The Morning After - Open Novella Contest 2019

Chapter 5

    "So now we should probably talk about why you're here," Emmett said in a serious tone.

    "I'm listening," Marina replied. Truthfully, she was only half listening. She was still dreaming about the book she would write when all was said and done.

    "I saw an old article you wrote last week. Ever since I saw it, I knew you would be the only one who could help me."

    "Okay..." Marina responded half-heartedly and continued thinking about who would play her in the movie adaptation of her book.

    "I found you last night and I was going to ask you to help me." He paused for a moment, embarrassed. "The other stuff... Well, that wasn't really part of the plan." Emmett choked out sheepishly.

    Marina realized the truth with brutal shock. All the air blew out of her lungs as if she had been hit square in her chest. Emmett was finding her just so she could write his article for him. He had used her. Did he think that sleeping with her would make her more invested in his cause? Tears threatened to break past her defenses for what felt like the hundredth time that morning.

    "Oh." She replied quietly. The simple phrase was all she could muster. A million thoughts darted through her head. The vicious lies stood out as the loudest among the group.

    "I didn't sleep with you on purpose, Marina. I didn't mean to hurt you."

    She nodded, but barely.

    "I thought you would be a lot older and I would just tell you my plan, but then you came in and were so you." He emphasized you with a flash in his eyes. "It all happened so fast."

    A few hot tears spilled over Marina's cheeks. In a last-ditch effort to disappear completely, she buried her face in her hoodie.

    Emmett's voice cracked as he whispered again. "I've been alone for so long. I'm sorry."

    His words stung like dull rusty daggers in her chest. His words struck an all too familiar chord. She had said those same words to herself last night. Deep down, she understood how he felt. She had only been using Emmett the night before purely out of fear of sleeping alone again. Marina wondered if it was best to just let last night go and attempt to move forward with this strange alliance. On the other hand, Marina wanted to be upset. She wanted to yell and kick and scream and curse at Emmett for ever daring to walk into her life. Secretly, she wanted it to end as it always ended, in complete and utter heartbreak. If all relationships ended in pain, perhaps she could convince herself to stay away from them entirely.

    In situations she was used to, however, half of the relationship wouldn't go to prison for life after they broke up. That was a complication Marina was not accustomed to.

    "Please talk to me. You're killing me with this silence." Emmett snatched Marina from her pit of despair and tossed her back onto the beach of her reality. "Please." He pleaded.

    "What do you want me to say, Emmett?" Marina's voice was muffled by the hoodie she still had wrinkled around her face.

    "Tell me how you're feeling. Be mad if you want to be! I mean, I would prefer if you weren't mad at me, but if you are that's okay and I understand completely."

    "How can I not be mad at you?"

    "Marina, look at me." There was that voice again. That sing-song voice that made Marina's stone cold heart melt a little. Marina labored greatly to move her eyes from the newspaper in front of her. Emmett's soft eyes met Marina's the same way they had every time she had looked into them over the past fifteen hours. She could see now that his blue eyes were misting lightly. A few more drops melted off Marina's heart of ice.