He couldn’t believe how much he was beginning to care for Kennedy. The little noises she made on the drive the night before didn’t help. He was pretty sure she had forgotten the mics were still on.
When he returned to their room, she was still sleeping. He took a shower before starting to cook. She must have been pretty tired because even with the slight banging of pans, she didn’t stir. He set up a plate for her on a tray and brought it to her in bed. Slightly cliché, sure, but it was what he wanted to do.
He briefly considered putting a shirt on before he woke her but decided against it. He would rather she be flustered.
He set the tray down on the table next to the bed. She was out cold, so he decided to take a small advantage of it, and he kissed her forehead. As he pulled away, she started stirring.
“Kennedy. Wake up.” Her eyes opened slowly as he put the tray in front of her. “I made you breakfast.”
She looked confused. She wasn’t fully awake yet.
“With sausage.” He smirked, thinking of the previous morning.
“Extra large?” she asked with a smile.
“Good morning.”
“Hi.” She said it so quietly, he could barely hear it. “What’s all this?”
“You got me a cactus, I made you breakfast.”
“And what are you thanking me for?” She sat up and he resituated the tray for her.
“For not killing me yesterday.”
“Oh yeah, your life was in true danger.”
“You have no idea. Besides, it was a week ago today that I hijacked your trip.”
“Is that all it’s been? Seems like it’s been a lot longer.”
He was happy she skipped over his first comment. “Oh, I see how it is.” He pouted.
“No, it’s not like that. It’s—” She stopped herself. “Thanks for the breakfast.” She started eating and he didn’t press it.
Maybe it was because she was so hungry, but she felt like it was the best breakfast she’d ever had. It wasn’t anything unusual or spectacular, just pancakes. Well, not just. They were chocolate chip banana pancakes. “Mmmm. Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked.
He was just sitting next to her watching her stuff her face. “I already ate while I was cooking.”
“Where’s that sausage you spoke of?”
“Oh, that’s for dessert.” He winked.
She sighed. “You’re disgusting.”
“Hey, you brought it up. Now hurry up and finish eating so we can go to the beach.”
“You want me to stuff my face then put a bathing suit on? You’re funny.”
“You can go naked if you want. I doubt people would complain.”
“Um, no.”
“Ok then. To answer your question, no. I want you to stuff your face then put a bikini on.”
She blushed. “Well, you’re in luck. That’s all I have.”
He beamed and fished his swim shorts out of his bag. Before she had a chance to look away, he dropped his sweatpants and pulled on his swim shorts.
“I really hope you didn’t wear the ones you lent me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Commando.”
He laughed. “No. I don’t usually do that. I only did this morning because I knew I’d be changing into a suit early.”
“Ah, and you just decided to do so in front of me?”
“Nothing you haven’t seen before.” He echoed her line from a few nights ago.
Kennedy finished eating then shoved him out the door.
“You sure you don’t need help getting your suit on?”
“I think I can manage,” she said while closing the door.
Emmerick patiently waited for her outside the room. When she appeared, she was in shorts and a tank, covering her bathing suit. She had towels in her hands.
He led her across the street to the beach. The sun was shining and the waves were modest. She laid out the towels and sat on one.
“What are you doing?”
“Sunbathing.”
“Isn’t that kind of hard to do with regular clothes on?”
“I was getting to that.” She took her shorts off just as they started playing a song. She pulled a phone out of the pocket. “Hello? Oh, hi Claire. Is he ignoring you again?”
Emmerick’s jaw dropped. “You gave her your number?”
Kennedy waved her hand at him. “We’re at a beach somewhere in California.”
“Are you planning on giving me your number then?” Emmerick raised a hopeful eyebrow with the question.
“Hold on Claire.” She covered the phone with her hand and turned to Emmerick. “No, and she’s under strict orders not to share it. Now if you don’t mind…”
He was speechless. What just happened?
“Ok Claire, sorry about that.”
Claire laughed a little. “It’s all right. I’m sure he isn’t exactly thrilled that I have your number and he doesn’t.”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
Emmerick stole the phone out of Kennedy’s hands. “Hi Claire. You need to give Kennedy a minute so she can get out of her clothes before she continues talking to you.”
“Oh really? She wasn’t kidding; you really aren’t your shy self anymore, are you?”
“What can I say, she rubs me right.” He laughed as Kennedy tried to take her phone back. “Take your shirt off first.”
Kennedy obeyed and he handed her back the phone.
“I thought you said you were at the beach?” Claire giggled.
“We are.” Kennedy glared at Emmerick. “I had clothes on over my suit. Apparently he couldn’t wait for our call to be over to see it.”
“Yeah, sure,” Claire teased. “I was just calling to see if you were on Facebook.”
“Yeah, I’m on Facebook, but you won’t find me. I have the privacy filters set not to show my last name or location. I’ll find you when I get home.”
“Hmm, ok. Well, I know this is going to sound strange, but could you maybe send me a picture of you?”
Kennedy chuckled. “Why?”
“Ok, don’t get mad, but I told the family about you.”
“You did what?”
“Yeah, and they want to know what you look like. They want to see the girl who supposedly got Emmerick out of his shell. The girl he chased after.”
“Oh, Claire. You told them we’re not dating right?”
“Um…”
“Claire!”
“Well, it just never really came up.”
Kennedy sighed. “I’ll send you the picture if you straighten that out.”
“I will, I will. Thanks. Oh, and send one of the two of you together.”
“Won’t that only add onto the misconception?”
“I’ll make sure they know the truth.”
“Ok. Fine. I’ll talk to you later.”
Emmerick was totally confused as Kennedy hung up the phone and used it to take a photo of herself.
As she was sending it to Claire, he asked what she was doing.
“Your family wants to know what I look like. Come here.” She took a picture of them together. “And apparently a photo of us together.”
“I thought you were doing away with technology on this trip.”
“I was. But we’re in Cali now, home of Silicon Valley. You just gotta embrace technology here.” She sent the second photo to Claire.
“Ok, but I still don’t get why you gave Claire your number but you won’t give it to me.”
“I like Claire.”
“And you don’t like me?” His ego was slightly bruised.
She ignored his question. Her phone made another noise. “Apparently we’re cute together and...” She trailed off.
“What?”
“Nothing. Go swim.” She didn’t want to tell him that his family thought she was a keeper based on the photo and everything Claire had told them.
* * *
They spend the next few weeks traveling the coast, stoppin
g at multiple beaches. Kennedy had been on her trip for seven weeks. Three of those weeks were with Emmerick, and two of those were spent exploring California’s beaches.
They got to know each other pretty well during their time together and the sexual tension was becoming insurmountable.
When they reached Santa Cruz, they stayed there for a few days soaking up the sun, enjoying each other’s company, and having little dates that weren’t actually dates.
They were staying in a hotel with rooms that opened to the beach. Emmerick was swimming and Kennedy was sun bathing, despite the threatening clouds in the sky. She had a pretty good tan by this point. Her eyes were closed and she didn’t hear Emmerick approach. He rung out part of his shorts over her stomach.
She screamed. He ran and she chased him into the water. They played and wrestled in the water. He was picking her up and dropping her in the water. He held her and spun her around before letting go. She screamed all the way into the water.
It started to rain. He lifted her by the waist. She was facing him, braced for the throw, but he didn’t throw her. Instead, he pulled her in close.
He was hoping she would wrap her legs around him and let him kiss her. No such luck. She pushed him down into the water and ran up the beach.
“Kennedy!” he called as he chased after her.
He caught up to her, grabbed her arm, and spun her around. They were almost to their hotel room. Rain poured down on them.
“What’s your deal? Why do you always run away?” he demanded.
“You rejected me!”
“What are you talking about?”
“At the bar…you...you...”
“You were drunk!” he interrupted her. “I didn’t want you like that. I didn’t want you to only want me because you were drunk!”
“I wasn’t that drunk! I was just…just…carefree. Open!”
He looked shocked.
“I lied to you.” There was anger in her tone. “I remembered everything the day after!”
“That’s why you’ve been so…different?”
She didn’t respond.
He grabbed her by the waist. “Is that the only reason you’ve been like this? Pulling away when things threatened to get serious?”
Her eyes locked with his. “Yes.” She couldn’t hold onto the anger in her voice. She looked away. “I like you, Emmerick. We…we could be great together. But you don’t want me like that. I thought you’d give up on your stupid game if it wasn’t fun anymore. If—”
He cut her off, furious. “This isn’t a game. I’m here because I want to be near you…”
She interrupted him. “So long as it doesn’t get too serious, right? I’m just a source of amusement. Someone to boost your ego.”
“Do you hear yourself? It’s you that pulls away when it gets serious.”
“If I didn’t, you would be the one rejecting me, and I’d be the one who ended up hurt.”
He grabbed her chin and pulled her face toward his. He slid his hand to her cheek and pressed his lips into hers. She resisted at first, but as he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer, she caved. She kissed him back.
He had her pressed against the door. She reached behind her back and opened it. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him. They kissed all the way to the bed.
* * *
When Kennedy woke up, it was still dark out. She tried to roll over, but Emmerick’s arm was putting too much weight on her. She slid out from under it, careful not to wake him.
As she got dressed, she thought about the events from the night before. How had she been so stupid? Sure, it was great, but it was a mistake. A big mistake.
Suddenly feeling panicked, she started packing all of her things. She had to get out of there before he woke up. She quietly called a cab and finished gathering her things.
It seemed to take an eternity for the cab to arrive. It honked its horn and Emmerick stirred. Kennedy cursed herself for not remembering to tell them not to honk. She grabbed her bag and left the room with one last glance back at him as she closed the door quietly.
Kennedy ran to the cab and jumped in. “The closest airport, please.”
The cabbie looked confused. “Sure.”
He drove her to an airport thirty minutes away. Kennedy had a feeling that he had taken the long way to get there since it was obvious she didn’t know where she was going.
All she knew was that her road trip was over. She didn’t want to drive anymore. She just wanted to go home, fast.
When she got to the ticket counter at the airport, she asked the attendant for the next flight to Detroit. It wasn’t for another five hours. She couldn’t have that. That would give Emmerick time to think of checking the airport for her.
She asked for the next flight to Michigan. There was one to Grand Rapids in forty-five minutes. Perfect. That would get her out of there quickly, and it was a fairly short drive back to Ann Arbor.
After going through security, she took a moment to think about what she was doing. She tried to shake the thoughts out of her head; they made her feel awful.
She felt like a terrible, indecent human being, no better than the guy who leaves before you wake up after a one night stand. Except it wasn’t a one night stand. It was a three week—for all intensive purposes—affair. And she just left, without saying goodbye.
The overhead speaker announced that her plane was boarding. Relieved, she grabbed her bag and headed to the gate.
It was going to be a long flight, almost six hours. She searched through her bag for her mp3 player, and along the way she came across her notebook. She had not written in it since she had met Emmerick.
Now’s as good a time as any, she thought.
She took the entirety of the flight to write down everything that had happened—the sights, the food, the company, all of it. The people sitting around her were annoyed with her incessant writing. It was still dark out and they were trying to sleep. Her overhead light made that difficult.
But Kennedy couldn’t sleep. She had to write everything down. Write it down and get it out.
* * *
When Emmerick woke, he rolled onto his side to hold Kennedy. She wasn’t there.
He instantly knew that she had left.
It was different than the last time she had disappeared, different than when he rejected her. She was gone. He didn’t even have to check the room for her things. He knew she had left.
He didn’t like it, but he understood it. He should have seen it coming, but he was too caught up in the moment. He stumbled into the shower and washed her scent off of him.
When he finished, he gathered his things and left. Time to go home and get back to reality. He had been gone much longer than originally planned.
He rode for as long as he was able each day and slept as little as possible each night. He managed to get home within three days.
He made his way up the stairs to his apartment door. He had a hard time opening it due to all of the mail that had been pushed through the slot while he was gone. The light on his answering machine blinked anxiously. There were messages from his mom and sisters, from when they didn’t know what happened to him, with a few telemarketers and a single message from a friend mixed in. He could barely listen to the last few messages.
“Emmerick, it’s mom. Claire just showed us the picture of you and that Kennedy girl. She sounds like a keeper from what Claire’s told us. Don’t let her get away. Call me.”
“Hey Em.” It was Claire. “Don’t get mad, but, well, they heard me talking to her and wanted to know the story. So, they all, well, they kind of think that you and Kennedy are a thing now. They want to meet her. See if you can’t get her to come home with you. Call me.”
“Em, it’s Claire again, I just realized that it probably seemed odd for me to leave that message on your house machine. I just didn’t want you to get mad while you’re on your trip. There’s no reason Kennedy should have to see that any time soon. But I do h
ope you think to get her to come home with you. Call me when you’re home.”
“Emmerick, dude, it’s Kyle. What’s going on? We’re going out tonight. You in? You’re not still off with that chick are you? Call me.”
Each message was like a giant bee stinging him in his chest, repeatedly.
“Hey Emmerick, it’s Rachel. I just got done talking to Claire. Sounds like you got yourself a pretty awesome girlfriend. Try not to mess it up. Mom’s getting pretty excited about it. She seems to think you should be settled down by now. She’s trying to turn it into her justification for ‘letting’ you go on your bike tour.”
He sighed and deleted all the messages. Family. Is everyone’s so crazy? He didn’t feel like going through the pain of explaining it three different times, but he knew he would have to explain.
He picked up his phone and dialed.
“Hey, mom. Yeah, I’m back. That’s why I’m calling. Can you call the girls and have them over? That way I only have to go through it all once.”
Uncharted Page 9