Emmalee (10 page)

           
Yet the news that Ethan Franklin was coming dimmed in comparison to
what a disaster the party had been.  Even Chase—probably
bored out of his mind—left early due to a cell phone call that
saved him from answering another question from Claire. 

           
I picked up a pillow and tossed it on the couch.  Elton was
thoughtfully picking up the candy bowls from around the room.

           
“Thanks for staying and helping.” I smiled up at him.

           
“Hey, no problem.  I figured you’d want me to stay
anyway.”

           
You did?
  “Um, yeah… it’s nice.” 
Maybe he wants to talk about Hannah.

           
“I’m going to run these bowls upstairs.  They
go in the kitchen, right?”

           
I nodded as I reached down and picked up two more pillows. 
“Just set them in the sink, I’ll wash them later.”

           
He had already taken the pizza boxes up.  Apart from a quick
vacuum, I had to say the room cleaned up pretty fast.  I picked
up the last pillow and arranged it nicely on the couch, before
plunking down with a sigh.  I closed my eyes briefly and allowed
myself to relax from the wasted evening. 

           
A couple of seconds later I felt the cushion beside me give way as
Elton sat next to me.  I could tell it was him by the way his
cologne attacked my senses. 
Ugh!  How close is the
guy, anyway?  I
opened my eyes and nearly jumped.

           
Elton’s face was just above mine.

           
“Hello, beautiful,” he whispered, and grinned.  “Is
it hot in here, or is it just you?”

           
“Are you kidding me?” I gasped and backed away from him.

           
Elton followed.  “I know you’ve had a thing for me
for a while now.”

What?
  “Excuse
me?”  My back hit up against armrest.

           
It’s okay; you don’t have worry anymore, cuz I like you
too.” 

           
Oh no.  Oh no.  Oh no.  This can’t be
happening.
  I sat up, forcing him to move back. 
“Elton!  Hello?  I’m Emmalee Bradford,
remember?”

           
“Oh, I remember!”  One long lean arm slid behind my
seat on the couch.  Before I could even shriek a protest I was
up on his lap, my legs were on the cushion where I had been.  I
didn’t even know Elton was that strong.  He definitely
didn’t look that strong.  “How could I ever forget
you?” he whispered in my ear.  His other long arm
slithered around my waste capturing me quite neatly within his
grasp. 

“Elton, are you drunk?”
 I pushed against his chest to try and free myself.

           
“Drunk?”  He chuckled at my attempt to escape. 

           
Does he think this is cute, or something?  I swear I will
kill the guy if he tries anything.  I don’t even care how
much Hannah will miss him.  There is only so much a girl will
put up with.
   I decided to reason with him again.
“Elton, I’m not Hannah.  Save your breath for her.”

           
“Hannah?  Hannah!”  Surprised he let out
another chuckle, “Who wants to think of Hannah when Emma’s
on their lap?  Mmm, this is better than Christmas.  Come
on, baby, give me a kiss.  I’ve been waiting all night to
taste those juicy lips.” 

           
I jerked when I felt his arms tighten and begin to pull me toward
him. 
All right.  That’s it.  Elton
Bloomfield has seriously just messed with the wrong girl.
 With
a strong left hook my fist connected with his eye.

           
“Ahhh—Oww!”  Instantly, I was shoved
ungraciously off his lap and landed with a thud on my family’s
imported Turkish rug.  Elton was up and pacing the room as his
hand covered his eye before I could even get to my feet.  By the
time I did he crudely turned and flung a whole slew of profanity
right at me.

           
Livid, I stood my ground in front of the stairs. 
Good. 
I’m glad he’s mad.
  My hand blazed.  It
will most likely be bruised, but nothing compared to what Elton’s
going to see in the morning.
  He’s lucky it was my
left.
  My right was way tighter, but it had been
preoccupied keeping me off the loser.  I smiled so he could see
I wasn’t affected by his boorish manners.

           
“Why’d ya do that, huh?” he spat at me while he
glared with his one good eye and moved a step forward. 

           
With about two feet between us, I clenched my right fist ready to use
it if I had to.  When I didn’t answer he nearly lost it,

           
“Who do you think you are anyway?”  His lone eye
pierced me as saliva flew from his furious mouth. “You think
you’re some sort of, of—princess?” he nearly choked
on the word.  “You’ve been leading me on for weeks
now.  Weeks.  And then as soon as I start playing your game
and give you what you want, you hit me.  What is
that
? 
I think you need to be taught a lesson.”  Rage filled his
eyes as he menacingly raised his arm.       
Intently I gauged the exact moment to counteract his strike and give
him the uppercut he deserved. 
Forget my hand.  This
boy was going down
.

“That’s enough.”
The deep voice behind me startled Elton. 

           
It was just the leverage I needed.  With a quick jolt I locked
my fist and aimed it directly for Elton’s jaw, right underneath
his chin.

           
“Em!  No!”

           
My right arm was seized and jerked back a whiskers breath away from
knocking the loser senseless. 
Dang it, Chase! 
“Let
me go!”

           
His voice was in my ear as I watched a stunned Elton stumble
backwards and away from me.  “You really didn’t want
to do that, Em.” 

           
“Yes, I did!”  I tried to free my arm. “I had
him.  He totally deserved it.”

           
“There’s no doubt in my mind that he deserved it. 
But think about it.  You really want to break your hand over the
guy?  Doesn’t the other one hurt enough already?”

           
“Ugh, Chase.  You’ve gotta ruin everything, don’t
you?” I sulked, not willing to give in to his superior
intellect.

           
He chuckled and slowly wrapped his arms over mine around my waist and
then rested his chin on the top of my head.  For a moment I was
lost in the feeling of my knight surrounding me.  I allowed my
head to rest lightly on his chest and relished the deep voice as it
vibrated above me,

           
“Mr. Bloomfield.  You’ve got approximately ten
seconds to gather your things and get out of this house, or I won’t
hold Emma back.  And then when she’s through with you,
I’ll really let you have it.”

           
 “W-when did you get back?  I-I thought y-you were
gone?” sputtered Elton.

           
“Eight seconds,” answered Chase.

           
“But-but—!”

           
“Seven… six… five…”

           
“All right!  I’m going! Give me a second!” 

           
“You have three.”

           
“Ahh!”  Elton grabbed his keys and bolted past us
for the stairs.

           
“One.”  Chase laughed above me as the front door
slammed shut and echoed all the way to the basement.  “So
are you gonna tell me what that was all about?”

           
“No!”  I pulled out of Chase’s arms and turned
around to see him.  “What are you doing here?  When
did you get back?  How come nobody tells me anything around here
anymore?”

           
 Chase tried to smother a grin.  “Didn’t I tell
you I’d be back?”

           
“No, you didn’t.”  I folded my arms.

           
“Well, aren’t you glad I came?”  He chuckled
at my expression.  “Okay, so obviously you’re not,
but..” He sighed and shook his head as he took a step closer. 
“Look, it’s understandable that you wanted to deck the
guy—believe me I wanted a piece of him too—but, what am I
going to do with you, huh?”

           
My hands went to my hips as I stood my ground.  “You don’t
have to do anything with me.  I’m a big girl now. 
Good grief!  You treat me like I’m your little sister!”

Chase took another step forward his
blue eyes glittered wearily into mine.  “Do I?  I’m
sorry, I don’t mean to.”

           
“Y-you should be sorry.”  I was having a hard time
remembering to be mad when he was this close.  “I-I
already have an older brother.”

           
“Hmm… That’s right you do.”  He took
another step closer and this time reached up to touch the sleeve of
my shirt.  He brought his gaze back to mine.  “Well,
how about a friend then?”

           
“A-a friend?”  I was lost.  His fingers twirled
the soft fabric in between them.

           
“Do you need a friend?”

           
“Um…” I licked my lips.  “I was pretty
good with the knight thing, really.”

           
Chase laughed and stepped back, releasing me from the fragile hold he
had on my senses.  “Well, in that case, I guess you’re
happy I rescued you, then.” 

           
“Yeah—no.
Ugh.
”  I walked over to the
basement closet and pulled out the vacuum.  “For your
information everything was fine before you came.  And everything
would’ve been fine had you never come at all.”

           
He didn’t say anything as he collected the cord and plugged it
into the socket for me.  After a few more seconds of silence I
started the vacuum and irritably attacked the rug.  Chase waited
patiently while I finished my haphazard pattern, before gently taking
the machine away from me.  He turned it off and asked, “Better?”

           
Ugh.
  “A little.”

           
“So are you gonna be straight with me or what?”

           
“Or what.”

           
Chase grinned.  “Touché.”

           
I chuckled and shook my head.  “What do you want to know?”
I finally asked.

           
He shrugged and walked over to the wall and unplugged the cord. 
I watched him head back to the vacuum and slowly wrap it neatly up
before he answered.  “You were hoping Elton would go for
Hannah, weren’t you?”

           
I didn’t answer while I watched him load the vacuum back in the
closet and shut the door.  He turned around and I almost gasped
at how blue his eyes were. 
It’s so unfair the
Andersons’ have such pretty eyes. 
“By your
silence, I’m gonna take that answer to be a yes,” Chase
grinned as he walked back over to me.

           
“So what if I did want Elton and Hannah to get together, why
should it bother you?”

           
“A lot of reasons.  Emma, you really couldn’t see
that he liked you more than her?”  He leaned up against
the back of the couch and crossed his ankles.  “Even I
could see he liked you more than her, and I was only around you guys
once.”

           
I turned away from Chase.  My fingers ran absentmindedly around
the cover of a light switch.  I finally I gave up and sighed. 
“What am I going to do?”  With my back to Chase I
leaned my head up against the wall and still fiddling with the switch
willed myself not to cry.  “She’s my best friend—no
matter what you think about it—she is.  She doesn’t
deserve to have her heart broken like this.  It’s not
fair.”  I stood up.  “Ooh!  Elton
Bloomfield is such a jerk!”  I spun around to face Chase. 
For a moment I was caught by the unexpected sympathy in his eyes. 
“I-I…” I blinked and looked away.  “I
can’t believe I—for one minute—thought he deserved
Hannah.”

Chase cleared his throat and then
added, “It’s true.  Hannah is a much better person
than he his.  I only wish…” his voice trailed off. 
The awkwardness of the silence hit home.  To his credit Chase
didn’t say I told you so, but I could tell it took effort.

           
I decided to give the offered olive branch.  “H-how is
Martin?  Have you seen him?”

           
Chase took a deep breath and stood up.  “Yeah, I’ve
seen him.  He’s not doing so great.”

           
“Really?  I hope Hannah didn’t hurt him when she
told him no.”

           
Chase shook his head and looked down at the floor.  “I
don’t think anyone could be more upset than Martin is.  He
uh, really loved her.  It’ll take a while to get over it.”

           
“Oh.”  I felt awful.  “I’m sorry.”

           
Chase looked up then.  “Me too.”

           
“Here.” I opened my arms wide. “Hug me, and we’ll
call a truce, okay?”

           
He softly chuckled and after a slight hesitation, walked into my
arms.  His strong limbs wrapped around my waist and I smiled
when I felt his nose press into the side of my cheek. 
Maybe
having another older brother isn’t that bad after all.        

Chapter 10

“If I followed you home, would
you keep me?”

           
The next morning seemed awfully bleak, especially once the memory of
the past night came back full force.  Despairingly I sat up in
my bed and contemplated just how I was going to break the news to my
sick friend. 
No girl should ever have to deal with this
sort of anxiety first thing in the morning.  It really is
awful. 

           
Not one to be too indecisive, I was determined to get on with my day
by jumping out of bed and taking a shower.  After the shower I
felt better—at least well enough to make the phone call. 
Dressed and sitting on my stuffed chair in my room, I took a deep
steadying breath and punched Hannah’s number.

           
“Hello?”

           
“Hi, Hannah, it’s Emma.”

           
“Hi!  How did the party go?  I’m so sorry I
missed it!  I felt horrible not going.  It’s just I
kept getting sick and having to run to the bathroom and I would
forget to call you!  Please, please, please say you forgive me. 
I hope you know I definitely wanted to come.  I still feel
horrible or I would’ve been over to your house already
apologizing.”