“You killed her! You think I can just go on with my life when my love is dead and it’s my son’s fault?”
“I’m sorry! She would’ve died someday Dad! She had cancer; she would have died by now anyway! The only thing I could have done was help her stay here a bit longer so I didn’t kill her!” I scream.
He throws his beer at me, but narrowly misses. “You don’t know that! Chemo could have kept her here. It could’ve killed that cancer!” he yells angrily with tears streaming down his face.
“Dad, she hated chemo and you know that. At least now she’s not in pain. You know what Dad? The only reason I am trying is because Drake wants his dad back, but I guess that won’t happen!” I storm upstairs, get Drake, and get out of the house. I drive around to cool off before going to Emily’s.
I guess it was better for him to drink his life away and let Drake go without a father than to suck it up and move on like we had to do. I slam my palm against the steering wheel. Damn him! Yeah, maybe I could have saved my mom so she could live a little longer, but the cancer would have eaten away at her and she would’ve died anyway.
I take a deep breath and tell the silent Drake that things will be okay. He quietly lets me know that he doesn’t think I hurt our mom in any way. “Thanks buddy.” I turn left to go Emily’s. I knock and she yells for me to come in. I walk in and see her sitting on the couch. Drake runs and sits beside her. I don’t know how she feels after what happened today, so I sit in one of the recliners. Emily lights up as she talks with Drake, who fills her in on his day. I see him lean into her and whisper something that makes her laugh. What am I going to do to fix things?
I mumble something about getting a drink and head to the kitchen. I hear laughing in the living room. I fix a glass of Pepsi and walk in the living room to see what looks like a tickle war with Drake and she is clearly winning. “Jake! Help!” Drake yells in between laughs.
As I come closer, Emily says, “Don’t even think about it Jake.”
“He’s my brother Emily,” I tell her, placing my glass on the coffee table. I reach out and tickle her stomach without worrying if she is okay with that. She releases Drake and falls onto the couch. I take a chance and straddle her. I tell Drake to get her. I hold her arms above her head with one hand and put a tickle attack on her with the other. Drake goes to her stomach too. She laughing nonstop and begging us to stop. I laugh and tell her, “Not a chance.”
She’s squirming underneath me with her hips grinding against me. “Jake, Drake, please stop.” If she doesn’t quit moving under me, I’m going to go crazy.
“Alright Drake, stop.”
He retreats and plops into the recliner. Emily is trying to catch her breath and glares at me. I burst out laughing and lean down to give her a quick kiss on the lips without thinking. She tenses under me. “Sorry, I mumble getting off of her.
She brings her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them. Drake turns his attention to the TV and Emily quietly asks to speak with me in the kitchen. Pain strikes my heart to hear that voice return. I follow her in the kitchen and lean against one of the counters as she hops onto the counter on the other side of the room. “I want to talk about today. Jake, you really scared me in there. I can’t have that kind of energy around me. I won’t have it. I don’t think this is going to work.”
The whole times she spoke, her voice was low and she avoided looking at me. I cross the room and turn her head towards me. Her eyes are watery and she closes her eyes, just as a tear falls. I wipe it away. “Em, I’m so sorry. I was just so angry that someone would talk to you like that after all you’ve been through.”
“So you think it’s right for you to speak like that to someone else?”
I shake my head. “No. Look, I’m sorry. You’ll never have to see that again. I promise. I won’t ever do it again. Just please don’t kick me out of your life.”
She leans forward and rests her forehead against mine. “Okay,” she says quietly. I wrap my arms around her with relief coursing through me. I kiss her lips tenderly. I take her hand and we go to the couch to watch TV with Drake while we wait on Mike.
Mike walks in, greets us and tugs at his tie saying, “I need to change. After that, we should be good to go.” He leaves us to change. A few minutes later he returns and asks, “Alright, who is ready to go to the hockey game?”
“I am! I am,” Drake yells to Mike. He laughs and tells Emily to go get the tickets. She runs into the kitchen and returns moments later with four tickets.
“Let’s go,” she says. We stand and walk through the kitchen and to the garage. “We’ll take my car,” Emily says. She gets in the driver’s seat and Mike tells me I could sit up front.
“No, no. That’s fine. You can.”
“No, you go ahead. I’ll sit in the back with Drake.”
I nod and get in the passenger seat. Then we’re off. Raleigh is about an hour and a half away. Conversation moves from school to hockey to girls Drake likes at school to music. I learned that Emily was a country music gal, but she did like pop and rock too. A lot of her favorite singers were “hot” as she would say. Seeing her comfortable, laughing and talking just set my attraction for her skyrocketing.
Finally, we are at the RBC Center and after parking, we follow the crowd into the building. We waited in the security line and pass through a few minutes later. We walked around until we found our section and then got our tickets checked by the woman guarding the entrance.
She let us through and we went down the stairs until we reached our row. We were maybe ten rows back from the glass and we were behind one of the goals. We took our seats with it being Mike, Drake, Emily, and then me. The air was cool and it felt refreshing to feel compared to Emily’s hand hot in mine. The game would start in about fifteen minutes and Drake was beyond excited. He talked nonstop about how cool it was that he was here.
Emily was bubbling with excitement as well. I guess she was ready to see her man. She was wearing a Penguins t-shirt with Crosby’s name and number on the back. She was one of very few in the building not wearing red. Soon enough, the players came out and skated around the rink to warm up. Emily squeezed my hand when she caught sight of Crosby.
“It feels so good to be back here again,” she tells me. I smile and thank her for bringing us along. It doesn’t take long before her attention is back on the ice and her eyes follow Crosby around the rink. Do Emily’s eyes follow me around when she comes and watches me play? I hoped so. We stood as some girl came out to sing the national anthem. When she got to the ‘rockets red glare’ part, everyone in the building screamed “RED!” as was Canes tradition.
Then the game starts. Here, Emily doesn’t care if she draws attention to herself. When the Pens do something good or if they score, she shows her support. Whether she’s yelling, cheering, or clapping. A few of the people around us send a glare her way when she does. The score is 1-1 when the first period finishes. Emily looks over at me and smiles. “Let’s make a bet,” she says.
I lean towards her. “What kind of bet?”
She giggles and says, “Twenty bucks says the Pens will win.”
“Twenty bucks says the Canes will win,” I counter. She holds out the hand I’m not holding and we shake on it.
“I’m going to be twenty dollars richer by the end of the night,” she tells Drake and Mike.
“You wish,” they tell her.
“Crosby won’t let me down,” she says looking me in the eye.
“Neither will I,” I tell her. Mike and Drake leave to go grab us a drink and I lean over and give her a kiss.
“Jake?”
“Yeah?”
“I meant to tell you earlier, but I didn’t get the chance.”
“What is it?”
She locks eyes with mine and puts on a serious face. “Don’t ever tickle me again.”
I can’t help it. I bust out laughing. “Oh, c’mon Em. It was fun!”
She shook her head and said, “For you and Dr
ake!”
“You can’t tell me, you didn’t like it at all.”
She smiles and gives me a sexy look. “There was one part I liked.” She pats my leg. I don’t get a chance to say anything because Mike and Drake return with a Dr. Pepper for us both.
Emily returns her attention to the game once second period starts. The Canes score twice and the Pens only once making the score 3-2. During second intermission, Emily talks with Drake who is having a blast. Twenty minutes later, the third and final period starts. No one scores until the last five minutes when the Pens tie the score. Emily is trying to contain her excitement when they score again with two minutes left.
“The game isn’t over until the buzzer sounds,” I remind her.
“There’s no way the Canes will score.” Turns out she was right and boy did she tell me. “Told ya I would be twenty bucks richer, which means I was right!” I chuckle and we get up to leave. Emily practically skips to the car. She jumps onto my back and I tote her to the car. She kisses my neck and repeats that she won.
“Okay, okay. I know you won.”
She giggles and she hops off since we are at the car. “Hey Dad, why don’t you drive and Drake sit up front?” He hesitates for a moment but Emily tosses him the keys and gets in the back. I shrug my shoulders and follow her. Drake, who is happy from going to an NHL game, is even happier to sit up front.
When we get on the road, Emily moves to the middle, buckles up, and pulls my arm around her shoulders. She leans on me and rests her hand on my thigh. “I’m so tired,” she yawns. In my arms, all of her excitement leaves and fatigue replaces it. Ten minutes down the road, she’s asleep. “Thanks again, Mike,” I say.
“No problem. It was worth it to see Emily like that.”
“Yeah, it was.”
Drake falls asleep soon after. The ride to Emily’s house is silent with the exception of the radio playing softly. I leaned my head against Emily’s and closed my eyes enjoying her in my arms.
The ride home ends too soon and I wake Emily up. She gives me a kiss goodbye and I carry Drake to my car. “Bye guys,” I say as the head to my car. Emily waves goodbye. I set Drake down in the passenger seat and go home.
The school day could not end fast enough. Drake was going to spend the night at a friend’s and I was picking Emily up at six thirty. I raced home after school and showered. I had to get Drake packed and to his friend’s house. “Jake! Quit rushing me. I’ve got time,” Drake says.
I let him be and go back to my room. While I wait for Drake to get ready, I clean up my room until it’s spotless. “Jake! Let’s go!” I grab my wallet and keys and we’re off. Having to walk Drake in and make small talk with the boy’s mother seems to go on forever.
Finally, I’m on my way to see Emily. I pull up and knock on the door. Mike answers. “Hey Jake. C’mon in. She’ll be out in a second.” I follow him into the living room and have a seat. “How’s your day been,” Mike asks.
“Long,” I say with a smile.
“Hey Jake.” I look up to see Emily. Instead of her usual loose fitting shirts, she’s wearing a fitting pink shirt that outlines her figure and dark blue Capri’s.
I stand and walk over to greet her. Her shoulder length hair frames her face and I see that she’s wearing eyeliner and mascara. I give her a kiss on the forehead and softly breathe a hello. I take her hand and ask her if she’s ready. She nods and I say goodbye to Mike. “Don’t stay out too late,” he calls over his shoulder.
“I won’t,” Emily assures him. I open the car door for her and she slides in. I jog around and get in. Cranking the car, I back out and head towards Wilmington. Once we reach the stop sign at the end of Emily’s road, I park the car. “What are you doing,” she asks. I look over at her, place a hand behind her neck and bring her to me.
I give her a slow passionate kiss. When I release her, I tell her, “You look beautiful, you know that?” A blush burns her cheeks and she mumbles a thanks. Taking the car out of park, I continue to our destination. “Are you going to tell me where we are going,” Emily asks after a few minutes of silence.
“Wilmington.”
“Well, I figured that.” She laughs.
I grin. “We are going to an undisclosed location. Where would the fun be if I just told you? Just know that we are going to have a fun, carefree night.” I reach over and take her hand.
Her hand sits inside of mine. She feels fragile, but I know that is far from the truth. Underneath the damage her mom did to her, she is strong. Emily lifts up my hand and brings it to her lips placing a soft kiss there before returning our hands to her lap.
After a few silence moments, I ask her about her day. “It was okay. I don’t have homework this weekend so that’s great. I’ve been feeling a little off all day though.”
“What do you mean,” I ask with concern.
She shrugs. “I’m not sure. How about you? How was your day?”
“Antagonizing. I’ve been waiting all day to have you to myself out in the open instead of my bedroom.”
She looks over at me with a sly look. “What’s so bad about hanging out in your bedroom?”
“Nothing. Just that now we get to go out.”
“Jake?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” she asks softly.
“What? Us? Of course. Em, I wouldn’t be here with you if I didn’t want to be. I wouldn’t walk out in the cold in the middle of the night just so I can spend some time with you. You’ve got to believe me when I tell you that there is no other place I rather be right now.” I squeeze her hand and see her smile at me.
“Okay. It’s just that sometimes I don’t believe that you would want to be with me.”
This time, I lift her hand to my mouth and kiss it softly. “I do,” I tell her. I glance over at her and see another smile. We sit in comfortable silence for about five minutes before Emily starts asking for clues about where we are going.
“Well, it’s a lot of fun.”
She rolls her eyes and says, “Of course it will be! I’m going with you so that clue doesn’t count. Give me another one.”
I chuckle and say, “Hmm. You have to wear a certain kind of shoes.”
Emily thinks for a second and then asks, “Are we going bowling?” I nod and she continues, “So that’s what the pair of socks was for? Well, why did you tell me to wear flip flops?”
“That is not going to be revealed until we get there.” She seems content with that and finds a station playing something she likes before turning the radio up a bit.
Twenty minutes later, I park my car at the bowling alley. I go around and open the door for Emily. I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her to me as we head inside. “I’ve got mad skills, you know,” I tell her.
She laughs and says, “I always play with gutter rails just so my score will be better.”
“No gutter rails today. Oh! I almost forgot.” I reach for my pocket and hand over the twenty bucks I lost from our bet last night. A smile takes over her face and she stuffs it in her pocket.
“Thank you.”
I chuckle and shake my head before we head to the counter. I buy two games and we get our shoes before heading to our lane. Emily pulls out thin ankle socks from her other pocket and removes her feet from her flip-flops. I slip my shoes off and replace them with the bowling shoes. I stand, enter in our names, and then we head to the counters behind us to pick out our balls.
“Ready?” I ask her once we return to our seats. Emily nods and I go first. The ball goes a little to the left, but I still get a strike. “Yes,” I say with a fist pump turning to see Emily. I step down from where the floor is lifted up and give her a quick kiss. “That is how you bowl.”
She laughs and walks around me. She stands in concentration for a moment and then rolls the ball down the lane. It heads right and knocks down a few pins. When her ball returns, she goes back and knocks down the rest of the pins. “Your turn,” she says with a smi
rk as she passes me.
I get up and bowl a strike. On Emily’s next turn she gets a gutter both times. I try not to laugh but a chuckle escapes. She does a playful backhand into my stomach, making me laugh more. “Will you bowl already?” she exclaims. I grab my ball and knock down six pins. The next one is a gutter.
On Emily’s turn, she does the thing I least expect. She granny-rolls the ball. It makes a slow travel down the lane, but knocks right into the first one and sends the rest crashing down. I stand right before where you have to step up and Emily comes over to me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “That is how you bowl,” she says with a kiss.
I laugh and shake my head. “Hey, I like it up here,” she says noticing that she is taller now that I’m standing on the lower level. I laugh, give her a quick kiss, and get my game on. The rest of the game, I bowl either strikes or spares. Emily continues to granny-roll the ball and gets quite a few strikes. She does a little happy dance each time and the night is filled with laughs.
I won the first game and Emily won the second. We return our shoes and head to leave. The bowling alley is connected to a mall strip and outside something catches Emily’s attention. “Jake! C’mon!” She takes my hand and breaks off in a run down the strip.
“Where are we going?” I ask just as she stops in front of an ice cream place. Cold Stone’s. “You’ve never been, right?” she asks. I nod. Excitement takes over as we go inside. “You sit right there and I’ll be right back. You are going to love this place.”
I do as I’m told and watch her as she orders. She seems so relaxed talking to the girl behind the counter. She pushes a strand of hair behind her ear and my eyes travel down her body. Down to her shapely, fit legs and back up. She catches me watching and a blush takes over her cheeks. I smile and minutes later she walks over with a waffle bowl dipped in chocolate and filled with ice cream with two spoons sticking in it. She sits down beside me and tells me to dig in. I spoon me some and stick it in my mouth when Emily does. Emily closes her eyes and moans.
It was really good. She opens are eyes and looks at me. “Isn’t it a piece of ice cream heaven?”
Sweetness (Bold As Love) Page 9