The Memories of Us

Chapter 6

Ivy stood in the doorway, wearing a black leather jacket and tight skinny jeans. Her outfit was paired with high heeled black booties and topped off with ruby red lipstick. And of course, her red hair was perfectly dyed midnight black.

 "Ivy, what the hell are you doing here?" I got up and embraced her. The leather jacket she was wearing emanated heat, and she smelled like vanilla and sugar. She shifted from side to side as she hugged me.

"You know I had to come here and see you, Sunshine. I dropped my things at mom's and raced over." I pulled away from her, and she grabbed my face in between two of her hands. Up close. I noticed a new silver ring decorated her nose.

"And how are you doing?" Concern dripped from her voice. I frowned slightly and shrugged. It only took her being inside for five minutes to start trying to deconstruct my body language. Untill she realized Mason and Emily were behind me. I saw her eyes shift as she recognized them. I could never read Ivy's facial expressions.

"Mace!" Ivy sprung into his arms and gave him a bone-crushing hug. He laughed and swung his arms around her. "Hi, Sexy, how the hell are you?"

"Haha, I'm good Ivy, how are you?"

"I mean you can't be doing too bad; these biceps are fuckin' huge," Ivy said with a smirk as she squeezed Mason's right bicep. I did notice he was quite muscular from earlier when he was hovering above me at the mud pit. I blushed at the thought.

I noticed Emily was off to the side, her arms crossed, protecting herself. I could tell that she hasn't had much contact with Ivy since their fallout, due to her standoff posture. I walked up to her and put my arm around her, pulling her close. She could let her guard down; I wanted her to feel comfortable while she stayed here. Emily returned a grateful smile.

It was closer to seconds but felt like hours till Ivy stopped talking to Mason and realized Emily was here too. The awkwardness was so thick it could be cut with a knife.

"Emmy", even Ivy's voice was uncertain as she walked closer to us. Her badass attitude faltering.

"Ivy", there's was a rare, unfamiliar coldness to her tone.

"It's been too long Emmy, too long." Ivy's smile wavered as she reached out to touch her arm. A forced smile reached her lips.

"I think it would be a good idea if we talked for a bit, I have some serious apologizing to do." Ivy rubbed the back of her neck.

I bit my lip and made eye contact with Mason. Glancing between our two friends, waiting for Emily's response.

"Yeah, okay." It honestly surprised me that Emily agreed. But Ivy grabbed Em's hand and lead her outside, leaving Mason and I standing alone.

"Fuck, you think the two of them are going to be okay out there?"

I looked up at Mason, "I don't know, the last time there was a confrontation, Em found out what Ivy did. And that was a hair-pulling disaster". Mason winced at the memory and shut his eyes.

"Well, we could start drinking. By the time they sort things out maybe we will be drunk, that will help...us." He said as he raised his eyebrows.

Jabbing him with my elbow I laughed, "Sure Mace, I think I can still out drink you though".

Emily's POV:

I awkwardly held Ivy's hand as I followed her onto the front porch. The sun setting created a vibrant pattern of oranges and yellows. I've forgotten how prominent the humidity is here; from experience, I know that within the next half hour the mosquitoes would be out too. I shuttered from the thought.