Page 17 of Quarantine Crush
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I’m countingdown the hours until we finally leave for our parents’ lake houses. Hell, I’m counting down theminutes. The last two days have been nothing short of excruciating.
Now that I’ve acknowledged my attraction to Emy, it’s like I can’t shut it off. I don’t know who’s avoiding whom at this point, and my mood has soured, making us bicker more in the last two days than in the last ten years combined. Emy and I never used to fight. Our friendship was always as easy as breathing, but now every laugh and smile feels forced, and it kills me.
Why it’s different now is beyond me. It’s not like I haven’t seen her multiple times a week over the last few years. Still, Facetime isn’t the same thing as being in the same space. Our connection feels different now that we’re together again.
Emy’s laptop starts ringing, and I glance up from my phone where I’m typing out a response to Nelle’s latest email. I open my mouth to yell for Em when I catch sight of the name on the screen.
“Em, my mom wants to video chat,” I call before clicking the answer button.
“Hey, Ma. What are–” My words cut off as I take in the sight of everyone crowded around the camera. Mom, the dads, and even Christian are staring back at me.
“Hi, Knox,” Emy’s dad says, flashing a tight smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.
Uh-oh.
“Uh, Hess,” I shout a little louder. “You should probably get in here!”
I haven’t seen all of our parents in one place and looking this serious since the time Emy convinced me we could skateboard down Dead Man’s Hill and we both ended up in the minor emergency room with nasty cases of road rash. We’d only had one set of elbow and knee pads, so to this day, we have matching scars on opposite elbows.
“Sorry! One sec. I’m coming,” she yells back, and I bite back a groan at hearing those words from her mouth.
Emy emerges from her bedroom, pulling the hem of her dress down her thighs as she hurries down the hall. She pauses beside me, her wide eyes darting to my own when she notices all of the parents looking stoic on the screen. She recovers quicker than I do. She shoots them the first genuine smile I’ve seen in days, and I try not to let show how much that stings.
“Hey guys,” she beams. “What’s going on? Wait. Dad, did you drive down early?”
For the first time, I note the background on their end, and it’s clearly my parents’ lake house. Emy’s dad owns the house next door to ours. After Emy went away to college and the business started picking up, he purchased an apartment in the city. He claimed that he needed to be available for investor meetings, but I think he also wanted to be closer to Emy while she attended NYU. Still, after over a decade of friendship, the dads make a point to see each other every weekend. They give a new meaning to the term ‘bromance.’
The dads raise quizzical brows, shooting each other knowing looks, but it’s my mom who finally answers.
“Have you kids been watching the news?” she asks, worry shining in her eyes.
Embry chews on her thumbnail, a nervous habit she’s had since we were kids. Her eyes dart to me quickly, but I shrug my shoulders, equally as stumped as she is.
“Um, not really. We’ve streamed a couple movies, but we’ve been busy visiting some of our old haunts. We’ve been pretty lucky. Nothing has been very busy, so we haven’t had much downtime,” she tells them.
Part of me wonders if she’d kept us busy on purpose to avoid the awkwardness that came with any downtime we might have had the last two days, but I don’t voice those thoughts. Instead, I keep my eyes trained on the screen, squinting when I see someone walking by in the background.
“Is that Gram?” I ask, confused. “I thought we were going to pick her up after Emy and I got there.”
My mom shoots us an apologetic look before rushing off to help her mother, leaving the dads to answer our questions.
“If you two had bothered to watch the news in the last two days, you would have seen that what we thought was a small virus outbreak has become a full-blown pandemic,” my dad says.
“What?” Emy’s screech makes me jump, and she scoots a little bit further away from me when my arm accidentally brushes hers.
“It’s true, sweetie,” her father, Joe, says. “You guys weren’t trapped in crowded lines because the governor has been cautioning people to stay at home if possible.”
“Shit,” I curse, running a hand over the back of my neck. “Okay, this is fine. We were heading to the lake houses anyway. It will be better for all of us to stay there because it’s less populated, right? We can–”
My words cut off when I catch sight of my dad shaking his head.
“Sorry, son, but you and Emy aren’t going anywhere. The governor has issued a Shelter-in-Place Order, and starting tonight, travel is restricted to essential trips.”
Emy gasps, and I reach a hand out to rub her back without thinking. She flinches at the contact, and I let my hand fall away.
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” she accuses. “We would have happily left when you did.”
