Emery [bxb]

110

It takes me some time to set the machine up, but I'm handy with this stuff. Build engineer uncle and all.

Bella's boyfriend broke up with her so Em and I have to go over for customary consolation. Well, Emery consoles. I tap my foot.

"Men," she laments. "Can't live with them. Can't shoot them and throw them in a river to frame it like a suicide 'cause the cops'll probably know better..."

"Um..." I offer.

"I think a lot of them act tough, like they don't care, but they're soft on the inside, you know?" Emery picks at a thread on his sleeve. "Closeted romantics who just go through girls like they do because they're afraid of real feelings."

"E, you have to stop projecting," she sighs. "Not every man is Brandon."

"Nah," Em shrugs with a wistful smile. "We've known each other our whole lives. To me, he's every man. I can't help that I think that way."

When we get back home, Emery makes dinner, we eat, and then I work out while listening to lecture recordings.

I find Emery in his room later, testing his toy out on hands and knees. Grinning, I climb onto the bed to kneel at face level with him.