Chapter Sixteen
Emmet
I was sitting at the ice cream shop behind the counter, trying hard not to fall asleep. Not many people had stopped by today. I was suddenly jerked awake by my phone vibrating in my pocket. I jumped and knocked a glass off the counter, causing it to fall and explode into little pieces.
"Ow! Gosh!" I gritted my teeth as a piece of glass bounced from the floor up through my pant leg cutting my skin. I yanked my leg away, which threw my balance off. I reached out for anything to stop my fall. I ended up grabbing the broom and the counter. I ended up on my butt on the cold tile floor, glass all around me, a cut on my leg, holding a broom. Today was not turning out very well. I cleaned up the mess, put a band-aid on my leg, and looked at my phone. My eyes lit up and my stomach churned when I saw the name of the person who sent me the text.
hey emmet its destiny. i hope everything is goin gud 4 u. i am stuck here in the hospital waiting 4 da doctors to come and do their tests on me like im some experimental animal. ugh. i hate that. hows life like in duluth? hows the shop? how r u? i dont know wat else to say.......
I smiled. I sat down, staring at her name. I couldn't believe a girl had finally texted me. I was so excited. I slid my phone open to answer but then my hands started to shake, my heart pounded and my stomach twisted into knots. What would I say? I couldn't send something cheesy. I couldn't tell her everything would be fine. What was I supposed to say? "I hope you don't die?" Yeah, right! I lowered my head onto the cool granite counter and groaned. I finally decided the right thing to do was to just send a simple "everything is fine" text.
hi destiny. everything is uh fine. school suks. i hate 11th grade. um i, i hope the doctors aren't too bad. i hope you feel better soon. i uh...dont know wat else to say either...
After I sent it, I re-read the text and rolled my eyes. It was so idiotic I wished I could just take it back before she read it. I lowered my head onto the cool granite counter top just as my boss walked in. PERFECT timing. I groaned silently.
"Hey son, what's wrong?" He often referred to me as "son". I had been working here since I was 14 and we had developed a nice friendship.
"Nothing." I sat up and began spinning my phone around in circles.
"Something's wrong. Look at me." I turned my face towards his, looking him in the eye.
"Woman troubles. No doubt about it."
"How the heck do you know that?" I asked.
"Son, I've been married 34 years. When I was your age, when my brothers had woman troubles, they all had the exact same look on their face. Now you got that look. What's her name? What's wrong?" I looked at him and spilled everything.
"I met a girl a few weeks ago and fell for her. I know it sounds cheesy but I really did. This is not a normal crush. Anyway, she came in the other day crying. I obviously asked what was wrong and when she told me my world fell apart. She had to go to Minneapolis to get treatment for CANCER. She was just diagnosed. I couldn't believe this was happening so I made her feel better and then she left. I just got a text from her and my answer was totally stupid! What do I do? I can't tell her how I feel because she'll probably think I'm dumb and just a stereotypical teenage guy or she'll think I'm some creep who-"
"Slow down son. I get it. I say the best thing to do is to just tell her how you feel, no matter the consequences. That's how I won my wife."
"What did you say?"
"I told her that I, too had fallen for her and one day I just showed up at her door with flowers. She was shocked and then when I told her that I had fallen in love, she took the flowers and we had our first date. We got married 4 months later."
"And you're still together?" I asked. He nodded.
"That's amazing. Maybe I will." He slapped me on the back and wished me luck. He told me he was going to go manage the other part of the store that the ice cream shop was connected to. I thanked him and he left. I must have sat there for a good 10 minutes getting the courage to text her and tell her. I slid out the keyboard, ready to text her when the bell jingled and two of Destiny's friends walked in. I dropped my phone, grabbed it and stuffed it in my pocket, red slowly creeping up my face.
"Are you ok?" The oldest girl asked. I think her name was Lizzy."
"Yeah. Fine. Would you like to order?" They nodded and stepped forward.
"What do you want Anna?" Lizzy asked.
"A small vanilla cone please." I punched in the amount and waited for Lizzy's response.
"Same." I multiplied the amount by 2 and told them the price. Lizzy opened her purse and handed me the money. I rang it up and gave her change. They went and sat in a booth close enough that I could hear them.
"I wonder how she's doing."
"Yeah. She hasn't even texted us yet."
"Maybe she can't. Maybe she's already going through tests."
"I heard they're horrible."
"I know! I witnessed the bone one and believe me, if I didn't have self control, I would've puked all over everything."
"I would've passed out."
"Yeah I know that." She laughed. I took out my phone and decided to text Destiny now, since they didn't need anything else. I took a deep breath and opened my phone, sliding the keyboard out so I could type.
hey des. i uh wanted to tell u something. can i tell u something?
I groaned. I sent it before I could add more. I guess I would just have to wait. I wanted her permission before I emotionally shocked her. Lizzy and Anna had heard me and snapped their heads to the counter.
"Are you ok?" The looked at me.
"Fine." I scratched the back of my neck and sunk down into a chair.
"Something's wrong."
"No, nothing." They walked over to the counter just as my phone vibrated and lit up. It was in plain view and they could see who the person was.
"YOU'RE TALKING TO DESTINY? You KNOW her?" Lizzy grabbed my phone before I could and began scrolling through the messages I had sent her.
"Hey, you can't do that! Give it back!" I came around to the other side of the counter and tried to grab it out of her hand. She gasped when she read my most recent text.
"What are you going to tell her?" She looked at me with fire in her eyes.
"Sorry. She uh...told me."
"About what?" Anna crossed her arms over her chest and stood by Lizzy.
"About why she's in Minneapolis."
"Yeah? So what are you gonna do about it?" She looked at me.
"Hey, why the fire? I'm just talking with her."
"What are you going to tell her?"
"None of your stupid buisness." I yanked the phone out of her hand.
"She's my BEST friend. It is my buisness." Thankfully, Anna stepped in.
"Guys, just let it go. Come on Lizzy." They left. Anna looked over her shoulder and shrugged. Lizzy flicked her hair and stomped away, slamming the door behind her so the bell rang loudly. I sighed and sat down. Well it's now or never, I thought.
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