Cupid's Arrow

Cupid's Arrow - 15.

That was the last time I spoke with Evan and now it was finally time. It was Valentine's Day.

I held my gift for Evan in my hands and licked my lips. There was a knock on my door so I dropped the bag of box of hats and sighed, and then I moved to open the door. Emily was on the other side in her boxer shorts and her Rolling Stones tee. Her hair was in a frizzy mess and her toe nails were chipped. She looked exhausted and worried.

"Sam," she called, her tone urgent. "I . . . I forgot. Today's the dance! My dress is ready but everything else is just a mess. I need your help, ASAP." She paced around my room and grunted every now and then, awaiting my response.

I sighed, and then I took a seat on my bed. "Emily, we have like five hours left. Why are you so worried?"

"Correction, you have four hours and fifty-five minutes. I, however, need to get to the venue on time and actually like, oh, I don't know, prepare? I have three hours and fifty-four minutes. And Carly, Joshua, Quinn, Casey and Gavin are all coming over to pick me up in two hours. So yeah, it's an emergency."

I groaned, pushing my body off the bed as I walked over to my dresser. She needed help with her hair, right? That was just it. She didn't really need my help, besides, Carly was great with hair – or so I heard. "Go dazzle yourself up and then come to me for the hair. You'll help with my makeup, right?"

"No, I already told you I don't have the time! I have two hours to get dressed, put my makeup on, and then do my hair. There's not enough time." She pleaded.

"Then I can't help you. You could just go in your casual clothes and have your dress in your . . . wherever you want to keep it. Take your makeup and hair products with you, Carly will help. Isn't that less stressful?" I opted.

"I guess so. But then I'll be the only one—"

"Just do it. Trust me on this one." She sighed and placed her hand on her head.

"If everything goes haywire, it'll be your fault." She warned me. I nodded and went back to contemplating my life choices. "Well now I feel bad," she continued, "I won't be here to help with your makeup."

"I'll figure it out, Emily. Don't worry about me, worry about the dance. That is more important at the moment." She still wouldn't leave even after this. She kept staring at me as if waiting for permission. "You can leave now, Em. I'll figure it out."

"For some reason I don't want to leave without you. I feel like you won't go to the dance if we don't leave together. Don't you?"

"Nope, I promised you and I don't break promises."

"That's a lie."

"Nope, I promised you and I won't break this promise." I corrected. She moved closer to me and knelt in front my bed so we were face-to-face. My little sister had grown so tall that we were face-to-face (even if we weren't standing and my judgment was unfair to me).

"You're still fighting with Evan, aren't you? I expected you to tell me how he was going to pick you up in grand style. But you're just lying on your bed looking like a lost puppy. Did he do something?" She asked. I couldn't blame her for being concerned about me, I could only be thankful, though I was tired of people asking me that same question over and over again.

"You guessed it right. And I'm scared because I keep feeling like we're going to break up. That day in school, did you tell me not to look back because you saw him standing with Arianna?" I asked.

She paused to think about it. "No, I saw him talking with a girl and that Logan guy. I didn't think much of it then. I told you not to look back because there was an army of sophomores coming for me." She explained. "Is Evan . . . ?" She trailed off, and I already knew where she was going.