Try-State Area

- Monday, June 13th - Ghost of a Chance

There's that knot in my stomach again...

Emily stuck her feet out from beneath her sheets and twisted onto her abdomen. She stayed in that position for a few minutes waiting to see if it would ease the sensation. When that didn't work, she felt the panic begin to grow.

She pulled the sheets completely off and threw them. They hung in the air for a moment, filling the room with a suspended ghostly white form in the dark. But the apparition ended up a crumpled heap on the floor.

Emily shivered and sat up. She lifted her phone from the nightstand to stare at Evan's name on the screen.

I desperately want to hear his voice... If I'm being completely honest with myself, I really want to have his arms around me...

"You're a selfish girl Emily," she said to herself as she attached the link.

A few minutes later Evan climbed through her open screen.

"I wasn't sure if you would come," Emily whispered.

He sat beside her and smiled. "Melissa Etheridge's 'Come To My Window' is kind of hard to misinterpret." He bit his bottom lip but didn't move to touch her. "I'm not going to turn down that invitation."

Emily whispered, "My Dad thought I was pregnant."

Evan's eyebrows shot upward and his nostrils flared. "What?" he exclaimed.

"Shhhhh!" she warned, then buried her face into a pillow and giggled.

Evan scrubbed his hands through his hair. "Why would he think that? And dare I ask who he thought the father was?"

Emily removed the pillow from her face. "Because I asked him for the money for camp... before I had a chance to explain it was for camp. And he did consider you as a possibility. Although you weren't his first guess if that's a relief at all."

Evan screwed up his face. "Actually, I'm not sure if it is. So tell me exactly how it went down."

They talked until early in the morning before they finally succumbed to their exhaustion.

Emily wasn't ready to wake up a mere two hours later. But she dragged herself from bed and dressed in a sleepy haze while Evan continued to lay there closing his eyes intermittently. She definitely wasn't ready to stand in front of him a few minutes later trying to decide how to say goodbye.

"So I know I agreed to be friends," Evan said.

Emily held up her hand to stop him. "I understand if it will be too hard and you don't want to."

She turned to her dresser to pick up her chemistry book and put it into her bag. Evan stepped over and took the book from her hands. "Would you let me finish?"

She turned to look into his eyes. "Sorry."

"I was going to say... that... I know we agreed to be friends but I would like to kiss you one last time."

Emily felt her ears burn and she looked down at the book between them. "Oh... well..."

Evan put the book back on the dresser and stepped closer. She felt his hand thread through her hair and grip her earlobe.

"I think your ears answered for you," he whispered as he pulled her against him.

When Evan kissed her, Emily felt the knot in her stomach unfurl and spill adrenaline through her veins.

Maybe I'm completely stupid to give up on something as euphoric as this feeling...

Then he abruptly broke their embrace. "Oh I almost forgot!"

Evan turned from her and began to climb out the window. He said, "One minute," before he completely disappeared from view.

Emily finished packing her last few items into her bag. When next his head and shoulders peeked through the curtains, he held the tiny pot of violets he had gifted her yesterday. "They were still in my car. I watered them for you." He held the blossoms out to her.

"Love that is faithful," she murmured as she took them from his hands. "I won't forget them again," she said with a small smile.

He smiled back. "I know you won't Brooklyn."