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ZACH
I rummaged through the fridge and made myself a sandwich. Emma had been in her room for nearly three hours, not coming out for even a glass of water. Did I know what was wrong? Sure. I'd heard some rumors that Bianca had seen the photo from the paper. It seems everyone had seen it. Brett was still breaking my balls about it. But Bianca was seriously pissed off. I couldn't figure out why she even cared.
I'd cornered Brett that afternoon and asked him what he knew. At first he insisted that he didn’t know anything, but by the way his eyes kept shifting, I knew he was full of shit.
"Tell me what you know."
He sighed. "Not much. I heard she had some temper tantrum or something. Started saying that she wasn't finished with Emma."
I pulled out my phone and searched through my contacts for Bianca's number.
"Hey, you're not calling her, are you?" Brett asked. "Don't stir it up again. I'm sure she's over it."
"Doesn't sound like it," I said, my jaw clenching in anger. Bianca had a real screw loose.
"If it helps, I even said a few things to one of Bianca's friends. I told her that Bianca was showing a little too much crazy."
I narrowed my eyes. "You actually did that?"
"Look, I don't know Emma, but this is getting stupid now. Bianca needs to knock it off."
"You hear anything else, I want to know."
"Fine."
I was pretty sure Brett had told me everything, and I was also pretty sure Bianca had contacted Emma somehow. Had she shown up at Julian's? Got that idiot Jake to send her a message? Whatever it was, Emma wasn't telling me about it.
I ate my sandwich and watched some Monday Night Football. Emma finally came out of isolation and walked past me without a word and into the kitchen. A few drawers opened, some clanging of pots and then the smell of chicken soup, her soup, the one she made tons of and froze whenever there was nothing else to eat. My mouth watered and I followed the aroma into the kitchen.
"Any for me?" I asked.
"Sure," she said, her face focused on the pot. She was so detached. I wondered if she was mad at me for something. For not texting her again over the holidays? About Heather?
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Headache," she said, pointing to her head.
"Have you taken anything for it? I think I have some Advil."
"No, I'm good."
I got some bowls and she continued to stir, like I was a ghost in the room. Yes, something was bothering her and the only person I could think of who might be able to get it out of her was Genie.
She poured the soup into the bowls and we ate in relative silence other than a few sentences about school. She then got up, washed her bowl and went back to her room. Once I knew she was tucked away, I called Genie.
"So you want me to find out what's wrong? Did you ask her?"
"Of course I did."
"I'm going to point something out to you because I know you're a bit dense. When did your problems with Emma start?"
"After the kiss."
"But you talked to her after that by text? Everything seemed fine?"
"Yes."
"And what changed when she got back?"
"Nothing."
"Think harder, weenie."
I was at a loss. I had no idea what had changed and then it hit me. "Heather?"
"You're the biggest weenie I've ever met. What possessed you to get involved with her? I'm sure she's nice, but are your balls that blue? Emma is nervous, it's that simple. She's never had a boyfriend, she likes you but gets spooked by the kiss, and what do you do? You start dating some girl the second she gets back. You're an ass."
"But it's so casual."
"Ugh! Really! Are all boys this stupid? I bet her mood will lift once that girl is out of the picture, unless you like that girl."
"She's nice, but..."
Genie let out a pained groan. "Then dump her before she gets too attached." She paused for a long moment. "I'm going to ask you something, and don't even think about lying to me because I can see through your shit. Did you start dating this girl to piss off Emma? Get her to react? To prove to yourself that she likes you?"
"No." I said it so quickly I didn't believe myself.
"Are you twenty going on five? Emma isn't the kind of girl you do that to. In fact, you don't do that to any girl. What were you thinking?"
"I didn't intentionally do it!"
"Sure you did. You needed to validate that she likes you. I already told you that she does, so why push her buttons?"
"I wasn't doing that. I don't even know why I started dating Heather."
"Because you are a—"
I cut her off before she could finish. "Yeah, I get it."
"Like I told you before, give Emma a little space, and if you find yourself getting horny, get romantic with one of your hands."
With that she hung up.
I hated when Genie was right.
#
HEATHER MET ME O'CONNOR's, one of the lunch places on campus. I had an hour before meeting up with Emma to go home.
"Hello," she said, placing a kiss on my cheek and settling into the seat across from me. She set her overflowing school bag down and unwrapped the sandwich she'd grabbed. "How was your day?"
"Busy. Lots of assignments to do."
"I have half a textbook to read and two papers to finish by Monday. It's going to be a long weekend. Are you okay if we don't see each other?"
"About that, I thought we could talk. I'm getting swamped with school and I need to focus on my marks to get into law school. I think we might not get to see each other as much."
She was about to take a bite of her sandwich, but set it back on the plastic wrap. "I see," she said, her voice dropping off.
"I can't blow this chance. I have to stay committed."
"I understand. Look, it's not like we were serious or anything."
"You're a great girl. I hate doing this."
She looked off in the distance and when her gaze returned to me, she shrugged. "It's about your roommate, isn't it? I'm not going to freak out, I just want to know."
"It's not about Emma."
One eyebrow rose. "I haven't known you long, but I can tell that's a lie. Maybe you don't believe it yet, but this is all about her."
Heather really was a great girl. Not an ounce of bitterness was in her voice. It was all matter-of-fact, calm and understanding. Had it been a different time, if Emma had never come into my life, Heather was a girl I could fall for.
"You might be right, I don't know."
"You're a good guy, Zach Walker. Emma is lucky. I've had this feeling she's liked you for a long time. I see it when you meet up with her after classes. Tell her how you feel and she'll be putty in your hands."
I didn’t know how to respond to that.
"I'm sorry this didn't work out," I said.
"Hey, it's only been a few weeks. I'll get over it."
She got up and so did I. I hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek. "Let's keep in touch, okay?"
"Sure."
She didn’t say it convincingly.
“I mean it.”
“Okay, Zach. See you around.”
I sat again and thought about what she'd said. Emma, putty in my hands? Not a fucking chance. I may have cleared an obstacle, but I'm not sure it made a difference.