Always (Bold As Love 4)

“Of course!” he says, rubbing his stomach.

Chuckling, I get up and we go downstairs to raid the fridge. Turns out, I need to go shopping. The milk is two weeks expired, the cereal boxes are empty, and the fridge is pretty bare.

“C'mon. We'll grab something and go eat with Emily.”

“Awesome!”

We head upstairs to get ready and leave minutes later. Running through the drive-thru at Hardee's, I get us each a biscuit. Drake knocks on the door five times in a row before deciding that that was enough. Emily opens the door a minute later, looking disheveled in a tank top and shorts with pink penguins on them. Her eyes catch the bag of food and she moans.

“You boys are the best!” She steps aside and we come in. Emily fixes us all something to drink while Drake and I take a seat at the table. After she places the glasses on the table, she sits sideways in my lap.

“What are you boys up to today?” she asks, taking a bite from her biscuit.

“I want to go to the beach,” Drake says with a mouthful.

“Don't talk with food in your mouth, Drake,” I warn before taking a bite of my biscuit.

Emily just nods and uses one arm to go around my neck, her fingers running through my hair at the base of my neck. She seems distracted while she eats and plays with my hair.

“Are we going to the beach or what?” Drake asks looking between me and Emily, only she doesn't seem to hear him. “Emily?” he asks.

“Hmm?” she looks at him.

“Are we going to the beach?” he says, clearly annoyed at having to repeat himself.

“Oh, yeah. Sure. Right, Jake?” Sweetness looks at me.

“Yeah. We can do that.”

“Good,” Drake smiles.

Emily finishes her food and says, “So I'll go get ready and then we'll go to your house for y'all to get ready? Okay, good,” she adds without waiting for me to reply. Emily hops off my lap and walks out, down the hallway and to her room. Drake and I finish our breakfast in silence and afterwards, I clean up.

“Jake,” Emily calls from her room. “Can you come here for a second?”

“Coming,” I yell back as I leave the kitchen. Her back is to me and from the looks of it, she's only wearing her bottoms, which have Penguins across the back.

“Can you tie my top? Every time I do it, it's either too loose or too tight.”

“Sure.” I walk over to her as she holds the top over her breasts and I grab the strings. Chuckling, I ask, “Who are you going to root for when I play the Penguins? Me or them?”

Emily's shoulders sag. “I hadn't thought of that.”

I tie the one around her neck first. My fingers keep grazing her skin, which is warm already.

“Definitely you,” she says, finally answering my question. I laugh, but before I can respond, she says, “I'm sorry about last night.” Her tone is serious and she's speaking quietly. “It's not that I don't appreciate us or anything like that. It was just... never mind, it doesn't matter.”

I finish tying both sets of strings and Emily turns to face me, wrapping her arms around my neck and standing on her tiptoes.

“I'm ready for whatever our lives give us and I'm prepared to miss things along the way. I'll follow you anywhere. I only want to spend my life with you.”

I run my hands from her shoulders down to her waist, smiling. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Then she's gone from my arms. Sweetness walks over to the door where a bag full of towels and sunscreen is waiting. “Let's hit the road, Jack.”

We take her car to my house where Drake and I change. Afterwards, we are on our way to the beach. Sweetness appears to be in a good mood, singing along to the radio with the windows down, bopping along to the beat. The beach is crowded as expected and we have to walk a ways to find a spot.