Page 28 of Fixing Emilee

“I know that, but I want to have a good night. I’ve been waiting for this all week. Can’t we just enjoy it and deal with her shit later? Plus, wasn’t it you that said we spend too much time hiding in Parker’s room,” I say as Parker grabs my hand, pulling it up to kiss the back of it.

“You know you are too nice to her, Butterfly,” he says.

“Sure, sissy, as long as you promise me all she did was yell at you,” Levi says, even though his face says he doesn’t want to let it go.

Leaning over, I kiss his cheek, making him groan and wipe it off. “Yes, I promise. Now someone needs to tell me the rules once more.”

I have never been to a basketball game nor know what’s happening. Even though we have a school band, which I was a part of. We never played music at games, so I had no need to go to one before now. By the time halftime is here, all I can tell is that we are winning the game, and I’m having the time of my life.

“Hey, you want to go get something to drink?” I ask Tiffani, leaning over Levi to get to her.

“Sure, let’s go.” We stand up at the same time as the boys, letting us out.

“What do you want, babe?” I ask. Parker pulls his wallet from his pocket, handing me a twenty. He refuses to allow me to pay for anything when we are together.

“Just a Dr Pepper, please. Get whatever you want.” Giving me a quick kiss on the lips, he smacks my ass as I step past him.

I see Vanessa walking in front of us as we head out the door, but I pay her no mind. We go to the restroom before getting in line to get our stuff. Anytime I’m with Tiffani, our conversation is an easy one. We talk about everything but nothing significant. Picking up Parker’s drink and the popcorn I get us to share, we head back to the boys. Just as we step through the door, all hell breaks loose. Over the sound of the crowd, I swear I hear Christian speaking. I look around, expecting him to be close, but I don’t see him.

I realize then that his voice is coming from the sound system the gym is equipped with. The door to the sound system controls is right by the doors we just entered. The principal and the coach are trying to open the door, but I guess it’s locked, and by the looks of it, they don’t have the right keys. Tiffani grabs my hand, pulling my focus from them to her face. She’s pale, and I see her eyes filling with worry. The words being broadcast to everyone hits my eardrums, and I stop breathing.

“When who turned her down?” Vanessa asked.

“Her mom’s boyfriend. I’ll tell you one more time. Emilee was twelve when her mom dropped her off at her grandparents, saying she couldn’t parent Emilee anymore. That she didn’t want her anymore. They were already raising Adam and Levi, but Emilee was still living with her mom on and off for a while. Emilee told me that her mom’s boyfriend would regularly say stuff about her becoming a woman and try to touch her. According to her, it all came to a boiling point one night when her mom walked in on him, trying to molest her. Just like her mom, I don’t believe that he was in the wrong. If she was really trying to fight him off, why wouldn’t she tell her grandparents or the cops? Why would her mom kick her out instead? I think she was just a slut and tried to hit on someone who didn’t want her. I mean…”

His voice and everyone around me fade as my heartbeat takes over. All the air is sucked from my lungs, and it refuses to come back. My chest squeezes tight, and pain shoots through it. As my hands start to shake, the bag of popcorn and the soda slip from my fingers to the floor. I feel the splash of Parker’s soda when the bottle busts open on the hard floor. The blinding lights, loud noises around me and my ragged breath come rushing back into focus as I feel a sharp pain radiate through my right cheek. My hand instantly covers the mark as I stare at Vanessa, who is somehow standing in front of me. Where in the fucking hell did she come from?

“Now everyone knows who you truly are, you fucking bitch. Someone who tries to take things that don’t belong to them. You first tried to take your mom’s boyfriend and failed, then you tried and succeeded in taking my man away from me.”

Now that all my senses are working perfectly, I hear people around me laughing and a few yell slut and whore from my left side. Someone standing behind me pushes me, and I fall into Vanessa. Several people around us start to shout, “fight.” When did we get surrounded by people? I frantically search the growing crowd for Tiffani or someone I know but I don’t recognize anyone pushing the two of us together. I’m once again on my own.

“Your biggest secret is no longer a secret, you bitch. Now everyone knows exactly what type of person you are, someone who lies and steals stuff. I hope Parker will see what I do and come running back to me where he should have been this whole time. Or, who knows? Maybe this time no one will push you, and the bullet will do me a favor.” Her hands push my shoulders hard, making me stumble back. The same person who pushed me forward just a second ago does it again, and I feel like I’m going to be sick from the movement. Vanessa pulls her hand back as if she is about to slap me when suddenly, my view of her is cut off by a body moving between us.

With my view of Vanessa cut off, my brain finally starts working, and my instinct takes over. I can’t stick around to see who stopped her from hitting me or how it all plays out. The effort to shove past the crowd around us takes most of my energy. The sea of bodies doesn’t want to let me pass. People shove me back, calling me horrible names. Slut, bitch, and boyfriend stealer is all I hear while begging them to let me through. Tears stream down my face, making everything blurry. The cool air hits my wet face as I finally leave the building and step into the night.

The happiness I was just feeling is long gone, and good old reliable self-doubt is in its place. Parker’s going to leave me now. I always feared the moment when he found something out about me, and he finally saw that being with me wasn’t worth it, especially this. That moment is here, and I feel it deep in my gut. I’ve fought so hard to keep this secret from getting out, knowing that once it did, everything would change. Why would he stay when all this drama keeps happening around me? Who would want to put up with that when they didn’t have to?

With the thoughts racing through my head, I haven’t been paying attention to where I’m heading. That is, until I’m standing in front of Parker’s simple white house. There is a soft light coming from the living room. I shouldn’t stop here. But if this really is the end of my happiness, I want to be somewhere I feel safe and loved. I’m only about three steps from the front porch, but I don’t slow down to a walk. I throw open the front door.

A scream comes from my right, and through my tears, I see Parker’s aunt sitting there watching tv, clutching her chest. “Emilee are you okay?” she asks me, and all I do is shake my head.

I head to Parker’s room, leaving her behind, calling my name. I want to be surrounded by his things and his smell one last time. Walking straight through the door, I collapse on his bed, sobbing loudly into his pillows. I don’t try to stifle the animalistic noises coming from me. Out of everything Christian and Vanessa have done to me in the past, this is by far the worst. Christian promised me he would never tell anyone what I told him that night, but they just did to a gym full of people.

I fought so hard to get better and healthy mentally, just to lose it all at the hands of the two people who put me there in the first place. I can’t live with this crushing weight in my chest. I don’t want to live like this anymore.

“Sweetie, what’s going on?” Luna asks, scaring me as she places her hands on either side of my face, moving my hair behind my ears. She sits down on the bed beside me.

Over the last six weeks, I’ve come to see her as my aunt. I love her so much, but now, even that will be taken away from me.

“He’s going to leave me,” is all I can choke out. Moving, I lay my head on her lap and continue to sob. She doesn’t say anything, just shushes me running her fingers through my hair.

“Oh sweetie, no, he isn’t,” she says. “Whatever is going on, you guys will get through it.”

Another sob comes from me because I know she is just saying that to be nice. Once she finds out what happened, she won’t want me to be with him, and I will lose everything I worked so hard for.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Heading for the front door I grab my jacket and the feeling of forgetting something sits in my chest. My phone starts ringing, sounding muffled. Looking down at my bag by the front door makes that feeling disappear. Slapping my forehead, I can’t believe I almost left without my phone. I was in a hurry to get showered and dressed for tonight, so I didn’t even notice I had left it there. Pulling it out, I’m expecting the person calling to be my girl because I’m running late, but instead, it’s Vanessa. I let it go to voicemail because I no longer have to deal with her shit. However, I see that I have a missed text from Emilee saying she is also running late.

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