Page 22 of Fixing Emilee

“Shit, I’m sorry, Emilee. Sometimes my mouth speaks before my brain engages.” He looks down at the table, slouching in his chair.

“Tell me the truth, and no more jokes, please,” I beg.

“Okay, I’m not going to lie. I might joke at inappropriate times, but I never lie. He was broken, Emilee. Seeing you like that on the floor, blood pouring out, and not being able to do anything to save you hurt him. But when you kicked him out of the hospital without even listening to him, that was the final blow. It changed him. He called me the next day. When I answered, I thought something had happened to Luna. He didn’t speak to me. All I could hear was him sobbing. He has never cried in all the years I’ve known him before that day.”

The air gets trapped in my lungs as an ache fills my stomach like someone punches me. The vision of Parker clutching his phone as he crumbled on the floor floods me.

If he notices this, Zak doesn’t let it stop him from continuing. “Once I got him to calm down, he told me everything. He’s been my best friend for so long now, I can’t remember my life without him in it. I can promise you I have never heard him sound so lost, confused, and broken. He wasn’t worried about him but you. All he wanted was for you to give him a chance to explain everything. He was determined to bring those two assholes to justice for you, even if you never took him back.”

“I feel like such a fool for believing he was a bad guy. My heart told me he wasn’t, but I saw what they wanted me to see and doubted him,” I answer honestly.

“Hey, with what they put you through, anyone would be plagued with doubt. By the sounds of it, you kept trusting when someone told you they cared, despite being let down repeatedly. That kind of trauma has to change you. There is no other way. You start to not trust your own thinking. After hearing how worthless you are repeatedly, it’s bound to change the way you see yourself. Don’t beat yourself up for that because even the strongest person would react the same way. Well, maybe not the suicide attempt, but the self-doubt. You both made mistakes in handling everything, but you can’t go back and change that. All you can do is move forward together and heal from it all. I promise you on my most valuable Pokémon card, that boy up there,” he points to the ceiling, “he loves you. He might not have told you, but his actions prove that. Parker’s life motto is “actions speak louder than words.”

Tears stream down my face again, but I can’t help it when a laugh slips out. The laughter grows until my stomach hurts, and I can’t breathe. When I finally stop laughing, something in the doorway catches my attention. Parker’s standing there with a look of bewilderment on his face. The smile on my face gets more significant as I sit here staring at him.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, you know me. I was telling your girl about when you got so scared watching Halloween that you literally shit your pants.” Zak winks at me before looking over his shoulder.

Parker’s mouth drops open, and I swear I see a blush staining his cheeks. I bite my cheek, so I don’t laugh out loud.

The next second, Parker wraps his arms around Zak’s head, holding him in place as he rubs his hand on his head. “You wouldn’t fucking dare tell her any embarrassing story about me. You know I will kill you.”

“Stop, stop, stop. Asshole, you’re going to mess up my hair.” Zak pulls himself free of Parker’s grip by wiggling his whole body. Standing up, he runs around the table, pulls me up, and places me in front of him like a shield.

“Don’t use my girl for protection, you child. It won’t end well for you or anyone. Let her go.” Even though the tone of voice Parker uses makes that statement seem like a threat, the look on his face tells me he’s joking.

Stepping out from behind me, Zak pulls me into his side, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “Ah, man, don’t worry. She likes me better than you.”

I have no doubt that I look as uncomfortable as I feel. I’m standing with my arms by my side, deciding whether or not to play along. Deciding against picking on my boyfriend even more, I step out of Zak’s grip and go to Parker. Parker’s eyes never leave my body, making my blood heat under my skin and the feeling of wanting him to race through me. When I’m close enough for him to reach out and grab me, he does. Turning me around and bringing me to his chest, he leans down, pressing his lips to my hair. I sigh, relaxing into him.

“Oh, come on, stop that. I’d say get a room, but all of these rooms belong to me, and I don’t want you to defile any of them,” Zak whines, making me giggle.

“Sorry, Zak. I’ll stick with this guy even if he does shit his pants watching my favorite movie,” I say, pulling Parker closer.

“Hey, now. You cannot gang up on me. Especially with that fucker over there.” It’s Parker’s turn to whine now.

The laugh that comes out should embarrass me, but it doesn’t. I haven’t felt as free, happy, or content in a long time. I want to bottle this feeling up and hold on to it forever. Turning around, I kiss Parker’s lips in a kiss I hope tells him everything I’m feeling right now.

“I hate breaking up such a good thing, but we need to get you home,” he says, breaking our kiss while Zak gags in the background.

CHAPTER TEN

The whole drive home, I constantly worried that Emilee’s dad would be pissed off. He didn’t sound mad when we talked earlier, but I wasn’t sure if he knew the whole story then. Did he know that I essentially got her suspended for three days? However, when we pulled up to her house, her entire family was waiting for us. They pulled us in for big hugs, making sure she was all right and thanking me for standing up for her. Once she told them what happened, the rage that I thought would be directed toward me was aimed at Christian and his parents. Emilee begged everyone to forget what had happened.

“Dad, please just let it go. I’m fine. Christian didn’t do anything. I just want to move on and forget this.”

“No, Emilee, we won’t just move on and forget this. He signed that fucking piece of paper, and he needs to honor that. He needs to know that his actions have consequences and that he will be held accountable for them. If we just brush this under the rug, he may think we won’t do as we said and take further action against him if he harms you,” her dad refused, and I agreed with him.

Emilee and I went into her room to give her parents privacy to talk to Christian because Em didn’t want to hear anything. On the other hand, I would have loved to stay in the room listening to her dad obliterating that asshole with whatever threats and harsh words he considered necessary.

* * *

Everything has changed in the three weeks following Emilee and my three-day vacation from school. Changed for the better, that is. We have a regular lunch table with Levi, Tiffani, and a few other students. The conversation flows easily between us, and we all make sure to include everyone. Watching Emilee light up, laughing freely, sets my soul on fire and eases the anxiety I still have lingering about how she’s doing. Whenever I thought about leaving her, fear would fill my veins to the point that I seriously thought about dropping my shop class to stay close to her. Emilee wouldn’t even listen to any of the reasons I had. She and others remind me that people are now looking out for her and nothing bad will happen again. As for Christian and Vanessa, they are the ones walking the halls with their heads held down, just like Emilee used to do. The only difference is that they are not being tormented like her, just ignored by everyone. Recently Christian has been alone, but I don’t have an ounce of pity for either of them.

I feel like I just blinked, and the days have flown by. It’s already the second week of March. I’ve been here for almost two months. Since I don’t count the time we were apart as a breakup, Emilee and I have been a couple officially for six weeks. We only have a little under two months left until graduation, seven of those days are for our senior trip. With the way time flies, May ninth will be here sooner than we think.

Every morning my butterfly marks off the days on her calendar, and I watch her get more and more stressed about our future. The school is buzzing with everyone talking about where they are going to college, the branch of the military they are choosing, or the jobs they are taking. Emilee and I are both planning to attend college and have discussed it briefly a couple of times. The feeling that the time is here for us to have a more severe and in-depth conversation has weaseled into my gut refusing to leave.

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