Magnolia

f o u r

Tonight's the night. The party in which I will have a spectacular breakthrough with Emma and she will reveal her big secret. Then we will be best of friends, maybe fall in love, blah blah blah, happily ever after. High hopes, I know. I was imaginative like that. 

It was now 12 pm. I had stayed up all night trying to find something about Emma on the internet which resulted in, guess what, nothing. 

Well, that wasn't entirely true. I found one thing which was just another piece of the puzzle falling into place. Her parents are dead, have been for a bit. It explains some things but yet creates many more questions. 

The article said they were killed in a bank robbery, three years ago, meaning Emma was pretty young. I pictured a younger Emma sobbing over her loss but than transforming into the guarded person she is now. But with no parents, who was she living with? And if by herself, how on earth does she afford it? Both my working parents can barely afford this place. 

My mind was still a little too fuzzy to think, my brain sleep deprived. I got up and stumbled downstairs. "Mom?" I yelled to yet again, an empty house. I walked into the kitchen, sloppily putting together a bowl of cereal. I sat down at the table and ate the cereal, trying to stay awake. I was leaning on my arm practically asleep when someone knocked on the glass sliders that looked in our kitchen. Slipping off my hand, my face found its way into the cereal bowl. 

I jerked up, spotting Emma looking in. She was laughing so hard she had tears running down her face. I could hear her laugh through the door. I started laughing too, considering how contagious her laugh was. Honestly, it was worth the loss of dignity. 

I got up and let her in before remembering I was in my boxers and my face was covered in cereal. I felt a blush rise on my face, not that she could see it under the layer of milk. 

"How was breakfast?" she asked, chuckling, trying to calm herself down as she took a seat at the table.

"Very funny. Now if you will wait one moment I am going to go wipe this off my face and put pants on" I played into her, clearing my bowl of cereal.

"Are you sure? It's a good look for you" she teased and with that, she was sent into another storm of laughter in which I went upstairs and changed.

When I came back down, Emma was where I left her. Half of me had expected her to have vanished into thin air. "So what's up?" I asked, curious to know why she'd come over.

"Well, I know your dad's not here and I saw a large black van parked across the street and it has been there for a while so I came over to check on you" she spoke honestly for the first time in a while. Progress.

"How did you know about my dad?" I asked, catching her. I had told her a lot, but I knew specifically that I hadn't told her that.

She stared at me from where she sat like a deer in headlights, her eyes wide as her brain raced to come up with an explanation. She looked around the room, her eyes landing on something. "I saw the picture" she explained, gesturing to a picture on the wall of my dad in uniform smiling, a younger version of myself tucked under his arm. That was the time he came home early for Christmas. 

I knew she was lying but it seemed to be a lie in which was performed in a caring manner so I let it go. Why push when it'll only make her go away. 

"Oh, well, yeah, I'm fine and I haven't noticed anything missing," I said, reassuring her as I looked around the room. I could tell she was worried. "Why?" I asked, my curiosity spiked. If it had been anyone else, they wouldn't have paid a second look to the van. 

"Well there have been some reports of.." she drifted off, her mouth closing shut.

"What?" I asked again, encouraging her to go on.