Farm Girl Meets Bad Boy (#1)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Knock yourself out,” Mary shrugs, throwing him her sponge. She picks up the hose and starts to spray Patch. Emery walks around to my right where Mary had been moments earlier and starts to pat the sponge against Silver.

“You’re doing it wrong,” I mutter, grabbing Emery’s hand. I start moving it in circular motions when he tears it away.

“I can’t do it,” he snaps, holding his hand as far away from me as it can get.

“I have an idea!” Yells Mary, running happily towards my truck. I pay no attention as I glare at Emery. He’s still sponging her wrong and it’s really aggravating me.

“You’re still not doing it right,” I tell him, reaching for his hand which he moves away from mine before I can grab it. “You need to do it the way I showed you or the dirt won’t come out.”

“Leave me alone, River,” he barks, taking a step away from me. All the built up anger and wounded feelings rise to the surface as I lunge towards his hand to retrieve the sponge. Music starts to blare from my truck, but I barely notice. All I recognize is the mix CD Mary had burned me. She had also got me a CD player for the truck, which it didn’t have because it’s so old.

“Emery,” I whine, angry. My parents both sit on the deck, watching us fight while they sip their drinks as if this is entertaining to them. “Just let me show you how to do it!”

I lunge for the second time for Emery’s hand but he raises it high up so I can’t reach. “Do you want it?” He asks, raising his eyebrows. When I nod, I instantly regret it. Smirking, Emery twists the sponge in his hands and the soapy water falls directly on my head. I’m soaked on contact, and extremely pissed.

“Asshole!” I scream, ignoring my parents who I can hear laughing. I don’t even think about it as I throw my sponge at Emery. It hits him directly in the face and once it falls to the ground, soaking his clothes on the way, his expression is of pure shock served with a side of fury.

“Bitch,” he retorts, grabbing my arm and yanking me around. He turns me until I’m facing the opposite way so he can push my arm up until it hurts. Not wanting a repeat of the pain I felt the first time he did this, I raise my left foot, and kick him in the shin with the back of my heel.

“Enough!” yells Mary, and suddenly water is soaking me everywhere. Emery lets me go and I cover my eyes. Mary’s spraying us with the hose, and we’re already soaked from head to toe within a second. When she stops, she looks embarrassed. I look to Emery, who’s already staring at me. We nod to each other, knowing what the other one’s thinking. Quickly, we bend down and I pick up the sponges while Emery grabs the soap bucket. Mary starts to scream as she drops the hose and we begin to chase her.

Two Hours Later:

“So,” I mumble, slowly walking down County Road Six beside Emery. We had just walked soak and wet Mary home after we changed, and now we’re left to ourselves.

“So,” Emery repeats, not meeting my eyes. Early evening had turn to night as the sun sets across the horizon. The crickets had already started chirping, and so far no cars had gone down the road, leaving us to small talk.

“Any big plans for tomorrow’s adult-free night?” I ask and Emery shakes his head no. “What? No parties, clubbing, or trying to kill me?” Emery steps to the left to purposely shove me with his shoulders.

“Nope.”

I roll my eyes. “You really know how to kill a conversation.”

“River,” Emery says quietly, shoving his hands in his pockets. I’m starting to think he’s run out of cigarettes, because I haven’t seen him smoke lately. “I think we need to talk.”

Instinctively I pick up my pace so that I’m ahead of him. The last thing I want to do is talk about what happened on the night of my birthday. Forgetting about it and acting like it never happened seems like the best option to me right now.

“River,” he whines, grabbing my arm. I don’t stop walking but now we’re on the same pace. “What you said was-“

“Stupid,” I snap, cutting him off. “I know. Let’s just forget it, alright?” I try to walk ahead of him again but he grabs my arm.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say.” When I look over to meet his eyes, his expression is pleading. Sighing, I decide to suck it up and listen. “What I was trying to say, is that you shouldn’t feel that way about me.”

My eyes narrow as I yank my arm free of his grasp. “Yeah and why’s that?”

“Because falling for me is a bad idea,” he snaps angrily, no longer the calm Emery who I was trying to ignore just minutes before.

“I think it’s too late,” I whisper, slowly down my steps. We’ve already had a conversation similar to this one, about not getting attached. This time though, the topic is more serious. Last time I didn’t know what he meant when he responded. However this time, the tone of his voice can give me all the answers I need.

“Yeah,” shouts Emery, walking ahead of me. His fingers clench into fists and unclench again. “Me too.”