You

Chapter Two

I'm shaken awake by Eric, I raise up, my heart is pounding through my chest and I'm sweating. I take a few minutes to gather my thoughts. Once I have calmed down, I look over at Eric, who's already back to sleep. I get up and go to the kitchen for a drink. I wonder what my dream meant. Was it supposed to tell me something? I sit in my chair and recline; I zone out on some TV show and fall back to sleep.

I'm jolted awake by my alarm. Ugh, I forgot to turn it off. It's Saturday and I don't really have anything planned. I get up and stand, my whole-body cracks and pops, my bladder is yelling at me, so I start to walk to our bedroom where the master bathroom is. I stop in the middle of the room and stare at the bed. Eric's not here. What? Where did he go? My bladder reminds me why I walked in here. I quickly relieve myself and then dress. I search through the other rooms to see if maybe Eric was in one of them. No luck. I go back to the living room to search for my phone. I found it inside the recliner. It shows one text message.
-Eric-
Emily, I went to the gym then going to help Tim.

-Emily-
Thanks for waking me up.

I lock my screen and put my phone away. My stomach grumbles. I go into the kitchen and look through the cabinets and the fridge. There's nothing that I want. I text my best friend, Ashley.

-Emily-
Do you want to hang out today?

-Ashley-
Why are you asking?? You know I'm always up to hang!

-Emily-
😂 You know I love you! I'll head your way.

-Ashley-
I love you! And I have my house being worked on, so I'll come to you!

-Emily-
Okay! See you in a bit!

I put my phone away and wait for Ashley.

30 minutes later she arrives in her BMW X3 convertible, I hop in, and she starts driving. I start on about how Eric has been acting. "Maybe you should talk to him" she says. " I don't know where to start, what if he says it's all in my head, and dismisses me." I say. We talk the whole way. She takes us to the mall, first we eat, then go shopping, Ashley always knows what to do to make me feel better.

We go into a clothing store and pick out a few items to try on. " Oh Emily, you should try this dress on." She holds it out in front of me. It's a beautiful dark blue beach dress, the front is short, about thigh length and the back flows down. There's a v-cut that comes down to the breast. "It's beautiful but when am I going to the beach?" Today, says Ashley. "Go on, try it on, I wanna see what you look like!" I grab the dress and go into the dressing room. I change into it then look at myself in the mirror. It's beautiful but not on me. My stomach pooches out and my love handles make the dress look terrible. Ashley yells at me and I snap out of my thoughts, I walk out of the dressing room. "Oh my gosh Emily! You look incredible!" I smile knowing she truly believes it. I go and change back into my clothes. I walk out with the dress and go to hang it up but before I can Ashley grabs it and tells me it's her treat. We went into a few more stores before heading back to her car. We put all of our bags in the back and hop in the front. She starts up the car and blasts some music that we sing along to. Before you know it we see the beach in front of us.

She parks the car, "Okay, let's go change and find a spot." She says. We find a good spot that doesn't have a lot of people, we lay our beach towels down and start to lotion up, then lay out in the warm sun. I lay there with my eyes closed enjoying the beach, the sun, and the time with my best friend. "OMG Emily, look at that beautiful specimen to your right!" She yells. I roll my eyes but look to where she said. My eyes widen, it's Storm, he's wearing nothing but swim shorts. I gawk, my eyes making their way from his muscular legs that run into this ass that I didn't know a man could have, my eyes get wide as I zone in on his huge package that is out there for everyone to see. He has an eight-pack that is glorious, he's all wet from the water and glistening in the sun, he has tattoos on his chest and arms that make my panties wet, I get to his beautiful, bearded face and I see him staring back at me. My eyes widen and I quickly look away, my face turning red from embarrassment. I tell Ashley not to invite him over, but she dismisses me and does anyway. His eyes never leave mine as he walks over to us. Ashley goes to introduce who we are but gets interrupted by Storm. "It's Emily, right?" He says. The only thing I can do is nod. I look over to Ashley and she is looking at me like I have two heads. I introduce Ashley to Storm and catch Ashley up on how I know him. We talked for a few minutes before he had to leave, which made me a bit sad. I enjoyed talking with him.

"He is smoking hot; you should hook me up!" says Emily. I give her a look that should tell her no, but she keeps begging, and as on que, Eric calls me, he tells me he's going to be coming home late. I sigh as I hang up and tell Ashley to take me home. On the way back, not a word is spoken. She drops me off and I head inside my thoughts going crazy wondering what is going on with Eric. So, I decide to talk to him about it, I recline in my chair and put on a movie and wait for Eric to get home. My mind goes through different scenarios, making my anxiety go through the roof, by the time the movie ends Eric is still not home. I try to call him, but it goes straight to voicemail. Odd... I send him a text but I never get a response. After another hour of anxiety ridden thoughts, I start to cry, I get up from my recliner and make my way to our bedroom. I get in the bed and put my blanket over my head as if I'm trying to hide from the world. Still crying, I drift off to sleep.