Genesis
Emma flinched, taken aback by Brooks's anger. "I...I'm so..r..ry," Emma stuttered wrapping her arms around herself.
"You know what, you weren't thinking," Brooks said ignoring Emma's apology as he continued. "Because if you were, you wouldn't have snuck out with your friends and come here in the first place. You're fucking sixteen, Emmaline you have no business being at a college party in the first place. Do you know how much fucked shit goes down at an Alpha Phi party?"
Movement by the entrance of the living room caught my attention. I watched as Mia and Nate came to a stop in the entryway, absorbing
the drama they walked in on with wide eyes.
Emma's hands dropped to her side as her back straightened defensively. "Oh my God, don't give me that bullshit Brooks. We both know that when you were sixteen, you did a lot worse than sneaking out to a college party."
"Don't be stupid Emma!" He yelled causing her to flinch again. "It's not the same, Tonight could have ended a lot worse. Don't you get that? What if I wasn't home, what if I was away at a game and I couldn't come and get you."
Emma sniffled her shoulders slumping as the fight left her body. "You don't think I know that," she whispered her voice cracking, tears welling in her eyes. She looked like she was a second away from breaking down in the middle of my living room.
So I decided it was time for me to step in and diffuse the situation before things escalated further. "Brooks, you need to calm down," I said stepping closer to him.
He spared me a glance, his face twisted in anger before shifting his gaze back to Emma. "Stay out of this Gen. This has nothing to do with you," he said dismissively.
I had to refrain from snapping at him, instead, I took a calming breath as I stood in front of him. "You're angry, I get that, but you need to calm the hell down. Before you say something that you'll regret. Your sister has already been through a tough night, and you yelling at her isn't going to achieve anything. Except maybe, scaring her even more than she's already been scared." I replied in a low voice that only he could hear.
Brooks looked down at me, finally giving me his full attention, so I continued. "You can go back to my room and cool down while I show Emma to the guest room," I told him.
He stared back at me wordlessly for a couple of seconds, then he nodded. Casting one more glance at his sister, he looked as if he wanted to say something. Instead, he sighed heavily before he turned and walked out of the living room.
He marched straight past Nate and Mia without acknowledging them and disappeared around the corner. Nate whispered something to Mia before he followed Brooks.
Mia left her spot and stepped further into the living room. Running a hand over her fizzy shoulder-length curls as she smiled kindly at Emma. "Hi Emma, I'm Mia Gen's roommate."
Emma acknowledged Mia with a small smile but otherwise remained silent.
I turned to face Emma. "You want something to drink or eat? There is some leftover Chinese takeout in the fridge from earlier, If you want I could heat it up for you."
"I'm not hungry but some water would be good."
"I'll get it," Mia offered, I shot her a grateful smile before she turned and walked out of the living room.
"Come let me show you the guestroom," I told Emma and gestured for her to follow me. I led her out of the living and down the hallway, passing Mia's room and the bathroom before stopping in front of the spare bedroom.
I turned to the doorknob and pushed the door open. "I'm sorry about the clutter, I also use this as my sewing room," I told Emma as I switched on the lights.
Emma's eyes roamed over the now illuminated space, taking in the light grey walls, and the queen-sized bed covered in a sage green duvet. Then her eyes moved to where I had all of my sewing equipment my sewing table, sewing machine, all the designs I had sketched out and stuck on the wall, the rolls of fabrics I had stacked in the corner, and the shelf against the wall that housed all my sewing essential like thread and needles. Her gaze then paused on the champagne-colored dress I placed on my dress form mannequin earlier today.
She stepped closer, inspecting it. The dress was short, with a puffy balloon skirt, a corset bodice with a lace-up back, and wide draping off-the-shoulder sleeves.
She looked over at me. "You made this right? Brooks told me you were majoring in fashion design."
I nodded. "Yeah, I made it for my cousin, for her engagement party."
"It's beautiful," she complimented.
"Thank you." The dress was indeed gorgeous when I sent a picture of it to my cousin Everly earlier freaked out over it. I was surprised when she asked me, I thought for sure, she'd have asked my aunt, who was a world-renowned fashion designer, and though she was my mother's older sister and she wasn't related to Everly by blood she always treated her like a niece.
"Hey," I turned my head as Mia entered the room, handing the bottle of water to Emma, who thanked her. Then she turned to leave, but not before shooting an imploring look.
I knew Mia, her nosy ass was dying to know what happened. Sure, she probably pieced together some of what happened, from what was being said between Brooks and Emma, but not the full story.
But I'm sure, Brooks was relaying the entire drama to Nate so she'll find out soon enough.
Emma took a sip of her water while she wandered over to the bed, and sat at the edge.
"Well, I'll get something for you to sleep in, and if you want to take a shower the bathroom's right next door, and there are clean towels in there as well."
"Yeah, I think a shower would be a good idea," she replied crinkling her nose as she glanced down at her disheveled appearance.
I laughed lightly. "Okay, and if you want I can throw your clothes in the washer or I can show you where the laundry room is in the morning and you could do it yourself."
"I'll do it in the morning," she replied as she nervously tapped her fingers against the water bottle.
I nodded. "Okay cool, well let me go get you somethi-,"
"Do you think Brooks is still mad?" She blurted out cutting me off.
"Probably, but it's understandable," I answered honestly.
"Do you think I'm stupid too?" She asked softly without meeting my eyes.
Sighing, I moved to the bed, took a seat next to her, and positioned my body so I was facing her.
"I think you did a stupid thing," I shrugged. "But so did I when I was your age and I'm sure Brooks did as well. And I know you think he's a hypocrite because he probably did worst shit than sneaking out to a party at sixteen. But you have to understand he got a call from his little sister, saying that she was at a college party, and this older guy tried to force himself on her. It's understandable why he lost his shit," I paused gentling my voice before I continued. "I'm not saying it's your fault for what that guy did, but tonight could've been a lot worse. What if you couldn't fight this dude off, and he overpowered you or he slipped something in your drink?"
Emma nodded, still avoiding my eyes as she fidgeted nervously. "I know tonight could've ended a lot worse and I knew it was stupid what we did, but I just thought tonight would've been fun."
I get what she saying, we've all been there. "Just be more careful in the future okay?"
"Okay," she repeated, finally making eye contact with me. "You know, you're a lot different than I thought you'd be," she mused, with a pensive look in her eye. "I could see why Brooks likes you so much," she said cracking a small smile.
"Really, what did you expect?" I asked curiously.
She shrugged. "I thought, you'd be a massive bitch, just like Brielle," she responded frankly causing a shocked laugh to spill from my lips.
Brooks never talked about his ex a lot, but the little he did tell me, I had to agree with Emma.
"Hey, don't be fooled I can't be a massive bitch at times," I said eliciting a giggle from Emma.
"What's so funny?" Both of our heads snapped to Brooks leaning against the doorframe with his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants.
"Nothing," Emma and I said at the same time.
"Hmmm," stepping further into the room, his eyes held mine for a moment before they shifted to Emma.
"I'm still mad at you and I still believe what you did was fucking stupid," he sighed tiredly, running his fingers through his mussed-up black hair. "But I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"I'm sorry too," she said, looking contrived as she smiled weakly.
"I'll leave you two alone to talk," I told them, shooting Emma a reassuring smile, I stood and headed to the door. Brooks watched my approach, grasping my hand when I was in touching distance. "I'm sorry about earlier," said, sincerity shining in his eyes.
"I know," I told him as I leaned up placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "Speak with your sister first we'll talk later," I whispered to him before stepping back and walking out the door.
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Hey, guys, I know I've been MIA for a while now. The reason for this is that I've been having doubts about the direction I planned to take this book, so I've been writing and rewriting chapters but nothing felt right. It was so frustrating it put me in the biggest writing slump ever. I couldn't write anything for months, but I'm back now. So thank you to everyone who's still here, I hope you all enjoy these two new updates.
This chapter is unedited. It may contain errors.