourself away. At least that’s my take. Anyway, we better get out there. Paul’s going to think I’m trying to steal his date, and if I keep looking sad, I’m going to have to tell my sister what’s up. That’s the last thing I want to do,” Evan said and stood.

  As he helped Sadie up and they walked toward the water, a thought popped into her head. Maybe he should be trying to steal her. It seemed like her and Evan would get along well. He wouldn’t pressure her to do anything she didn’t want to. That was what she needed.

  While they had been talking on the beach, Jasper talked to his brother in the shallow water.

  “Hey, I need to ask you something. Did you really break up with Lily?” Jasper asked.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Because she told me the opposite, and when you first told me you guys broke up a few weeks ago, you didn’t sound happy. What really happened?”

  “She’s a jealous one. We got really close. Surprisingly, I felt serious about her. She looked through my phone, though, and found some conversations I had with another girl. It’s probably best that I’m not with someone who snoops.”

  “That’s what you take away from this? Why were you cheating on someone you liked?”

  “I wasn’t cheating. That’s what it looked like, but it was harmless flirting. I thought guys talked to other girls and occasionally dated around for the first few months. I mean, it wasn’t like we were engaged.”

  “They do, if they don’t care about the girl. It sounds like you did, though. How would you have felt if you found out she was talking to another guy?”

  “Good point, but she shouldn’t have been going through my phone either.”

  “Agreed, but Lily always was perceptive. She could probably tell that something was going on. How much does she hate you?”

  “She doesn’t hate me. We’re still friends, but she closed the door pretty hard on us ever being more than that.”

  “Did you really not cheat on her?”

  “No.”

  “I’m serious here. Did you even kiss another girl while you were dating?”

  “I swear I didn’t. It was just harmless flirting.”

  “Well, it obviously wasn’t harmless. It cost you a relationship. If I were to call her and get her to change her mind about you, would you just do this again?”

  “No. I’m kind of with Sadie right now, though.”

  “It looks like Evan’s taken your place already. I wouldn’t count on that happening.”

  “Hey, Sadie. Are you coming?” Paul yelled out.

  “Paul, focus here. If you liked her, I’m her best friend. I can probably get Lily to give you a second chance if she knows nothing happened. I don’t want to do that if you’re going to mess things up again, though.”

  “You would do that for me?”

  “I’ve been sticking my neck out for you since we were born. I’m not stopping now. Can you do better?”

  “I promise to.”

  “Good. Start now. Sadie is officially off limits for the rest of this trip.”

  “Wait a minute. We could start . . .”

  “Paul . . .”

  “All right, I’m just joking. I’ll be good. Thanks for this.”

  “No problem. It looks like they’re finally done talking. Let’s all have some fun,” Jasper said and swam out to Emma.

  They had fun until long after it got dark. After that, they went back to the house and ate some snacks. Then Emma suggested that everyone stay over. That included Sadie.

  “Are you sure? I don’t live that far away. I can just come back tomorrow and hang out,” Sadie said.

  “No, it’ll be fun. We’ll make breakfast in the morning, and we can all just hang out. What do you say?” Emma asked.

  “All right, but is there room?”

  “We’ve got two spare bedrooms. Jasper and I will take mine, you can have his, and the guys can crash in the guest bedroom.”

  “All right, that sounds good.”

  They watched movies until it got late. Then they all went off to bed. As Sadie lay there, a lot of thoughts were going through her mind. Her best friends were getting married, and what was she doing? She was hopelessly trapped in fear of getting close to a man. The same thing that happ
ened to her had happened to Emma. Why was she the only one too scared to be in a real relationship? Sadie felt hopeless. As she lay there, a noise roused her from her thoughts. It sounded like someone was in the kitchen. She could use some company to clear her head, so she got up and joined Evan in the kitchen. He was sitting at the table with a glass of water.

  “Hey, what are you doing up?” Evan asked.

  “My mind won’t shut off. What about you?”

  “The same, but the main problem is Paul snoring. I really didn’t want to be bunking with another guy tonight.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s not a problem. Who needs sleep anyway when you have good company?”

  “True. I want to ask you something, Evan.”

  “What is it?”

  “Well, I . . . I don’t know how to . . .”

  “Just spit it out.”

  Without warning, Sadie leaned over and kissed him softly. As she pulled back, Evan smiled.

  “Okay. What was that about?” Evan asked.

  “Not exactly the reaction you’re looking for when you kiss a guy,” she said sarcastically.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. It was an amazing kiss, and I think you’re really pretty, but what did that mean?”

  “I don’t know. It was just an experiment.”

  “And what were the findings?”

  “You were there. You tell me.”

  “To me, it means that I might be able to get over Candice a lot quicker than I thought. There was definitely a spark. What do you want to do with it, though?”

  “Nothing right now. I’ve never made the first move. I’ve always been too scared to. I had to show myself I could, and I thought I could trust you.”

  “I’m honored, but is that it?”

  “What more do you want?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe a date and a lot more of those kisses.”

  “I don’t know if that’s fair to you. I’m emotionally broken. What if you get attached, and I can’t give you what you want?”

  “I’m a little broken myself. I can handle whatever your problems are, if you can handle mine. We’ll only take things as far as you want. I promise.”