Taking A Risk

Chapter 21

"Come let me show you the guestroom," I told Emma and gestured for her to follow me. I led her out of the living and down the hallway, passing Mia's room and the bathroom before stopping in front of the spare bedroom.

I turned to the doorknob and pushed the door open. "I'm sorry about the clutter, I also use this as my sewing room," I told Emma as I switched on the lights.

Emma's eyes roamed over the now illuminated space, taking in the light grey walls, and the queen-sized bed covered in a sage green duvet. Then her eyes moved to where I had all of my sewing equipment my sewing table, sewing machine, all the designs I had sketched out and stuck on the wall, the rolls of fabrics I had stacked in the corner, and the shelf against the wall that housed all my sewing essential like thread and needles. Her gaze then paused on the champagne-colored dress I placed on my dress form mannequin earlier today.

She stepped closer, inspecting it. The dress was short, with a puffy balloon skirt, a corset bodice with a lace-up back, and wide draping off-the-shoulder sleeves.

She looked over at me. "You made this right? Brooks told me you were majoring in fashion design."

I nodded. "Yeah, I made it for my cousin, for her engagement party."

"It's beautiful," she complimented.

"Thank you." The dress was indeed gorgeous when I sent a picture of it to my cousin Everly earlier freaked out over it. I was surprised when she asked me, I thought for sure, she'd have asked my aunt, who was a world-renowned fashion designer, and though she was my mother's older sister and she wasn't related to Everly by blood she always treated her like a niece.

"Hey," I turned my head as Mia entered the room, handing the bottle of water to Emma, who thanked her. Then she turned to leave, but not before shooting an imploring look.

I knew Mia, her nosy ass was dying to know what happened. Sure, she probably pieced together some of what happened, from what was being said between Brooks and Emma, but not the full story.

But I'm sure, Brooks was relaying the entire drama to Nate so she'll find out soon enough.

Emma took a sip of her water while she wandered over to the bed, and sat at the edge.

"Well, I'll get something for you to sleep in, and if you want to take a shower the bathroom's right next door, and there are clean towels in there as well."

"Yeah, I think a shower would be a good idea," she replied crinkling her nose as she glanced down at her disheveled appearance.

I laughed lightly. "Okay, and if you want I can throw your clothes in the washer or I can show you where the laundry room is in the morning and you could do it yourself."

"I'll do it in the morning," she replied as she nervously tapped her fingers against the water bottle.

I nodded. "Okay cool, well let me go get you somethi-,"

"Do you think Brooks is still mad?" She blurted out cutting me off.

"Probably, but it's understandable," I answered honestly.

"Do you think I'm stupid too?" She asked softly without meeting my eyes.

Sighing, I moved to the bed, took a seat next to her, and positioned my body so I was facing her.

"I think you did a stupid thing," I shrugged. "But so did I when I was your age and I'm sure Brooks did as well. And I know you think he's a hypocrite because he probably did worst shit than sneaking out to a party at sixteen. But you have to understand he got a call from his little sister, saying that she was at a college party, and this older guy tried to force himself on her. It's understandable why he lost his shit," I paused gentling my voice before I continued. "I'm not saying it's your fault for what that guy did, but tonight could've been a lot worse. What if you couldn't fight this dude off, and he overpowered you or he slipped something in your drink?"

Emma nodded, still avoiding my eyes as she fidgeted nervously. "I know tonight could've ended a lot worse and I knew it was stupid what we did, but I just thought tonight would've been fun."

I get what she saying, we've all been there. "Just be more careful in the future okay?"

"Okay," she repeated, finally making eye contact with me. "You know, you're a lot different than I thought you'd be," she mused, with a pensive look in her eye. "I could see why Brooks likes you so much," she said cracking a small smile.

"Really, what did you expect?" I asked curiously.

She shrugged. "I thought, you'd be a massive bitch, just like Brielle," she responded frankly causing a shocked laugh to spill from my lips.
Brooks never talked about his ex a lot, but the little he did tell me, I had to agree with Emma.

"Hey, don't be fooled I can't be a massive bitch at times," I said eliciting a giggle from Emma.

"What's so funny?" Both of our heads snapped to Brooks leaning against the doorframe with his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants.

"Nothing," Emma and I said at the same time.

"Hmmm," stepping further into the room, his eyes held mine for a moment before they shifted to Emma.

"I'm still mad at you and I still believe what you did was fucking stupid," he sighed tiredly, running his fingers through his mussed-up black hair. "But I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"I'm sorry too," she said, looking contrived as she smiled weakly.

"I'll leave you two alone to talk," I told them, shooting Emma a reassuring smile, I stood and headed to the door. Brooks watched my approach, grasping my hand when I was in touching distance. "I'm sorry about earlier," said, sincerity shining in his eyes.

"I know," I told him as I leaned up placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "Speak with your sister first we'll talk later," I whispered to him before stepping back and walking out the door.

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Hey, guys, I know I've been MIA for a while now. The reason for this is that I've been having doubts about the direction I planned to take this book, so I've been writing and rewriting chapters but nothing felt right. It was so frustrating it put me in the biggest writing slump ever. I couldn't write anything for months, but I'm back now. So thank you to everyone who's still here, I hope you all enjoy these two new updates.

This chapter is unedited. It may contain errors.