strangers // jp [mphfpc]

december 4th, 2015

and that could turn out into two situations. a) jacob would listen and in some miraculous way feel the same and tell her or b) he wouldn't feel the same and emily would have mady everything extremely awkward and probably ruin their friendship.

both would be kind of hard to deal with, but wasn't this already hard? keeping the distance from her only and best friend? a friend she had feelings for.

that's completely bizarre, loving your best friend in more-than-a-best-friend way. not completely bizarre, alex and rosie fell in love with each other and they were best friends. maybe god would have mercy upon emily and her and jacob could end up like alex and rosie, without all the unnecessary heartbreaks and crying.

emily sighed. what were the chances of jacob liking her in that way, too? 90% no, 10% yes. i mean, jacob portman. he's jacob portman. an incredible human being who came up to emily at her weakest point. he gave her a friendship she didn't know she needed. but she cherished that friendship more than anything and certainly did not want to lose.

he meant so much to emily. jacob had such a kind heart and a warming smile and the blue eyes. oh, his eyes... an ocean of feelings to be lost in whenever. and his hair, and his hands, and his chest, such a warm one. just because he was skinny didn't mean he couldn't warm emily or himself. was he the one?

emily whimpered slightly and her head fell on her laptop's keyboard, creating nonsense as her answer to a test question. she quickly collected herself and straightened back up in her chair. her messages remained open, but, not being able to face it, emily locked her phone.

jacob rested his head on his hand as he listened to what his teacher was saying. he then bent his head down to see if emily had replied to his message. no. nothing.

she hadn't answered to a single one of his messages for two weeks. the last time they spoke was at jacob's grandpa's place, when emily came over for dinner. why was she silent? had something happened? 

jacob wanted to go check on her last week, go by her house for a visit. but then he remembered - he had never met emily's so-told horrible parents, neither had he ever been in emily's house. jacob would be a total stranger  to emily's parents.

but he needed to know if emily was okay, he needed to talk to her. this silence was crushing him. 

but why was there no sign from emily in two weeks? did something happen? did jacob say or do something wrong, that might upset emily? but at the dinner, everything went and ended well. he couldn't recall a moment she looked sad or displeased. was it his grandpa? no, it couldn't be, grandpa's the best at communicating with teenagers.

jacob must see emily. and he was going to do it today. it would be risky, sure, but he needed to know why emily had been keeping her distance from her only friend. jacob needed to take all his courage and go by her house, meet emily's parents, if he must.

so, when all of jacob's classes had ended for the day, he decided he'd go to emily's house. he walked out of his school and put his headphones on, making his way to the bicycle parking place. jacob got on his bike and zipped his jacket closed and carefully cycled his way out on the streets.

the path to emily's house was nothing out of the ordinary, just a bit windy on the highway bridge. jacob left his bike on the street and walked down the path to emily's house. once he was on her doorstep, he sucked in a deep breath and exhaled. jacob was a little shaky, but he cleared his throat and took all the courage he had in his skinny figure.

he raised his hand and knocked on the dark brown door. jacob waited a few seconds and then heard footsteps on the other side of the door. the door was opened by a middle aged woman with brown hair. emily's mom.

"hello." she said, which sounded more like a question. her eyes didn't recognise jacob. 

"hi." jacob said, giving emily's mom an awkward smile. "i-is emily home?"

"and why would a stranger want to know?" emily's mom sceptically asked. 

"i'm not a stranger, ma'am, i'm emily's friend, jacob portman." he introduced himself. "could you please let me in so i could see her?"

"i don't know you, young man. why would i have any reason to let you in my house?"

"please, let me in." jacob pleaded. "i need to see her, she hasn't been answering my messages."

"that's probably because she doesn't want to and doesn't know you, either." emily's mother hissed. 

"please, i need to see her." jacob said, but emily's mom was already starting to close the door. "okay, i'm sorry, could you just give emily a message, please?"

emily's mom didn't close the door fully and gave him silence to continue.

"oh, sorry, the message isn't for her, it's for you." jacob said and sighed before speaking again. "go easy on her, please. she is a girl with emotions, not a robot who perfects all the tests and quizzes in her laptop. emily feels things, she feels like her parents don't even love her or care about her. if you do, prove that to her." jacob nodded. "have a good day."

the boy walked off, leaving mis claire with a confused look on her face. how did he know emily? and how did he know what she felt?

she needed to talk to emily about this.

will it be too late
if we catch the wind

hey you're not alone
go break the mold
go where you are free

i know that you feel insane
will it break your heart
if you hear it on the wind