Until She Meet Him (FINISHED)

Nineteen

19

Emma

Emma stands on the sidewalk looking around. The lights of the city shining bright on the wet black concrete as the chilly rain pounds down on her head, soaking her to the bone.

"Miss Emma? Are you alright?" The doorman asks, walking over with a large black umbrella.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine." She says unconvincingly.

"Do you need me to call someone for you?"

She shakes her head. "No, I can call someone. Thank you, though." She gives him a tear-soaked weak smile. "Just, don't tell my parents where I went please." She wraps her arms around herself trying to fight away the brisk air. The older man gives her a sad smile, but he nods.

After standing for a while, she finally takes out her phone. Her fingers go to Jake's number on their own but she knows he will not answer. Her fingers hover over a name before finally pressing the call button.

"Emma! Hey!" Avas' sweet voice sounds through the phone happily.

"How was dinner?"

"Av, how fast can you get to the city?" Her voice comes out weak and hitched.

"In a flash, what's wrong? What happened?" Her cheerful voice quickly takes on a worried sound.

"Can you come to get me?" She answers with her own question.

"Of course! Give me a sec to grab my brother and I will be there as soon as I can." She can hear Ava already moving about her house.

"Thanks, I'll send you the address." She hangs up and looks around again, needing somewhere safe to wait.

She remembers a small cafe down the road and starts the wet walk down the busy street. She orders a hot tea, needing to warm her chilled body while she sits at a table by the window to wait. She sits watching the rain drip down the glass for nearly an hour ignoring calls from her mother and her father while looking at her pictures. Fresh tears stream down her face when she sees how happy she and Jake have been the whole time. All before this horrible night that she wishes she never came to. She knows relationships aren't perfect and people fight but the look in his eyes before he left told her he meant what he was saying to her.

She glances out the window and sees Avas' car pull up on the curb. She lays a few extra dollars for taking up the table for so long and runs out to the running car.

"Hey," Ava says, unlocking the door to let her in. "Sorry it took so long, someone wouldn't put their shoes on." She glares back at her little brother, Nathan, in the back. He shrugs his shoulders and looks back down at his game.

"It's fine. I just want to get out of here." She sighs leaning back against the seat.

Ava says nothing for a while as she drives them back to the highway. Emma sits looking out the window as the rain dances across the glass. She lifts her finger, following a stream until it disappears to the back.

"Emma?" Avas' soft voice pulls her from her trance. "What happened? Last I knew, you and Jake were happy and coming to have dinner with your parents." Ava glances over at her before looking back over at the road.

Emma takes a deep breath leaning her head against the headrest. "I guess I should start at the beginning." She says looking over at her friend who gives her an encouraging smile. "So when I was ten-"

Jake

Jake looks out the window for a long while. Why did he think she would come after him? She already had, but he dismissed her, so why did he think she would again? He bangs his hand against the steering until his palm is red and starting to swell. How could he be so stupid? How could he say those things to her?