❝Emerson Baldwin has self diagnosed himself with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
He hates anything that has to do with a) disorder. b) feeling out of control in any way. c) stepping out of his comfort zone.
So when his friends somehow talk hi...
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Emerson would like to think of himself as a realist.
His friends, however, find it more fitting to call him a stick in the mud...among other things. He doesn't exactly see it that way considering all of their suggestions will usually place all of them in jail or worse, six feet underground.
Emerson doesn't usually like to speak negatively of his friend group but he will admit that, on more than one occasion, he may or may not have second guessed his choice in whom he associates himself with.
For example, when they all attended high school together, Alex thought it a wonderful idea to spray paint the front of Emerson's two year long bully, Dustin's, locker. He despises calling anyone a bully considering it's just the name that society likes to give to people who take their issues out on others. "Bully" seems like more of a cinematic label to him but, in this case, it's an accurate depiction.
So basically, in the end, Emerson's brand new Tommy Bahama khaki shorts were ruined by bright pink paint and both he and Alex were caught in the act along with being suspended for two weeks. Though he tried to convey to the principal that he was only trying to stop Alex, not participate in such a pathetic revenge plot, he supposes that's not what he wanted to hear because he was sent home immediately after.
Alex isn't a bad friend per say. Emerson would like to blame his psychotic and negative behavior on his dark and venomously vile parents but he knows better than to blame someone's actions on someone else. Even if that person is his best friend. He's also well aware that Emerson is responsible for his suspension but he's chosen to look past it.
He can safely say that not all of his friends follow in Alex's very rebellious and irresponsible footsteps. It's more or less that everyone else somehow gets roped into his schemes.
So that brings us to right about now.
"I can't go." Emerson insists, his cell phone pressed between his cheek and shoulder uncomfortably as he tucks his bedspread underneath his mattress tightly for third time.
"Emerson," Isaac, his long time friend and younger brother of Alex, mumbles quietly through the phone as Emerson's hands flatten out each crease and wrinkle in the white fabric, "We're not going without you. Rhyme is going to be so ticked off if he finds out you're not coming. We've been planning this trip since graduation."
"Without my knowledge might I remind you." Emerson bites bitterly, knowing very well that his friends' reasoning for keeping these long awaited plans from him is so that he couldn't say no until it was too late.
