EMILY
My first thoughts were ‘what is this about?’
Was this going to be out of a teen drama where Sky was going to ask me to stay away from Seth? Maybe she secretly liked him and didn’t like that we were close. Maybe she would threaten me?
If that was the case, I was going to ask this girl to mind her business. I had my claws sharpened and ready.
I didn’t know anything about Skylar other than the fact that she moved into this town a year before Seth, and as soon as she stepped foot in the school, she was Miss. Popular. Every single girl invited her to their parties, and every single guy wanted to get in her pants but Sky picked boys like the sun rising in the west, that means never! And that killed most boys in our school, the fact that not even one of them had gotten inside her panties. She was unattainable which made her thousand times more appealing.
Seth comes along and they are best buds. It used to be hard when I sneaked looks at them and found them laughing or joking, she hugged him but there were no signs of sexual tension and it still managed to carve a knife into my heart.
I couldn’t even call her a wicked witch because she was not mean to anybody. She looked like one of those perfect girls on Instagram who didn’t even need a face filter.
Okay, I’m jealous and insecure and my confidence keeps taking a kick every time she slings an arm around Seth and I get a picture of how perfect they would look for each other so sue me if I don’t know why she wants to talk to me all of a sudden.
“Wanna come over to my house?” She asked me in her usual cheerful tone. “We can just chill there. Maybe watch some Netflix over coffee? Sounds like a plan?”
I stood there baffled, trying to decide if I was dreaming this.
“Um, okay, sure.”
She laughed, “Sorry if I’m coming off as too strong. I thought we don’t even know each other much but guess what? Seth eats my ear every single day and he can’t stop talking about you! I might even know what type of underwear you like wearing or the—”
“Wait, Seth talks about me to you?”
“Yes, ma’am. Twenty-four-seven! So, I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I mean, being his BFF, I’m curious to know about this girl that he’s so completely pussy-whipped over if you know what I mean?”
I smiled, “Yeah.”
I think I was going to get along with Skylar just fine. On the contrary, I think I was going to like her a lot. Suddenly, it made sense why she was so popular. She had no problem striking up conversations with strangers or talking a mile a minute about nothing in particular like just now when we made our way to her car, she said hello to ten different strangers.
“I approve of this white chocolate mocha but you should totes try my Chai Latte! It is delish...”
“Oh, I have tried it before.” I clicked the seatbelt into place. Sky drove an Aston Martin. “But it’s not really my taste.”
"Le Gasp! Sorry, but we can’t be friends anymore. Honestly, you can get out of my car.”
My face fell.
“Just kidding.” She showed me her tongue, “You should drizzle some caramel on top, it tastes better.”
“I’ll try next time. Thanks for the tip.”
She loved One Direction so she played the songs in the car and since I was a One Direction fan too, I was singing along with her.
“By the way, did I tell you that you have an amazing rack? I would kill for those boobs.”
“If there was a way to donate, I would give them to you.”
“Right? Because I could use some.”
“And you can give me some of your height.”
“Totally.”
Sky’s home was on the wealthier side of the town like my house. Her father was a real-estate agent so selling houses was part of his job, no wonder hers looked like something out of an Architecture Digest. Two stories high, slick and modern décor with a swimming pool that was bigger than the one I had.
“Welcome to my humble abode!” She announced as I stepped into the living area. “I’ve always wanted to say that to someone. I got my chance.”
“Where are your parents?”
“At work. My dad’s a real estate agent, if you didn’t know that already and my mom’s his partner. They won’t be home until the evening so we have the house to ourselves.”
I liked the homey vibe the house had, unlike mine where most rooms were unoccupied, and it sometimes reminded me of a museum.
A large German shepherd leaped out of nowhere and took me by surprise. Thankfully he was super friendly.
“That’s Eren Yeager. One of my friends’s got me into watching Attack on Titan and I was such a huge fan at the time. I decided I wanted my dog to have a German name so he can stick to his heritage. I’m also teaching him a few German words like Bleib, Sitz, Platz which means stay, sit and lay but the mutt doesn’t understand a word.”
I laughed, “You’re totally weird.”
“I know. Everyone tells me that. Come on, I’ll show you my room.”
Much like Sky’s outgoing personality, her bedroom also had vibrant colors. The dresser had makeup littered all over the top of it, the Queen-sized bed had a laptop opened. There was a little nook by the window with a little swing set that looked comfy with the fluffy throw pillows.
“Nice.”
“I heard your room’s nicer.”
“It’s basic.”
“I’m making popcorn, do you want some?”
“Sure.”
A few minutes later, Sky came back upstairs with two full bowls of popcorn. When we were settled in, she switched on her laptop and told me to pick something.
“I don’t want to watch anything. I was wondering what you wanted to talk to me about.”
She waved her hand in dismissal. “That was nothing. I just wanted to have an excuse to bring you home.”
“And it worked.”
“I’m good at convincing people.”
“Seems like it. I have to ask you something but please don’t be offended.” I said quickly.
“I’m worried already. Shoot.”
“Do you like Seth?”
“Of course I like him.”
“No I meant, are you attracted to him?” I clarified.
“If you’re asking if I’d like to bone him, then a big fat No. Not that he’s not hot or anything. He could melt any girl’s panties, but not mine. Seth’s not my type.”
I felt so relieved hearing her say that and she sounded convincing so I was going to take her word for it.
“What’s your type?”
“A normal guy.”
“What’s a normal guy?”
“He needs to be funny, smart, cute. In that order with a normal body, I don’t need a flashy six-pack abs, preferably average in looks because lesser chances of girls hitting on him and him cheating on me.”
I giggled. “Every girl I know wants a hot guy.”
“Not me. When I walk down the street with him, I want people to look at us and say ’wow, what a lucky guy.”
I slapped her hand playfully “relatable.”
“What’s your type?” She asked and then raised her hand to stop me. “I already know the answer. It’s Seth.”
I couldn’t keep my face from burning. “You know you have this huge celebrity crush and you are aware that it’s never going to happen, well that was me a month ago. I was happy to just look at him, knowing we never ever going to happen. It’s surreal that we have mutual feelings for each other.”
“I totally get you. Okay, funny storytime. Can you guess how Seth and I met?”
“At school?”
She shook her head. “On a dating app!”
“You did not!”
“Yes, we did. We occasionally chatted on the app and knew each other months before he moved to this town. Anyway, so it used to be a casual chat, nothing flirty, in case you’re worried, and then we decided to meet up.”
Skylar’s story didn’t bother me as much the fact that Seth was using a dating app. That was in the past but was he still using it?
“Sounds like you two were best buds.”
“I think we both were a little lonely but after the first meeting, we were best buddies. There was no way we were going to bring sex into that and fuck it up, know what I’m saying?”
“Totally.”
No. I didn’t understand, because Sky was hot with a capital H and Seth was the same league. I just don’t get how they would be best friends without thinking of sex.
We watched a few episodes of this new TV show called Murder in Apartment 13. Although the show was super interesting, it was time for me to leave.
“Hey, I gotta go.”
She smacked her forehead hard, “Your car’s still parked in the Cafe’s parking lot. I’ll drive you there.”
Ten minutes later, I was getting inside my car. Sky told me she had a lot of fun and we should meet up again. I couldn’t agree more, I liked her and wanted to hang out again. I wasn’t sure what warranted her to invite me to her house but I was glad she did.
I drove back home, not so surprisingly, Seth wasn’t home yet which meant he was held with practice most likely. I did some homework, fed Chanel, watched the Murder show which was halfway left off at Skylar’s, and then did some more waiting.
Little did I know that Seth was going to be busy for three weeks. He’d gotten permission from dad to take leave from his duties for a week due to an upcoming game in Michigan and that meant I was going to order out every day. Yippee for the horror I had to face in the kitchen. It made me appreciate Seth even more.
Before leaving, he’d kissed me slow and then hard, turning me into a puddle on the floor. I slept every night with that memory.
Night after night, it was pizza or Korean noodle soup. My favorite go-to dinners. The only plus points about my loner nights was that Skylar had become one of my close friends. We talked a lot on the phone, and she even started coming over.
After the game, he called me.
“How was it?” I asked.
I could hear the grimace on the other end, “Sucked. We lost.”
“Aw.”
"But then again we were up against one of the best hockey teams in the country. Shit happens.”
“You did your best. I saw you on the live stream.”
He chuckled, “You did?”
“Yeah, Sky and I both did.”
“Good to know that you two are friends now. I wish I could be in better spirits to talk to you right now, I’m just not.” I could hear the disappointment clear in his voice. He was trying hard to sound cheerful to me.
“What can I do to make you feel better?” I asked quickly.
“You could have done a lot of things to make me feel better, if only you were here.” He whispered into the phone in his husky voice.
Seth could be a scammer and ask ladies for their credit card details and they’d give it to him, no problem.
“What would you have me do?” I flirted shamelessly.
He laughed on the other end, “What are you wearing right now?”
Oh My God! Are we about to have phone sex?
“My pink nightgown. What about you?”
"Shorts.” A beat later he said, “Wanna FaceTime?”
Seconds later, we were looking at each other through the screen. He was shirtless, his dark hair damp from shower. It was awkward how he kept staring at me.
“What?” I giggled.
“Nothing.”
“Show me those muscles!” I only said that to fill the awkwardness between us.
He actually zoomed into his muscles and flexed.
“You’re so full of yourself.”
“You love that. Now it’s time for you to show me.” His voice went lower as he said it, “Take off your nightgown. I wanna see those huge tits.”
If it was someone else, I would have said a flat No! I didn’t trust being naked on videocall, but this was Seth, so the word Yes was usually the default answer.
I was just about to remove it when another male voice boomed into his room.
“Dude!”
Seth quickly threw his phone on the bed and whispered “sorry, bye”. That must have been one of his teammates. If I could throttle one of them for having such bad timing, I would have.
Seth thought he hung up on the call but he hadn’t.
Common courtesy would have been me hanging up the call but what I heard next made me stay on the line.
“Izzy was talking about you. Why didn’t you go with her?” That was Roland.
“I told her I wasn’t interested,” Seth answered.
“Are you fucking insane? You’re going to say no to one of the hottest girls in this school?”
“I told you I just did.”
“She told me you looked stressed because we lost and she offered to de-stress you. What’s wrong with you, man?”
“I don’t need her or anyone else to de-stress me. Now leave me alone!”
That was the cue to a girl’s voice drifting into the conversation.
“Baby, what’s wrong? You look tired.”
I had a horrifying feeling that she’d come close to where Seth was seated. On his bed.
I heard Seth laughing, the type that had my insides turning to mush. “What’s that outfit?”
“I’m a nurse!”
“Yeah, right.”
“CeeCee, show our Captain a good time. He’s in a bad mood today.”
At that exact moment, the phone disconnected.
I sat there with a dozen questions going through my head.
What the hell just happened? I trusted Seth enough to know he wouldn’t fool around with another girl while he and I were still together, but what if she takes off her clothes and throws herself at him.
He’s a guy after all.
Twenty years later, he called me back again (it was just twenty minutes, but I like to over-exaggerate)
His hair looked tousled like someone had run their fingers through it.
“Sorry about that.” He apologized.
“What’s that mark on your cheek?” I asked him coolly.
He quickly started wiping a dark kiss mark. Every fiber in my body was screaming.
“Stupid Roland brought a girl to my room. I told them to leave.”
“Looks like she didn’t leave without leaving her mark on you.”
“She was coming onto me, I didn’t touch her.” His green eyes pierced through mine, “look, if I visit other schools for games this happens a lot and it will continue to. Girls want to sleep with the team Captain.”
“Do you want to?”
Now his gaze turned hard, “if I wanted to, Emily, I wouldn’t be here talking to you. I would have taken her up on her offer.”
“You were out for twenty minutes, maybe you did. How would I know?”
Stop talking, Emily! Don’t do more damage!
“I could use a little trust here.”
“Trust is all I have given you.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know, Seth.” Now my eyes were burning with tears. “You told me we would wait until I was eighteen but it’s been three weeks since my birthday now. You don’t want to...you don’t want to have sex with me!”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying that maybe you haven’t made a move on me because you’re scared that you won’t want what you see.”
“What does that mean? I have seen you naked. I have touched you!”
I swiped at the tears, “You have but it was always in the dark or under the covers. You don’t want to have sex with me because I’m probably not your type or you changed your mind or you’re scared to find out the truth. You’re used to being with those hot hourglass shaped girls.”
He stares at me for a whole minute, “You’re being ridiculous. I love your body! Emily, don’t do this...I’m far away, I can’t come there and hold you.”
“Bye!” I pressed call end on the phone.
Bad move.
I was a horrible, mean, insecure person. But my insecurities ran bone-deep, they didn’t just switch off whenever they could and when I did get furious I was used to biting someone’s head off.
Seth didn’t deserve that. He’d experienced a loss for the team so he was already upset and now I’d added to his worries. I was the worst.
When I calmed down a minute later, I picked up the phone again to call him when it started ringing again.
I answered it. “Seth, I—
“Do not fucking hang up!” His voice was filled with venom. ”I wasn’t blowing you off, I had my reasons, and if you didn’t notice I was dog-tired most of the time and right now you sound like a bratty rich entitled girl who was denied a toy. You can’t keep using the Fat-girl excuse with me, Emily.”
“I didn’t mean to say all that. I’m sorry…”
Seth wasn’t done yet.
“You want me to fuck you? Here’s what. When I come back in two days, I’m booking a room in a motel out of town. I’ll text you the details and you’ll be there. See you soon.”