Page 39 of Quarantine Crush
“Well, he’s a good friend for Emy to have,” her dad says, and I start to wonder if they’ve rehearsed this entire thing. “Living all alone in the big city can be overwhelming. I’m glad she has someone watching her back.”
The idea of Reed doing anything to Emy’s back is more than I can handle right now.
“Hey, listen, it was good catching up. Tell Gram and Mom we said hey, and let’s talk soon.”
“Uh-huh,” my dad says, a knowing glint in his eye. “Let’s definitely talk soon.”
The way he says it means I’ll be getting a call later on, but I don’t care right now.
“Stay safe, bug. You too, Knox,” Joe says, and Emy smiles and waves at them as I reach out and push the button to end the call.
When the Skype connection ends, I exhale, leaning back against the couch. It takes me a couple more breaths to realize Emy’s twisted around and is giving me a hard look.
“What?” I ask, feigning innocence.
It’s an immature move, playing dumb, but I can’t bring myself to admit how much Reed bothers me. And I sure as hell can’t admit how hearing Emy’s dad talk like he loves the guy already makes me want to put my fist through a wall.
She scoots away so she can fully face me. “You want to explain why you needed to hang up so badly that you almost knocked the phone from my hands?”
“I just want to get back to our game.”
Her eyes narrow. She’s not buying it. “So we’re not going to talk about the fact that you act like a child every time Reed is brought up?”
“My immaturity has nothing to do with Reed.”
She rolls her eyes. And I want to laugh at my own joke, but now that the call’s over, I remember the elephant in the room, which is almost enough to make me wish I’d kept the call going to discuss all of Reed’s positive attributes.
“Speaking of immaturity, are we playing again, or are you done losing?” she asks, reaching out to gather the cards from the pile where we left them.
I stare at her profile, mesmerized by the shape of her mouth. What would have happened if we hadn’t gotten that call?
Emy looks up suddenly, and I blink, diverting my gaze but so fucking busted. Instead of calling me out, she stands and grabs her empty wine glass. “I’m getting a refill.”
She disappears into the kitchen, and I rub a hand over my face, trying to figure out how to get us back on track. If I don’t do something fast, this whole thing is going to dissolve into a level of weirdness we won’t be able to come back from.
Grabbing the cards Emy packed up, I head for the closet where I saw her get them earlier. Another round of Bullshit probably won’t help matters, so I toss the cards onto the shelf up top. I’m turning away when my eyes catch on something. A guitar is propped against the back wall. Behind the winter coats and set of skis I know for a fact Emy hasn’t used since high school.
I have to play Tetris in order to get the thing free of all the junk it’s half-buried under, but when I do, I run a hand down the instrument in appreciation. It’s expensive. A model I’ve drooled over for years. And I have no idea why Emy even has it, considering she doesn’t play. But lucky for us, I do. And it’s something that, hopefully, I can use to smooth things over.
Sneaking outside onto the balcony, I get comfortable and strum a few chords, getting a feel for it. The tuning isn’t bad, and I know right away which song I’ll open with. The opening bars make me smile, and through the open balcony doors, I can already hear footsteps headed this way.
“What are you–” Emy stops short when she sees me, her wide eyes locked on the guitar in my hands.
“Remember this?” I ask, still playing the familiar melody.
“Where did you get that?” she asks in a strangled voice.
“Your coat closet. Where’d you get it?” I ask.
She doesn’t answer, and I can see some kind of internal struggle going on behind her expression.
“Emy?”
She swallows hard, still staring at the guitar. Even in the low lighting, she looks pale. Whatever’s going on, I fucked up. I have no idea how, but I did.
“I can put it back,” I say and start for the door, but she blinks, shaken out of whatever it is.
“No, it’s fine. I was just surprised.”
