"How did it go?" I asked, as Parker came in the door.
Lee stormed in behind him, and I tensed up as I heard the bedroom door slam.
"That's how it went," Parker informed me, heading over to the refrigerator.
"I'm sorry," I said, heading over to the kitchen.
"It's my fault," Parker said, pulling a beer out of the refrigerator.
I raised my eyebrows at him, reaching across the counter and swiping it away.
"I've had a long day," he defended.
"And we don't turn to alcohol to deal with our problems," I retorted, putting the beer back into the refrigerator and handing him a coke. "Especially when we're 18 years old."
He rolled his eyes, popping the top on the coke.
"So what happened?" I asked, hopping up on the counter and massaging his shoulders.
"I forced him to go to the therapist," Parker explained, with a sigh. "And then afterwards we got into this huge argument."
"How huge?"
"He told me he hated me."
I winced.
"And I told him that he could hate me all he wanted, but that didn't change the fact that he needed help."
"So you want all dad on him," I filled in.
"Right," Parker agreed. "Then the fight just escalated and I ended up pulling over to the side of the road so I didn't ram the fucking car into a post."
"Ouch."
"It was bad," Parker agreed. He turned to face me, taking another sip of his coke. "We've never had a fight that bad. Minor disputes here and there, but never where he told he that he hated me."
"He didn't mean it," I defended. "He's just lashing out over the whole therapy thing."
"I don't know," Parker muttered, hopping up onto the counter next to me. "You didn't hear him."
"But I've heard him before, and I know that he loves you," I said, reaching up to kiss his cheek. "I mean, how could he not?"
Parker bent down and kissed me on the lips.
"You should talk to him," I whispered.
"Let's just focus on us for a minute," Parker muttered, pulling me into his lap.
I wanted to argue, tell him that he should go and console Lee.
But we hadn't had time to just focus on us since Lee's depression first hit. And I couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of Parker's lips on mine.
"Let's take this back to my bedroom," I whispered, before pressing my lips to his neck.
He hopped up off the counter, picking up me up with him.
I let out a squeal as he carried me back to my bedroom.
Part of me knew that this was just Parker's way of releasing after his fight with Lee.
But the other part of me needed this. The selfish part wanted to have Parker all to myself, not the responsible, legal guardian Parker, but the high school jock one.
Parker laid me down on my bed, and I reached up to unbutton his shirt.
"I don't have anything," Parker whispered. "It's back in my bedroom."
Where Lee is, right.
"Well lucky for you, I'm not a saint," I whispered back, reaching over and opening my night stand drawer.
"Is it wrong that that's a turn on?" Parker asked, laughing as he pulled out a condom.
"Just kiss me you idiot."
~*~
"Good morning," Emmett sang, as I skipped into the kitchen.
"Good morning," I sang back, placing a kiss on his cheek.
He raised his eyebrows at me. "Okay then."
I poured myself a glass of milk as he pulled a pancake for me off the griddle.
"Thank you best brother," I said, taking a seat at the counter.
"Sure," Emmett agreed, raising an eyebrow at me.
Parker's bedroom door opened down the hallway and I swung around to greet him.
But instead Lee came out into the kitchen.
"Good morning," Emmett greeted, with a smile.
Not that we actually expected anything in return. Lee hadn't been much of a speaker lately.
"Morning," Lee answered, opening the refrigerator and helping himself to some orange juice.
I raised my eyebrows at Emmett, who just shrugged as he flipped the bacon.
"Pancakes?" Emmett asked him.
"Okay," Lee agreed, taking a seat next to me.
I thought I was going to fall out of my seat from the shock.
"Is Parker still asleep?" Emmett asked him, as he flipped Lee's pancakes.
"Migraine," Lee answered, reaching over and stealing a piece of bacon off the plate on the counter.
"Here you go," Emmett said, sliding him three pancakes.
"Thanks," Lee said, taking the syrup from me.
"Did you take your meds?" Emmett asked.
"Yeah," Lee agreed, before shoveling pancake into his mouth.
"Earth to Emily," Emmett said, snapping his fingers in front of my face.
"Huh?" I asked, looking over at him.
I was still in shock at the fact that Lee was not only speaking to us, but actually eating breakfast as well.
"Bacon?" Emmett asked.
"Yeah," I agreed, taking a couple of pieces for myself.
"Did you give Parker an ice pack?" Emmett asked Lee.
"He got one himself," Lee answered, finishing off his first pancake. "He woke up about 4 AM with the headache."
Those were the most words I'd heard him speak in over a week.
I finished off my breakfast before loading my plate into the dishwasher.
"I'll go check on him," I said, finishing off my glass of milk before putting my glass in the dishwasher as well.
"Okay," Emmett said, offering me a smile.
Lee just nodded.
I went back to Parker's bedroom. This was only the second time I'd been inside, and even though it was pitch-black, once my eyes adjusted I could see that it was still the same pigsty.
Boys.
I climbed into bed next to Parker, planting a kiss on my cheek.
"I really hope you're Emily," Parker muttered.
"I really hope so too," I whispered back.
He buried his head into my shoulder.
"How're you holding up?"
"Kill me?" he suggested.
"Tempting, but I'll pass."
He let out a sigh.
"So not good then?"
"Do you find it sexy when a guy barfs?"
"Incredibly."
"Then I should be glowing."
I couldn't help but laugh, running my fingers through his hair.
Parker fell asleep after a few minutes, and I couldn't help but trace his abs.
I could bounce a quarter on those things.
It was actually incredibly peaceful to just lie here with Parker, even though he was sick.
His face relaxed when he was asleep, the stress lines releasing. He looked vulnerable, which was incredibly sexy.
I'm not sure how long we laid here for, Parker asleep while I continued to run my fingers through his hair, until he woke up again.
Parker let out a groan, pressing his face deeper into my shoulder.
"Can I get you anything?" I asked.
He didn't answer, so I just let my fingers trail down his arm.
"I like that," he mumbled.
"Like this?" I asked, repeating the action.
"You're too good to me Lise."
I paused, as he did he.
He just called me by a nickname probably used for his dead, ex-girlfriend, Annalise.
Parker pulled away from me, letting out a soft groan in the process.
"Lise?" I asked, my throat tight.
"I didn't mean that," Parker defended. "It just slipped."
"I'm just going to go," I said, hopping out of his bed.
"Emily!" he called out after me.
I left his bedroom and went to mine, locking the door behind me.
And then I pulled out my laptop, first pulling up Parker's Facebook.
There wasn't much to reveal, he wasn't really an active Facebook user.
After doing some digging, I found a mutual friend of Parker and Annalise, a girl named Trisha.
And her pictures weren't private.
The first picture I clicked on of Annalise caused my breath to catch in my throat.
She had tanned skin, clearly from long days at the beach, and long brunette hair. She had curves in all the right places, her stomach flat.
And her arms wrapped around Parker's neck, while he smiled at the camera, the two of them enjoying the sunset on the beach.
I rarely got to see him smile like that, a genuine ear-to-ear grin. It usually only came out around Lee.
As I clicked through the rest of the pictures, my heart continued to drop.
He was smiling in practically all of the pictures, the two of them as sickeningly happy as a couple could be.
Puppy love.
There's no way in hell I could ever compete with that. Parker never looked at me the way he looked at Annalise in these pictures. He rarely ever even smiled around me, a true smile.
Not to mention that Annalise was absolutely gorgeous, model-worthy even. And I was just Emily.
I quickly slammed my laptop shut, my stomach churning.
I would never be Annalise. I would never be good enough for him.
~*~
"I'm headed to work," Emmett informed me, as he set the timer. "Dinner will be done when this timer goes off, an hour."
"Okay," I agreed.
He waved goodbye before leaving, whistling to himself.
"Can I borrow your laptop?" Lee asked, looking up from his book across the living room. "Mine is in Parker's room, and he's still got that migraine."
"Sure," I said, with a nod.
He headed back to my bedroom, and I went over to my record collection, looking for something to match my mood.
Sad and heartbroken.
As I was sifting through my records, I heard Lee come back into the living room.
"Find it?" I asked.
"Uh, yeah," he agreed.
I looked over my shoulder to see Lee staring at me.
"What?" I asked.
"Why were you looking at pictures of Parker and Lise?"
I forgot that I never closed out of that.
"No reason," I said, returning to my hunt for the perfect record.
"Try Led Zeppelin, Tangerine," Lee suggested. "And you don't just look up pictures of your boyfriend's dead ex-girlfriend for fun."
Now that sounded like the Lee I knew.
I pulled out my Led Zeppelin record, ignoring him as I plugged in the record and tuned it to Tangerine.
"He still loves her doesn't he?" I asked, turning to face Lee.
"I'm not his love consultant," Lee said, raising an eyebrow at me. "Ask him yourself."
"He called me Lise."
Lee froze, as I expected him to.
"So I'm pretty sure that's all the answer I need."
I took a seat on the couch, pulling my knees up to my chin as I listened to the song.
And then much to my surprise, Lee took a seat next to me.
"It's not fair," Lee said, looking over at me. "People our age shouldn't have to think about not having a tomorrow." He extended his legs out and rested them on the coffee table. "But that car accident took everybody Parker and I loved, and it's not something you just move on from."
I looked over at him, tears bright in my eyes.
"Give him a chance," Lee encouraged, his eyes dulled and face sad. "He deserves at least a chance to explain himself."
"What about you?" I asked.
"What about me?"
"Don't you deserve a chance, a chance to be happy?"
"I already have a therapist, I don't need two." He snapped his fingers. "Oh wait, I do have two."
I suppose it makes sense for him to have one here and one in Miami.
"So thanks for the two cents, but I'm not homeless," Lee continued, looking over at me.
"Damn, someone's the sass queen today."
He rolled his eyes, a small smile crossing his face.
It was fleeting, but it was a start.
"This song is fucking depressing," Lee muttered.
"It was your suggestion," I reminded him, laughing.
"You took a song suggestion from a clinically depressed patient," Lee said, raising his eyebrows at me. "You need to re-evaluate your life choices."
"Shut up and pick something else."
He chuckled, heading over to my record collection to find something else to play.
I missed this.
~*~
"Lee!" Parker called, as I stumbled out into the kitchen.
"I heard you the first three fucking times!" Lee called back. "Keep your pants on."
I opened the cupboard, searching for a coffee mug.
It was way too early to deal with this.
I fixed my cup of coffee and took a seat the counter.
"Your brother had to work early," Parker informed me. "But he told me to give you this." He slid me a yogurt.
"Thanks."
Silence stretched between us.
"So we should talk about yesterday," I said, looking up at Parker.
He looked over at me, clearly unsure of what to say.
"I wish that you would talk to me," I said, swishing my coffee around. "Tell me when you're hurting. Just let me in."
Parker didn't answer, leaning against the opposite counter.
"I don't know how many times I have to tell you that I understand pain," I continued. "And you didn't pass me a spoon."
"It's just different," Parker muttered, opening the silverware drawer.
"I want to be there for you," I said, accepting a spoon from him. "But you won't let me in."
He braced his forearms on the counter in silence.
Lee came out into the kitchen.
"Finally," Parker said, looking over at him.
"I don't want to go back."
"Well it's a good thing that I'm not asking you."
Lee grumbled to himself as he located the bagels.
"Do you leave today?" I asked.
Parker nodded.
"But I don't want to," Lee reminded him.
"You're 16," Parker reminded him. "You have to go to school. It's called truancy if you don't. And then I'm labeled as an unfit guardian. We've been over this."
"So I'll just skip and then you can't get blamed."
"Not gonna happen. Did you pack?"
"Yeah," Lee mumbled.
"We leave in fifteen."
"I don't want to."
Parker let out a sigh, clearly trying to find some patience. "At this point Lee, I really don't care what you want. We've been over this, you have to go back to school."
Lee reached across Parker, mumbling as he went to grab the peanut butter.
Parker grabbed Lee's arm.
"What?" Lee asked.
Parker stared at Lee's scars, and I felt my stomach churn.
Lee must've never told him.
"What's this?" Parker asked, his voice taking a hard edge.
Lee wrenched his arm away from Parker, tucking his hands into his back pockets. "Nothing."
"That's not nothing," Parker said.
"Just forget it," Lee muttered.
"Lee Adams, start talking now," Parker ordered, his voice taking an authoritative tone.
"They're just scars."
"Scars from what?"
"It was a long time ago."
Parker clenched his jaw, looking away from Lee for a few moments before looking back at him. "Who knows about this?"
"My therapist," Lee muttered. "And mom knew."
"And you didn't think mentioning this to me was important?"
"Parker," I said, quietly.
Parker braced his arms against the counter, letting his head drop.
"I'm sorry," Lee whispered.
Parker shook his head. "I lost my temper, you know I didn't mean that." He looked back over at Lee. "How long ago?"
"A few years."
Parker nodded, pressing his lips together.
"I'm sorry," Lee repeated.
"Come here kid," Parker said, wrapping his arms around Lee. "You have nothing to be sorry for, got it?"
Lee nodded, his face pressed to Parker's chest.
"I shouldn't have lost my temper," Parker continued. "But we're absolutely not finished talking about this."
"Okay," Lee agreed.
Parker let him go.
"I'm going to go finish packing."
"I thought you said-" Parker started, but Lee disappeared before he could finish.
"Come here," I said, standing up and heading around the counter.
"I was not ready for that," Parker whispered. "I was ready for the mood swings and the ADHD and the panic attacks, but I was not ready for that."
I wrapped my arms around him.
"He's okay, right?" Parker asked.
"He's okay," I agreed. "Scars remind of us where we've been, but they don't dictate where we're going."
"You always know what to say," Parker mumbled.
"I just want to see you smile," I said, pulling away.
He offered me a quick smile.
I stood up on my tip-toes and kissed him. "We'll work on it."
He laughed, before kissing me again.
"If you two are done," Lee called, "you're standing in front of my bagel."
**************************************************************************************************************
So what did you guys think about the heated scene between Parker & Emily? Did you expect her to have the condoms? What about Lee's turn around? What about Parker called Emily by the name of Annalise? And the way Emily dealt with it? What about Lee's last morning with them? Did you expect Parker to find out about Lee's scars like that?
The cover off to the right was created by gymnastforever14. Check it out! -->
Sorry this update is late. I injured my knee on Saturday, and I've been pretty down about it because it's the same knee I had surgery on last October. So fingers crossed it's nothing serious.
Teaser: Time to return to school, which means the pressures of school and soccer and for Parker & Emily to work as a couple without spending every moment together. And Lee's gone, but don't worry it won't be the last of him.
Update: Thursday or Friday