Page 34 of Hot for Her
She relaxed a little, the tension in her body easing slowly. “Sounds kind of like my mom in a way.”
I nodded. “Exactly. You know the hateful things she does aren’t because of you or Ethan. It’s her she’s unhappy with—her life, her illness. Things she feels powerless to control.”
“She was mad about me leaving. Then I didn’t come home last night. I texted and told her I was staying at Camille’s. She threw a glass at my head when I got home.”
“Jesus. I’m sorry, babe.”
I gave her a squeeze but then I remembered Camille had come to visit, according to my mom. And Emersyn wasn’t with her.
“Wait. Did you really stay at Cam’s?”
She was quiet for so long I checked to make sure she hadn’t dozed off. Her cheeks were pink.
“Emersyn Elizabeth Tyler! Did you spend the night with mystery carnival man?” She nodded against me and I feigned shock. “Oh my gosh, Geppetto. She’s a real girl now!”
“I might smack you if you weren’t all busted up,” she said softly. “I didn’t sleep with him, Drew. I mean, yeah, technically we did sleep. We did other stuff, too, but not everything.”
“Still holding onto that V-card with a white-knuckle grip, huh?” She inhales deeply and I rub her back as much as possible with an IV sticking out of my hand. “I’m just giving you a hard time, Em. Don’t rush it. I hope whoever you decide to give yourself to deserves it.”
They say you never forget you first time, and I guess it’s true. After what happened in the park, I wish I could though. I think that’s why I didn’t fight back, because I couldn’t intentionally hurt the first person I’d made love to.
“Are you going to be okay, Drew?”
I close my eyes and it’s still there. All of it. Every moment with him. The good, the bad, the horrifying. So I don’t lie to her.
“Eventually I will be. I hope.”
Funny thing was, everyone was worried about the wounds on the outside when it was the ones on the inside that were killing me.
“Can I give you some advice, young grasshopper?”
She sits up and eyes me warily. “Sure.”
I sucked in a breath and said all the things I wished someone had told me. “Love is fleeting, Em. And it varies in degree from one minute to the next. I know you’re waiting on some mystical kind of fairytale love but that’s not what it’s like at all. It’s real and sometimes painful because we aren’t dealing with magical creatures here. Whoever you eventually fall for, he’ll be human. He’ll be flawed. He’ll have a past and weaknesses and triggers and damage because we all do.”
She bites her bottom lip and pulls her knees up to her chest. “He’s not like anyone I’ve ever known. He made me feel alive and free and…”
“Wet?” I offer, to lighten the moment.
“Yeah, that too, perv.” She shrugs. “But he’s twenty-four, Drew. I didn’t tell him I was just taking courses at Southeastern through correspondence with my high school. Pretty sure he’s graduating and I honestly probably won’t ever see him again anyways.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m in high school and I already have more on my plate than I can handle. He lives in Riverside. I got the impression he doesn’t plan to stick around.”
“Got the impression how?”
“Um, he lives in a camper kind of.”
“Kind of?” I made a face at her. “So he is a carnie?”
She moved like she was going to leave. I pulled her shoulders back playfully as much as I could manage without bursting my spleen. “I’m teasing you. Relax. Tell me more.”
As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I break into a quick version ofSummer Nightsfrom Grease because I can’t help myself. Em knows this about me and has learned to love it.
She lets a small smile play on her lips when I finish. “He’s like…the kind of guy that runs to get pizza for a party he isn’t even at so that no one drinks and drives. We went to a convenient store and he got me a bag full of ketchup and condiments so I could paint on the sidewalk. He stayed with me last night, here. Then he held me all night while I fell apart and he never even made a move. Actually, I made most of the moves.”
She might not know it yet, but I can see it in the way her eyes light up. I can hear it in her voice. The awe, the adoration. She’s falling for this guy, whoever he is.
