Mike's POV
I stare at her mouth agape. I close it quickly before she sees, but I doubt she missed it. I never would have guessed she'd been through so much. Having a father who didn't love you was bad enough. Worse when he made your mother feel the same way. Because I'm under the impression it was his fault.
And she had said hers wasn't as bad as mine. And her mouth was still moving spinning more horrible tales. Except for her she couldn't simply close the book and escape. She had to live it.
Emma continues "It wasn't so bad at first. What was bad was when I found the money. Enough for mothers and Phoebes wants and needs. None though for me. I was just glad he was sending any at all. But mother had never hit Phoebe. When she tried for the first time I jumped in front and we ran away."
I stare at her sadly, how can she still be so strong? As she speaks her voice is impassive only the slight tremble in her voice gives her away. The tremble is so small that if I didn't know her I wouldn't have noticed it.
I stand up and hug her because it looks like she needs one. No one should have to go through what she did. "I'm sorry Emma."
I look down on her tiny figure and for once I see her for a child. Before I obviously knew she was a child but to me she seemed so much older, so much more mature. I just treated her as though I would a friend, well mostly.
She stands in the kitchen sadly remembering. I try to think of ways to cheer her up, but I'm rubbish at this stuff. Well, What do you expect? I'm a guy, of course I'm bad at this. I remember the time I took her skating. I need something like that. Something to take her mind off it.
Just then Layla walks in, a grim look on her face. An idea springs to mind. I lean down to whisper in Emma's ear "Get Phoebe ready." She simply nods and walks up the stairs.
I walk over so Layla and I know I'm blushing slightly. One would think that overtime the nerves would go away, but I'm still afraid as ever that I'm going to mess it up or do something stupid. It's what I tend to do.
I stand in front of her and loop my hands with hers. "What is it?" I ask.
"I went but they can only realese the body to a family member. That means Emma's mom has to go." She say's sadly. "I don't understand why Emma doesn't tell someone!"
I kiss her on the forehead and whisper "She did tell someone. She told us." Well, Layla didn't know all of it, but she knew enough.
Phoebe and Emma come down the stairs and wait for us at the door. I drag everyone into Layla's car and direct her to our destination. It's normally just a field covered with overgrown grass but today it's filled with visitors who have come to the fair. It's filled with rollercosters, stalls and right at the end a ferris wheel.
Phoebe and Emma's eyes widen as they take in the place "I've never been to a fair." Emma admits. Layla doesn't hear, she's already jumped out of the car and is running around the car so she can drag me out.
I turn to Emma an exclaim. "If you haven't been to the fair then you haven't lived!"
Layla opens my door and chirps happily "I love the fair, I haven't been in forever!"
We all follow her through the booth where I pay for the wristbands. Now we have them we can go on any ride we like. Phoebe immediatly asks "Can we go on that?" She points towards the ferris wheel.
"Sure kid." I agree heading through the crowds.
Layla grips my hand tightly "Please don't make me go on the ferris wheel." She begs. I look at her curiously and she admits, embarresed to be doing so , "I'm scared of hieghts okay?" She blushes red and I laugh, pulling her into a hug.
"I won't let you fall."
She follows reluctantly after me. As we sit in the cart and the wheel starts she grips my hand tightly sqeezing it. Emma notices and smiles reasuringly as Layla. Phoebe rests her head on the side of the cart looking out.
The cart goes up and the higher we go the better the veiw becomes and the tighter Laylas grip on my hand is. Phoebe smiles as she watches the beautiful scenery. Layla is obviously not enjoying herself. She trembles as the cart reaches the top of the circle. She shuts her eyes and cowers into me.
A strong gust of wind makes the cart sway a little from side to side. Layla screams and reaches out to hold on, however her hand grasps air. She opens her eyes to find somewhere to hold onto but as she does she see's how high up we actually are.
She freezes. I don't know what to do so its a lucky thing Emma does. She pulls her away from the edge quickly and tells her sternly "In about thirteen seconds you will be on solid ground, just calm down. Breathe."
Layla does as she's told and we reach the ground. Layla is shaking like a leaf and Phoebe, apparently unknowing of all that just happened asks "Can we go again?"
Layla shouts "No!"
Phoebe tilts her head to the side wondering why. She shrugs it off and apears to be oblivious to Layla's tone.
Emma suggests "Lets try and win a teddy bear." She points to a stall with a sign on front saying 'hook a duck'. I grin mischiviously, I'm great at this game. We buy candyfloss an then go over to the hook a duck stall.
Two people can go at a time and Phoebe and Emma go first. You get five chances to hook any number of ducks. Phoebe gets one and wins a lollipop, she looks a bit dissapointed. I think her heart was set on one of the cute unicorns.
Emma gets all five and wins a large teddy. Emma doesn't pick a large teddy though, she picks one of the smaller ones. A pink unicorn with a fluffy yellow mane and tail. She gives it to Phoebe who's face lights up "Thanks! It's just the one I wanted!" How Emma knew, I'll never know.
Next it's Layla and I. Layla is pretty dismal, not hooking a single duck. I however am master at this game. I hook two ducks in one go. Layla looks up at me surprised. I smirk back at her. She dashes over an whispers in my ear "You'll have to teach me that." She leans back and our eyes catch. I simply stare into her blue eyes until she leans forwards her lips millimeters from mine. I ache to close the distance but if I do I'll forget we're in a crowded fair with people watching.
I bite my lip and my lip acciedently grazes hers. All my self control slips away. Who cares if people are watching? Its not like the position were in at the moment is suitable for prying eyes anyway.
I press my lips to hers and taste the candyfloss from our previous snack. Suddenly my favourite food in the whole world is candyfloss. She hungrily kisses me back and I know she won't pull away and neither will I. Because this isn't just kissing with any normal girl. This is kissing with the girl who actually likes me for me. The girl who knows me, even better than I know myself. And as I hold her in my arms I don't want to ever let her go.
We are eventually inturupted buy the man behind the counter coughing loudly. Layla and I both send him glares and I see Emma roll her eyes her hands tilting Phoebes head away from Layla and I. I grin sheepishly at her before finishing the game. I end up with a total of eight. The man behind the counter looks impressed and offers me two toys.
I pick out a large white tiger and a small puppy. I hand the tiger to Layla who looks pleased and I give the puppy to Emma who immediatly smiles when she see's it. She strokes it's soft fur and says "I've always wanted a dog."
We walk from ride to ride skipping out the most terrifing rides for Phoebe and Layla's sake. We go on the cage, which as its name suggests is a circular cage with a flat floor and no roof. We stand in the spaces and a loose chain is put in place. Then we are spun around and tilted sideways being held in only by gravity. We go on many others I don't remember the names of and by the time we're in the car to go home everyone has forgoten what they were worried about and I smile in triumph.
Layla looks at the time and curses under her breath. "I'm late!"
"Late for what?" I ask. "You didn't say you we're going anywhere." I sit confused as I look at her face fill with panick. I know theres nothing I can do unless she tells me so I ask once more "Late for what? Where are we going?"
She sighs "You know we tell each other everything?"
"Yeah." I reply. Its an unskopen rule between us, no secrets. I've even told her about my past. I didn't tell Emma about that development because it never really came up, not that I expected it to. I've told Layla about my past and she didn't run away screaming so I don't think theres anything we can't tell each other.
"Well, I didn't tell you eveything."