Emerald Green

Number Three

Narrative #3

In the other room, the party continued on, laughter ringing out as the sound of glasses clinking together rose above the noise. It was a casual event held for prestigious officials dressed in fine suits and the young hopefuls and their guests to come together with supposedly no other motive than to have a low-stakes meet-and-greet.

But in a dimly lit hallway marched one of those young hopefuls, shame and righteous anger coursing through his veins, with his own plus-one in tow, barely able to keep up with the pace of the boy with her arm in his grasp. She winced when his fingernails dug in a bit too deep, but she said nothing.

The pair reached a turn, and the boy quickly deemed it to be far away enough from potential prying eyes and eavesdropping ears. He let go of the girl's arm and turned to face her.

"What were you thinking, Emerald?" The boy hissed.

Emerald crossed her arms as her face hardened, no longer feeling so meek. "Harrison, I was only trying to help you," she insisted.

"I didn't need your help," Harrison shot back.

Emerald scoffed, an unfamiliar sound to Harrison. "Could've fooled me." She paused when Harrison stiffened, searching his dark eyes for a moment as the events of the last few minutes flashed through both of their heads. They both flinched at the memory.

Emerald took a deep breath. "Look, they were trying to embarrass you-"

"No, you embarrassed me," Harrison interrupted, voice low and eerie, surprised by the cold malice in his own tone. Judging by Emerald's expression, she was too, but it didn't stop him from still speaking. "You're the embarrassment."

Taken aback, Emerald's hand shot up to her chest. "Are you kidding me?"

A laugh escaped Harrison's mouth. "I wish I was!" he cried. "Do you have any idea how much I wanted to impress those judges? How much I needed to impress them? There was so much riding on tonight for me, and you might have just screwed it all up!"

The next few minutes was a blur for both Harrison and Emerald. Harrison ranted on, unleashing all of his pent up frustrations, anger, and fears out at the top of his lungs, not just his irritation towards Emerald. He screamed and cursed and yelled to his heart's desire until he winded down, relieved to finally have let it all out.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he did so, but when he opened his eyes, his heart faltered.

Emerald had shrunk down into herself, guilt and shame evident on her face as she mentally reprimanded herself for her stupidity. Harrison's rant had sent her spiraling over the realization that he was right and that she might have just messed everything up for one of her dearest friends.

"I'm sorry," Emerald finally said, voice cracking. "I'm so so sorry."

Harrison blinked as if coming out of a trance. "Emerald..." he sighed.
He reached out to touch her shoulder, but when Emerald flinched, he drew back.

"I'm so sorry," was all Emerald could force her voice to say before she took off, tears burning in her eyes.

Harrison started to go after her, almost tripping over his own two feet as he called out her name, but Emerald didn't even turn back before disappearing through a door.

Harrison kicked the wall, angry at Emerald and angry at himself, and let out a cry of frustration. He tried to ignore the tears in his eyes. He failed.

Elsewhere, Emerald dropped to the ground, burying her head in her arms as sobs racked her body. She tried to ignore the pains in her chest. She failed.

In the other room, the party continued on.

~~~