I let him be and went back to my room. While I waited for Drake to get ready, I cleaned up my room until it was spotless. “Jake! Let’s go!” I grabbed my wallet and keys and we were off.
Having to walk Drake in and make small talk with the boy’s mother seemed to go on forever.
Finally, I was on my way to see Emily. I pulled up and knocked on the door.
Mike answered. “Hey, Jake. C’mon in. She’ll be out in a second.” I followed him into the living room and took a seat. “How’s your day been?” Mike asked.
“Long,” I said with a smile.
“Hey, Jake.” I looked up to see Emily. Instead of her usual loose fitting shirts, she was wearing a fitted pink shirt that outlined her figure and dark blue Capri’s.
I stood and walked over to greet her. Her shoulder length hair framed her face and I saw that she was wearing eyeliner and mascara. I gave her a kiss on the forehead and softly breathed hello. I took her hand and asked her if she was ready.
She nodded and I said goodbye to Mike. “Don’t stay out too late,” he called over his shoulder.
“I won’t,” Emily assured him.
I opened the car door for her and she slid in. I jogged around and got in. Cranking the car, I backed out and headed towards Wilmington.
Once we reached the stop sign at the end of Emily’s road, I parked the car. “What are you doing?” She asked.
I looked over at her, placed a hand behind her neck and brought her to me. I gave her a slow passionate kiss. When I released her, I told her, “You look beautiful, you know that?” A blush burned her cheeks and she mumbled a thanks. Taking the car out of park, I continued to our destination.
“Are you going to tell me where we are going?” Emily asked after a few minutes of silence.
“Wilmington.”
“Well, I figured that.” She laughed.
I grinned. “We are going to an undisclosed location. Where would the fun be if I just told you? Just know that we are going to have a fun, carefree night.” I reached over and took her hand.
Her hand sat inside of mine. She felt fragile, but I knew that was far from the truth. Underneath the damage her mom had done to her, she was strong. Emily
lifted up my hand and brought it to her lips, placing a soft kiss there before returning our hands to her lap. After a few silent moments, I asked her about her day.
“It was okay. I don’t have homework this weekend, so that’s great. I’ve been feeling a little off all day though.”
“What do you mean?” I asked with concern.
She shrugged. “I’m not sure. How about you? How was your day?”
“Antagonizing. I’ve been waiting all day to have you to myself out in the open instead of in my bedroom.”
She looked over at me with a sly look. “What’s so bad about hanging out in your bedroom?”
“Nothing. Just that now we get to go out.”
“Jake?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” She asked softly.
“What? Us? Of course. Em, I wouldn’t be here with you if I didn’t want to be. I wouldn’t walk out in the cold in the middle of the night just so I could spend some time with you. You’ve got to believe me when I tell you that there is no other place I rather be right now.” I squeezed her hand and saw her smile at me.
“Okay. It’s just that sometimes I don’t believe that you would want to be with me.”
This time, I lifted her hand to my mouth and kissed it softly. “I do,” I told her. I glanced over at her and saw another smile. We sat in comfortable silence for about five minutes before Emily started asking for clues about where we were going. “Well, it’s a lot of fun.”