Emeros X

Chapter 4

A week later, Erin was walking to the kitchen when she heard her mom say her name on the phone.

“Yes, that time would be excellent. Thank you, have a good day.”

“Who was that?”

Erin’s mom spun around, looking happier than Erin has ever seen her. Without an answer, her mom walked toward her and hugged her, crushing Erin’s ribs.

“The doctors already assessed your answers and they want you to come in tomorrow to meet the lucky boy!”

“Tomorrow?”

Erin was incredulous. How could they have gone through her paperwork that quickly? They even said it took between two and three weeks. What, was nobody else scheduled in the district this month but her? Erin’s head was spinning. They had to have been negligent in their analysis. She was sure to get paired up with someone who she’d never like, or worse, someone who would never like her. She couldn’t help but lean on the kitchen counter for support.

“What…what time tomorrow?” Erin pressed.

“They said around ten a.m., so we can go out for lunch afterward. That’s what Violet and I did after she met Todd.”

Erin nodded, hoping that would help her assess what was actually going on. In less than twenty-four hours, she was going to meet the person she would fall in love with. In less than twenty-four hours, she would meet someone who most likely went to her own school. She wondered if she had already met him before, if she knew him personally or not. Perhaps he was a year older than her; that sometimes happened. She wouldn’t be the first junior to date a senior in high school, and certainly not the last. Perhaps he did go to her school, and she had never paid any attention to him. He could be on the basketball team; Erin never paid any mind to sports after all. What if he was in the running to be valedictorian? Erin could definitely see herself with someone with a great mind.

Erin’s mom invited Violet and Todd over to announce the good news. They seemed ecstatic that Erin was “finally going to meet her one-and-only true love”. Erin couldn’t help but feel ill after Violet had said that.

“but what if he dies?” Erin asked, initiating an intensely awkward silence from everyone, including Alex.

“Well…” Violet stammered. “Um. Mom? What happens then?”

“Like any faithful marriage, you’d become a widow, I suppose. You could choose to be re-analyzed I believe, but I’ve never actually heard of that occurring.”

The conversation didn’t exactly get less awkward after that.

After Violet and Todd had gone back to their place, Erin went to her room and tried in vain to fall asleep. It wasn’t until one…two…three in the morning that she fell asleep from exhaustion.

When her alarm started to ring at eight thirty, Erin groaned, pulling the covers over her. Even so, she could hear her mom walk into her room and open her closet. Erin peeked out from under the covers to see her mom standing there, pulling sundresses and skirts that Erin only wore when it was warm outside out of her closet and placing them on the foot of the bed.

“Mom, it’s sixty degrees outside. I’ll freeze,” Erin protested.

“Sweetie, you’ll be in a climate controlled building. You won’t freeze.”

“I will getting in and out of the car.”

“Erin, really. What’s the harm in looking nice, even if it does make you a little cold for a few measly minutes?”

Erin huffed and pulled herself out of bed. By the time she had opened her makeup drawer; her mom had left, leaving all the clothes organized between dresses, skirts and blouses on her bed.  Erin took a look in the mirror, wondering what she was supposed to do with her makeup. She supposed she was supposed to look natural. After all, the guy is meant to fall in love with her right? What should it matter if she had a lot of makeup on? Erin remembered her dad saying that he always thought her mom looked better without a drop of makeup on her skin. She couldn’t help but think that was the Emeros talking.

After putting enough makeup on to satisfy herself, yet still look like her, Erin walked over to her bed to see what her mom picked out. Every single thing her mom picked out had purple in it. Erin had no idea she even had this much purple in her closet, but put all together, it looked like she might as well be a grape popsicle. A few minutes of carefully arranging everything left Erin more confused now than when she started. Eventually, she gave up and grabbed a polka-dotted button up with a light grey skirt and a pair of silver flats.

As Erin walked out of her bedroom, her mom spun around and started taking picture after picture. her dad also had a camera out, recording a video for every half a second her mom hadn’t already captured.

“Mom, please. It’s too early. I just want to go to the meeting, do what I’m supposed to and have lunch.”

“Oh come now, this is a very important day for you Erin!”

“Not to mention the fact that the wife’s father pays for the wedding. You two better be in love if I’m going to pay for you to get married.” her dad joked, turning off the video camera and pulling Erin in for a hug.

“Just remember, you’ll always be my girl okay? Don’t let anyone, even your husband, tell you otherwise.”

“I won’t, dad,” Erin answered, pecking her dad on the cheek and following her mom out to the car.