EMILY
I stared at the gorgeous man in front of me and wondered how on earth had I managed to pull this off. This was a real date. Before this, Seth and I had never been out except that one that we stayed overnight together but that didn't count. The Emily from a few months back would have laughed if you said that this guy would be her boyfriend. It was surreal.
I know he said he didn't know the first thing about dating but that had to be a lie because Seth was an amazing boyfriend.
Today he wore a casual green t-shirt over his favorite ripped denim and managed to look delicious. The color in his t-shirt complimented his emerald eyes.
He passed me a rueful grin, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like I am the most expensive steak in town."
I snorted, "Don't flatter yourself."
He scooted at the far end of the booth and patted the empty space beside him, "come sit here."
I pushed the milkshake towards the opposite side and went to sit in the empty space next to him. As soon as I took the seat, he picked up my hand and threaded our fingers together which caused my heart to do some crazy somersaults.
His thumb brushed over my skin slowly, sneaking a glance around he quickly pressed his lips to mine in a warm kiss, "I want to ask you something."
"What is it?"
His face flickered towards the necklace that I was wearing, the one that was his birthday gift to me.
"Would you like to go to prom with me?"
"Of course! I would love that." I said without missing a beat.
He grinned, pressing my hand, "Great. Now all that's left is to look for a suit. Gonna have to look dapper if I have you on my arm."
"You'll be amazing. I know it." I picked up a potato wedge and ate it, "Believe it or not, I'd been waiting all week for you to ask me that."
He laughed, "aw babe, sorry to keep you waiting."
"Sky wants to go shopping for my prom dress but she says she won't attend prom even though I told her she could join us."
Seth gave me a sad smile, "She's got her own set of problems, baby."
"Did something happen?"
He shrugged, "I can't say. If Sky wants to tell you, she will."
I nodded, it was not nice of me to pry, and certainly not my place to dig for information that she wanted to be kept a secret. Sky was a good friend and for someone like me who had always struggled to have female friends, she was a breath of fresh air. I wanted her to be comfortable enough to trust me to tell her secret.
"I'm a little worried about her."
"Speaking of Sky, she told me that she saw Roland and Shane talking to you. I just want to make sure they are not causing you any trouble."
"I can handle them now."
His brow arched up, "so that means they said something to you."
I shook my head, "It's nothing, really."
He reached out towards me and lifted my chin up to look at him, "I won't be mad, I won't beat the shit out of them, trust me. But if you don't tell me, it could get a lot worse."
When he said it like that, I was pretty sure he would do exactly that, beat the living shit out of them and the last thing I needed was to get Seth kicked out of his team.
Telling him lies wasn't going to get me anywhere. Seth would find out eventually.
Damn you, Skylar.
"They didn't hurt me. Roland said he was pleased that I was keeping their Captain happy since that was a good thing for the team."
"Bunch of pricks." He sighed, "if they try to annoy you again, you tell me about it, okay?"
I nodded, "of course."
"I know you don't need saving, but if they do anything at all to hurt you, I'll give them hell."
"My hero." I laughed.
"Also, what's up with Carson?" He asked me.
"What's wrong with him?"
"He's been texting me a lot lately."
My eyes probably bulged out of their sockets. I laughed, "Carson texting you? What for?"
"Talking about anime, games. He also added me on his snap." He looked skeptical, "did he hit his head?"
"No way. What did he add you in his snap for?"
He showed me his phone, sliding into Snapchat and showing me a snap of Carson that was taken in a washroom. It was a mirror selfie, Carson's abs were on display and his gym shorts riding low on his hips.
The snap picture had a caption on it.
It said "Sup?"
Seth looked at me, "Does he send you these?"
My jaw was still unhinged, but I managed to pick it up. "No. Why is he snap-chatting with you? I don't get it. Wasn't he your mortal enemy or something?"
"Mortal enemies who send movie invites? Yeah, sure."
"No way." I snatched his phone and saw the another message on his snap.
'Heard the new 'Conjuring' movie is out. Wanna go?'
"I'm starting to think he has some ulterior motive." Seth pointed out.
"What kind of ulterior motive?"
"Maybe he wants to smother me in the darkness of the movie theater. I don't know, Emily, but I have to find out."
What did Carson want with Seth?
Seth's phone started buzzing. He looked down at the screen and grimaced.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"My dad."
"Why aren't you picking it up?"
"I think there's some trouble." His thump hovered over the answer button. Finally, he pressed it, "Dad?"
His expressions changed from curious to annoyed in five seconds.
When he let go off my hand and stood up, I knew there was some trouble. He excused himself and walked out of the restaurant leaving me alone to solve the puzzle of the phone call.
Seth didn't turn up for ten minutes, and I was starting to get worried so I decided to go check on him.
He was at the corner talking loudly.
"But you told me that the money was enough! I can't give you anymore. Well, then you should have just told him that. Uh-huh...okay...but that wasn't the deal. I paid the lawyer fees, I have almost covered the costs of the damages, I don't have anymore."
"Fine! Whatever."
He hung up on the call and before I could hide, he bumped into me.
Seth flashed me that huge smile again, and that just made me wonder.
How many times had he smiled at me like that while he was as battling problems of his own? Did he put this mask on for everyone to see?
My problems started to feel petty compared to his.
"Something wrong?" I tried.
He shook his head because let's face it, he had pledged to shoulder all the problems on his own, and he didn't want to share it with me. I wanted him to tell me everything, just like I did him. I wanted him to rely on me more.
"Nothing important, baby. Let's go inside. The food's getting cold."
He started to leave but I reached out and grabbed the corner of his t-shirt. "Seth."
How do I say this without hurting his pride?
"I...I..."
He looked at me impatiently.
"How much money do you need?"
He narrowed his eyes at me, "were you listening to the conversation?"
"I was worried so I decided to check. I didn't hear the entire conversation but just got the gist of it. Look, I know you don't like to do this but I'm offering it to you. I have tons of money..." shut up, Emily-Mae. "I mean...I get a monthly allowance which is more then I would ever need and it just stays in my bank account. I would be happy to give it to you...as your girlfriend, I want to help you."
I rambled on.
He didn't refuse that meant he was really desperate for the money. He wasn't looking in my direction, a clear indication that he was embarrassed.
"You've already done a lot for me. The skates and everything, baby, I don't know how to repay this."
I circled my arms around his neck, while he placed his hands on my waist, "How much do you need?"
"I'll pay you back. Not now, but someday, I'll give it to you."
I smiled, "Sure."
He took my hand in his and kissed it, "Emily, I don't want you to think that I'm using you for your money."
"I know but you never asked and I offered it to you."
"But people would say that if they found out we were dating."
"Forget them. Just tell me the amount and I'll transfer it into your account."
He waited, staring at the ground as if he expected the cash to just float through the curb.
"Three thousand dollars." He said finally.
I pulled out my phone and after some clicks, I transferred the money into his bank account.
"Now you're going to smile and we're going to continue our date." I started leading him inside the restaurant.
"Hey." He stopped me, and then pulled me against him, kissing me hard. Breathlessly he said, "thank you."
*~*
On Saturday, Sky and I decided to go for my prom dress shopping in the neighboring town. Yeah we had to literally drive like an hour away just so we could buy a nice dress and do some fancy shopping because apparently our town was practically dead. We might as well have been on Mars. Oh wait, even Mars probably has some fun stuff.
I was driving my BMW, I maneuvered the car to Indie's house.
"Where are you going, Emily?" Sky asked me, sipping on her drink. "That's not the way...." she trailed off when she saw me enter two massive gates to a private property.
"We're going to pick up my friend Indie. I hope you don't mind him tagging along with us. He's bored at home." I smiled at her as I parked the car outside of his mansion. "You will love him, he's totally fun."
"Okay. Sure."
Five minutes later I pressed on the horn.
Another five minutes later I watched him make his way out of the gigantic doors of his house. The butler held the door open for him like Indie was some royalty.
Oh, please.
I pressed on the horn again, pulled the window down and yelled at him, "hurry the fuck up, Princess. We're getting late!"
Sky stared at me like she was meeting me for the first time.
I smiled at her, "sorry, thats usually how I talk to him."
Indie slid into the backseat, bringing in a wave of what smelled like the ocean. It was a fragrance all too familiar, he never changed his perfume.
"Ugh, what is wrong with you? You just woke up the dead in my house. Congratulations." He complained.
"Sweet. Happy hauntings tonight." I pushed the car into drive, "Indie, meet my new BFF, Skylar who is also Seth's bff and Sky, meet Indigo, he's my childhood BFF. Now that I think about it, we are all stuck in a giant best friends loop, right?"
"Right." Indie's hand came in between our seats, "Nice to meet you, Sky. Seth's old BFF and Emily's new one."
She gave him a right smile, taking his handshake, "nice to meet you too."
Indie looked at her, "I think I've seen you somewhere."
Skylar stiffened in her seat. She shrugged, laughing uncomfortably, "no, you haven't. It's impossible. I moved to this town only this year."
"Well, I never said I met you in this town." Indie was quick to point out. "It could be somewhere else."
"Indie, please stop harassing my friend."
"But I'm not."
"Sky, ignore him. He's just weird like that. Imagine there's a stuffed toy in the backseat."
"Ha. Look Emily has jokes."
Sky laughed nervously.
Something was not right.