Ricky’s P.O.V.
“I need a venti coffee,” I mumbled, idly staring at the cute barista who was spending her time ogling at me.
She suddenly realized that she’d been spoken to and snapped back to composure. “Oh, uh. Yes sir. W-will that be all?”
I slapped a ten on the table and gave her a sly smile. “That’s all.”
I watched with satisfaction as her face slowly turned to a bright red and she called out my order to the bar. I sauntered over to wait for my drink while casually flipping through my phone for something interesting to hold my attention.
It felt good to be back in town. Yes, I’d already been here for about a month, but it was nice to be able to resume my place on the throne. I was king of the castle around here and I didn’t want to let go just yet. And with college out of the way, I didn’t have any pressing things to do at the moment. All I really felt like doing was drinking beers with my friends and checking out the new girls that had shown up since I’d been gone. And with my newfound maturity, I was reeling them in like a fisherman on a lucky day.
“Ricky!” the cute barista called out and I took the coffee from her hands.
“Thanks, Becky,” I eyed her nametag.
And with my coffee in hand, I scooted out of Starbucks and headed straight for my truck. The sun was already up in the sky, melting away the last chunks of winter. I couldn’t wait for summer; that meant bikinis.
I slid into the cab of my truck and jammed my keys into the ignition. The car revved to life and as soon as I was going to back out of the parking lot, my phone vibrated.
I pulled it out and read the message on the screen.
1 New Message from: James
I hadn’t seen that name pop up on my phone in a while; I eagerly swiped it open.
It’s spring break for me. I’ll be heading home soon! We need to catch up, buddy! And bring Emma with you.
“Shit,” I mumbled.
My failure to tell James about the Emma fiasco was about to bite me in the ass. Thinking that I’d never see that devilish face of his again, I didn’t find it necessary to tell him that Emma had gone and left me cold. And now he was flying home and I didn’t know how to confess.
I thumbed a reply.
All right, cool. Bring the beer. And btw…Emma died.
There. That sounded like a pretty good excuse. No need for any explanations.
A few seconds later, my phone chirped his response.
WHAT?
Okay, maybe that didn’t work as well as I thought it was going to.
Just kidding. She moved out 5 years ago. Sorry dude. She’s long gone.
I pressed Send and could feel my face bunching up into an expression of anger. I scrolled through my recent text conversations and clicked on Markus’. His last text made my head hurt.
I found Emma. She’s not coming back. Sorry.
“God damn it!” I cursed, ramming my truck into reverse and peeling out of the parking lot.
I didn’t bother reading James’ response; I just kept driving. I flew down the streets, ignoring the honks I got. I was about ten miles over the speed limit and I couldn’t give a single fuck. I wanted the cops to catch me. Maybe I’d keep driving and play a little game of “catch me if you can” with them. I was feeling edgy, reckless, compulsive. I tried to think of where I was headed, but I had no clue. I wasn’t going home; that would just take me back to Mom and Dad who kept bugging me about apartment hunting and I didn’t really want to be anywhere near that. And being home also meant being constantly reminded of Emma. Even though she wasn’t there, everything else was. Her room was left untouched. Her car was still under a dusty sheet in the driveway, never driven. Her diary still tucked in her nightstand cabinet, still incomplete.
I took a sharp turn and swerved onto a random street. My coffee unhinged from the cup holder and tumbled onto the seat, the liquid splashing across the upholstery. I cursed once more and picked up the now half-empty cup. The cute barista’s number was scrawled across the cardboard. In anger, I chucked the coffee out the window and rode on.
I was a madman. Who knew that one little thing could set me off? But it wasn’t a light subject, at least not for me.
I gripped the steering wheel and through gritted teeth, said about every cuss word in the book. It was driving me crazy, knowing that this one, simple girl had seemed to wrap me around her finger. I’d never been played; I’d always been the player! But this was completely different. I was the pawn in her game. I was the fly caught in her web. And she didn’t even know she was doing this to me!
But Emma had slipped through my hands, along with my second chance. Why had I ever rejected her? What kind of idiot was I? I’d wanted her this whole time, yet I couldn’t bring myself to tell her so. And now she was off in Narnia or some place and I couldn’t even reach her. Mom and Dad had banned all talk with her, saying it would just mess with her head. But I knew Emma had been dying for a sign from us.
That’s why I’d sent Markus. He’d be my messenger. He’d be the one to go and get her. But he’d failed. And now Emma was out of my reach.
“Why am I so stupid?!” I shouted to myself.
To my surprise, I got a response. A loud and obnoxious beeping came from behind me. I checked my rearview mirror to see that there was a car on my tail. I veered to the left and watched the stranger follow right after me.
I tried to focus on the driver, but all I could see was a giant heap of blonde hair bouncing up and down in the seat. Who could that be? Maybe one of my exes figured out I was back in town and was chasing after me.
After about five more minutes of playing cat and mouse, I finally screeched to a halt a few blocks away from my house. As soon as I was at a complete stop, I jumped out of the car, and readied my body for a fight, just in case this stranger was some sort of deranged lunatic.
“Alright,” I shouted at the driver who still hadn’t come out of their car. “Cut the crap. Why are you following me?”
Finally, the door was kicked open, and emerged from the car was a very familiar looking girl. I remembered vaguely seeing her flocking around my lunch table back in high school. But she wasn’t a “usual customer”, so that meant she probably wasn’t too popular. Eh, whatever. She was hot.
“Looks like I finally caught you!” she exclaimed, jabbing a finger my way.
A daring move for someone I’d just met. I don’t think I came off as the type to point fingers at, unless you were admiring from afar.
“You didn’t catch me. I just stopped running,” I stated.
Silently, another girl floated over to join the blonde. She was a chubby little thing that waddled her hips when she walked. I instantly disregarded her presence and focused on the hot one.
“Now, what do you want? My number, an autograph, a date?” I teased, walking closer to her.
Her bright green eyes locked dead with mine and her next words made me stop in my tracks.
“We want Emma back, you selfish bastard!”
My mouth dropped and I stood, flabbergasted by the fact that I’d been called a selfish bastard by a random girl.
“What?” was all I could manage.
“You’re the one who made Emma leave, so we need you to get her back for us!” she called out.
Suddenly, I figured out who these two chicks were. They were Emma’s old minions. What were their names again? Carly and Martha? No, no. Kayla and Margaret. Oh, what did it matter? All I knew was that they were wasting my time and my money.
“Listen, Camille-,”
“It’s Hailey!” she spat, a scowl growing on her face. “And this is Maggie.”
“Whatever. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Emma left on her own accord. I had nothing to do with that.”
“False,” the less-hot girl said, pointing her finger in the air as if to signal something.
“False? What do you mean ‘false’? Are you calling me out?” I growled.
Maggie blushed deeply and stepped back, letting her louder friend take the reigns.
“You actually want us to believe that load of cuh-rap?” Hailey blurted out and I clenched my fists at her words. “Before Emma left, she told us that it was you who’d rejected her. She was so ready to-,”
Before she could keep talking, I’d darted over to Hailey and clamped a hand around that big mouth of hers. The other girl squeaked and backed away. Hailey tried to claw me off of her, but I easily overpowered the blonde. She even tried licking my palm, but I wouldn’t let go.
“Listen here,” I hissed. Her green eyes watched my face intensely. “I don’t know who you think you are, but I do know that you’re wrong. Dead. Wrong. If you think I’m going to help you get Emma back, you’re out of luck. She’s not coming back.”
After a long and powerful stare-down, I pushed Hailey away. She staggered back into Maggie, who quickly steadied her for the rebound.
“What makes you so sure that Emma’s not coming back?” Maggie asked while Hailey tried to compose herself.
I faltered. Could I tell these two freaks about my mission to try and get her back? It would definitely make them back off. Markus had told me about the intervention he’d had with Emma and that she’d turned him down. In fact, Markus was flying back home alone at this very moment. But maybe that would just give them more fuel.
“What’s your plan?” I decided to ignore her original question.
“We’re going to get all her friends and fly down to Florida for a visit. Then we’d all persuade her to move back,” Hailey said curtly, her cheeks flushed.
Been there, done that.
I scoffed. “That’s not going to work.”
“How do you know?” Hailey protested.
“Because I’ve already tried.”
Both of their mouths dropped. At that moment, a car whizzed by on the street and the soft Spring air pressed gently into my body, gliding through my hair and tickling the back of my neck.
“Y-you already tried? What happened? When? Did it work?” Hailey and Maggie scampered closer to me to hear all of the juicy details.
“Of course I already tried. I sent my buddy Markus up there about a week ago. He was able to find Emma easily, and when he cornered her into talking, she turned him down. So no, she’s not coming home.”
I couldn’t hide my sadness at the fact that my “sister” wasn’t returning back to me. Nobody had any idea how much I missed that girl. It kind of freaked me out how frequently she crossed my mind, even when she was miles away. Sometimes for kicks, I’d go into her room and just sit on her bed, soaking up what was left of Emma. I’d read that flimsy diary of hers from front to back, looking for a reason into why she’d left. But when I couldn’t find it, I knew that it was all on me. I was the reason she was gone.
“Well, there goes that,” Hailey pouted.
“Yeah. So, can you leave me alone now?” I was suddenly not in the mood to interact with other people.
“Wait!” Maggie’s voice pierced the sky and Hailey and I turned to look at her. “Of course Emma would say no to Markus. I think we all know her a bit better than to think she’d say yes to him. In fact, I doubt she’d come home with anyone…anyone but you, Ricky!”
Hailey’s face brightened and she nodded eagerly at me.
“You’re the only one who can bring her back! So what’re you waiting for? Go get her!”
“No,” I stated flatly. “I…I can’t.”
Crap. My weakness was showing. I could feel my wall crumbling before these two girls and knew they would soon sniff out my soft spot.
“What?! Why not?! I don’t get-,” Hailey started to yell, but Maggie cut her off.
“I know why,” she mumbled, looking directly at me. “You’re afraid.”
Bingo. Jackpot. Winner winner, chicken dinner.
Never in my life had I been called afraid. But after hearing the word aloud, I knew that was all I was. Afraid. Scared. Fearing. I didn’t want to go get Emma. I didn’t want to go searching for her. Not now, not ever.
“What?” Hailey gasped. “How do you know, Mags?”
“I can see it in his eyes. I can see the fear of rejection there.”
“Just stop. Stop!” I burst; squeezing my eyes shut and stepped back towards my car.
I couldn’t let this girl get inside my head. There was only one girl allowed to do that and she wasn’t anywhere near me.
“Don’t act like you know me, because you don’t!” I spat.
“Admit it,” Maggie was gaining strength, projecting her voice at me. “You’re afraid to go after Emma because you don’t want to get rejected. You’ve never been turned down in your life and you don’t want her to be the one to do it.”
She took a short pause to suck in a deep breath. She never missed a beat.
“You’re scared by this strange feeling you have for Emma. You don’t understand what it is, but you don’t want to let it go. Well, I can tell you what that feeling is…” Maggie looked at me, hesitating. Maybe she was trying to find out if she should actually say it out loud.
Don’t. Please don’t. I don’t want to know what it is.
“Ricky, it’s love.”
The last brick to my wall disintegrated and I slumped against my truck. I buried my head in my hands, trying to force Maggie’s words out of my head. Maybe I was being too dramatic. I knew I shouldn’t be breaking like this in front of these two, but I don’t think I could’ve stopped myself.
“I…I don’t love her,” I moaned.
“But you do!” Hailey proclaimed.
“Why are you doing this?” I muttered.
“We’re just trying to get our best friend back. You just happened to have an enlightenment along the way,” Hailey joked.
Nobody laughed.
Now that the truth was in the air, I couldn’t deny it any longer. I loved Emma. I loved her and I had for five years now. All I ever thought about was Emma. Emma, Emma, Emma. And now that Hailey and Maggie knew, I wouldn’t be able to keep the secret contained. So maybe it was time to man-up and go after her.
But I couldn’t. I wasn’t ready. I’d never felt this way towards anybody. And what happens if Emma didn’t feel the same way anymore? I’d be doomed.
“I need time to think,” I felt like a girl saying that, but it was true.
“That’s okay,” Maggie reassured me. “We’ll wait.”
“Yeah! And then we can all bring her back and start the wedding preparations!” Hailey squealed. I wanted to rip her throat out.
“Now that you’ve completely ruined my day, can you two go now?” I finally regained my posture and gave them both a hard glare.
“Whatever you say, Doctor Love!” Hailey teased.
They started to walk back to their car, but I called out to them again.
“Can…can you not tell anyone about this?” I mumbled feebly.
“Who would we tell? It’s not like we’re in high school anymore,” Maggie stated.
I gave a stiff nod.
We all got back into our cars and drove off. I was still in shock. In a matter of ten minutes, I’d finally came to terms on how I felt towards Emma. And now I had two girls trying to get me to confess it to her.
I laughed darkly. Like hell I was going to admit to Emma that I loved her. That was like throwing myself into a tank of piranhas. She would hang that over my head for the rest of my life! She’d have the ultimate blackmail. And weren’t we supposed to be brother and sister? What would the family think if we did hit it off? I’d be disowned for sure.
I wheeled into the driveway and shut the engine off. I remained in my seat, staring at the giant mansion and thinking hard.
Could I really tell Emma that I loved her? It couldn’t be that hard; it was just three simple words.
But Maggie was right. I didn’t want to be rejected. Especially not by Emma.
Trying to distract myself, I picked up my phone and checked James’ response. The text flashed across the screen and I read it slowly.
Well then go get her, asshole.
And with that single text, I made up my mind.
I was going after her.
HARDEST CHAPTER ASLDJSK’JD;FKDJF. Ricky is so complex. Sorry if he got all bipolar on you. I forced myself to update today and this took over 3 hours. So you better like it! Haha, I kid. But do enjoy! Muah!