She laughed. “I wanted you to go too.”
I looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, really?”
She laughed again and said, “Absolutely…just not
as much as I wanted Drake to go.”
I faked a horrified expression, making her giggle, and said, “Well, maybe I should just stay home.”
She leaned her head back on my shoulder and said, “Too late. I already ordered the tickets. You are now in the same boat as me; you are going whether you like it or not.”
I chuckled. I decided to take a leap. I didn’t know how Emily would react, but I wanted to know what happened to her.
“You know about my mom,” I began in a low tone, “will you tell me about yours?”
Emily tensed. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. “Never mind, we should probably head back and go home.”
“No. I-I’ll tell you just a little.”
I sat and waited for her to explain.
Emily sighed and spoke in that fragile voice of hers, “My mom verbally abused me. Happy now?”
“No,” I said wrapping an arm around her. It seemed that was all she was going to say. I waited five minutes.
“My mom was my best friend. She still is. She blamed me for my father leaving. She drank and was a drug addict. After a bad breakup, I believed what she told me. I still do. That’s all.” My heart tore at her words. I stood and brought her up with me. I was still holding her hand and she was standing close to me. She wasn’t looking at me when she asked, “Why do you care?”
“Do you want the truth? There are a few reasons, but one main one.” All she did was nod. “Besides the fact that I want you to see your self-worth,” I paused, lifting her face to make her look at me, “I like you. I really like you.”
9
Emily
Looking into Jake’s green eyes, all I could think about was the heat coming off his body and the words he just said. His face was so close that I made the mistake of glancing at his lips. Suddenly, our lips crashed together. My arms made their way around his neck with my fingers running into his hair. Jake’s arms snaked around my waist and pulled me closer to him.
Our lips parted and our tongues danced to their own tune. The kissing seemed demanding and intense. I needed a moment to breathe and I pulled back. Locking eyes with Jake and taking two deep breaths, I found myself returning to his full lips and getting lost in his warmth.
Something clicked in my head and I realized exactly what I was doing. I pulled away abruptly and pushed Jake away from me. I looked at him with eyes full of sorrow. “I…I’m so…sorry.” I took off running wanting nothing more than to escape from what was surely a mistake. I heard Jake frantically calling my name, but I kept going.
I could hear his running steps getting closer behind me but I was already going as fast as I could. Tears welled up in my eyes; I needed to get home. I felt a hand grasp my arm and he turned me around to face him. All the fight left me with one quick glance, and I buried myself in his embrace.
“It’s okay, Emily. It’s fine,” Jake whispered in his deep soothing voice.
“I’m scared,” I mumbled into his chest.
“I know, I know.”
“No you don’t. You don’t know the full story. You couldn’t even begin to understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
“There’s something else that happened with my mom that no one knows.” I push away from him again, not wanting anyone touching me.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. It’s probably worse that anything my mother said.”
He was silent and I debated about whether or not I should tell him. How did I know that I could trust him? An ache in the pit of my stomach wanted to get this information out. I was tired of holding it in. Finally, I rushed those horrible words out of my mouth. “She pimped me out for drugs and alcohol.”