Page 28 of Breaking Emilee

Aunt Moon: Parker, it has been my job to worry about you since you were born. I know you are a good young man. I just want to know what’s going on with you. Promise me you’ll talk to me when you get home.

Zak: I promise!

Holding out his phone to him, I have to know something. “Why is she saved under Aunt Moon?”

“Luna, Moon, same thing. And they say you are the smart one,” he laughs. “So, are we going to talk about the questions you asked me last night, dude?” I should have seen this coming. He isn’t the type to beat around the bush, which is why I’m friends with him.

“Can we not right now? I just want to spend a day with the gang and not think about what’s going on back home.” The truth is I’m not ready to spill everything going on inside my head.

Shrugging his shoulders, he says, “Sure, dude, let’s go.” Coming up here was the right move. My friends don’t talk about anything serious. Everyone believes I’m up here for a visit, not because I nearly had a meltdown. We spend the day hanging out, laughing, and working on our bikes till way past dark. After a home-cooked meal, I didn’t even know I had missed so much. I find myself laying in bed, wondering if I should turn my phone back on. I messaged Luna throughout the day so she wouldn’t worry so much. I know I’m supposed to be working on the project for English. Still, I just wanted to have a little fun, and thinking about the project made me think about everything else. I know my actions are hurting my Butterfly, but I’ll not let her down with this project. I know how much this grade means to her, so before I slip into dreamland, I promise myself I’ll wake up early.

* * *

I meant it when I told myself I would get up early and get straight to work, but I didn’t have an alarm to wake me up because I never turned my phone on. What did wake me up was the sun shining through the window across from the bed. Groaning, I pull a pillow across my face hoping I can go back to sleep just for a little bit. Then I remember the project and jump out of bed so fast that I knock my knee into the bedside table. “Fuck. Mother Fucker.” I say, holding my knee and sitting down, trying to rub the pain out.

“Are you okay, Hunny?” Comes a sweet soft voice from the doorway. Turning, I see Zak’s mom standing there watching me.

“Yes, ma’am. I just jumped up to fast and hit my knee. I apologize about the language.” Finally, the pain stops, and I’m able to stand up. “What time is it?” I ask while pulling a shirt over my head.

“A little after ten. I was heading up here to check in on you boys to make sure you were still breathing.” She laughs at her own joke.

I smile at her just as the smell of bacon hits my nose and a groan leaves me as my mouth starts watering. “Is that bacon Mrs. Haines?”

“Yes, it is. I just took it off the stove. It should still be warm. Will you go check on the biscuits while I try to get Mr. Sleep all day up, please?” She asks while turning around. Grabbing Zak’s old laptop to work on my paper while eating, I head down to the small kitchen. The smell of homemade biscuits, fried bacon, and eggs greet me, making my mouth water even more. That is one of the best things about this house. Mrs. Haines loves to cook and knows how to. Taking the biscuits out of the oven because they are golden brown, I make myself and Mrs. Haines a plate since she spent all morning cooking. As I sit down, she returns to the kitchen. Seeing the plate I have made, she squeezes me as she passes me.

“Thank you, we miss you around here.” She says, pulling out the chair across from me.

Swallowing around the food, I point upstairs. “Is he getting up?”

“Who knows, maybe you can get a response out of him. I swear he sleeps like the dead.” We sit here in comfortable silence, just enjoying the food and the quiet. After she’s done, she clears her throat “Parker, your aunt called me and said something is going on with you. I didn’t say anything yesterday, but you know you can talk to me, right?”

Coughing,I start choking on the piece of biscuit in my mouth. I take a sip of coffee to help the bread go down. Can I talk to her? I know that she will never judge me, and she will give me the best advice she can. Mrs. Haines has always been like a second mom to me. She doesn’t push me as I think this over. She lets me come to a decision on my own.

If I didn’t want to talk to her, she would never make me, but if I did, she would listen with an open mind. Fuck it. Right now, there is no one else I want to talk to about this, and I need to get it out because it’s killing me to keep it all in. Sighing, I stand up, take our empty plates, and put them in the sink. I stand here staring out the window at the dogs playing outside. “How do you know if you are in love with someone?”

She’s quiet for a few seconds, and I don’t dare say anything to her. “Well, son, it’s different for everyone. I can only speak on my own experience of falling in love.” She finally says. I turn around and lean against the counter, crossing my feet and arms. I’m standing behind her so she can’t see me. I walk around and sit back down.

“I have known Zak’s dad my whole life. You see, we grew up as neighbors right here. As you know, this is his family’s home. I lived in a house across the street. When my parents passed, we sold it to the people who live there now. But the first feeling toward Leon that I can remember is hate. My earliest memory of him is around the age of five. I was riding my bike up and down the sidewalk. I had just gotten it for my birthday. It was pink and white and had tassels coming out of the handlebars. Oh, I loved that bike, but Leon thought it was ugly, and he picked on me the whole day. Calling me a sissy and telling me his bike was cooler than mine.”

She stops and shakes her head, laughing to herself, but she continues, and I’m glued to every word coming out of her mouth. “I bet him my lucky penny that I could beat him in a race. So, we lined up, and he counted down from three, but instead of going on one, he took off on the count of two. I was so mad at him for cheating that I told him I wouldn’t give him my penny. He told my mom, and she made me give it to him. I hated him so much that I moved his bike when he was gone one day. I hid it in the woods behind this very house. I watched him search for it for hours and hours but never find it. Later that night, I felt bad, I went into the woods and brought the bike back out.” I laugh because I can picture a younger version of the woman sitting before me, pulling that prank off.

“For the next eleven years, I watched Leon go from an annoying little boy to an awkward pre-teen who thought he ruled the world, and finally, one day when I was sixteen, I ran into him at school. The little boy had grown up into a pretty good-looking young man,” she says as she blushes. “We went to school together over the years but had different friend groups. I was a cheerleader, and he hung out with the rough boys. So, we didn’t really see each other, and I was hardly at home after school. The moment I ran into him, and he caught me, so I didn’t fall, I knew he was it for me.”

I speak up for the first time since she started talking, “But how did you know?”

“When I looked into his deep green eyes, my heart felt full for the first time. I became so nervous that I started to shake, Leon thought I was scared of him, but I wasn’t. I knew he would never hurt me. From that day on, he was all I could think about. No matter what I was doing, he was on my mind. I wanted to know everything about who he was now and see if any of that little boy was left in him.” She gets up to refill her cup and did the same for me. “For a year, we danced around our feelings for each other. We let the worry about what our friends would say keep us from being together. One night I was coming home from a game, and he was standing at my front door. I was confused about why he was there, and he didn’t say anything to me. He just walked up and kissed me. That kiss told me everything he was feeling and they matched what I was feeling at that moment.”

She stops to take a sip of her coffee, so I ask another question. “But you guys were so young. How were you sure he was it for you?”

“That’s a very good question. I asked myself that plenty of times, as well as Leon. He told me that at night he would close his eyes and picture his life five or ten years in the future. One time he would picture it with me what jobs we would have, where we lived, and the children we would have. Then he would erase that from his mind and replace me with someone else.” I nod my head because that sounds easy to do. “He told me that the vision of us in the future made him feel happy, loved, safe, and most of all, complete. The other future just made him feel the opposite of all of that. He told me that it was then he knew that no matter what came at us, I was supposed to be a part of his future. I was going to be his wife. So, one night I did the same thing and concluded that I didn’t want a future if it wasn’t with him.”

“Yes, it was hard, and we struggled the first couple of years of marriage. Not just money-wise but relationship-wise. We had our fights, but we always kept communication and honesty at the forefront of our marriage. Look at us now. We got married right out of high school at eighteen, had Alice at twenty, then Zak at twenty-four. We will celebrate our twenty-sixth anniversary this year, not marriage. Of course, that is only twenty-four years. Do you want to know what he gave me on our wedding day?”

I nod my head as she continues with a beautiful smile on her face. “He gave me the lucky penny he won when we were five. He had kept it that whole time.” Once again, she pauses to give me time to take it all in. “So, you see, even though we were young, we knew what we felt was real. Many people told us we were wrong and that we wouldn’t last, but we didn’t let that bother us. We knew what we felt, and that was all that mattered. Does that help, son?”

I’m speechless. I knew that Mr. and Mrs. Haines had been together for a while, but I didn’t know how long. “There is this girl at my school. It’s not like you guys, I have only known her for thirteen days, but from the moment I saw her, I was a goner. It’s like you said. I want to know everything about her, even the little things like what she has for lunch.” I say, laughing because I feel like I could cry right now. “She’s going through a really tough time. There are some people at school that’s making her life hell. They pick on her, say very mean things, put stuff in her locker, and have even gone as far as physically hurting her.”

Mrs. Haines gasps and puts her hand over her mouth. “Son, you need to tell someone about all of this, now.” I hold up my hand.

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