Farm Girl Meets Bad Boy (#1)

Chapter Twelve

“Get away from me!”

I turn around, and look through the window of my room. I have been sitting out on my roof for hours, since I couldn’t fall asleep. This always happened whenever I freaked out about Ocean. First it would be the dream, and then I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I stare down at Emery’s struggling, asleep body, and wonder if I would be asleep if Emery had slept beside me tonight.

“No…Stop!” He grasps at his neck, trying to pry invisible hands from choking him. My eyes open wide, I realize something significant. Emery didn’t have any dreams when he slept beside me either. “Why do you have to do this?”

“Emery,” I call gently, crawling on the dark shingles towards my window. My hands grasp the peeling white paint as I hoist myself inside. “Wake up.”

“I hate you!” He snaps, pushing something that’s clearly not there away from him. He tosses himself to the left, then the right, then back to facing the ceiling. He says no more words, as he gasps for air. Instead he cries out, whimpers, and then goes back to being sound asleep.

I yawn, and decide it’s time for me to sleep too, or at least try. I slide my window closed, and tip toe towards my bed. I quietly walk around Emery, not wanting to wake him while he wasn’t dreaming horribly.

I’m just walking around the top end of the mattress, where Emery’s face looks peacefully asleep, when something completely unexpected happens. I cover my mouth to shield the surprised scream, as my ankle his clasped tightly.

Emery yanks me backwards, so that my feet fall out from underneath me, and I smack the ground with the front of my face. Before I can yell, cry, or even attack him, he’s on top of me, holding me down by my neck. Even though the room is filled with darkness and shadows, I can see the rage in his eyes perfectly clear. He raises his right arm, with his hand clenched in a fist. His lips are curled in hatred, as he’s ready to hit me.

“Emery!” I spit out, as the pressure on my neck becomes tighter. “It’s me, River! It’s me, stop!”

For a moment, he blinks in surprise, and then lowers his fist. He doesn’t get off me, just like a few nights ago. This is exactly like deja-vu. He sighs, and looks out to the window, as if there’s something there that’s interesting to look at.

“Can you…I don’t know, climb off of me?”

Emery looks back down at me and moves off of me, then rises to his feet. “You shouldn’t have woken me. Wasn’t it obvious with what happened last time?”

I take a deep breath, and stand up. Rubbing my neck, I stare at him in confusion. “I didn’t wake you.”

Emery raises his eyebrows, and then shrugs. “Oh.” Surprisingly he heads back to his mattress, instead of going on the roof for a cigarette. After he’s laid down, I head to my bed.

I make a mental note not to even go near Emery while he’s asleep. I thought that waking him up would result in injury, but apparently just being in the same room with him ended up exactly the same.

I sigh as I relax into my bed, feeling the smooth sheets beneath my shoulders. “Have you asked my dad about borrowing the truck?” I ask quietly, as I stare out my window at the stars. They twinkle in the dark night sky, and I avoid the pulling feeling to go onto the roof.

“I will.”

“When?”

“Does it matter?”

“Well, kind of.”

Emery sighs agitatedly. “I will, just stop bugging me.”

My heart sinks, when I realize that maybe what happened last night meant nothing to Emery. It meant a lot to me, even though I know liking Emery is wrong. He wasn’t a guy any father wanted to get their daughter to get involved with. However, my father is pushing us together.

“Emery…” I murmur, my voice drifting over the end of my bed and down to his ears. “Last night…Did it-“

“Stop. Right. There,” snaps Emery cutting me off. I seal my lips together, mortified. I feel my face grow hot as my cheeks glow red. “I already said that I couldn’t sleep with your shaking, and you had my blankets.” I sink as deep as I can into my sheets, as if it would make any difference to his words. “I wasn’t making an excuse, River. Not just shut the hell up so I can sleep. Unlike you,” he spits. “I was out working all day. Now just shut the hell up.”

I keep my mouth shut, and my eyes wide open. The only sound is of Emery’s breathing as he falls back asleep. Mine is too quiet for even me to hear, because I’m afraid that it will be too loud for the sleeping jerk at the end of my bed.

I fight back the tears that try to break the dam I’ve put up in my eyes. I couldn’t cry, at least not while Emery is only a few feet away. It could wake him and he would yell at me. As much as I hated him before, and then grew fond of his soft side, I knew I just had to go back to hating him again.

I mentally scold myself and scream that I’m so incredibly stupid. How could I get so worked over up over something that happened in one night? I had only known the guy for a few days, and he tried to kill me multiple times. There was no possible way that I could have even hoped that there is something between us. It would just be ridiculous.

Tomorrow I would tell Mary that again, was wrong and I had been right. Besides, a gorgeous boy like Emery, even though he’s a major jackass, can get any girl he wants. Why would he want some isolated farm girl who is extremely boring?

I close my eyes and make a goal. I would have to start staying away from Emery. Well, at least until Friday, which is only about a day away. Mary would never let me bail. But afterwards, I can go right back to ignoring him, and he can go right back to hating me.

“Leave me alone!” wails Emery from his mattress. I hear him toss and turn, throwing his limbs out at odd angles. But instead of waking him, or even yelling his name, I snuggle down beneath my covers. “No…Stop!”

Yes, it would be hard to sleep with him having nightmares. But I didn’t want to risk my life for a second time tonight. Besides, Emery deserves having a bad dream, because he’s been making my reality hell.