We Celebrate the way the night hides scars
Alone time
Charlie and Angelise just left so that leaves me to do whatever I want. What to do, what to do… I sat on my beanbag and thought to myself. I looked at Sebring who was curled up on the couch and staring at me, “I think we should make food and play videogames, does that sound like a good idea?” she gave me a blank stare “No? Okay. Hmmm” Sebring got up from her spot on the couch and jumped up onto my lap. I started petting her when I got an idea, “Should we skype Aliyah? Huh? Do you think she would like that? I think we should!” She barked happily as I got up from the beanbag and walked over to my computer and dialed Aliyah, Sebring started barking at the door so I got up to check when I heard Aliyah, “Hello? Emily? Where are you?”
“Oh! I’m answering the door, I’ll be right there!” I opened the door and peeked out. “Oh, Hi Mrs. Miller.” Mrs. Miller was my neighbor, she was probably in her sixty’s, and her husband had died some years ago so she lived alone. She had just got back from the store and had a bunch of bags in her hands, “would you like some help?” I stepped out of my apartment and closed the door as she turned towards me, “oh, no dear. I’m fine, I wouldn’t want to bother you.” she smiled and turned back to her door and unlocked it.
“Oh, no. Mrs. Miller, it’s my pleasure to help you. It’s not a bother.” I grabbed all of her bags and followed her into her apartment and set them on the counter.
“Thank you, Emily. You have made my day.” She smiled and joined me in the kitchen.
“You’re very welcome, Mrs. Miller. And I’m glad that I could help. Do you need help putting these away?” I smiled at her; she was the sweetest old lady.
“No thank you, I think I can manage.”
“Okay, if you need anything else just let me know okay?” I started walking towards the door when she spoke up, “Emily, who are those young boys who were over at your apartment? If you don’t mind me asking.”
I turned around and smiled, “Oh, they’re just friends.”
“Oh, good. I was thinking you were dating one of them, back when I was your age, boys only had tattoos if they were in the army or just got out of prison. I wouldn’t like seeing you with a boy all covered up in those, I could see you with a very classy man.”
I laughed at her comment, it didn’t upset me. Infact I thought it was quite funny. “Um, it’s funny that you’d say that. I am dating one of them.” Her eyes widened and jaw dropped, “Oh, I’m sorry honey. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Oh, no Mrs. Miller. It’s fine; my grandmother would say the same thing. Really, it doesn’t bother me.”
“Okay, dear. If it did in anyway I’m sorry.”
“It’s perfectly fine. Well I’ve got to go, I have a friend on the phone back in my apartment.”
“Okay, thank you again Emily!”
“You’re welcome Mrs. Miller.” I smiled and walked back to my apartment and sat down next to my laptop.
“Finally you’re back! What took so long?” Aliyah huffed
“Mrs. Miller, our neighbor needed help with groceries.”
“Oh, okay. Well what’s up?”
“Nothing much, just hanging out with Sebring. Charlie and my friend Angelise went to do something.” I sighed
“Oh, well why aren’t you dancing around like a maniac, why aren’t you bitching out some ignorant kid, why aren’t you listening to music? Why aren’t you being the Emily that I became friends with all those years ago!!!” Aliyah gripped the screen trying to be dramatic, causing me to laugh, “Okay, I’ll go put some music on, hold on.” I walked into the kitchen and plugged my ipod into the dock, the sweet sound of ‘have faith in me’ by a day to remember filled the apartment as I went back over to the computer and sat down, “so how’s packing?”
“A pain in the arse! But, like one or two more boxes and I’ll be done.”
“That’s good, and how do you expect to get all of you boxes here? It’s gonna cost a fortune to fly them with you.”
“Dad said he’s going to slowly ship them to us, so we should be getting a couple boxes this weekend and then a couple next week, so on so forth.”
“Oh, well that’s good, how did mom take ‘the big move’?” I scoffed and remembered how well she took it with Aliyah just moving in with dad,
-Flashback-
“Aly! Hurry up! We’ve got to finish packing before mom gets back!” I was packing the left over stuff in the bathroom when she came running in, “mom just pulled in act natural!”
I quickly set the boxes down and played calm just as her mom had come up the stairs, “Oh, hey Em. I didn’t know you were coming over today. Hey Aly, why is you’re room so empty? Are you and Damian switching rooms again?”
Aliyah sighed and looked down, “um, yeah. About that.” I walked over to her and took her hand in mine and squeezed it to reassure her. “Mom, I’m moving in with dad in tooele.” She looked up and I could feel her starting to shake.
“What the hell Aliyah! You told me you hated your dad!” mom immediately started yelling which pissed Aliyah off even more than she planned on, “Well right now I like him better!” That made her mom be quiet. Aliyah looked at me, “Let’s get the rest of the boxes and go.” She walked over to her closet and we grabbed the last two boxes. As we passed her mom she stopped us, “once you leave this house, don’t ever think of coming back.”
“Didn’t want to anyways. fuck you and fuck this house!” Aliyah walked down the stairs as I stood in front of her mom, we both stood in silence as we heard the front door slam. I was going to say something but was cut off, “Emily, just leave.”
“Mom, you know she loves you. Moving in with dad doesn’t change that. She just wants to feel free and you wouldn’t let her do that.”
She scoffed, “She doesn’t need to feel free, she doesn’t need to move out until she’s getting married.”
“She’s 18! She’ll be graduating this year! Yes she needs to feel free! Mom, she’s not like she use to be, she needs space. She’s like me, we hate being cooped up in a house all the time, we hate not being able to see friends, to do stuff. That is why she’s moving.”
“Fine. Yeah, and I guess you’re so smart when it comes to these things? Last I heard you were moving to California after graduation, I pray to god that she doesn’t follow you. Everyone knows that wont last.”
I got so pissed off hearing that, but somehow I kept my voice calm and steady. “Now you’re just trying to get me mad. Well, it’s not working. And the only reason that you say that is because you know that if she moves with me she’ll be having fun, and she’ll be living her life; better yet, she’ll be away from you. You don’t want to admit that it’s true, hell you don’t want to realize it, but I pray to got that one day you will, but that would take a miracle.” I turned on my heels and walked down the stairs and out to my jeep before she could say anything more. I put the box in the backseat with the other and opened my door; Aliyah was sitting silently in the passenger seat. I hopped in, shutting my door and putting my seatbelt on before I started the car.
“What took you so long?” Aliyah broke her silence and I sighed, “mom stopped me to talk for a minute. But I’ll explain it later, in the mean time lets play some jams.” I pushed play on my ipod as we peeled out of the drive way and drove towards tooele.
-End of flashback-
“She doesn’t exactly know.” Aliyah laughed a little as I smirked, “You haven’t told her? She’s gonna have a heart attack when she gets a postcard from ‘sunny San Diego’!” She laughed at my ‘happy go lucky’ voice, “yeah, I was hoping that after I got settled you and I could take a trip back home and tell her together.”
“Aly! She hates me for last time! She hasn’t talked to me since you moved out senior year!” I groaned as Aliyah laughed, “Well fine, we’ll just talk about it when I get there. So who’s this friend that is picking me up from the airport?”
“Vi-” I caught myself about to say Vic’s name and luckily I stopped it in time before she noticed, “A very good friend, that’s all I can tell you. but trust me, you’ll love them.” I smiled evily and she laughed, “I better!”
“You will I promise!”
She smiled, “Oh, hey! Did you know that Jaime got a girlfriend? I haven’t seen a picture of her yet, and I heard she’s really pretty. But I already know that you’re WAY prettier.”
I tried to hide my amusement, I still thought it was funny how ever since the boys and I had stopped talking every time Jaime, or mike got a girlfriend she was always saying how I was so much prettier than them and how if I was to see them at a concert and they recognized me, they would drop their girlfriends on the spot and try to get with me. “Yeah, I did know. And I don’t know, her and I are probably equally as pretty. I mean, there is no way I’m a lot prettier than her, so I predict that we’re equally as pretty.”
“No, you’re definitely much prettier than her. I can feel it in my bones. Ya know, it surprises me that you haven’t run into him or anything yet. I mean, you’ve been there for three years already. I’m sure that you two have been in the same store or café or something at the same time at least a couple of times now.”
I smirked and rolled my eyes, “Aly, they’ve been on tour a lot the last three years. They’ve only been home for a couple weeks at a time. I’m sure that they would use that time to spend with mama and papa Fuentes and Preciado, and in Tony’s case, mama Perry. Have you seen how much they look alike?! I saw a picture of the Tony and his mom recently and I realized that they look SO much alike!”
She scoffed, “yeah! It’s ridiculous! And so? That doesn’t mean they’ve never gone out to eat or gone to the store or anything like that.” The home phone started ringing so I got up to answer it, “Hold on Aly.” I ran over to the phone and answered it just as it went to voice mail, “Hello?”
“Hey, babe. Is everything okay?” Jaime’s voice came through the phone and made me smile. “Yea, Charlie and Angelise went somewhere and I’m here talking to Aliyah on skype.” I walked back over to the computer and sat down, Aliyah was giving me the ‘who is it’ look so I mouthed ‘my boyfriend’ and she nodded.
“Oh, tell her I said hi! And what are you two talking about?”
“We’re just talking about that Jaime guy I was telling you about. The one that I met like 3 years ago and how we had a thing.” I paused and smiled at Aliyah, “By the way, he says hi!”
“Hi Emily’s boyfriend that I have never met and if you hurt her I will murder you!” Aliyah yelled into the phone and I stuck my tongue out at her.
Jaime laughed, “Oh, well then. I hope it’s all good things?”
“It sure is! We we’re saying how when I first moved out here we would always joke around that I would randomly run into him and he would sweep me off my feet, and we would live happily ever after. Yeah, cause that totally worked out.”
“Well, it half way did. And I hope the rest happens too.” I could feel him smiling through the phone, so I of course couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, well I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay babe?”
“Okay, I guess I’ll let you get back to your conversation. I love you.”
“I love you too.” I smiled and hung up.
“AWE!!! I haven’t even met your boyfriend yet and I already know that you guys are such a cute couple!” Aliyah put her hands on her cheeks and sighed.
“Shut up ya dorkfish.” I smiled and started to blush. “So, Aliyah. You’re officially moving to San Diego California!”
***
The amazing sound of disasterology filled the apartment, Aliyah and I had been on skype for a couple of hours now, and we were dancing along to my music. Well I was dancing, she was just kind of moving around in her chair and singing along. As I was dancing my favorite part of the song had come on and I belted out the words, “CAN WE CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL AND DESTROY IT?!” before I could finish the line Aliyah stopped and looked me dead in the eye, “No, Emily. We cannot destroy Mine and Vic’s kids.” I started laughing when Aliyah’s eyes went wide, “E-E-E-Emily….” I stopped dancing and laughed at her face, “What babe?”
She pointed behind me so I slowly turned around. When I turned I burst out laughing from what I saw, Vic and Mike were standing in my front doorway with their jaws almost touching the floor, “oh, hey guys. How much of that did you hear?” I was standing in front of the screen so Aliyah didn’t have a clear view of them. “Emily, Was that Mike and Vic that just walked into your apartment?” I ignored her and kept looking at Vic.
“I didn’t know that I was having children with your friend.” Vic laughed
“Yeah, I think that’s Vic I just heard. I think I’m gon-” we all heard a thud, I turned around and saw that Aliyah had disappeared; “did she die?” mike asked walking over to the screen, “I’m not completely sure… maybe.” I laughed and after a few minutes of us three waiting and staring at the screen Aliyah popped back up and smiled. “Sorry about that, I didn’t pass out for a second or anything, Pshh, what are you talking about.” She started fangirling again so I decided to end the call “Aliyah I’ll call you again later. Love you bye!”
“No! Emily wai-” I shut the computer and started laughing, “Sooooooooooo… why are you back in my apartment?”
“Jaime and Tony went to go and do something and we were bored.” Mike walked over and plopped on my couch, he was soon followed by Vic. “we were gonna go over to our parents house but they’re out to dinner with some friends and its boring without them there.”
“I’m so glad that I could be you’re guys’ second choice” I smirked and laid across their laps, “so was that the friend that was on the phone earlier?” Vic asked smiling
“Yep, it sure is. And about the disasterology thing, don’t get weirded out okay? Its kind of an inside joke between her and I.” Vic laughed at me, “It’s fine. And your friend is pretty cute. I’m glad that you’re having me pick her up, does she know that I’m the one picking her up though?”
I sighed and laughed a little bit, “No, she kept asking me but I said it was a surprise.”
“Ooohhhhh! She is so gonna kill you!” mike cooed
“Yeah, yeah I know. So what do you two want to do?” I nudged Vic’s hand trying to get him to play with my hair, “Emily, what are you doing? Do you think you’re a dog?” he laughed
“I want you to play with my hair.” I whined and kept nudging his hand, “I don’t know how to play with hair though.”
I looked up at him in shock, “how do you not know how to play with hair? It’s easy!”
“Like you?” mike laughed and I kneed him in the gut before looking at Vic again, “All you do is run your fingers through it and pull on it and just stuff like that. And if you turn that into a dirty joke I will smack you.” I pointed at mike and glared at him.
“Okay, that seems easy enough.” Vic started playing with my hair and I closed my eyes to think.
“Oh, I know what we should do! We should watch a movie!” I smiled as I opened my eyes to look at the boys. “What movie are you thinking of?” mike sighed in my direction.
“Hmmm.. That thing you do!” I almost squealed back, I knew that Vic would approve seeing as it’s one of his favorite movies. But mike on the other hand I knew was going to throw a fit.
“NO! There is no way I’m going to watch that chick flick.” Mike folded his arms and pouted.
“Fine.” I stuck my tongue out at him and he returned it, “How about a scary movie?” Vic suggested.
“Why, do you think I’ll really get scared?” I smirked
“Come on, there has to be at least one movie that scares you.” Vic laughed
“Yes, there is but I’m sure as hell not telling you.”
“Why? You can trust us.” Mike poked my leg trying to get me to tell them.
“No, you’re gonna laugh at me.”
“No we wont. I promise.” Vic made an ‘X’ over his heart which made me laugh a little. “Okay, since you promised.” I paused and got ready for the laughs, “the brave little toaster.” And of course, they both busted up laughing, “SEE!! I told you guys you would laugh, you’re assholes.” I got up and walked towards my bedroom.
“Where are you going?” Vic said still laughing a little bit. I turned towards them and stuck my tongue out, “I am going to my room. I don’t wanna hangout with people who make fun of me. And the reason why I’m scared of that movie is because those appliances are mean and they’re terrifying.”
“That is the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard of someone being afraid of.” Mike wiped his face as if he was crying from laughter.
“Just ignore him, come hangout with us and I promise that we wont make fun of you.” Vic patted the empty seat next to him on the couch and smiled, I stood in the doorway to my room for a moment thinking before I retired to the couch. “Good girl.” Mike patted me on the head before getting up to look at the movie shelf by the TV. As he was getting up I took my chance I leaped up and knocked him over so he was laying on his stomach and I sat on him, “never treat me like a dog again. Or else I will start treating you like a dog and make you sit on the floor and do whatever I tell you to.”
“Well that could work out nicely.” He smirked and I smacked his head, “Ow! What was that for?”
“That’s for being a moron, and I decided that you don’t get to choose the movie. Vic does” I started smiling and I think mike could tell. “Wait why does he get to? He’s gonna pick a chick flick. And stop smiling, you’re freakin me out.”
“Good. And I hope he does choose a chick flick.” I got up and sat by Vic again as mike tripped all over himself trying to get up. “So, Vicky. What shall we watch?”
Vic glared at me, “I told you not to call me Vicky again.” I laughed and put my hands up in surrender, “Okay, sorry. Now what shall we watch Vic-Tur.”
“That’s better. And I think we should watch the brave little toaster.”
“HA! Funny! Very funny! Too bad we don’t own it huh?” I laughed sarcastically.
“Damn it! Emily you suck.” He folded his arms and pouted, “Yes, well you blow. And I guess I’ll pick the movie.” I got up and started looking at my movie shelf, after about ten minutes I had five choices picked out. “So, I’m going to be nice and put all of this to a vote.. The choices are Prom Night the remake, House Of Wax the remake, My Bloody Valentine, Last House On The Left, and Dead Silence. Pick the two that you want to watch the least, each of you get to pick one.”
They both sat and stared while thinking; mike chose first, “House Of Wax. I’ve watched it with you already and you didn’t even flinch once, I want to see you at least flinch.” And Vic answered right after, “And I pick last house on the left, I don’t like that one. It’s boring.”
I sighed, “Well okay then. And I choose my bloody Valentine to be disqualified so that leaves, Prom Night and Dead Silence. Now since we have our two movies picked, which one should we watch first?”
“We’ve never seen either so you choose. And I gotta pee so I’ll be right back, the bathrooms through your room right?” Vic asked
“Yeah, and I choose Prom Night.”
“Okay, I’ll be back in a minute.” Vic walked into my room and disappeared. I smiled at my choice before putting it in the player and grabbed the remote and sat down by mike again, “It’s not a chick flick so you can’t exactly get mad.” I poked his face and laughed
He jumped a little before smiling, “I’m not mad, I was just spacing out for a minute.”
“Uh huh, yeah sure. Okay. Whatcha thinking about?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Uh, huh. Sure. Well I’m hungry, are you?”
“Yeah, Vic probably is too. Pizza?”
I thought for a second, “yeah, that sounds good. But you gotta order it, I kinda don’t have a phone.”
He laughed and pulled out his phone, “Okay. Pepperoni sound good?”
“Yes! But get pepperoni and olive from pizza hut.”
“Okay miss bossy pants.” Mike dialed the number and started calling, Vic came back just as I was getting up to go to the kitchen, “Vic, will you help me with the drinks?”
“Yeah, sure.” He followed me into the kitchen and we started grabbing every beverage we could find, alcoholic or not. Vic took those into the living room and I started popping popcorn and gathering snacks.
I grabbed all of the snacks and went back to the living room and set it all on the table, “Okay, I’ve got popcorn, twizlers ropes and bites, sweetish fish, chips ahoy gooey cookies chocolate and caramel, banana chocolate chip bread, double chocolate chunk ice cream along with moose tracks ice cream and half a box of Mint Oreos. Think we have enough? AHA! Spoons!” I ran back into the kitchen and grabbed three spoons, when I came back both of their mouths hung open and they were silent, I laughed and sat down breaking open moose tracks ice cream and pushing play on the movie. I was the only one eating anything, “come on! Eat! It’s suppose to be a movie night, and there is no such thing as a movie night without junk food, I don’t care what you eat just dig in!” just as they started moving someone knocked on the door, we all looked at each other for a minute, “I’ll get it!”
We all jumped up and raced each other to the door, knocking each other over and shoving us into the walls. When we got to the door I tore it open to see the pizza boy, all three of us shoved money at him, took the pizza and slammed the door in his face. We all started walking towards the couch when I stopped, “Wait a sec.”
I walked back to the door and opened it, the pizza boy was still standing there with the money in his hand, and he looked like he was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. I took the money from his hand, “So wait, how much do I owe you?” I gave him the sweetest smile as he snapped out of his little trance, “Uh. 15.34” I counted out 25 dollars and gave it to him, “here, you keep the change for a tip, sorry that we scared the shit out of you.”
“It’s okay, and thanks.” He turned around as it clicked in my head, I know him from somewhere, “Hey kid! Come back here for a minute.” He gave me a weird look before walking over to me again, “Yeah?”
“I know you from somewhere. Where do I know you from?”
“I do work at pizza hut ya know?” we both laughed a little, “No, I’m serious. You look extremely familiar.”
“Who cares if he looks familiar, get your skinny ass back in here!” mike yelled with a mouthful of pizza, I turned around and glared at him, “Shut the hell up mike, you don’t control me! You’re not my boyfriend!” I looked back at the kid, “Sorry about that, he’s an asshole. But really where do I know you from?”
“It’s okay, and I don’t know. You could know me from the street or something.”
“No, that’s not it. Oh! I know where I know you from!” I paused for a second; “You’re that kid that I almost beat the shit out of at the OM&M concert a couple months ago for hitting my friend. Yeah, that’s where I know you from.” He squinted his eyes as if studying me and then smiled, “Oh yeah! That was you? Wow, your friend was a bitch!”
“Yeah, and you’re an annoying little douche fuck that I’m going to give a 30 second head start before I beat the fuck out of you.” I smiled
“Yeah, whate-”
“One.” I started counting and I could see him getting scared, “you wou-”
“Two. I’d better start running if I was you.” he stood still with a smile on his face trying not to look scared, “Three.”
“I would start running bro!” Vic yelled while laughing, “Yeah, yeah. She’s not gonna do anything.” He smirked and looked me in the eye.
“Four.” I raised and eyebrow, it was surprising that he wasn’t running.
“Yeah, you can’t do shit to me. I’m only 17.”
“You really think that’s gonna stop me from beating the shit outta a puke like you? All I have to do is say it was self defense. That’s the perk of being a girl… Five.”
He still wasn’t budging. Just as he was about to say something I did the fake step, he got scared and took off running down the hall and disappeared as I closed the door laughing, “Did you guys see that! That was priceless!” I walked over and plopped on the couch grabbing a big slice of pizza, “Who did he hit?” mike said taking another bite of pizza, “My friend Isabella.”
“Oh, did he get put in his place or anything?” Vic asked and I sighed, “No, he ran off and disappeared before I could get over to them, or else I would’ve beat the shit outta him.”
Mike was about to say something but was cut off by another knock on the door, “Oh come on!” I put my pizza back down and answered the door not really paying attention to who it was, “What the fuck do you want?” I pulled the door fully open and felt my jaw drop, “Mrs. Miller! Oh, I am so sorry! I didn’t think. I-I.. Umm.” I stuttered as I stared at her. She stood in my doorway with a pan in her hands and gave me a smile, “It’s quite alright dear. I made some lasagna and I have far too much left over to just put away and I figured it has probably been a while since you’ve had a decent home made meal. So I was wondering if you and Charlie would like some?”
I looked back at the guys and signaled for them to hide the pizza before I turned towards her again, “I would love some! And you came at a great time, me and my two friends were just saying how starved we were and how we missed having gourmet home made meals, isn’t that right guys!” I smiled and motioned for Mrs. Miller to come in before I shut the door.
“Yes! Infact Emily was just telling us what an amazing cook you are.” Mike smiled and swallowed a mouthful of pizza. I smiled and took the lasagna from her hands and quickly put it in the kitchen. “Mrs. Miller, this is Mike and Vic. They are two of the boys who were over earlier.” She gave me a shocked look before returning her attention to the boys who were now standing and introducing themselves. “Why hello. I like…um… your tattoos.” She smiled at mike.
“Why thanks you. I like them too.” Mike let out a nervous laugh.
“Which on of you is my dear Emily dating?” Mrs. Miller asked innocently.
We all giggled a little until Vic spoke up, “Oh, Emily isn’t dating either of us. She’s dating our friend Jaime.”
“Oh, well that’s nice.” She paused and looked at me, “Emily, do you want to know who I think you would be perfect with? I can just tell.”
I smiled and giggled a little bit more, “Who?”
“This one right here. I mean he looks quite sharp.” She went and hugged mike and he hugged her back, “See Emily. I told you that we would make a cute couple.”
Mrs. Miller stopped hugging him and stepped back, “I was going to say Vic but he is too short for you.” she turned towards Vic, “It is Vic right?”
He smiled, “Yes, it is. And may I ask, what do you see in my brother that makes him and Emily a perfect couple?”
“Well, he’s taller than her for one.” Everyone chuckled as she paused, “He also seems very nice, and I can just feel it. They would make a perfect couple.” She smiled and started turning towards the door to the door, “Well thank you very much for the lasagna, Mrs. Miller. I will bring the pan back to you after we eat it all and I wash it.” I opened the door and she walked out, “Well, I hope you kids enjoy it. And it was great meeting you two boys!”
They both waved and smiled as I started shutting the door, “goodbye Mrs. Miller!”
“One more thing Emily.”
I opened the door a little bit more and smiled, “Yes?”
“If the boy you’re dating is anything like them, you are a lucky girl. And I hope to meet him in the near future. And thank you for introducing me to your wonderful friends.”
“No problem, Mrs. Miller. I hope you have a wonderful night and I will have you meet Jaime when I bring you your pan back. And thank you very much for the lasagna.”
“You’re very welcome dear, goodnight.” She started walking away as I closed the door, “Goodnight Mrs. Miller.” After I closed the door I retreated to the kitchen to put the lasagna in the fridge and came back into the living room with Vic and Mike. We all sat in silence for a few minutes before we all started laughing, “I can’t believe she thought that you and mike would make a cute couple!” Vic said grabbing his sides and laughing even harder, “And I can’t believe you said fuck in front of her when you opened the door!” Mike added, laughing just as hard.
“I think it’s funny that she called Vic short.” I chuckled
“Hey! She didn’t call me short, she said I was to short ‘for Emily’.” Vic pointed out which made us stop laughing,
“Vic, you suck! I don’t like you anymore. It was funny now you killed it…” I glared at him and he returned it, “Okay, earlier you say that you didn’t like mike, now you don’t like me? You’re bipolar tonight.”
“Someone’s on their period.” Mike added.
I sucked in air about to say something when Vic grabbed a piece of banana bread and shoved it in my mouth, “Just shut up and watch the movie. It’s like ten minutes in and we haven’t even been watching it. I don’t want to miss any more.” I huffed and puffed while I grabbed the popcorn and sat back to watch the movie.
When we were about half way through the movie I found myself pretty close to mike. It kind of startled me for a second when I noticed so I jumped a little, I knew that he noticed so I just played along like I didn’t. I kind of liked it; Jaime wasn’t there for me to snuggle up to so I guess mike would do.
***
“Well that was suspenseful!” Vic laughed as he finally started to breath. The movie was now over and we had eaten half of the bread, all of the pizza and ice cream and drank the last of the lemonade that we had from a couple nights ago. “Just cause you’re a wuss puss! It didn’t even make me jump, but now I gotta pee.” I laughed and got up, as I did mike hooked my foot with his causing me to stumble, “You so did jump! I felt you!”
“How did you ‘feel’ me jump.” I smirked
“Well you were practically laying on me like the entire movie. I mean, I know I’m irresistible and all, but Em. You’re dating one of my best friends.” He winked at me and I scoffed, “Oh don’t flatter yourself mike.” I flipped him off and walked towards my bathroom.
One of the things that I like most about Mike and I’s relationship is we can be so mean to each other and make sexual jokes and just bash each other every chance we get and we never take offense to it. We just brush it off or return it with a worse comeback. Another thing that I like about Mike and I is that no matter how much we flirt we, both know that we don’t feel anything for each other and we wont ever do anything.
As I was washing my hands I decided that I needed to take shower or something because I wont really have time to do it tomorrow morning. So I dried my hands and walked out to the living room, “Hey do you guys mi-” when I got out there both of the boys were passed out on the couch, “Well, I guess you don’t mind.” I whispered to myself and walked to my dresser and grabbed a pair of underwear, my nightmare before Christmas pajamas (pajamas) and my towel before going to the bathroom and shutting the door.
I turned on the hot water and put my hand under it until it was the perfect temperature. After it got there, I stripped of all my clothing, put my hair up in a high bun so it wouldn’t get wet and got in. I stood under the water and got lost in my thoughts.
Wait, I don’t feel anything for mike, right? Please, Emily please tell me that you don’t feel anything for him! You love Jaime! It’s been that way since before you even went to Reno with them! You can’t possibly have feelings for him, could you? No, you can’t because you’re trying to get him and Angelise together. You wouldn’t set him up with anyone if you had feelings for him. I mean yeah, you liked him a little bit before you started liking Jaime, but you got over it. You were 13 when you liked him, okay!
The entire time I was showering I was thinking about mike. It kind of scared me to be honest. I heard the door open and close and heard someone sit on the toilet, “Em, can we talk?” And like they say, ‘speak of the devil and he shall come’. Well I thought of him and of course he came.
I rolled my eyes and answered, “Yes mike?”
“So about a little earlier, during the movie. You knew I noticed you cuddling up with me, I know you did. But what I wanna know is why did you?”
“Why did I what?”
“Why did you snuggle up to me?”
“I don’t know.” I quickly rinsed off the rest of the body wash and shut the water off.
“Well, you need to figure it out.”
I reached out and grabbed my towel off of the rack and wrapped it around myself “Oh, I need to figure it out? Really?” I huffed as I opened the curtain. I stepped out onto the carpet and looked at Mike as he talked to me, “I mean I keep getting mixed signals from you and it’s confusing me! So yes, you need to figure it out. Or at least get better at hiding it.”
“I’m sorry! What am I suppose to do? You’re not supposed to feel anything for me! That’s why I tried to set you up with Angelise!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who in the hell said I had feelings about you?”
“Mike, it’s fucking obvious! Why don’t you just fucking admit it!” I set a dirty towel in the tub to cover the wet floor before I grabbed my clothes and stepped back in the tub and shut the curtain so I could get dressed.
“I know but…. Emily, I know that you love Jaime and he loves you. So where would I even begin to fit in to this equation? I don’t like being the best friend that’s just shoved off to the side.”
I quickly pulled on my clothes and opened the curtain once more so I could continue my talk with mike and sat on the edge of the tub, “You can’t fit in. that’s the thing. I wouldn’t even think of a way that you could or ever would. Like you said, I love Jaime and he loves me. That’s it, nothing else. You can’t love two people at once. It doesn’t work. And who said that I had feelings anyways. How do you know that the feelings aren’t a one way street?”
“They aren’t a one way street, I know that for a fact. You can’t honestly tell me that you’ve never had feelings for me, not once.”
“No, mike. I’ve never had feelings for you. Sorry to break it to you, but you’ve been brotherzoned my friend.” I smirked at the angry look on mikes face, “Oh, come on Emily. You know that I’m not retarded, you’re practically screaming it whenever no one’s paying attention, well at least you think that no one is.”
I scoffed and stood up, “I don’t have feelings for you mike. And I never will. Like I said I love Jaime. How long is it going to take to get that through that thick skull of yours?!”
“I know that you feel at least something for me Emily! How long is it going to take for you to understand that?! I love you Emily! I always have! Ever since you came to the bus that night. Especially when I picked you up in my arms to carry you to my bunk, that felt so right and you know it.” He grabbed my arms and looked me in the eyes, “Well I’m sorry mike. I wish, for your sake that I could say the same, but I can’t. Now will you please let go of me.” I could feel tears starting to come but I wasn’t going to let mike see them, because if he did that would mean he’d won.
“No, I’m not going to let go until you admit your feelings.” His grip got tighter on my arms as I tried to pull away, “Mike, I’ve told you a thousand fucking times! I don’t have feelings for you! The only thing I feel for you is love, but not the type where I want to run off and get married. I love you like family, and nothing will ever change that. You’ve always been like an older brother to me, I’m sorry.” My tone was stern and mean, and towards the end it was calm and caring.
He let go of my arms and calmed his voice, “I know you Emily. You know that you feel something for me and you can’t hide it forever. We both can go on living, but we can’t sit here and pretend like the feelings aren’t there; I know that you do have feelings for me; you just wont admit them to yourself. One day you will though, and I pray that it’s not too far away..”
“I’m sorry that you think that mike; now lets leave the bathroom, I don’t want Vic to wake up and think that we’ve been doing something.” I turned away and opened the door, just as I stepped out mike pulled me back in and shut the door quickly but quietly so it wouldn’t wake Vic up,
“Mike, what are you do-”
He grabbed my face in his hands and planted a kiss on my lips, I tried pulling away but he was stronger than me, so it was no use. It did kind of feel right, but I can’t admit it to mike. I LOVE Jaime, not mike. After a few seconds he pulled away, “Now, you can’t tell me that you didn’t like that.” he was smiling as if he had just won the argument.
I was speechless for a couple seconds until I finally found the right words to say, “No, I didn’t like it mike. If I had feelings for you then I probably would have, but I don’t. The sooner that you get that the better we’ll be. Now, lets just go on with the night and pretend that that didn’t just happen.”
“Fine. Whatever you say, boss.” He flung open the door stormed out to the couch and plopped waking Vic up. “Hey guys, what’s up? What did I miss?” Vic said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and mike shot me a glare, “You didn’t miss anything.”
“Yeah, not really anything. But I think it’s bedtime so I’m gonna go to sleep, you can come and lay on my bed with me if you want.” I smiled at Vic, pulling my hair out of the bun that it was in; and putting on my best happy face to act as if mike and I didn’t just fight.
“Okay, well I don’t wanna go in your room if that means mike would be alone out here.” He nudged mike playfully and mike just stood up and walked towards the door, “I’m just gonna go home. I just remembered something that I had to do. You can stay here if you want.”
Vic stood up and started to follow but stopped when he was next to me, “Mike, are you sure you don’t want me to come with?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Bye, see you later.” With that he walked out of the door and slammed it behind him. Vic stared at the door with a worried look and then looked at me, “What happened when I fell asleep?”
I stood staring at the door with my arms folded, hip popped and a pissed off look on my face. I ignored Vics question. He is such an asshole, now I’m going to get a full interrogation from Vic. All because he couldn’t calm the fuck down and not act like a fucking little kid. Vic kept asking me the question over and over again, I got so sick of hearing the same six words over and over again as they got louder and louder, so I snapped, “Nothing fucking happened Vic! God! Have you ever thought that mike is just a fucking dick by himself!”
Vic looked at me with sadness in his eyes, I couldn’t stand looking at them anymore, they hurt too much. So I stormed off into my room and threw myself on my bed burying my face in the pillows and trying not to cry. After a few minutes I felt the mattress shift as Vic sat on the bed next to me, “What do you want to yell about now?” I said into the pillows, but it just came out in muffles, “I’m not going to yell at you Emily. Just tell me what happened.” He put his hand on my shoulder blade and I shrugged him off as I turned onto my back.
“Mike and I got in a fight. I was showering and he came into the bathroom before I was done and started talking to me. He got pissed when I didn’t give him the answer that he wanted.”
“Well, what was his question?” Vic laid down next to me and joined me at staring at the ceiling.
“Just a stupid question that didn’t need to be asked. It would’ve just been better left unasked.”
“Well, spit it out. Tell me the question.” He poked my cheek to try and lighten the mood. I laughed and took a breath, “Well. During the movie I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing and I found myself snuggling up with mike. I’m surprised that you hadn’t noticed.”
He laughed, “Oh, I noticed. I just didn’t think much of it. As far as I knew, you two are just friends. And that still doesn’t tell me the question.”
I chewed on my bottom lip while trying to find the words, “He thinks that I have feelings for him, which I don’t! And when I told him that I don’t he got all pissed and said that I practically scream it and that it’s very easy to spot. And when I tried to walk out of the bathroom he pulled me back and kissed me. I tried to pull away, honest I tried but I couldn’t. After he let go he said that I had to have liked it and when I said no, that’s when he stormed out and plopped on the couch and woke you up.” I paused and tried to swallow the lump that was forming in my throat, “But Vic, I swear I don’t have feelings for him. I love Jaime! I’ve always loved Jaime; ever since Reno I knew that it was Jaime, not Mike. Vic, I don’t know what to do. I still want to be friends with mike but I don’t want to ‘give him mixed signals’ as he says. Vic why can’t anything ever be easy? Why does everything good that ever happens to me have to somehow go wrong along the line?” I started crying, I pulled myself under the covers and curled into a ball and put my head on Vic’s chest. “It’s all going to be okay, Em. I promise. I’ll talk to him tomorrow, just go to sleep and we’ll deal with everything tomorrow.”
After a few minutes I managed to choke out an ‘okay’ and slowly started drifting off to sleep as Vic ran his fingers through my hair and hummed the sound of props and mayhem, knowing that it would calm me down. “I love you Vic. Thank you for being here for me. I needed someone like my brother with me right now.”
“I love you too Emily, Goodnight.”
“Goodnight Vicky.”
He chuckled and turned of the lamp.
“Oh! I’m answering the door, I’ll be right there!” I opened the door and peeked out. “Oh, Hi Mrs. Miller.” Mrs. Miller was my neighbor, she was probably in her sixty’s, and her husband had died some years ago so she lived alone. She had just got back from the store and had a bunch of bags in her hands, “would you like some help?” I stepped out of my apartment and closed the door as she turned towards me, “oh, no dear. I’m fine, I wouldn’t want to bother you.” she smiled and turned back to her door and unlocked it.
“Oh, no. Mrs. Miller, it’s my pleasure to help you. It’s not a bother.” I grabbed all of her bags and followed her into her apartment and set them on the counter.
“Thank you, Emily. You have made my day.” She smiled and joined me in the kitchen.
“You’re very welcome, Mrs. Miller. And I’m glad that I could help. Do you need help putting these away?” I smiled at her; she was the sweetest old lady.
“No thank you, I think I can manage.”
“Okay, if you need anything else just let me know okay?” I started walking towards the door when she spoke up, “Emily, who are those young boys who were over at your apartment? If you don’t mind me asking.”
I turned around and smiled, “Oh, they’re just friends.”
“Oh, good. I was thinking you were dating one of them, back when I was your age, boys only had tattoos if they were in the army or just got out of prison. I wouldn’t like seeing you with a boy all covered up in those, I could see you with a very classy man.”
I laughed at her comment, it didn’t upset me. Infact I thought it was quite funny. “Um, it’s funny that you’d say that. I am dating one of them.” Her eyes widened and jaw dropped, “Oh, I’m sorry honey. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Oh, no Mrs. Miller. It’s fine; my grandmother would say the same thing. Really, it doesn’t bother me.”
“Okay, dear. If it did in anyway I’m sorry.”
“It’s perfectly fine. Well I’ve got to go, I have a friend on the phone back in my apartment.”
“Okay, thank you again Emily!”
“You’re welcome Mrs. Miller.” I smiled and walked back to my apartment and sat down next to my laptop.
“Finally you’re back! What took so long?” Aliyah huffed
“Mrs. Miller, our neighbor needed help with groceries.”
“Oh, okay. Well what’s up?”
“Nothing much, just hanging out with Sebring. Charlie and my friend Angelise went to do something.” I sighed
“Oh, well why aren’t you dancing around like a maniac, why aren’t you bitching out some ignorant kid, why aren’t you listening to music? Why aren’t you being the Emily that I became friends with all those years ago!!!” Aliyah gripped the screen trying to be dramatic, causing me to laugh, “Okay, I’ll go put some music on, hold on.” I walked into the kitchen and plugged my ipod into the dock, the sweet sound of ‘have faith in me’ by a day to remember filled the apartment as I went back over to the computer and sat down, “so how’s packing?”
“A pain in the arse! But, like one or two more boxes and I’ll be done.”
“That’s good, and how do you expect to get all of you boxes here? It’s gonna cost a fortune to fly them with you.”
“Dad said he’s going to slowly ship them to us, so we should be getting a couple boxes this weekend and then a couple next week, so on so forth.”
“Oh, well that’s good, how did mom take ‘the big move’?” I scoffed and remembered how well she took it with Aliyah just moving in with dad,
-Flashback-
“Aly! Hurry up! We’ve got to finish packing before mom gets back!” I was packing the left over stuff in the bathroom when she came running in, “mom just pulled in act natural!”
I quickly set the boxes down and played calm just as her mom had come up the stairs, “Oh, hey Em. I didn’t know you were coming over today. Hey Aly, why is you’re room so empty? Are you and Damian switching rooms again?”
Aliyah sighed and looked down, “um, yeah. About that.” I walked over to her and took her hand in mine and squeezed it to reassure her. “Mom, I’m moving in with dad in tooele.” She looked up and I could feel her starting to shake.
“What the hell Aliyah! You told me you hated your dad!” mom immediately started yelling which pissed Aliyah off even more than she planned on, “Well right now I like him better!” That made her mom be quiet. Aliyah looked at me, “Let’s get the rest of the boxes and go.” She walked over to her closet and we grabbed the last two boxes. As we passed her mom she stopped us, “once you leave this house, don’t ever think of coming back.”
“Didn’t want to anyways. fuck you and fuck this house!” Aliyah walked down the stairs as I stood in front of her mom, we both stood in silence as we heard the front door slam. I was going to say something but was cut off, “Emily, just leave.”
“Mom, you know she loves you. Moving in with dad doesn’t change that. She just wants to feel free and you wouldn’t let her do that.”
She scoffed, “She doesn’t need to feel free, she doesn’t need to move out until she’s getting married.”
“She’s 18! She’ll be graduating this year! Yes she needs to feel free! Mom, she’s not like she use to be, she needs space. She’s like me, we hate being cooped up in a house all the time, we hate not being able to see friends, to do stuff. That is why she’s moving.”
“Fine. Yeah, and I guess you’re so smart when it comes to these things? Last I heard you were moving to California after graduation, I pray to god that she doesn’t follow you. Everyone knows that wont last.”
I got so pissed off hearing that, but somehow I kept my voice calm and steady. “Now you’re just trying to get me mad. Well, it’s not working. And the only reason that you say that is because you know that if she moves with me she’ll be having fun, and she’ll be living her life; better yet, she’ll be away from you. You don’t want to admit that it’s true, hell you don’t want to realize it, but I pray to got that one day you will, but that would take a miracle.” I turned on my heels and walked down the stairs and out to my jeep before she could say anything more. I put the box in the backseat with the other and opened my door; Aliyah was sitting silently in the passenger seat. I hopped in, shutting my door and putting my seatbelt on before I started the car.
“What took you so long?” Aliyah broke her silence and I sighed, “mom stopped me to talk for a minute. But I’ll explain it later, in the mean time lets play some jams.” I pushed play on my ipod as we peeled out of the drive way and drove towards tooele.
-End of flashback-
“She doesn’t exactly know.” Aliyah laughed a little as I smirked, “You haven’t told her? She’s gonna have a heart attack when she gets a postcard from ‘sunny San Diego’!” She laughed at my ‘happy go lucky’ voice, “yeah, I was hoping that after I got settled you and I could take a trip back home and tell her together.”
“Aly! She hates me for last time! She hasn’t talked to me since you moved out senior year!” I groaned as Aliyah laughed, “Well fine, we’ll just talk about it when I get there. So who’s this friend that is picking me up from the airport?”
“Vi-” I caught myself about to say Vic’s name and luckily I stopped it in time before she noticed, “A very good friend, that’s all I can tell you. but trust me, you’ll love them.” I smiled evily and she laughed, “I better!”
“You will I promise!”
She smiled, “Oh, hey! Did you know that Jaime got a girlfriend? I haven’t seen a picture of her yet, and I heard she’s really pretty. But I already know that you’re WAY prettier.”
I tried to hide my amusement, I still thought it was funny how ever since the boys and I had stopped talking every time Jaime, or mike got a girlfriend she was always saying how I was so much prettier than them and how if I was to see them at a concert and they recognized me, they would drop their girlfriends on the spot and try to get with me. “Yeah, I did know. And I don’t know, her and I are probably equally as pretty. I mean, there is no way I’m a lot prettier than her, so I predict that we’re equally as pretty.”
“No, you’re definitely much prettier than her. I can feel it in my bones. Ya know, it surprises me that you haven’t run into him or anything yet. I mean, you’ve been there for three years already. I’m sure that you two have been in the same store or café or something at the same time at least a couple of times now.”
I smirked and rolled my eyes, “Aly, they’ve been on tour a lot the last three years. They’ve only been home for a couple weeks at a time. I’m sure that they would use that time to spend with mama and papa Fuentes and Preciado, and in Tony’s case, mama Perry. Have you seen how much they look alike?! I saw a picture of the Tony and his mom recently and I realized that they look SO much alike!”
She scoffed, “yeah! It’s ridiculous! And so? That doesn’t mean they’ve never gone out to eat or gone to the store or anything like that.” The home phone started ringing so I got up to answer it, “Hold on Aly.” I ran over to the phone and answered it just as it went to voice mail, “Hello?”
“Hey, babe. Is everything okay?” Jaime’s voice came through the phone and made me smile. “Yea, Charlie and Angelise went somewhere and I’m here talking to Aliyah on skype.” I walked back over to the computer and sat down, Aliyah was giving me the ‘who is it’ look so I mouthed ‘my boyfriend’ and she nodded.
“Oh, tell her I said hi! And what are you two talking about?”
“We’re just talking about that Jaime guy I was telling you about. The one that I met like 3 years ago and how we had a thing.” I paused and smiled at Aliyah, “By the way, he says hi!”
“Hi Emily’s boyfriend that I have never met and if you hurt her I will murder you!” Aliyah yelled into the phone and I stuck my tongue out at her.
Jaime laughed, “Oh, well then. I hope it’s all good things?”
“It sure is! We we’re saying how when I first moved out here we would always joke around that I would randomly run into him and he would sweep me off my feet, and we would live happily ever after. Yeah, cause that totally worked out.”
“Well, it half way did. And I hope the rest happens too.” I could feel him smiling through the phone, so I of course couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, well I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay babe?”
“Okay, I guess I’ll let you get back to your conversation. I love you.”
“I love you too.” I smiled and hung up.
“AWE!!! I haven’t even met your boyfriend yet and I already know that you guys are such a cute couple!” Aliyah put her hands on her cheeks and sighed.
“Shut up ya dorkfish.” I smiled and started to blush. “So, Aliyah. You’re officially moving to San Diego California!”
***
The amazing sound of disasterology filled the apartment, Aliyah and I had been on skype for a couple of hours now, and we were dancing along to my music. Well I was dancing, she was just kind of moving around in her chair and singing along. As I was dancing my favorite part of the song had come on and I belted out the words, “CAN WE CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL AND DESTROY IT?!” before I could finish the line Aliyah stopped and looked me dead in the eye, “No, Emily. We cannot destroy Mine and Vic’s kids.” I started laughing when Aliyah’s eyes went wide, “E-E-E-Emily….” I stopped dancing and laughed at her face, “What babe?”
She pointed behind me so I slowly turned around. When I turned I burst out laughing from what I saw, Vic and Mike were standing in my front doorway with their jaws almost touching the floor, “oh, hey guys. How much of that did you hear?” I was standing in front of the screen so Aliyah didn’t have a clear view of them. “Emily, Was that Mike and Vic that just walked into your apartment?” I ignored her and kept looking at Vic.
“I didn’t know that I was having children with your friend.” Vic laughed
“Yeah, I think that’s Vic I just heard. I think I’m gon-” we all heard a thud, I turned around and saw that Aliyah had disappeared; “did she die?” mike asked walking over to the screen, “I’m not completely sure… maybe.” I laughed and after a few minutes of us three waiting and staring at the screen Aliyah popped back up and smiled. “Sorry about that, I didn’t pass out for a second or anything, Pshh, what are you talking about.” She started fangirling again so I decided to end the call “Aliyah I’ll call you again later. Love you bye!”
“No! Emily wai-” I shut the computer and started laughing, “Sooooooooooo… why are you back in my apartment?”
“Jaime and Tony went to go and do something and we were bored.” Mike walked over and plopped on my couch, he was soon followed by Vic. “we were gonna go over to our parents house but they’re out to dinner with some friends and its boring without them there.”
“I’m so glad that I could be you’re guys’ second choice” I smirked and laid across their laps, “so was that the friend that was on the phone earlier?” Vic asked smiling
“Yep, it sure is. And about the disasterology thing, don’t get weirded out okay? Its kind of an inside joke between her and I.” Vic laughed at me, “It’s fine. And your friend is pretty cute. I’m glad that you’re having me pick her up, does she know that I’m the one picking her up though?”
I sighed and laughed a little bit, “No, she kept asking me but I said it was a surprise.”
“Ooohhhhh! She is so gonna kill you!” mike cooed
“Yeah, yeah I know. So what do you two want to do?” I nudged Vic’s hand trying to get him to play with my hair, “Emily, what are you doing? Do you think you’re a dog?” he laughed
“I want you to play with my hair.” I whined and kept nudging his hand, “I don’t know how to play with hair though.”
I looked up at him in shock, “how do you not know how to play with hair? It’s easy!”
“Like you?” mike laughed and I kneed him in the gut before looking at Vic again, “All you do is run your fingers through it and pull on it and just stuff like that. And if you turn that into a dirty joke I will smack you.” I pointed at mike and glared at him.
“Okay, that seems easy enough.” Vic started playing with my hair and I closed my eyes to think.
“Oh, I know what we should do! We should watch a movie!” I smiled as I opened my eyes to look at the boys. “What movie are you thinking of?” mike sighed in my direction.
“Hmmm.. That thing you do!” I almost squealed back, I knew that Vic would approve seeing as it’s one of his favorite movies. But mike on the other hand I knew was going to throw a fit.
“NO! There is no way I’m going to watch that chick flick.” Mike folded his arms and pouted.
“Fine.” I stuck my tongue out at him and he returned it, “How about a scary movie?” Vic suggested.
“Why, do you think I’ll really get scared?” I smirked
“Come on, there has to be at least one movie that scares you.” Vic laughed
“Yes, there is but I’m sure as hell not telling you.”
“Why? You can trust us.” Mike poked my leg trying to get me to tell them.
“No, you’re gonna laugh at me.”
“No we wont. I promise.” Vic made an ‘X’ over his heart which made me laugh a little. “Okay, since you promised.” I paused and got ready for the laughs, “the brave little toaster.” And of course, they both busted up laughing, “SEE!! I told you guys you would laugh, you’re assholes.” I got up and walked towards my bedroom.
“Where are you going?” Vic said still laughing a little bit. I turned towards them and stuck my tongue out, “I am going to my room. I don’t wanna hangout with people who make fun of me. And the reason why I’m scared of that movie is because those appliances are mean and they’re terrifying.”
“That is the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard of someone being afraid of.” Mike wiped his face as if he was crying from laughter.
“Just ignore him, come hangout with us and I promise that we wont make fun of you.” Vic patted the empty seat next to him on the couch and smiled, I stood in the doorway to my room for a moment thinking before I retired to the couch. “Good girl.” Mike patted me on the head before getting up to look at the movie shelf by the TV. As he was getting up I took my chance I leaped up and knocked him over so he was laying on his stomach and I sat on him, “never treat me like a dog again. Or else I will start treating you like a dog and make you sit on the floor and do whatever I tell you to.”
“Well that could work out nicely.” He smirked and I smacked his head, “Ow! What was that for?”
“That’s for being a moron, and I decided that you don’t get to choose the movie. Vic does” I started smiling and I think mike could tell. “Wait why does he get to? He’s gonna pick a chick flick. And stop smiling, you’re freakin me out.”
“Good. And I hope he does choose a chick flick.” I got up and sat by Vic again as mike tripped all over himself trying to get up. “So, Vicky. What shall we watch?”
Vic glared at me, “I told you not to call me Vicky again.” I laughed and put my hands up in surrender, “Okay, sorry. Now what shall we watch Vic-Tur.”
“That’s better. And I think we should watch the brave little toaster.”
“HA! Funny! Very funny! Too bad we don’t own it huh?” I laughed sarcastically.
“Damn it! Emily you suck.” He folded his arms and pouted, “Yes, well you blow. And I guess I’ll pick the movie.” I got up and started looking at my movie shelf, after about ten minutes I had five choices picked out. “So, I’m going to be nice and put all of this to a vote.. The choices are Prom Night the remake, House Of Wax the remake, My Bloody Valentine, Last House On The Left, and Dead Silence. Pick the two that you want to watch the least, each of you get to pick one.”
They both sat and stared while thinking; mike chose first, “House Of Wax. I’ve watched it with you already and you didn’t even flinch once, I want to see you at least flinch.” And Vic answered right after, “And I pick last house on the left, I don’t like that one. It’s boring.”
I sighed, “Well okay then. And I choose my bloody Valentine to be disqualified so that leaves, Prom Night and Dead Silence. Now since we have our two movies picked, which one should we watch first?”
“We’ve never seen either so you choose. And I gotta pee so I’ll be right back, the bathrooms through your room right?” Vic asked
“Yeah, and I choose Prom Night.”
“Okay, I’ll be back in a minute.” Vic walked into my room and disappeared. I smiled at my choice before putting it in the player and grabbed the remote and sat down by mike again, “It’s not a chick flick so you can’t exactly get mad.” I poked his face and laughed
He jumped a little before smiling, “I’m not mad, I was just spacing out for a minute.”
“Uh huh, yeah sure. Okay. Whatcha thinking about?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Uh, huh. Sure. Well I’m hungry, are you?”
“Yeah, Vic probably is too. Pizza?”
I thought for a second, “yeah, that sounds good. But you gotta order it, I kinda don’t have a phone.”
He laughed and pulled out his phone, “Okay. Pepperoni sound good?”
“Yes! But get pepperoni and olive from pizza hut.”
“Okay miss bossy pants.” Mike dialed the number and started calling, Vic came back just as I was getting up to go to the kitchen, “Vic, will you help me with the drinks?”
“Yeah, sure.” He followed me into the kitchen and we started grabbing every beverage we could find, alcoholic or not. Vic took those into the living room and I started popping popcorn and gathering snacks.
I grabbed all of the snacks and went back to the living room and set it all on the table, “Okay, I’ve got popcorn, twizlers ropes and bites, sweetish fish, chips ahoy gooey cookies chocolate and caramel, banana chocolate chip bread, double chocolate chunk ice cream along with moose tracks ice cream and half a box of Mint Oreos. Think we have enough? AHA! Spoons!” I ran back into the kitchen and grabbed three spoons, when I came back both of their mouths hung open and they were silent, I laughed and sat down breaking open moose tracks ice cream and pushing play on the movie. I was the only one eating anything, “come on! Eat! It’s suppose to be a movie night, and there is no such thing as a movie night without junk food, I don’t care what you eat just dig in!” just as they started moving someone knocked on the door, we all looked at each other for a minute, “I’ll get it!”
We all jumped up and raced each other to the door, knocking each other over and shoving us into the walls. When we got to the door I tore it open to see the pizza boy, all three of us shoved money at him, took the pizza and slammed the door in his face. We all started walking towards the couch when I stopped, “Wait a sec.”
I walked back to the door and opened it, the pizza boy was still standing there with the money in his hand, and he looked like he was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. I took the money from his hand, “So wait, how much do I owe you?” I gave him the sweetest smile as he snapped out of his little trance, “Uh. 15.34” I counted out 25 dollars and gave it to him, “here, you keep the change for a tip, sorry that we scared the shit out of you.”
“It’s okay, and thanks.” He turned around as it clicked in my head, I know him from somewhere, “Hey kid! Come back here for a minute.” He gave me a weird look before walking over to me again, “Yeah?”
“I know you from somewhere. Where do I know you from?”
“I do work at pizza hut ya know?” we both laughed a little, “No, I’m serious. You look extremely familiar.”
“Who cares if he looks familiar, get your skinny ass back in here!” mike yelled with a mouthful of pizza, I turned around and glared at him, “Shut the hell up mike, you don’t control me! You’re not my boyfriend!” I looked back at the kid, “Sorry about that, he’s an asshole. But really where do I know you from?”
“It’s okay, and I don’t know. You could know me from the street or something.”
“No, that’s not it. Oh! I know where I know you from!” I paused for a second; “You’re that kid that I almost beat the shit out of at the OM&M concert a couple months ago for hitting my friend. Yeah, that’s where I know you from.” He squinted his eyes as if studying me and then smiled, “Oh yeah! That was you? Wow, your friend was a bitch!”
“Yeah, and you’re an annoying little douche fuck that I’m going to give a 30 second head start before I beat the fuck out of you.” I smiled
“Yeah, whate-”
“One.” I started counting and I could see him getting scared, “you wou-”
“Two. I’d better start running if I was you.” he stood still with a smile on his face trying not to look scared, “Three.”
“I would start running bro!” Vic yelled while laughing, “Yeah, yeah. She’s not gonna do anything.” He smirked and looked me in the eye.
“Four.” I raised and eyebrow, it was surprising that he wasn’t running.
“Yeah, you can’t do shit to me. I’m only 17.”
“You really think that’s gonna stop me from beating the shit outta a puke like you? All I have to do is say it was self defense. That’s the perk of being a girl… Five.”
He still wasn’t budging. Just as he was about to say something I did the fake step, he got scared and took off running down the hall and disappeared as I closed the door laughing, “Did you guys see that! That was priceless!” I walked over and plopped on the couch grabbing a big slice of pizza, “Who did he hit?” mike said taking another bite of pizza, “My friend Isabella.”
“Oh, did he get put in his place or anything?” Vic asked and I sighed, “No, he ran off and disappeared before I could get over to them, or else I would’ve beat the shit outta him.”
Mike was about to say something but was cut off by another knock on the door, “Oh come on!” I put my pizza back down and answered the door not really paying attention to who it was, “What the fuck do you want?” I pulled the door fully open and felt my jaw drop, “Mrs. Miller! Oh, I am so sorry! I didn’t think. I-I.. Umm.” I stuttered as I stared at her. She stood in my doorway with a pan in her hands and gave me a smile, “It’s quite alright dear. I made some lasagna and I have far too much left over to just put away and I figured it has probably been a while since you’ve had a decent home made meal. So I was wondering if you and Charlie would like some?”
I looked back at the guys and signaled for them to hide the pizza before I turned towards her again, “I would love some! And you came at a great time, me and my two friends were just saying how starved we were and how we missed having gourmet home made meals, isn’t that right guys!” I smiled and motioned for Mrs. Miller to come in before I shut the door.
“Yes! Infact Emily was just telling us what an amazing cook you are.” Mike smiled and swallowed a mouthful of pizza. I smiled and took the lasagna from her hands and quickly put it in the kitchen. “Mrs. Miller, this is Mike and Vic. They are two of the boys who were over earlier.” She gave me a shocked look before returning her attention to the boys who were now standing and introducing themselves. “Why hello. I like…um… your tattoos.” She smiled at mike.
“Why thanks you. I like them too.” Mike let out a nervous laugh.
“Which on of you is my dear Emily dating?” Mrs. Miller asked innocently.
We all giggled a little until Vic spoke up, “Oh, Emily isn’t dating either of us. She’s dating our friend Jaime.”
“Oh, well that’s nice.” She paused and looked at me, “Emily, do you want to know who I think you would be perfect with? I can just tell.”
I smiled and giggled a little bit more, “Who?”
“This one right here. I mean he looks quite sharp.” She went and hugged mike and he hugged her back, “See Emily. I told you that we would make a cute couple.”
Mrs. Miller stopped hugging him and stepped back, “I was going to say Vic but he is too short for you.” she turned towards Vic, “It is Vic right?”
He smiled, “Yes, it is. And may I ask, what do you see in my brother that makes him and Emily a perfect couple?”
“Well, he’s taller than her for one.” Everyone chuckled as she paused, “He also seems very nice, and I can just feel it. They would make a perfect couple.” She smiled and started turning towards the door to the door, “Well thank you very much for the lasagna, Mrs. Miller. I will bring the pan back to you after we eat it all and I wash it.” I opened the door and she walked out, “Well, I hope you kids enjoy it. And it was great meeting you two boys!”
They both waved and smiled as I started shutting the door, “goodbye Mrs. Miller!”
“One more thing Emily.”
I opened the door a little bit more and smiled, “Yes?”
“If the boy you’re dating is anything like them, you are a lucky girl. And I hope to meet him in the near future. And thank you for introducing me to your wonderful friends.”
“No problem, Mrs. Miller. I hope you have a wonderful night and I will have you meet Jaime when I bring you your pan back. And thank you very much for the lasagna.”
“You’re very welcome dear, goodnight.” She started walking away as I closed the door, “Goodnight Mrs. Miller.” After I closed the door I retreated to the kitchen to put the lasagna in the fridge and came back into the living room with Vic and Mike. We all sat in silence for a few minutes before we all started laughing, “I can’t believe she thought that you and mike would make a cute couple!” Vic said grabbing his sides and laughing even harder, “And I can’t believe you said fuck in front of her when you opened the door!” Mike added, laughing just as hard.
“I think it’s funny that she called Vic short.” I chuckled
“Hey! She didn’t call me short, she said I was to short ‘for Emily’.” Vic pointed out which made us stop laughing,
“Vic, you suck! I don’t like you anymore. It was funny now you killed it…” I glared at him and he returned it, “Okay, earlier you say that you didn’t like mike, now you don’t like me? You’re bipolar tonight.”
“Someone’s on their period.” Mike added.
I sucked in air about to say something when Vic grabbed a piece of banana bread and shoved it in my mouth, “Just shut up and watch the movie. It’s like ten minutes in and we haven’t even been watching it. I don’t want to miss any more.” I huffed and puffed while I grabbed the popcorn and sat back to watch the movie.
When we were about half way through the movie I found myself pretty close to mike. It kind of startled me for a second when I noticed so I jumped a little, I knew that he noticed so I just played along like I didn’t. I kind of liked it; Jaime wasn’t there for me to snuggle up to so I guess mike would do.
***
“Well that was suspenseful!” Vic laughed as he finally started to breath. The movie was now over and we had eaten half of the bread, all of the pizza and ice cream and drank the last of the lemonade that we had from a couple nights ago. “Just cause you’re a wuss puss! It didn’t even make me jump, but now I gotta pee.” I laughed and got up, as I did mike hooked my foot with his causing me to stumble, “You so did jump! I felt you!”
“How did you ‘feel’ me jump.” I smirked
“Well you were practically laying on me like the entire movie. I mean, I know I’m irresistible and all, but Em. You’re dating one of my best friends.” He winked at me and I scoffed, “Oh don’t flatter yourself mike.” I flipped him off and walked towards my bathroom.
One of the things that I like most about Mike and I’s relationship is we can be so mean to each other and make sexual jokes and just bash each other every chance we get and we never take offense to it. We just brush it off or return it with a worse comeback. Another thing that I like about Mike and I is that no matter how much we flirt we, both know that we don’t feel anything for each other and we wont ever do anything.
As I was washing my hands I decided that I needed to take shower or something because I wont really have time to do it tomorrow morning. So I dried my hands and walked out to the living room, “Hey do you guys mi-” when I got out there both of the boys were passed out on the couch, “Well, I guess you don’t mind.” I whispered to myself and walked to my dresser and grabbed a pair of underwear, my nightmare before Christmas pajamas (pajamas) and my towel before going to the bathroom and shutting the door.
I turned on the hot water and put my hand under it until it was the perfect temperature. After it got there, I stripped of all my clothing, put my hair up in a high bun so it wouldn’t get wet and got in. I stood under the water and got lost in my thoughts.
Wait, I don’t feel anything for mike, right? Please, Emily please tell me that you don’t feel anything for him! You love Jaime! It’s been that way since before you even went to Reno with them! You can’t possibly have feelings for him, could you? No, you can’t because you’re trying to get him and Angelise together. You wouldn’t set him up with anyone if you had feelings for him. I mean yeah, you liked him a little bit before you started liking Jaime, but you got over it. You were 13 when you liked him, okay!
The entire time I was showering I was thinking about mike. It kind of scared me to be honest. I heard the door open and close and heard someone sit on the toilet, “Em, can we talk?” And like they say, ‘speak of the devil and he shall come’. Well I thought of him and of course he came.
I rolled my eyes and answered, “Yes mike?”
“So about a little earlier, during the movie. You knew I noticed you cuddling up with me, I know you did. But what I wanna know is why did you?”
“Why did I what?”
“Why did you snuggle up to me?”
“I don’t know.” I quickly rinsed off the rest of the body wash and shut the water off.
“Well, you need to figure it out.”
I reached out and grabbed my towel off of the rack and wrapped it around myself “Oh, I need to figure it out? Really?” I huffed as I opened the curtain. I stepped out onto the carpet and looked at Mike as he talked to me, “I mean I keep getting mixed signals from you and it’s confusing me! So yes, you need to figure it out. Or at least get better at hiding it.”
“I’m sorry! What am I suppose to do? You’re not supposed to feel anything for me! That’s why I tried to set you up with Angelise!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who in the hell said I had feelings about you?”
“Mike, it’s fucking obvious! Why don’t you just fucking admit it!” I set a dirty towel in the tub to cover the wet floor before I grabbed my clothes and stepped back in the tub and shut the curtain so I could get dressed.
“I know but…. Emily, I know that you love Jaime and he loves you. So where would I even begin to fit in to this equation? I don’t like being the best friend that’s just shoved off to the side.”
I quickly pulled on my clothes and opened the curtain once more so I could continue my talk with mike and sat on the edge of the tub, “You can’t fit in. that’s the thing. I wouldn’t even think of a way that you could or ever would. Like you said, I love Jaime and he loves me. That’s it, nothing else. You can’t love two people at once. It doesn’t work. And who said that I had feelings anyways. How do you know that the feelings aren’t a one way street?”
“They aren’t a one way street, I know that for a fact. You can’t honestly tell me that you’ve never had feelings for me, not once.”
“No, mike. I’ve never had feelings for you. Sorry to break it to you, but you’ve been brotherzoned my friend.” I smirked at the angry look on mikes face, “Oh, come on Emily. You know that I’m not retarded, you’re practically screaming it whenever no one’s paying attention, well at least you think that no one is.”
I scoffed and stood up, “I don’t have feelings for you mike. And I never will. Like I said I love Jaime. How long is it going to take to get that through that thick skull of yours?!”
“I know that you feel at least something for me Emily! How long is it going to take for you to understand that?! I love you Emily! I always have! Ever since you came to the bus that night. Especially when I picked you up in my arms to carry you to my bunk, that felt so right and you know it.” He grabbed my arms and looked me in the eyes, “Well I’m sorry mike. I wish, for your sake that I could say the same, but I can’t. Now will you please let go of me.” I could feel tears starting to come but I wasn’t going to let mike see them, because if he did that would mean he’d won.
“No, I’m not going to let go until you admit your feelings.” His grip got tighter on my arms as I tried to pull away, “Mike, I’ve told you a thousand fucking times! I don’t have feelings for you! The only thing I feel for you is love, but not the type where I want to run off and get married. I love you like family, and nothing will ever change that. You’ve always been like an older brother to me, I’m sorry.” My tone was stern and mean, and towards the end it was calm and caring.
He let go of my arms and calmed his voice, “I know you Emily. You know that you feel something for me and you can’t hide it forever. We both can go on living, but we can’t sit here and pretend like the feelings aren’t there; I know that you do have feelings for me; you just wont admit them to yourself. One day you will though, and I pray that it’s not too far away..”
“I’m sorry that you think that mike; now lets leave the bathroom, I don’t want Vic to wake up and think that we’ve been doing something.” I turned away and opened the door, just as I stepped out mike pulled me back in and shut the door quickly but quietly so it wouldn’t wake Vic up,
“Mike, what are you do-”
He grabbed my face in his hands and planted a kiss on my lips, I tried pulling away but he was stronger than me, so it was no use. It did kind of feel right, but I can’t admit it to mike. I LOVE Jaime, not mike. After a few seconds he pulled away, “Now, you can’t tell me that you didn’t like that.” he was smiling as if he had just won the argument.
I was speechless for a couple seconds until I finally found the right words to say, “No, I didn’t like it mike. If I had feelings for you then I probably would have, but I don’t. The sooner that you get that the better we’ll be. Now, lets just go on with the night and pretend that that didn’t just happen.”
“Fine. Whatever you say, boss.” He flung open the door stormed out to the couch and plopped waking Vic up. “Hey guys, what’s up? What did I miss?” Vic said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and mike shot me a glare, “You didn’t miss anything.”
“Yeah, not really anything. But I think it’s bedtime so I’m gonna go to sleep, you can come and lay on my bed with me if you want.” I smiled at Vic, pulling my hair out of the bun that it was in; and putting on my best happy face to act as if mike and I didn’t just fight.
“Okay, well I don’t wanna go in your room if that means mike would be alone out here.” He nudged mike playfully and mike just stood up and walked towards the door, “I’m just gonna go home. I just remembered something that I had to do. You can stay here if you want.”
Vic stood up and started to follow but stopped when he was next to me, “Mike, are you sure you don’t want me to come with?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Bye, see you later.” With that he walked out of the door and slammed it behind him. Vic stared at the door with a worried look and then looked at me, “What happened when I fell asleep?”
I stood staring at the door with my arms folded, hip popped and a pissed off look on my face. I ignored Vics question. He is such an asshole, now I’m going to get a full interrogation from Vic. All because he couldn’t calm the fuck down and not act like a fucking little kid. Vic kept asking me the question over and over again, I got so sick of hearing the same six words over and over again as they got louder and louder, so I snapped, “Nothing fucking happened Vic! God! Have you ever thought that mike is just a fucking dick by himself!”
Vic looked at me with sadness in his eyes, I couldn’t stand looking at them anymore, they hurt too much. So I stormed off into my room and threw myself on my bed burying my face in the pillows and trying not to cry. After a few minutes I felt the mattress shift as Vic sat on the bed next to me, “What do you want to yell about now?” I said into the pillows, but it just came out in muffles, “I’m not going to yell at you Emily. Just tell me what happened.” He put his hand on my shoulder blade and I shrugged him off as I turned onto my back.
“Mike and I got in a fight. I was showering and he came into the bathroom before I was done and started talking to me. He got pissed when I didn’t give him the answer that he wanted.”
“Well, what was his question?” Vic laid down next to me and joined me at staring at the ceiling.
“Just a stupid question that didn’t need to be asked. It would’ve just been better left unasked.”
“Well, spit it out. Tell me the question.” He poked my cheek to try and lighten the mood. I laughed and took a breath, “Well. During the movie I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing and I found myself snuggling up with mike. I’m surprised that you hadn’t noticed.”
He laughed, “Oh, I noticed. I just didn’t think much of it. As far as I knew, you two are just friends. And that still doesn’t tell me the question.”
I chewed on my bottom lip while trying to find the words, “He thinks that I have feelings for him, which I don’t! And when I told him that I don’t he got all pissed and said that I practically scream it and that it’s very easy to spot. And when I tried to walk out of the bathroom he pulled me back and kissed me. I tried to pull away, honest I tried but I couldn’t. After he let go he said that I had to have liked it and when I said no, that’s when he stormed out and plopped on the couch and woke you up.” I paused and tried to swallow the lump that was forming in my throat, “But Vic, I swear I don’t have feelings for him. I love Jaime! I’ve always loved Jaime; ever since Reno I knew that it was Jaime, not Mike. Vic, I don’t know what to do. I still want to be friends with mike but I don’t want to ‘give him mixed signals’ as he says. Vic why can’t anything ever be easy? Why does everything good that ever happens to me have to somehow go wrong along the line?” I started crying, I pulled myself under the covers and curled into a ball and put my head on Vic’s chest. “It’s all going to be okay, Em. I promise. I’ll talk to him tomorrow, just go to sleep and we’ll deal with everything tomorrow.”
After a few minutes I managed to choke out an ‘okay’ and slowly started drifting off to sleep as Vic ran his fingers through my hair and hummed the sound of props and mayhem, knowing that it would calm me down. “I love you Vic. Thank you for being here for me. I needed someone like my brother with me right now.”
“I love you too Emily, Goodnight.”
“Goodnight Vicky.”
He chuckled and turned of the lamp.
Notes
i am so so so sorry that i missed update day, i was just so busy i completely spaced it! i hope that you guys liked this chapter!Rate-Comment-subscribe(:
-Emilio
Yay Sequel!! I Love This Story Im Very Happy There's A Sequel! AND YOU JUST USED A STAR WARS QUOTE! You Are Officially My Favorite Now <3
3/15/14