Before It Ends • Hessa • Emery Scott

𝚃𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢 𝚂𝚒𝚡

"Hey mom, we're going to take Emery's car. We'll meet you there." I call out and mom simply nods.

"I'll see you both there!" Mom enthuses, and climbed into the drivers side. Dad is already in the passengers seat, his nose glued into that newspaper.

When I shut my door, I look over to see Emery staring at me. I lift my eyebrows. "Do you think I should text my dad back?" She asks suddenly, with no context whatsoever. What did her dad say? Why is she asking me?

"What did he say?" I ask and she finally looks away from me.

"He asked where I was." She shrugs. I look out the window. How the fuck would I know what she should do? And why is she avoiding her house so much?

"I think that you should at least give him some sort of response. Just so he knows you're okay." I respond and she nods.

"Okay..." she trails off and takes her phone out of her pocket. I mess with her radio as she texts her father. Suddenly her phone rings and her eyes go wide. Is her dad calling her? "H-hold on." She mumbles, answering the call and twisting herself towards the window for privacy. "Hello... No, I'm not... because I said I'm not! I'm busy!" Shit, I have feeling this isn't her dad... "Chris— Chris! Stop! Listen, tomorrow morning, okay?... okay, fine. When I come home, I will meet you." I suddenly feel like I'm interrupting them and I look out my window. It's now softly raining and I have a feeling we are going to be a little bit late. I hear Emery take a deep breath and her phone plops down on the dashboard.

I look over to find Emery with a deep scowl on her face, which is a drastic change to what she sounded like on the phone. "Who was that?" Chris. She said his name. It's Chris.

"No one important." She mumbles, finally driving the car out of the parking lot and onto the road. Her face is completely pale as she drives, and I have a feeling this is going to a very awkward car ride.

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"Emery, meet uncle Trevor. Uncle Trevor, this is my friend Emery." I introduce, and uncle Trevor extends his hand to shake hers and she hesitantly shakes his. I can tell she's in a mood, so I plan to keep her away from the children. Not only to keep from scaring the children but because I don't want her to feel uncomfortable around my family.

"It's nice to meet you Emery. Cole hasn't introduced me to any of his friends except Lilly. That poor soul." Uncle Trevor rambles, and my eyes go wide in shock. Damn it uncle Trevor! I don't want her to know about that.

"Yeah, uh... let me introduce her to aunt Amy." I quickly tug Emery's elbow to follow me and she looks at me confusingly.

"Who's Lilly?" She questions, clearly not understanding my unwillingness to talk about her.

"Uh- I don't know her anymore." The words sting my tongue as I say them, but I don't take them back. It's a lie. I knew her better than anyone, even her own parents.

"Oh..." she trails off once we approach my aunt Amy.

"Aw! Look at you Cole!" Aunt Amy squeals, pulling me into a hug. "I'm so glad you guys could make it." She looks over at Emery, "who is this beautiful girl?"

Emery looks down and I mentally promise her I will not introduce her to anyone else. "This is Emery. My friend."

"Nice to meet you Emery!" She goes in for a hug and it takes a moment for Emery to respond. "If you need anything I'll most likely be in the kitchen." She explains and Emery nods.

She still hasn't spoken a word to anyone here except me. I hope she isn't freaking out in the inside.

"Let's go outside." I suggest once aunt Amy begins a conversation with someone else. She nods and I pull her through the crowd of family towards the back door. I'm reminded of the party Emery took me to and how she tugged me through the wave of drunk people. She must be feeling partially how I felt and for that I'm sorry.

Once we're outside, I look back to see her crossing her arms over her chest. It's a bit chilly out here, luckily we both have jackets. "I know this is awkward. Thanks for coming anyways."

"It's fine." She mumbles, her vans skidding across the concrete. "Who's Lilly?" She questions again and I sigh.

"She's not someone I'm willing to talk about, Emery." I say, clarifying my obvious intentions. She stays quiet, keeping her head down and tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. It's too short to stay behind her ear, so it falls in front of her face again.

I can't stop admiring her. She really is beautiful. One of the most beautiful women I've seen and that's saying a lot considering I think every healthy woman is attractive.

And the way she was in my room in general made me high. She seemed so interested in my room! She was looking around, taking her time glancing at all of my things. Fuck, just the way she sat on my desk... Is it terrible to imagine me kissing her against my desk? How about pressing my torso up against her, desperately encouraging her to moan? Probably.

God, Cole. Shut up! I look down, kicking some pebbles off of the porch. I stick my hands into my pockets and look out towards the sky.

I walk towards the porch steps and sit on one. Emery joins me, running a hand through her hair. I stare at her for a few seconds, thinking of something to talk about. "Your hair looks nice like that."

She smiles and looks down. "Can I ask you a question?" She says and I lift my eyebrows expectantly. "Can I stay at your house tonight?"

I furrow my eyebrows, "you're really bad off with your parents, huh?"

"It's not just that. I just don't want to go home." I can tell there's something else she's hiding behind her neutral expression, but I decide to not push her.

"You can." I smile at her and she nods.

"Thank you."

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𝙰𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛'𝚜 𝙽𝚘𝚝𝚎

    Just so you all know, Emery and Tessa will not always have a bad relationship with each other. For the sake of drama and a good realistic story, they have to sort of have a bad relationship because it is one of the main storylines, aside from Cole and Emery, in the book.

    Thank you for all your encouraging comments and votes! Luv ya guys.

Chapter twenty six: Dec. 9, 2020