Boyfriends

Chapter 14

❤ Em's POV ❤

I pushed the stroller into Denny's. Immediately, the warm blast of air from the heater engulfed me, and I breathed in the aroma of bacon and buttermilk pancakes.

"Hey, welcome to Denny's! How many people are there?" The excitable hostess looked from Elliot to me, and shot me a full-on grin.

"I think my boyfriend is in there," I smiled tightly at her, "Miles Henderson?"

She signalled me to hold on for a moment, and leafed through the notebook. "Oh! Okay, follow me!" She looked up, a beam on her face, and grabbed one menu. She led me through the maze of tables, and I tried to maneuver the bulky stroller without waking Elliot up.

Finally, about a million years later (a slight exaggeration), I was led to the table where Miles was seated, drinking his hot chocolate.

"Hey," I poked his arm, and plopped my butt down onto the cushy chair opposite him after parking the stroller right by the table. He looked up, and choked on his hot chocolate.

"H-hi, I'm sorry I asked you to come so suddenly," He stuttered slightly, looking apologetic. What was up with Miles? He hardly ever stuttered. If you asked me, he was the bomb at speaking to people.

"It's alright, I didn't get any breakfast, so I'm kind of hungry." My stomach growled in my favour to support my statement, "So what are you getting?" 

He twiddled his thumbs, and stared down at his hot chocolate. Seriously, there was something wrong with him. He hadn't looked me in the eye the whole time. "Emmi, we need to talk," He sounded reluctant.

'We need to talk.' Wasn't that the universal code for 'I'm breaking up with you'? Was Miles breaking up with me? My heart raced, and my palms started sweating immediately. I had to calm myself down - I could just be jumping to conclusions. Maybe, he was going to talk about something else; maybe he was going to ask me to marry him.

"Sure, we can talk," I exhaled slowly and shakily, eyeing him carefully - he was nervous, alright. His eyes were darting around and he was looking at anything but me, "And, my eyes are up here." 

His slowly lifted his head, and his warm brown eyes met mine for a split second, before he turned away and exhaled loudly. "Emerald, you know I really care about you and Elliot. A lot," He emphasized, "But I can't do this anymore."

"What are you talking about?" I didn't understand what he was saying; what couldn't he do anymore? Look after Elliot for me? Or, was it what I was dreading? Was he breaking up with me? "Are you breaking up with me?"

For a moment, I saw something flash behind Miles's eyes, but it disappeared and they hardened. "We can still be friends," He offered, looking a little hopeful. That was so typical of him; saying the worst things at the worst times.

My heart fell; my hope was shattered. I felt a wall of tears start to build up, coating my eyes. No, I wasn't going to cry in front of him. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that I really cared about him now. Not when he was breaking up with me.