Before Me, Him

Chapter 17

     I wake up the next morning with Emily opening up my room door with extreme strength.

     - Good morning June! – she states while opening my curtains, allowing the sun to enter. – The sun is shining, the birds are singing and today we are going to have tons of fun so get up!

     It was eight am and her enthusiasm was too much.

     - Alright, alright, let me shower first though. – I say while getting up from the bed. I pick up some clothing and go to the bathroom.

     I do understand all that enthusiasm I mean yesterday Dean confessed he loved her back so, ever since then, she has been in a euphoric mood. I sight while washing my long brown hair. They hugged for a really long time, for almost thirty minutes and, at least twenty of those were spent with Emily crying and Dean petting her beautiful blonde hair. Only after that were we able to appear from behind the bushes we were hiding all that time, behind the bench. For the best or for the worst Polly took a liking to me, even though she doesn't understand whatever I say to her. Afterward, she clung to my arm until we had to split. I wonder what was in that girl's head.

     I leave the shower once I am done and start walking to my room. As I approached it I could hear Emily on the phone with someone but, the moment I arrived the phone call had already ended. Most likely was Dean wishing her a good morning or something similar.

     - So where do you want to go today? – I question while brushing my wet hair.

     - Well I was thinking we could go to the beach today, the weather is great and warm.

     - I did just shower though. – I frown. – If you wanted to go to the beach you could have told me sooner.

     - How about bowling? Would that be better? – Emily says while laughing a little bit.

     - I guess it's better. We can go to the beach tomorrow afternoon if you want, in the morning I'm busy.

     - That reminds me, what have you been doing in the mornings? When I wake up you're not here anymore and then you only arrive at lunchtime. – she gets closer to me. – Is it a lover?

     - As if Emily. – I say and, afterward, I explain the whole story with Robert and his farm.

     - That explains it. Well if you're happy, I'm happy.

     I smile at her while picking up my bag from the chair as we both leave the room.

     In the morning we ended up going to a small market area close by because Emily decided she needed a new dress as if she didn't have enough already. She has a full closet of clothing but, for some reason, the more the merrier in her opinion. It's not like she actually needs new clothing or new accessories because, in the end, she already attracts a lot of attention by being herself and nothing else. Eighty percent of the guys on the market, taken or not, would stare at us, especially to Emily. I guess we could call her a "show stopper".

     After lunch we walk around ten minutes until we reach the bowling club and, as we arrived I feel someone grabbing my arm. Polly. If she is here then Dean is also here. I'm not surprised, at all. I'm confused though. Very confused. Why is she gluing to me!? I sigh in despair.

     - Emily, June! – Dean waves us from a table and we end up walking towards it.

     - Dean! – says Emily while hugging him. – Hello. How are you?

     Fifteen minutes of chit-chat follow between the two of them as me and Polly were just quiet, of course, she was always grabbing my arm. I look to her. She should be my age, maybe a little bit older. I wonder why she was so affectionate of me. It's not like I didn't like her, I was just not used to be in such an intimate position with someone I don't know. It's tiresome.

     - How old is Polly, Dean? – I question.

     - Twenty-one. – he says while smiling. – Doesn't look like it right?

     - I thought she was our age. She's even older than you! – I state. – She is the same age as Jacob but younger than Phillip though, that's funny.

     In terms of ages, the group had almost everyone with different years: Philip had twenty-two years, making him the oldest among us all, then he was followed by Jacob and Polly who had twenty-one, afterward, there was Dean with twenty and, at the end of the line there was me and Emily, both with eighteen. 

     Dean smiles and then questions who wanted to play bowling. I did try to play once but for some reason, all my balls wouldn't even go straight, they would just go to the side sections ending up not hitting any pins. Nevertheless, it could be a funny experience so I thought why the heck not.

     After around two hours of playing Polly wins. All her plays would shut down every pin, she almost looked like a pro. Even the way she would manage the ball was as if a painter was creating his art on a pearl white canvas. Of course, Dean wasn't happy so they ended up doing some rematches, however, he would always lose. Emily was too overwhelmed by Polly so, even if she wanted to play she didn't show it but that feeling is only natural since she never played the game before.

     It was around six pm when I warned them that I would leave earlier, I needed to go back to have dinner and sleep earlier otherwise I wouldn't wake up in the morning to help Robert.

     - Already? Are you going to Robert's tomorrow morning? – Emily asks and I nod my head as a response. – It can't be helped then. Don't forget our beach tomorrow afternoon alright?

     - Of course silly. – I wave and leave the bowling center and walk home.

     Once I finish eating my dinner I go upstairs and, as I put my phone into charger mode I see an unread message from Luke. "Thank you." It stated. For the past week, he had been quite silent, didn't bug me with any messages or calls, at all. I truly thought he had understood my message. I think I was pretty clear, then why did he call me two times? There was a missed call with a voicemail message but the other one it said I picked it up? I look at the time.

     "Half-past eight in the morning". My body freezes. Don't tell me the person Emily was talking to was Luke? I thought it was Dean. It didn't even occur to me that it could've been Luke! I need to know what they talked about. Did she mention where I was? Was that why the "Thank you" message was there? It must've been, right?

     As my mind wandered around all the millions of possibilities I remember myself that Luke wouldn't be as crazy as coming here. He doesn't have the means to do it. Vella is rather far from Hollum and from what I recall he doesn't have friends or family living in the area so he would have to rent a hotel room to stay which is something he doesn't really have the money to.

     It's alright June, don't panic. 

     I decide to listen to his voicemail in order to understand the point of the situation.

     "Hi, June! I know you've told me not to bother you until you are back but I really need to talk to you. Is there any way we can meet? We really need to talk. Once I explain everything my actions will be a lot clearer. I promise. Shit, the time is almost up. Either way, call me when you hear the message. I lo-" and a small sharp sound occurs. The time of the message had passed. I delete it and now I was even worse.

     His voice sounded extremely desperate, I'm really scared that he will do something crazy like following me here. I truly hope he doesn't if he happens to know where I am but if he does, I don't know how I will react.