Chapter Six
Fights and food
“Emma let go!”
“No!” I shouted as I grabbed the remote control away from my brother. He was being a complete jerk ever since Toby went home and I had no clue why.
“Whatever!” He shouted letting go of the remote, letting me smack myself in the face with it. I rubbed my head and pouted as my brother stood up.
“I’m going to Lindsey’s…” He said grabbing his jacket out of the shoe closet by the door. I smiled at his defeat.
“You are such a loser!” I shouted at his back as he shut the door.
“What is going on in here?” I heard Noah asked as he came into view.
“Jayden was being immature and wouldn’t give me the remote, so he said he was going over to Lindsey’s…” I was flicking through the channels. Noah laughed and sat by me on the couch. I felt butterflies grow in my stomach. I can’t feel like this… I’m not supposed to. I just lost my friend’s and the guy I’ve liked since I was five!
The house phone rang bringing me out of my thoughts. I walked up to the kitchen with Noah following behind me. As I answered the phone I turned around and looked at him confused.
“Is this Emma?” I could tell it was Toby right away. It brought a smile to my face. Noah looked at me waiting for me to talk.
“It’s Toby… Go away.” I said glaring at him. His body tensed but he still walked out of the room not happy at all.
“What’s up, Toby?” I asked sitting on a chair by the island in the kitchen.
“Not much, you?” His voice was deep over the phone, kind of surprising.
“I was just watching TV but now I’m talking to you, I have nothing to do.” I probably sounded really boring to him, but as I said this I noticed Noah trying to hide around the corner.
“What are you doing?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
“The reason I called was to say thank you for last night and giving me a ride… I really appreciated it.” He was being so kind; it wasn’t even a big deal.
“It’s no big deal; it’s what friends are for!” I said happily. I heard him chuckle on the other end.
“Say, do you mind coming with me somewhere tonight?” He asked, a little hesitant.
“Where?” I asked, biting my lip and watching Noah’s arm fall slightly. His arm gave him away, he sucked at hiding.
“There’s this thing my mom wants me to do, It’s like the circle thing but it’s more like a party sort of. There’s a bunch of food and like ten times the people. It’s not as emotional and it’s pretty cool I guess… do you want to come with me?” He finally asked.
“Only since there’s food…” I said, jokingly. He laughed
“When and where?”
“I’ll come pick you up in like… an hour?”
“Sure…” I said, smiling to myself. It will be good to get away from this house and all the memories that I had with Colin. Time to make new ones, just like Colin had said…was this one of Colin’s signs? Did he want me to move on and onto Toby?
“What are you thinking about?” Noah asked as he walked back into the kitchen.
“No time to talk, I-I have to get ready.” If this was the person Colin wanted me to be with I guess I could give it a shot. I ran to my room and started to change. I put on a yellow v-neck t-shirt, and put on some dark wash jeans. I ran to the bathroom and grabbed my make-up bag and opened it fiercely. I put on a thin line of eye liner and some mascara. I pulled my hair to the side into a low pony tail with my bangs sticking out. I looked at myself and smiled. This is how I should look every day.
I walked down the stairs and waited nervously.
“Are you going on a date or something?” Noah asked behind me. When I turned around his mouth fell a little bit but he caught it and continued talking. “You look… different.” He said all tongue tied. I was too nervous to look him in the eyes so I kept looking at the floor.
“In a bad way?” I asked. I felt self conscious with the look he was giving me.
“Look at me.” He instructed. I did as he said, looking at him.
“Nope, you look good.” He smiled at me. I could start to feel my face heat up as the butterflies returned. This wasn’t good…
I heard a car door shut; Toby was here. I looked up at Noah…
“So, this is a date?” He asked.
“No, it’s this type of group thing again…” I looked at the door waiting for him to knock.
“I could have driven you.” Noah said as I heard the knock finally. I got up from my seat and walked to the door.
“It’s not at the same place and it’s more of a party… with food.” I said opening the door to cut him off from saying anything more.
“Are you ready? Oh hey Noah, I’ll have her back at a decent time.” Toby smiled at him politely while Noah just stood there glaring at him.
“I’ll meet you in the car, ok?” I asked Toby, he smiled at me and shook his head before leaving, giving us some privacy.
“What is your problem?” I asked fiercely.
“We don’t even know who he is!” Noah shouted back at me, standing taller to try and intimidate me.
“Well I do, and if you don’t remember correctly he spent the night! He is my friend and your being rude by being rude!”
“Sorry I care about your safety after what happened to you! I don’t just want you to go running off with other guys and never come back!” He yelled walking closer to me.
“Why would you even care, you never have before!” I grabbed my jacket off the counter next to us and started to walk away.
“You can’t just walk away like that!” Noah yelled after me. I kept walking ignoring him and slammed the house door behind me. Once I got to Toby’s car Noah came storming out of the house.
“Emma!” Noah yelled walking closer to the car, he was stomping his feet like a two year old and I instantly turned to Toby and nodded my head before looking back at Noah.
“Nobody cares about what you think Noah! I’m going out tonight, and I will have a good time because I deserve it after what I’ve been through!” Noah stopped in his tracks as I shut the car door and told Toby to drive. I glanced over at Noah one last time, he looked sad watching me leave. I couldn’t care less at the moment.
“What happened there?” Toby asked looking in my direction.
“He didn’t want me to go anywhere or something; he said he didn’t trust you.” I was looking out the window, it was really foggy.
“Well, that’s not very nice…” Toby said smiling and acting like he was hurt about it. “Well that’s too bad, because you’re here with me whether he likes it or not…” He said laughing at himself. It made me relax a little bit as I smiled back at him.
The drive was a cold one; it looked like it was starting to snow outside but I wasn’t sure. The heat was on full blast and we were listening to the radio. We pulled onto a gravel roadway that looked like it could last forever.
We finally made it the house at the end of the road about five minutes later. The house we were now at was huge, definitely mansion material.
“What do you think?” He asked smiling at my reaction. I shut my mouth and got out of the car still looking at the house in a daze.
“Who lives here, a millionaire?” I asked, still in shock. The house was three stories but the yard was probably about twenty-five acres of probably bright green grass during the day.
“I do.” Toby said smiling as he opened the doors for me. Once I walked in I saw a bunch of people all over the house eating and laughing, all having a good time.
“You could have told me you were rich!” I said hitting his arm playfully. He smiled at me but rolled his eyes.
“I’m not, my parents are… but hey, now you know right?” He said as he walked into the kitchen. I followed behind him not wanting to be alone. There were a lot of people in here and I didn’t really want to be talking to strangers.
“Don’t want to get lost?” He asked, teasingly. I shot him a playful glare.
“Are you thirsty?” He handed me a bottle of water. I nodded my head and took it from his hand. I took the opportunity to look around the house. The people in his house were of all ages. Everyone was welcome, and everyone looked like they were having a good time.
“My parents created this event because they thought it would help me move on.” He was standing by my side watching people laugh and talking to one another. “I made a lot of friends, but at first I hated it.” I looked at a big group with everyone who seemed to be around my age.
“Come on, I’ll introduce you.” He said, linking arms with each other and dragging me into the hallway where the group was.
“Everyone this is Emma, she’s my new friend.” Toby said looking at me. I smiled at everyone and gave a small wave.
“This is Becky, Tyler, Ron, and Nelson.” Each one of them said hi to me smiling politely and watching me carefully.
“She goes to my circle.” Everyone then nodded in understanding and they looked at me with that look I hated so much.
“I lost my boyfriend, Tyler lost his family, Ron is just Ron, and Nelson lost his girlfriend and daughter.” The girl Becky said. They all looked fine talking about it like it wasn’t a big deal. Nelson looked like he was still under twenty; he must have been a teen parent.
“I lost all my friends…” I said feeling self-conscious. The conversation kind of fell from there and it turned to be a little awkward. I knew I should have opened my mouth, I always ruin the fun.
“I’ll be back; I have to go talk to someone…” Toby said starting to walk away. The look of my face must have been a sight to see. “Don’t look so terrified, they’re nice people.” Toby said laughing and finally walking away.
“Don’t worry; you can hang out with me!” Beaky said, grabbing my hand and walking into the living room.
“Well, my name is Becky, I’m eighteen and yes, I lost my boyfriend… it was terrible, but I was able to move on eventually and so will you!” She was very cheerful, it was nice.
“I’m Emma, I lost all my friends, and I met Toby and now I’m here!” I said, trying to match her voice. She giggled at me, clearly amused with my attitude.
“You’re funny; we are going to be great friend!” She said stopping in her tracks and looking horrified. “Oh no, hide me!” She said standing behind me.
“That’s Cody, he doesn’t understand that I’m not interested in him!” she whined in my shoulder as she hid. “I talked to him the first time Toby brought me here and he has been obsessed with me ever since!” He walked past us and into the kitchen. She grabbed my hand and brought me up stairs as fast as humanly possible.
“Where are we going?” I asked when we were on the second floor; no one was up here.
“Toby’s room, I have to check my phone.” She opened a door and walked in with me following behind her. Toby’s room had white walls and one dark blue wall. His bed was black and in the corner. His room was simple yet comforting in a boring way.
“I know right? So boring...” She said, talking about his room. I smiled at her, silently agreeing.
“Do you have a phone?” She grabbed hers off a phone charger on Toby’s plain wooden desk.
“Yea, but I don’t want one anymore so I never use it.”
“Oh, dang. We could have exchanged numbers.” She said as she was texting someone back.
“You can have my house number… I’m the one who always answers.” She looked up from her phone and handed it to me.
“Yea, I’ll call you sometime and we can hang out!” She sounded happy as I put my number into her contacts. The door opened and in walked Toby.
“I was looking for you…” He said smiling as he walked closer to Becky.
“Why are you guys in here?” He asked looking down at her. She smiled up at him through her eyelashes.
“I needed to charge my phone, and then I had to hide from Cody…” He laughed at her innocence and came over to me linking our arms once again.
“Come on, we are about to watch a movie.” We walked down the stairs and into the living room. Everyone was sitting on the floor and had blankets covering them comfortably. The sound of popcorn was heard over the soft chattering of the people and soon the delicious aroma hit my nose.
Becky took a seat next to the group of people she was hanging out with earlier. I was starting to walk that way when I felt Toby pull on my arm. He was sitting in the back next to the light switch.
“This is the most comfortable place, it has the most blankets.” He pointed to the blankets he was now sitting on and sighed comfortably. I gave him a small laugh and sat down next to him.
“What are we watching?” I whispered loudly. He never answered me. I waited for what felt like twenty minutes for the previews to be over. We were watching transformers three. I smiled, getting happy. I haven’t seen this one yet, so I was excited.
Toby left and brought us some popcorn half way through the movie. The movie was really good, but I was still a little annoyed about Megan Fox not being in it. I could feel Toby pulling my hair. I looked out the corner of my eye and glared at him. He tried not to smile and acted like he didn’t do anything. He pulled it again a few minutes later. I gave him a death glare.
“What?” He mouthed. I just kept glaring at him. He started to laugh, trying to be silent.
“Shh!” A few people turned around to look at Toby and glared at him. He smiled and apologized. He stuck his hand in the popcorn bowl and threw a piece of popcorn at me. I smiled at him grabbing a handful of popcorn and throwing it at his face. He opened his mouth and tried to catch some but failed miserably. He grabbed his hand and fired back at me; he missed me and ended up hitting a guy who was behind me. He looked over at us and smiled. Before I knew what was happening the guy stood up with his bowl of popcorn in his hands and threw it across the room covering people in the buttery goodness.
“Popcorn fights!” Someone else shouted from across the room. Everyone started to scream and grab all the popcorn they had left throwing it to the closest person they could.
Popcorn was being tossed all over the room as peoples loud laughs echoed in my mind. I looked up to see Becky walking over towards me fast.
“Becky!” I shouted waving her over. As she walked up, her hands were behind her back, she was smiling at me. It only took me seconds to realize what she was doing. Before I could blink she moved her hands in my direction letting the popcorn leave her hands and hit my face. I heard Toby’s laugh over everyone’s as he laughed at my reaction. I stood still, in shock at her.
“And here I thought we could be friends!” I shouted playfully. She screamed and ran away like a little girl. I turned around to see Toby laughing on the floor holding his stomach.
“You…. Should have… Seen you’re… Face!” He said in-between his laughs. I began to laugh with him. His laugh was contagious.
After I helped clean up the popcorn mess a little bit I went over to Becky to let her know Toby was taking me home and for her to call me sometime so we could hangout. Toby told all the people he would be back shortly. It was nearly eleven at night and the cold chilly air sent shivers down my spine as I stepped out of the car finally at my house.
“Thanks for inviting me, I had fun.” I said into the open window as I stood outside the car.
“No, problem... Are you going to come next time?” He asked, looking hopeful.
“I wouldn’t miss it.” I smiled at him as I walked away and towards my house. Once I reached the door I heard his car pull out of the driveway and back onto the road. Once I opened my door I felt instantly warm as the hallway lights shinned on my skin.
“I’m home!” I shouted once I shut the door and took my shoes off. Jayden appeared around the corner smiling at me.
“A date huh?” He asked.
“What?” I asked, my eyes widening.
“No! It was a group party! I made some new friends…” I mumbled the last part and looked at the floor. I felt bad saying I made new friends, when it felt like I still had my old ones.
“Noah, you liar!” Jayden shouted as he walked back into the living room.
“I said, she didn’t tell me what it was called!” He still sounded angry with me. Once I walked in the room he looked at me out the corner of his eye. Yup, he was still mad at me. It shouldn’t matter anyway, I don’t care. He wasn’t making any since lately and I wasn’t going to go the extra mile and try to figure out what he was trying to get at. I rolled my eyes at him, I knew he saw me.
“I’m going to bed, I had a big night.” I said leaning on the side wall.
“Might want to take a shower first, you have popcorn in your hair.” Jayden said smiling at me. My eyes widened and my hand flew to my hair brushing out a few pieces of popcorn. How embarrassing. I laughed slightly
“Why do you have popcorn in your hair?” Noah asked, his voice showing no emotion.
“We had a popcorn fight, Toby started throwing popcorn at me and when he missed everyone started to throw some as well…” Jayden started to laugh, slapping Noah on the back as he did so.
“Sounds like my kind of party!” He said, making me smile.
“Night!” I shouted as I turned around.
“Night, Emma!” I heard Jayden say to me. I didn’t hear anything from Noah, and I didn’t expect to either.