Authors Note:
Still not the last chapter! :)
Also, I'm still trying to find a picture of Emery with short hair. Until then, I think you'll just have to let your imaginations run wild :) (As long as you keep Emery very good-looking in them ;)
“Can I stop now?” pants Emery, staggering towards me. He leans over, resting his hands on his knees and leveling his head with his shoulders. Gasping for breath, he looks up at me with worried eyes.
I tap my chin with my fingers with a smirk on my face. I’d just made Emery run the obstacle course for the third time, and now things are starting to get interesting.
“No, I think a fourth run should just about satisfy me,” I grin, only gaining a hopeless look from him.
“Just about?” he gasps, straightening up. “You realize we only run it once when we’re practicing, right?”
“Well, next time you run it with everyone else you’ll be the best!” I wink at him and he slowly steps towards me, resting his hands on my shoulders.
“Please River,” he murmurs, brushing his lips across my forehead. He slowly moves his lips down to my cheek, then the place where my chin meets my neck, trying to distract me.
“Okay,” I reply smugly. “Then when you come back home, you’ll have to sit through Twilight.”
Emery pulls back, his eyes looking alarmed. “You play dirty, don’t you?” He narrows his eyes at me, but I can tell he’s just being playful. “Fine, one more time.”
He walks slowly towards the start of the course, dreading doing the whole thing over again. I watch him balance on beams and climb ropes until he looks like he’s going to fall over. He’s halfway through when I see my parents walking over with the Commander.
“He’s looking a bit tired,” the Commander says with a frown, standing beside me with his hands clasped behind his back. “He was doing so well yesterday, I don’t know why he’s having such difficulty.” He watches as Emery fights to climb up a wall.
“I think it might be the fact that this is his fourth time running the course,” I mumble cunningly. The Commander turns to me with wide eyes and then laughs.
“I think you have the next squad leader here, Thomas,” he laughs turning to my dad. They start talking and I just start to tune out when my mom steps beside me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders.
“How are things going?” I can by the expression on her face that she’s a bit worried.
“Good,” I smile. “Despite what you’re probably thinking.” Her eyes waver towards the course that Emery’s tiredly finishing.
“Well, I’m glad. Do you mind if we steal you two away to talk to you two about some things?” I don’t like the way her voice sounds strained but I slowly nod as Emery tiredly approaches. I can tell that he wants to collapse in the grass but can’t because the Commander’s here.
“Shall I lead you to a private room?” The Commander asks my dad, who answers him with a nod. We all walk quietly towards the large brick building with Emery and I slowly bringing up the rear.
“It was worth it,” Emery says between deep breaths. “As long as I don’t have to watch Twilight again.”
I roll my eyes. “It didn’t look that hard,” I quip. “I would try it myself, but…” I trail off, gesturing to my stomach. I honestly hope it doesn’t get any bigger, because now it’s becoming such an inconvenience. Bending over is almost impossible, and I’m sick of the dirty looks from old ladies at the grocery store.
“How are you?” Emery asks in a soft tone. “I wish I could be with you to help…” He trails off as he laces his fingers through mine.
“I’d be better if you were there,” I mumble, staring at the ground.
“We can phone, you know.” He tries to lighten the mood with a smile but it quickly fades, both of us knowing that it still wouldn’t be the same. “I promise I will often.”
I don’t respond as my dad holds open the doors of the building for us. We quickly walk in and I look around the foyer. Other than a few chairs and a couch, there isn’t any other furniture in the room excluding the receptionist desk who I assume takes calls from the boy’s parents. We walk through it and down the hall and I stare at all the pictures of uniformed men, most of them old, black and white photos of people who must be long gone by now.
“Here we are,” the Commander holds open a door for my family and we step into a small room set up with two white couches sitting across from each other and a matching chair. He smiles as we settle in, Emery and I on one couch and my parents on the other. The Commander doesn’t say anything as he quietly closes the door and I listen to his steps go down the hall.
“We already told River,” my dad starts, meeting Emery’s gaze. “But we’re going to start building a house on the property next to ours for you two and the baby. Of course, it won’t be ready for when it’s born, but it should be done not too long after.”
Emery nods, but instead of a smile which I expected, his lips are pressed into a thin line. Before I thought not much has changed, except for his hair, however I can see that he’s trying to be more professional about things like this. It must mean that being calm, even when happy, is something that’s a part of the change he’s going through.
“Now, normally when your parents enroll you in Military School, you stay for a determined length of time. However since you enrolled yourself, things are slightly different.” My dad pauses encase Emery wants to ask something, however he doesn’t speak and my dad continues. “You’re free to leave the academy when you see fit.”
“I’ll be coming back the week the baby is due,” Emery replies, still not having an expression cross his face.
“But what if you’re not ready to come back?” My dad asks with raised eyebrows. He stands up and walks over to the window that separates the two couches where they touch the wall. “What if you think you need to stay here longer so you can work on you?” He turns back to Emery and meets him with a stern gaze.
“If worse comes to worst, then I’ll stay here during the week and come home on weekends.” He levels his eyes with my dad’s, showing maturity I haven’t seen on him before.
“What about a job?” The tone of my father’s voice worries me as he gestures towards me. “How do you plan to support a baby if you have no job?”
Emery doesn’t blink. “I’m still working it out.”
“You don’t have very much time.”
I turn to my dad, trying not to get irritated. “We’re both teenagers, dad. We’re not going to realize how hard this is going to be and how much we’re going to have to do until the baby actually comes. Right now it feels like it’s not even happening.”
“You can’t leave it to last minute, River,” he sighs, rubbing his forehead in frustration. “You need income; you need someone watching the baby. How do you expect to do that without planning?”
“It’s not like we planned the baby,” I mutter, folding my arms across my chest. “You don’t understand that it’s not going to weigh on us until it’s born. If we haven’t figured it out by then, then we’ll figure it out after.” I move my gaze to the window as my mother clears her throat.
“She does have a point, honey,” she says softly, resting her hand on his arm. “They’re kids having kids. You can’t expect them to take this on the way we did.”
“What about the Military?” My dad asks after a few moments of silence, his expression hard.
“The Military?” My mouth falls open and I quickly close it to glare at my father. “Emery is not going to the military!”
When my dad turns to me, his look is frightening but I do my best to stand my ground as he speaks. “River, you’re being melodramatic. He’s already in Military School and if he enjoys it, he should go to the real thing. He’ll have good income for you and the baby while also serving a good purpose.”
“Oh, so helping with our baby isn’t a good enough purpose?” I snap, my hands clenching into fists. “I’m not having Emery gone all the time while we have a newborn baby!”
“I’m not saying right after its born,” my dad sighs, avoiding my gaze as he grows more frustrated.
“This is completely out of the question.” I stare at my dad, trying to look as serious and mature as possible. “He’s the father of my baby and there is no chance I’m letting him leave.”
My dad raises his eyebrows. “Well, I guess it’s up to Emery.” We both turn to face him where he chooses only to stare at the wall rather than anyone in particular.
“I’ll think about it.”
I feel all the blood drain from my hands as I clench them as tightly as possible. I turn to look at my dad, my expression angry. “I can’t believe you.”
My dad checks his watch impatiently, clearly wanting this frustrating conversation to be over. He’s acting as if I hadn’t said anything at all, or at least choosing to ignore it. “Visiting hours are almost up. We should be heading out soon.”
I watch my mother roll her eyes as she rises to her feet. “Let’s go outside and say our goodbyes then. Thomas, will you go find the Commander?”
My dad doesn’t respond as he quickly exits the room, leaving the door wide open for us. Emery stands before I do and takes my hands, helping me to my feet.
“Holding up okay?” He asks with a lopsided smirk. I shrug and he slides his arm around my shoulders, guiding me out of the room after my mom. “I know you’re mad about it, but me thinking about it doesn’t hurt anything, River. I’ll keep you updated on what I’m thinking.” He squeezes my shoulder for reassurance but I don’t feel any comfort. The last thing I want is for Emery to be gone once our baby is actually born.
“I’ll say our goodbye now,” my mother says to Emery when we stand in the lobby. “I’m going to go find the Commander and say bye to him too.”
Emery drops his arm and walks into my mom’s open arms. She hugs him tightly, looking almost like she’s going to burst into tears at any second. I can’t believe how my mom is acting when I remember her not thinking of Emery more than simply a delinquent who lives on our farm.
“Be good,” she says, pulling away to wipe a stray tear from her eye. With a deep breath and a nod, she heads off in search of my dad and the Commander.
“Shall we?” Emery gestures towards the door and I follow him through it. Outside we stand in front of the sun, slowly setting behind the trees. I don’t know how we managed to spend most of the day here, but somehow we did.
“I don’t want to leave,” I murmur, as Emery’s fingers trail my left cheek. He stares down at me affectionately as I keep my gaze fixated on the ground.
“We’ll be together in only a few weeks,” he assures me, tipping my chin so our eyes are level. “Our baby is almost due.” He smiles excitedly and I can’t help it as I grin back.
“I still can’t believe it,” I tell him, as I replay the similar thing I said back in the conversation with my parents. “Wait, Emery,” I whisper with downcast eyes. “Do you think you’re going to have to come back here?”
He raises me to meet his gaze again and I try my best to not look away. It almost feels like I’m staring at someone else without having the urge to brush his hair out of his eyes.
“We’ll have to wait and see if I changed,” he says, his face expressionless. “But whatever happens, we’ll make it work.” He wraps his arms around me and pulls me tightly to him. He places his lips on my forehead and then rests his chin on the top of my head.
“What are the chances of you growing your hair out?” Emery pulls back at my question, a playful smile on his lips.
“What?” he asks, running his fingers over the much shorter, black hair. “You don’t like it?” He raises his eyebrows, waiting for me to respond.
“Well, I do miss it,” I admit, wishing I could lace my fingers through it again. Suddenly the doors burst open and my dad trudges through with my mom in tow. He doesn’t even glance my way as he speeds past me, calling over his shoulder.
“Let’s go, River.”
I shudder at the thought of having to spend a long drive in the same vehicle with him. Before I was dreading coming here, but now I’m dreading leaving. Usually the goodbyes between Emery and I consisted of us fighting or one leaving without the other knowing. Now we actually we’re calm and seeing each other off.
“I guess this is it,” Emery sighs, looking at me sadly. He opens his arms and I rush into them, not wanting to leave our embrace to go home. “I’ll call as much as I can and if anything happens, you can always call me.” He pulls back, resting his hands on my shoulders so he can look down at me. “I love you so much, River,” he murmurs, gently kissing me. He moves his lips to my forehead before pulling away.
“I love you too,” I whisper, not knowing I’m crying until I hear how choked up my voice is. Emery brushes the tears from my cheeks and nods towards the truck.
“You better go.” I slowly pull away, knowing the longer I stand here the worse it’s going to get. “I’ll miss you so much.”
“I’ll miss you too!” I call, walking backwards towards the truck, waving. When I open the passenger, my mom’s considerately given me the window seat so I don’t have to be beside my dad. We back out of where we were parked and we start to turn around, my mother and I waving. Slowly, we start to leave the ground and I cry harder than I was before.
“Shh,” my mother says softly, pulling me into her. She strokes my hair, trying to comfort me when I notice something in the rear view mirror. Slowly I sit up and roll down the window, sticking my head out. My hair blows out behind me as I stare out at Emery, who’s jogging to keep up with the truck.
“I love you!” he calls, slowing down as he’s no longer able to keep up with the truck. We wave to each other as I hear him call the same words again, and then disappears behind the treeline.