Chapter 8: And The Weird Comes Out

Chapter 8

8: And The Weird Comes Out

            “Emerson. You know I would love to tell you, but it’s weird.” I asked moving to lie next to him on my bed.

            “Okay. When I was six I ate worms.” He said looking at me intensely.

            “Emerson, that’s not weird it’s just gross.” I said shivering at the thought of the boy I loved to kiss used to eat worms.

            “Don’t go judging me! You started this. I just want to know what you’re thinking. So I thought telling you a weird thing might just make you feel better about telling me about your weird thing.” He said giving his best shrug while lying down. I groaned internally knowing he was only trying to help and I didn’t want to pick a fight, not tonight.

            “You’ll think I’m a freak.” I said quietly, mostly to myself.

            “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I’ll leave.” He said flipping over onto his stomach.

            “You don’t know that. I think that telling you might compromise our relationship.” I said turning onto my side to look at him. I propped my head up on my hand and waited.

            “No way! Lauren. Just because something happened really does not mean I will up and leave you, but for now I’m done pushing this.” He said rolling onto his back and swinging his legs over the side.

            “You’re leaving?” I said feeling the fear eating at my stomach.

            “No. I’m just getting something to make you smile.” He said rising from the bed and walking out of the room. I just lay there, dumbfounded. Emerson shut the door behind him. I could hear some talking. I guessed it was to Madison. Footsteps came back down the hallway and I listened closer. Emerson didn’t come back into my room. Madison’s door opened and then shut. At this point I was really interested. I stood up and pressed my ear against the door. It wasn’t like I could hear anything anyways. There were safely behind Madison’s thick door.

            I gave up after a few minutes, but I didn’t dare open the door just in case they came out any time soon. I walked back to my bed and sunk in. Suddenly I felt more alone then I ever had in my entire life. I didn’t know where I stood anymore. I had a weird feeling. Something urged me to tell Emerson what had happened like he could fix it or he knew something about it.

            Then a quiet squeaking noise came from outside my door. The handle turned slowly, but I just staying in my place not bothering to sit up and look at what Emerson thought would make me smile. I knew that pretty much nothing could chase away the cloud of gray that seemed to be stuck above my head.

            Until I decided to tell Emerson what happened I would be in this state. There was no way to fix it, so I put on a brave face and made a show of it. If I was going to be like this I should at least fake it for the people that loved me.

            “Lauren. I think you’re going to love this.” Came Madison’s voice. They were in my room now, but I still didn’t make a move.

            “Okay.” I said putting my arms so they lay gingerly across my stomach.

            Emerson came over and took my hands to pull me up.

            “Come on. You’re going to love it almost as much as you love me. Promise.” He said not pulling me up until I agreed.

            “Promise?”

“Promise.” He didn’t break promises.

“Sorry to break up this little trust circle, but I really don’t have time for this.” Ah, the voice of reason. You could always count on Madison for that if nothing else.

“Alright.” I said allowing Emerson to pull me up. I tucked my legs underneath me when I was in seated position. Madison pulled the rack into the room farther to allow me to get a better look at what they had for me.

I gasped at how beautiful they were.

“These are for me?” I asked still stunned.

“Yes. Now before you get all mad for us spending all our money on you, it was not me. This is all on Emerson.” Madison said leaning against my doorway abandoning my new rack of dress. There were six, six beautiful dresses all for me. They ranged in color and length, but they were all beautiful all the same. I stood and lightly ran my fingers across the fabrics.

“You got these for me?” I asked looking at Emerson who was now sitting comfortably on my bed ankles crossed.

“Yeah. Don’t get too excited though I had a reason. For the festival tomorrow you need something formal to wear when we are playing host. The others you don’t use, well lets just say when you’re my girlfriend we have a lot of events to attend.” He smiled slowly, but didn’t bother looking at me. He probably already knew what my face would look like. I was so lucky. More then lucky, I was blessed. How did my luck go from bad to amazing? I didn’t understand life sometimes, but apparently it was giving me everything I wanted right at that moment. I had to savor it. Madison had left a while ago probably to go and hide in her room and continue to work on tomorrow’s profiles.

“Emerson, they're so beautiful. Did you have help?” I asked not believing he could have done this all by himself.

 “Nope.” He keeps amazing me.

“You know me really well.” I said sighing still in a daze. Now I really had to tell him. There was no way around it. I had to. I went and perched on the edge of the bed with my back to him, it was now or never. Emerson drew lazy circles on my lower back; he was too good for me.

“Well. Now I guess I have to tell you.” I said slowly thinking of the right words to tell him. He scooted over and made room for me to lie down. I lowered myself so I rested on the pillows, though I wasn’t really comfortable, I was tense.

“Okay. Go ahead, I’m all ears.” He said now resting his hand on my stomach with his palm open and flat.

“I’ll be completely honest. I don’t want to drag this out or beat around the bush. So the truth is... Do you remember that first day we met? I was frozen. I had no control over my body and I just froze. Well that happens a lot, but the other day it was different. I... I saw something. Well not something, I saw the future.” I said screwing my eyes shut and waiting for his laugh. But it never came.

“Really? What’d you see?” He asked. He actually sounded interested.

“I saw Madison and I sitting at a table at the cafe on campus. She was boy watching, I could hear all my thoughts at the time. I was thinking about the day and I just put two and two together. I was seeing the future. You came back with our drinks and you kissed me. I felt in love with you. I was happy. And you made a joke about being a manly man or something and I smiled and laughed and then that was it. The vision was over. I was unfrozen.” I said my eyes still shut tightly, even though this was going much better than I had planned.

Then came the laugh I had been waiting for.

“Oh gosh. Lauren you’re so funny.” He said his laugh just now subsiding.

“I don’t get it, what’s so funny?” I asked confused.

“I thought you would know about this by now.” He said his voice barely a whisper.

“Thought I would know what?” Even though his breathing was even and calm I could tell the wheels in his head were spinning rapidly.

“About your, uh, talent.” He said stumbling a little. I didn’t understand. He said talent like I was magical. He must be going crazy or something.

“Lauren I understand that this might be a lot to handle right now, I get it trust me. I went through the same thing when I found out about my, uh, talent.” There he goes again talking about my ‘talent’. What did that even mean? I decided to just go with it. Maybe he would tell me, but I wasn’t betting on it.

“Okay, so my talent. Tell me about it.” I said slowly staring into the ceiling like I had ever since my mother died, except now it had no answers for me. I couldn’t run off to talk to her anymore. I was going to have to face this. On my own.

“Well I really shouldn’t be the one to tell you. It’s your parents job.” He said normally though I knew he was dreading saying those words. I was stubborn and he knew I wouldn’t give up.

“If you haven’t noticed Emerson my father is currently not in a state to tell me these kind of state secrets. My mother, well there is no possible way she could tell me.” I said and for the first time in my life saying my mother was dead didn’t feel bad. It just felt like a fact. Something I can’t help. I knew Emerson was hating me just a little bit right now, he always did when I started talking to him as if he were a child and I was the adult with the big fancy words.

“ I know that Lauren. I was there, but as you probably already know I do not make the rules around here. It’s the way things go. You’ll have to wait until one of your parents tell you.” Now he sounded really annoyed.

“Not even an hint?”

“No Lauren. It’s against the rules, I could get in serious trouble.”

“Emerson.” I pleaded, my eyes wide and big like a little girl. Though he couldn’t see them I knew he was picturing them. I don’t give up easily. He knows that. I could almost hear his inner debate on whether or not he should tell me.

“No Lauren. Not going to happen, not chance in the world.” He said turning away from me, he wasn’t going to budge, but he didn’t want to be tempted.

“Fine.”

“Better. Now go try some of those dresses on for me.”

“Okay.” I said hopping off the bed at the chance to try on the beautiful dresses Emerson had bought me. I didn’t know which one to do first, Emerson still had his back to me I suppose he was trying to be a gentleman, but I think the more logical reason was because I still had my puppy dog eyes on and he wasn’t immune.

I turned back to the rack and slowly flipped through them. Their hangers scratched the metal rack as I moved them along the track. The noise filled the room. Screeching. I was thinking. Moving them back and forth unconsciously.

“Hey Em?” I asked slowly not really knowing what I was going to say next.

“Yes?” He answered rolling towards me with a sigh.

“What are we gonna do after high school?” I didn’t realize the words that were coming out of my mouth until after it was too late to take them back.

“Um.” Emerson said thinking. I could tell the question had caught him off guard. I didn’t want to scare him, but I just had this feeling that the future was somehow already decided for us.

“That’s a good question Laur. I suppose we’ll spend it together. Maybe we’ll go on a road trip. Head over to Europe, I mean that’s if you don’t want to go to college right away. Lauren, will you stop that.” He meant it as a question, but it came out like a command. I was still sliding the hangers back and forth and the noise was obviously getting on his nerves.

“Yeah, sorry.” I said peeling my hang off the rack, only now realizing I had a death grip on it before.

“Anyways.” He said his voice filled with annoyance.

“Why don’t I try this one on first, it seems the most appropriate for tomorrow evening.” I said quickly pulling a black dress off the rack, not really seeing what I was choosing. I rushed away to the bathroom before I could do anything more to tick Emerson off.

Once I was safely locked in the bathroom I really looked at the dress. It was a black one-shoulder evening gown. Just looking at it made me feel expensive and beautiful and I didn’t even have it on yet. The skirt had a high-low hem line and I knew I would make an entrance if I wore this.

I stripped off my clothes and changed into the strapless bra I had left hanging on my towel rack upon deciding not to go with the strapless top this morning. Once my clothes were folded and back in a neat pile, I deftly slipped the dress off its hanger and slowly unzipped the side, making sure the bottom didn’t touch the floor. Stepping into it and zipping it back up, I admired myself in my mirror, I could only see the top half, but still it looked good. I ran my hands up and down the front of the dress ironing out any imaginary creases.

“Lauren? Are you done yet?” Emerson said knocking on the door.

“Yeah, just a sec.” I said still looking at my reflection in the mirror. Then I went to the door and unlocked it. I cracked it open to see Emerson leaning against my bed frame.

“Okay, lemme see it.” He said uncrossing his arms and coming towards the door. I opened it and stepped out.

“Wow.” He said taking my hand and spinning me around slowly.

“You think so?” I said smiling shyly.

“I think you’ll be the prettiest girl there.” He said taking me in his arms and kissing me tenderly. I felt safe. Loved.

I repeat. He’s way too good for me.

***********************************

That night when I slipped into bed with Emerson beside me I felt an overwhelming sense of happiness. Madison gave us the papers before we headed to bed luckily. His long legs were tangled in mine when I fell asleep. Nothing could ruin my high, nothing.

***********************************

“Lauren. Lauren. Wake up.” Emerson said softly his hand warm on my side. I didn’t want to get up so I batted his hand away.

“Lauren, this is important.” He said harshly.

I groan and rolled towards him trying to get closer. I made a noncommittal noise when he pushed me away and got out of bed.

“Comc back. I’m cold.” I said gathering the blankets so they were all piled on top of me. I could hear his quiet pacing on the carpet as I imagined him pressing his fingers to his temples, putting pressure to his headache. I sat up knowing this wouldn’t go away easily.

“Emerson can’t we get some decent sleep before I have to deal with the real world?” I said patting the now empty space beside me and gesturing for him to come back to bed.

“No Lauren, we have bigger problems.” He said stopping for a moment in front of the bed before beginning to pace again.

“Tell me about it.” I said fluffing my pillows and getting comfortable. 

“Your brother’s back in town.” He said slowly.

“Excuse me?” I said now questioning Emerson’s level of saneness.

“Yes. Your brother is back.” Oh gosh, this was worse than I thought. Emerson is crazy!

“Okay Emerson, you’re confused. I don’t have a brother. I’m an only child.”

“No, no Lauren. You’re the one who is out of the loop. You have a brother you just didn’t know about him. His existence was wiped from the Earth. That was the point. So you would never find out about him.” He said seriously. His face was all hard lines and sharp angles when he turned towards me. The light streamed in through my flimsy curtains and cast a dark shadow across one half of his face.

“Okay… What do you mean by back?” I said slowly processing the information like everything else.

“Well you don’t think that he would miss his father almost dying would you? I mean he’s been there through everything. When your mother died he was there, he checked in on you.” He said calmly, though his fingers were still pressed firmly against his temples.

“So what’s the problem then?” I said studying his face.

“The problem is he’s not a good guy Lauren. He’s a bad guy.”

“Why is he the bad guy?”

“He doesn’t want you alive.” He said plainly. I sat there stunned for a moment before gathering my thoughts.

“And why would he want me dead?”

“Because Lauren, that would make him the sole heir to your father’s fortune. Can you imagine what he would do with the money?” He was talking to himself at this point because I didn’t know this brother of mine.

“Is he talented?”

“Very.”

“Okay, well then lets deal with it tomorrow. I’m tired.” I said lying back down on my side waiting for him to climb back in with me.

“Just know that he’ll most likely be at the festival tomorrow. I’m counting on him not trying anything, but if he does, I might have to take action.”

“Okay Em. Now can we go to sleep?” I asked yawning. Emerson came back to his side and slide in next to me. He got settled into the sheets while I stared at the ceiling. Then I took his hand.

“I’ll be with you the whole time.” I murmured before again falling into a comfortable sleep with his hand in mine.