The Funny One Dies First

- 5 -

― Ean ―

Something felt off; wrong almost. I couldn't understand it but I just knew that something wasn't right when I set my gear down. 'Emma'. The voice inside my head told me something was wrong with her. I whipped out my phone and shot her a text. She didn't reply within her normal time frame. Shit, something must have happened. I have to find her.

Hurrying, I jogged back to my car as a small body latched onto mine. I knew that body all too well and I knew what that action meant. She was hurting deep down inside, the struggles of her past were once again weighing heavy on her because someone had gotten to her. Wrapping her up in my arms, I tried to calm her down as she pulled us towards the pool, still holding onto me.

She liked the pool, it was warm and cozy, plus it was normally empty. It had become her safe spot when she was dealing with something during school hours.She stayed quiet for a while, watching the water ripple and move. Dragging her fingers through the water, she parted her lips.

'Say it, tell me what's wrong, love,' I spoke to my internal abyss.

She closed her mouth. The look on her face didn't ease me; it just told me that whatever was on her mind could possibly make me mad. She was choosing her words carefully, not wanting me to get upset. What was she hiding from me?

"Baby, you know you are going to have to tell me at some point. We're going to be married, so whatever bothers you also bothers me." She nodded her head; still, no other words came through her lips. "Hey, look at me. You don't have to tell me now, Emma, but I know you. It's eating at you and right now, you're fighting with yourself. Tell me when you have all the words figured out, okay? Please don't keep bottling it up."

Her lips parted but before she could speak, my phone buzzed with a text. I ignored it but Emma wouldn't talk, only insisted I checked it. She needed time to rehearse what she was going to say to me.

"Do you know where Emma is, it's urgent," it read. I texted back, asking them why he needed to find her and what happened.

"Trish's been making fun of her, calling her a pig. It's been going on for a while now. Tell me if you find her, I wanna apologize."

I looked up from my phone, watching her for a few moments. I was angry. Why didn't she tell me? Why did she think she could keep something like this from me? Even after all these years, and all of our insecurities we've faced together? I guess I knew why. She was scared that I would get mad and "defend her honor". I get it, I'm a little old school, but I knew she could handle herself. I just wanted her to talk to me about this.

I was more mad at myself than anything else. I was the reason she couldn't talk about this. My need to always want to protect her was getting in the way of our relationship. I needed to calm down by a few thousand notches.

When I looked back at her, she was still focused on the water and hadn't noticed me. She looked better than a few minutes ago. The questions still ran through my head. I wanted to hear the answers from her lips. Why hasn't she told me about any of this? Why was she keeping me from this? Did she think I was going to get mad? Well, I mean sure I would get mad but nothing was going to happen. How could she not trust me enough to not tell me? Why was she going to hold this back and suffer through it all on her own? I wanted to ask her, no, I needed to ask her.

I stopped myself. 'Let her come to you, Ean. Don't force her.'

Okay, let her come to me. I didn't want to force her, making her shut down. I'll let her build up that trust, I wouldn't get involved until she wanted me to. I leaned back and looked around to pool, finding a way to ease back into things.

"Do you think your moans would echo loudly in here?"

She slapped the water in my direction. All the problems she had on her mind left. But with those problem leaving her mind, another thing filled it. A small blush crept up her neck and face, she pushed her legs tighter together. She turned to escape me not knowing that the hoodie she wore rose up, exposing her cute butt to me.

"Nice panties, blue really is your color."

I reached over, I gave her soft bum a nice squeeze. A gasp drifted from her lips and bounced off the walls. She was frozen to the spot, mine for the capture.

"I'm really enjoying the view, love. It's very nice and round." I gave her ass a playful slap, listening to the sound echo. "Oh, I'm really gonna enjoy hearing your little moans."