But Now We're Stressed Out

I could lie, say I like it like that

"Nope," I said loudly, slamming the door in his face.

"Wait, Damien!" Emery yelled from the other side. "Can we talk! Damien?"

"Nope!" I yelled back. "Fuck off!"

"Damien!" Emery called again.

I turned to walk away but Evan, Quinn and Remus were all right there. They all looked extremely confused.

"Who's that?" Evan asked.

"No one important," I told him, trying to herd them all away from the front door. 

Evan, being short and small, easily managed to bypass me.  I tried to grab his dress and pull him back but he slipped out of my grip. 

"Evan no!"  I hissed. 

But Evan opened the door anyway.  Emery was still standing there, an hurt and angry expression on his face.  Only now I noticed another person standing there, who vaguely reminded me of Remy.

"Hi, I'm Evan, one of Damien's boyfriends,"  Evan said nicely.  "Who are you."

"I'm Emery,"  Emery introduced himself.  "Has Damien talked about me before?"

"Yes...he has,"  Evan sighed.  "Who's this?"

"I'm Anton,"  The other guy introduced himself.  "Emery's boyfriend."  He looked over Evan's shoulder to glare at me. 

"Damien said you lived in Florida,"  Evan continued.  I silently cringed, begging him to just stop talking to Emery.  "What are you doing all the way up here?"

"Our school's closed because of Coronavirus,"  Emery explained.  "So I came up here to stay with my grandparents and meet my long lost cousin.  Literally, I didn't meet him until earlier today."

"Wonder if I know him,"  Evan shrugged. 

"Remy Dormir and his boyfriend Emile Picani,"  Emery answered. 

"Oh my goodness, well I don't go to school with them but I am friends with both of them,"  Evan said happily. 

"Gosh, these small towns,"  Emery laughed.  "Everyone knows everyone."

"Not true in this town, but yes to some extent,"  Evan said with a little laugh. 

I wanted to ram my head into a wall like I did Emery's face four years ago.  Remus and Quinn gave me worried looks. 

"You've mentioned you're one of Damien's boyfriends,"  Emery asked. 

"Yeah, there's four of us,"  Evan explained.  "Me, Quinn, Remus and Damien.  It's a polyamorous relationship."

Emery didn't say anything in response, just humming a bit. He looked at the floor for a bit and an awkward silence overcame everyone.

"Wanna come on?" Evan said. "Damien would love to talk to you." He looked over his shoulder and gave me a look.

It's not like bad memories come with Emery. It's just awkward as hell. But he did come all the way over to my house to see me.

Maybe I should just talk to him.  Even if it's just a few minutes.  I sighed and walked over to the door, Anton glaring at me the entire time. 

"Come in, if you want to talk, let's talk,"  I sighed, leading Evan away from the door. 

Emery and Anton followed me inside.  Remus didn't look happy about it, keeping his hands on Quinn's shoulders.  Quinn looked scared, which is usually how he reacts to new people. 

I led the way into the formal sitting room.  I sat on the bigger couch in between Evan and Quinn.  Remus sat next to Quinn and held Anton's glare unflinchingly.

Emery and Anton sat on the love seat across from the couch.  For a while, everyone was silent.  I didn't know what to say, I don't think anyone did. 

"Well, you two have already met Evan,"  I started with a sigh.  "These are my other boyfriends, Quinn and Remus."

"Nice to meet you two,"  Emery said. 

The awkward silence came back.  I didn't know what to says. Evan slipped his hand into mine and rested his head on my shoulder. 

"Why did you come here Emery?"  I asked. 

"I wanted to see you,"  He mumbled.  "I know it's been almost four years now, but I just wanted to see how you were doing.  You've changed a lot, I can tell."

"Besides Anton, it doesn't seem like you changed much,"  I told him. 

Something like pain flashed in Emery's eyes.  I hate this.  It's awkward and I can feel Quinn shaking against me.  He doesn't like this and neither do I. 

"What happened...to your face?"  Emery asked softly.  "If you want to talk about it."

"My dad tried to kill me, he botched it,"  I explained in least painful way possible.  But as usual, talking about it made me numb.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Emery said quickly. "You seem better though."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Well, even when we went to the same school, you were obviously troubled," Emery said, doing the thing that annoyed me so much again. "Angry and sad but now you seem happy. These three make you happy."

"Okay, stop," I said. "Your weird empath shit is freaky."

Emery's face hardened a bit and Anton seemed to notice. Then Emery stood up and pulled Anton with him.

"I'm sorry for coming here, it was obviously a bad idea,"  Emery apologized.  "We'll just go now since we'll be heading back to Florida in a few days."

He quickly headed back to the front door and managed to get outside before I went running after him.

"Emery wait!"  I yelled. 

Emery stopped and turned back around to look at me.  There were tears in his eyes and he looked mad.  And for a second, all I could think about was that fateful day.

"I'm sorry,"  I told him.  "I was a dick to you back then and I'm still being a complete dick to you now."

"Damien just stop,"  Emery sighed.  "We obviously aren't meant to be friends...or anything romantic so just stop.  I'm going home to Florida and we're not talking again.  At least not while we're teenagers."

"Is that what you want to happen?"  I asked him. 

"Yes,"  He answered.  "Because this is toxic as hell."

"Fine,"  I sighed. 

Anton grabbed Emery and pulled him down the driveway to their car.  I sighed and turned back around to see Evan, Quinn and Remus standing at the door. 

Some strange overwhelming emotion filled me and I ran past them and up the stairs.  I ran into my bedroom and locked the door. 

I could hear Evan, Quinn and Remus trying to talk to me from the other side of the door.  I didn't want to talk to anyone.  Seeing Emery again...it's too much.  And to find out he's related to Remy too. 

I'm a horrible person.  Literally every person I was friends with before this year I managed to traumatize.  First Emery and literally putting him in the hospital.  And then Virgil at New Dawn and giving him bad trust issues. 

I'm a horrible person.