Through The Dark

33 - Emmalyn

33 - Emmalyn

I shifted uncomfortably in the Volkswagen minivan Olivia had just bought. I had not said anything to her about it the day she bought it, but I felt like I should say something now.

'Are you really sure you want this car? It's not too late to tell Tony you want to change it.'

She turned to look at me with a serene stare. 'I am not lying to you, Em. I love it.' The thing that scared me the most that she seemed sincere when she said it. At the end of the day it was her decision, so I just sighed and went along with it.

'It is really pretty,' I conceded, looking around. It was incredible how spacious these cars were.

She parked it and we got out. I started walking to the school's main building, when I spotted him. I felt myself blush and looked away, hoping that I could somehow convince myself that I had not seen him, or that I did not care.

'Hey, there's Sam,' Olivia said and I cursed under my breath. 'He's coming over,' she announced and I cursed out loud this time.

I hid beneath my hair and pretended to be focusing on something on the floor. I had no idea why I got this nervous. He was just a boy in the end. Even as I thought about it, I knew it was not true. I had never met anyone like him before. He was not only cute, but he had a voice of his own. He liked to read and held on to his beliefs. It was difficult to find a boy my age that thought that way. Most of them could not juggle that much on their grasp, all they could pull off was being cute. The second they opened their mouth I cringed.

That was not the case with Sam. He was so different, and I liked different. But I had been hurt by Alex, and wanted nothing to do with any boys. I thought Sam was stupid coming and ruining the simplicity of it for me.

'Good morning, Olivia.' I gulped and looked up through my lashes, hoping I was not red all over anymore. I was quite light skinned, and I did not want to embarrass myself any further. Sam was looking intently at me. 'Hi there,' he said. He bent down, mocking me for hiding behind my hair.

I scowled and straightened up. 'Sam,' I solemnly said. I could see Olivia trying to stifle a laugh behind Sam and I threatened her with a glance. My eyes returned to Sam and I noticed he was still staring at me. 'What?' I inquired, a bit harshly. I felt sorry right away, but stood my ground.

'Nothing, you just look very pretty today. I like that color on you.' I followed his gaze and looked down at my navy blue top.

I opened my mouth and closed it again. 'Thank you,' I finally muttered. I had no idea of what to do or say, he always knew how to throw me off balance.

'Can I walk you to your class?'

'Sure,' Olivia responded for me right away. Sam turned to her and smiled. I glared at her and took a deep breath.

Olivia nodded and put her backpack on. 'Alright, see you at lunch, Emma. Bye, Sam, good to see you.'

'Before you go,' he said and she stood frozen mid step. 'There is a party going on this weekend; I wanted to let you both know.' He turned to me. 'I was thinking...' he chuckled nervously, 'that maybe you and I could go...together.'

Olivia and I exchanged looks. The last time we had been to a party it had not ended well. Sam knew that as well.

'It will be fun,' he pressed.

'I haven't been to one in a while, what do you say?' Olivia probed.

I bit my bottom lip. 'Let's talk about it at lunch.' She smirked and turned around before Sam could see her, thank God.

It was true; I did want to spend this time with him and without distractions. But I did not want him to know it. There were some secrets a girl had to keep.

That was how I ended up in Olivia's room one more time, changing into a tight and short dress. I pretended not to think of Sam when I chose this dress from my closet –now that Olivia had gotten rid of all of the fancy clothes, I was the one borrowing her clothes. She was skinny, but tall, so most of my clothes did not really fit her. In the end, she decided to wear a pair of dark jeans with a sparkly pink blouse I lent her.

'You ready?' I asked as I walked into her bathroom. She was applying some mascara as she looked up at me through the mirror.

'Yeah, let's go.'

'I like it,' I murmured as we got out of her bathroom.

'What?'

'The minimum makeup thing, you don't need much.' She abruptly stopped walking and I instinctively looked back. 'What happened?'

She said nothing. She just stared at me for a moment. I gazed back at her through the dark, since I had already turned off the light. All the bright that came through to us was from her room, so I could only see a bit of her, all in shadows and bits of dark. She looked bruised, and I did not like it. I reminded myself it was because of the shadows, and that she was not really harmed.

She leaned in and hugged me tightly. I stood perplex for a few seconds, grasping at what she was doing. When I realized she was okay, I hugged her back. 'Everything alright?'

She leaned back but kept her arms around me. 'I just realized that I love you,' she murmured in response.

I smiled warmly and hugged her one more time. 'It's nice, isn't it? Loving.'

'I just thought one could feel this only about a boy, but I love you -in a totally straight, friendly way,' she clarified.

'I know. It is crazy that it takes us so long to figure out that there are different types of love and that each and every one of them is acceptable.'

'Alright, now let's stop being sappy and let's go enjoy ourselves in this party.'

She whooped and we made our way to her car. On the way there, I tried to ignore the fact that I was meeting Sam in less than half an hour. We had agreed that I would go with Olivia in her car. He agreed to it, but had said he would be the one to take me home. The first thought that came to my mind as he said that was the one of a midnight farewell kiss, and I found myself excited for it.

Olivia turned the stereo on and loud, and I grinned widely as an indie popular song came on. We sang it at the top of our lungs as we drove through the deserted streets. It was liberating, and I loved to feel this way, without a care, only with the blow of the wind on my hair and with a good –and true- friend by my side. I was not one to believe much in luck, but I knew that at this moment, I was one lucky girl.