Shutter [Jonathan Byers] Stranger Things I

XII: Cohere

co·here

verb

be united; form a whole.

The sun was half set by the time Jonathan and Emilia arrived at the Byers household, despite it being only half past three. The sky was not nearly as beautiful as it had been two days prior; the clouds that obscured the sky and made everything feel grey. There were tall trees surrounding the property, and Emilia knew that there was a dense stint of forest between the backyard and the rest of the town. It was a thick woods back there, and she imagined that within that thicket there would be so many stunning places to take photos. Winter or summer, the forest offered a sort of beauty that could only be seen through the naked eye, or through a good photographer.

It would take only ten minutes to drive Emilia home, which left the two with two hours and a little bit to study. When they arrived, and Jonathan unlocked the front door, they found themselves blissfully alone. Upon the coffee table in the living room, which was the first room they walked into from the front door, it was messy. A wine glass at the side, a coffee mug not upon a coaster with some cold coffee in it, an empty pack of cigarettes. Jonathan blushed and walked over to it, gathering the few items that made it appear messy to guests. Emilia didn't notice those items; to her an empty wine glass was a sign of classiness at the end of the night, and a tiredness that resulted in leaving the cleaning of it to another time. It was half-empty beer cans askew over a table that was messy.

"Sorry about this," Jonathan said as he put everything in the sink, Emilia followed him into the kitchen.

She raised her hand gently, "You're nervous. Don't be."

You're nervous too.

"Where would you prefer to work?" He changed the subject to get the studying moving along. He couldn't help being nervous when Emilia was in his house and it was a mess, or that he wondered if his feelings for her were out of place. "Kitchen? Living room? Bedroom?"

Her eyes met his when he said bedroom, but she did not want to venture there. She knew too well how bedrooms often came with ulterior motive. Her lip shook slightly, and she tugged it into a forced smile as to not give herself away in front of Jonathan. Though not everyone knew about what she had done last summer, thinking back to it still made her feel as though a layer of her skin was tainted and she needed to shed it like a snake. "The living room would work."

Jonathan nodded, as though that was the only logical answer. Walking back to the couch, they settled down and Emilia pulled out a few of her books from her backpack. Jonathan had never helped someone study, never tutored someone before, and he wasn't entirely sure where to start. Emilia had stated in the car that she had yet to ask her teacher for a project or assignment that might bring her grades back up to a pass, but there were other things to work on. A test to study for, an essay that needed to be started and she hadn't even thought about it until now.

"Let's start with the test, what is it on?"

"Both basic rules, as well as Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre'," she explained, and they slowly sunk into the studying. Jonathan was failing no courses and spent no time on his own work, but pointed out helpful tips for Emilia. Frequently their hands brushed over one another's in a panic to grab a dropped pencil, or to flip a page in the notes. Aside from minor tensions, things moved along smoothly. There was an obvious connection between the two of them, as they began to cohere.

After some time, the front door swung open and a small boy stood in the door way. He looked at Jonathan and Emilia with a confused expression that swiftly turned into a knowing look. The boy was Will, Jonathan's younger brother who was in middle school. He blinked twice before he remembered his manners, and smiled politely, "Who's this?"

"My friend," Jonathan said the word and it slammed into Emilia like a train. Something inside of her began to stitch itself back together, even if she wasn't entirely sure what was happening within her just yet. The word 'friend' meant so much more to her than anyone could understand.

"Hi," He said. "I'm Will."

"Emilia," she replied, "Nice to meet you, Will."

Jonathan noticed a sadness behind Will's eyes that was not entirely unlike Emilia's. It was out of place, so he asked, "Will, are you alright?"

Will stiffened, "Fine."

Jonathan looked at Emilia, wondering if it would be rude to ask for a minute alone with his brother. When he decided it was rude, he looked back at Will. "Something happen at school today?"

Will caved, all it took was some gentle prodding from his big brother. "Kids at school are calling me... calling me gay."

Emilia lowered her eyes; they were a trio of bullied people.

"Just ignore them," Jonathan told his brother, but knew it was much easier said than done. "Kids who bully are just broken themselves, they don't know how to deal with their own problems so they make life hard for others. To make them feel better about themselves."

Emilia looked at Will now, "You know, I'm picked on at school a lot too."

"You are?" Will looked surprised, "But you're pretty!"

Emilia blushed, Jonathan laughed.

"Maybe that's why they bully me," she said, despite knowing it was not the truth. "They are jealous of us."

Will smiled.

"It certainly helps to have this guy-" Emilia nudged Jonathan's shoulder with her own, "To be there for us, hey?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

"You're home early, Will," Jonathan noted, though he had not bothered to look at the time.

"No I'm not," Will dropped his backpack on the ground and headed towards the kitchen. "Mrs. Wheeler tells us to go home at eight."

"Eight?!" Emilia stood up, knocking a notebook that was on her lap to the ground. In a panic, she looked around for her stuff, which was all scattered over the coffee table that had earlier had a wine glass, a mug and an empty cigarette carton upon it. Now it was askew with her books, her notes, a few plates where they had eaten snacks. The time had flown by and she was two hours late to get home; her father had given her a curfew of six PM and it was two hours beyond that now. "He's going to kill me."

Jonathan helped her gather her stuff, "He'll understand, you're studying, you're getting your grades back up."

"It's not enough," she had everything in her bag and watched Jonathan grab his keys and his wallet. They left the house, Jonathan yelling something at Will about being back in a few minutes. The drive was awkward, almost, as they tried to get back as quickly as possible without breaking too many speed limit laws. Jonathan didn't tend to speed as is, let alone with Emilia in his car. When he parked outside the house he had dropped her off at before, the one that was not her house, he looked over at her. She'd grabbed her backpack and looked at Jonathan with a fretted look upon her face.

He reached over and touched her hand, smooth and soft despite the cold, dry weather. It was going to start snowing soon, and Jonathan could imagine how the snowflakes would look upon her dark hair, her dark eyelashes. Stunning. An image he wanted to take. She paused long enough that Jonathan was able to lean over, his seatbelt unclipped. Her tongue touched her pink lips, dampening them for a split second. She did not move, she did not lean in, and yet her eyes said she wanted him to kiss her. Closing in, Jonathan pressed his lips to hers; they tasted like a distant faux-cherry taste. Her lip chap, perhaps? Sweet. Their tongues began a dance, while electricity sparked through him.

"Goodbye, Jonathan," Emilia said. Jonathan realized that he had imagined the kiss. Emilia was already outside the car, her hand upon the door as she peered in. There was no longing look in her eyes, just a terrified one of what she might face when she arrived home, over two hours late.

He stared for a moment. His seatbelt was on, the car was running, and he had not kissed Emilia. "I'll see you tomorrow, Emilia."

"Yeah, we'll see," she shut the door, a terror running through her.