Chapter Two
We spend the next hour darting through the thick, shadowy woods that blanket the town, slowly making our way home. Barely a word is spoken by either of us as we make our way along, pausing whenever we hear a siren in the distance. By the time we stumble through the brush and land in our backyard, I’m covered in scrapes and dirt. Emerson, for his part, seems to be mostly unscathed. But of course he is.
The lights are all out as we tiptoe into my childhood home—a stately but relatively modest Tudor house. Dad and Deborah must be asleep by now. It is, after all, past two in the morning. Hopefully Dad won’t ask too many questions about what I’m doing home in the morning—I told him I’d be sleeping over at Riley’s. But he’s not exactly the type to check up, and I doubt that Deborah even goes through the motions of keeping tabs on Emerson anymore. With a little bit of luck, we’ll be in the clear.
Emerson and I slip through the back doors and plod up the carpeted staircase, skipping the creaky stair, coming at last to the second story landing. There are three bedrooms in my dad’s house: the master bedroom just off the landing, which he and Deborah are sharing now, and two smaller rooms at either side of the hall. My room is down to the right, Emerson’s is to the left. He doesn’t even bother saying goodnight before turning away and slipping into his room. With a sigh, I trudge back to my own quarters at the opposite end of the hall.
Closing the door gently behind me, I belly flop onto my bed, burying my face in the fluffy pillow and fighting the urge to scream. I can’t sort through everything that happened between Emerson and I tonight. Between the tense moments during Seven Minutes of Heaven to his accidental but steamy caress after I took a tumble off the trellis, I’m totally at a loss. Tonight was the first time we’ve seen each other outside of school and home since he and Deborah moved in. And it’s certainly the first time anything so...charged has passed between us.
I flip over onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. The glow-in-the-dark stars I put up as a kid still hang overhead, despite my near-adult status. With a pang of heartache, I realize that Emerson and I are bound to part ways once we turn eighteen and graduate high school. I’ll never know what could have been between us, if our parents hadn’t ruined everything by getting together. Then again, he probably never would have even learned my name if not for them. So I guess I should be somewhat grateful. Emphasis on somewhat.
Knowing that I’ll never fall asleep with all this tension built up inside of me, I roll over and slide open the top drawer of my night table. There, hidden among a jumble of makeup and jewelry, is a tiny device disguised to look like a tube of lipstick. Its actual purpose is a whole lot more in line with what I need right now.
I press a hidden button on the little bullet and smile as it whirs to life. My reliable vibrator—the best battery-operated boyfriend around. Laying back, I bring the vibrator down between my legs, slipping it beneath the lace panties that Emerson held in his hands not hours ago. The mere thought of his broad, capable hands is enough to get me off almost at once. Swallowing a low moan, I come into that black lace g-string, with Emerson’s face suspended in my mind’s eye all the while.
“Hopefully that won’t make breakfast too awkward,” I whisper to myself, savoring the relaxing wave that washes over me as I drift into a deep, satisfied sleep.
The silence that first fell between Emerson and I after he saved me from breaking my neck persists for the better part of the next two weeks. My handsome housemate may as well be a ghost, for all I see of him. He leaves for school early in the morning, stays out late at night, and generally avoids me like the plague. Did I totally wig him out that night at the party? I could have sworn that he was sending me some flirtatious signals, but maybe I totally misread him. Maybe he just thinks I’m an incest-loving freak show now.
I’ve never been the best flirt, I guess.
Riley almost dies when I give her all the juicy details a few days after the party. Turns out she let us get separated when the cops showed up, so that Emerson and I could have an “adventure” all on our own.
“So, he basically took off your panties and finger-banged you,” she sums it up as we head off on a coffee run during our school lunch hour.
“That is a very liberal translation,” I say, blushing like crazy as I stare out the passenger side window.
“He is so into you,” Riley grins. “I can’t believe it, after all this time.” She catches my frown and backtracks. “I mean, I can totally believe why he’d be into you, it’s just—”
“I know that’s he a bit above my pay grade, Ri,” I tell her, leaning back against my seat. “I’m not exactly up to par with the girls he usually hangs out with.”
Without preamble, Riley swerves violently onto the shoulder of the main road, causing me to yelp in abject terror.
“Listen to me,” she says firmly, taking my face in her hands. “You are every bit as sexy and bitchin’ as Emerson Sawyer. He’d be lucky to have you, Abby.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I insist. “He’s the badass, gorgeous lacrosse star, I’m the weird, short, artsy girl. If this were a teen movie, maybe we’d stand a chance. But I know my place on the food chain. Guys like Emerson don’t go for girls like me.”
“Oh please,” Riley moans, rolling her eyes, “In a few months’ time, we’re all gonna be out in the real world. You could take your high-waisted shorts and dark lipstick-wearing self to any major city and be an ‘it girl’ in three second flat. The rest of these assholes will have already peaked in high school, so count your blessings that you’re a weirdo now.”
“Thanks? I think?” I laugh, “Really, Ri. You always know how to cheer me up.”
“Damn straight I do,” she says, tossing her black curls over her shoulder. “That’s what best friends are for—assuring you that boning your maybe-someday-stepbrother is totally chill as long as your dad doesn’t put a ring on it first.”
I shake my head as Riley laughs, pulling back onto the road with the radio blasting.