If Not For Her

Chapter 45. "My girl"

"What were your other best days I have to compete with?" Emmalyn asked twisting the pasta with her fork. "I think today easily won the competition," Annabeth said. Emmalyn smiled wide, "told you, you would have the best day of your life." Emmalyn said, smugly. Annabeth rolled her eyes. "How about I take you out on a date the next day?" Annabeth asked. "Only if I could take you on one after," Emmalyn said as they reached the desert. "Deal," Annabeth said. Emmalyn gave her little finger. "Really pinky promise?" Annabeth asked. "It is one of the absolute forms of promises, Annabeth. Give your pinky" Emmalyn said and they joined their fingers.

And as they promised their dates continued each better than the other. Christmas, as well as the new year, passed. Annabeth was excited her painting was turning exactly according to her liking and she and Emmalyn were together for almost a month, now. They had been secretly meeting almost every day after school. Everything in her life was going smoothly. Too smoothly, but she didn't think much of it. She should enjoy her life for once and she was. Everything was perfect.

Her sixteenth birthday was approaching as well as the submission date, she was extremely stressed. All the other students were completely focused and the day before her birthday, Evelyn walked up to her
"Hey Anne," she said. "Hi Eve," she said with a smile, she was a lot happier nowadays. "Since you were tutoring Emma and you are the best student in the class would you mind explaining a part to me?" She asked. "Absolutely not," Annabeth said. "Great so can I come to your house today?" She asked. "Um, yeah sure," Annabeth said, after a moment. "Cool see you then" Evelyn smiled and walked away from her the exact moment Emmalyn walked towards her.

"What did she even want?" Emmalyn asked walking beside her. "She wants me to tutor her," she said. Emmalyn just nodded. "Are you jealous Cole?" she asked. "You are delusional Reed," she said. "So you are not jealous?" Annabeth asked. "No I am not," Emmalyn said, "she is just being close to my girl and I really don't have a great experience with her being friends with my partners," she said. "Your girl?" Annabeth asked. "That's the part you catch Reed, yes my girl, and I can't hold your hand right now or kiss you but trust me I want to" she whispered. "Nothing will happen, trust me," Annabeth said, discreetly taking her hand. "I know but it's not you who I don't trust," she said. "Em, let me give you the overview of how our evening will go, she will come, I will explain the text, maybe we will have some snacks and then she will go" Annabeth said. "I know," Emmalyn kissed her knuckles.

The bell rang, "bye sweetheart" she walked to her class. The day went by and at the end of the day, she opened her bag and found a box wrapped nicely in creamy white paper. She sat at the edge of her bed and opened it. Inside was the first edition signed copy of Harry Potter and philosopher's stone and inside it was a note.

Happy sixteenth, consider it an early birthday present

Love, Em

She immediately called her. "I love you," she said. "You got it then?" Emmalyn's voice came from the other side. "How did you even manage, you know at this point I won't even ask." Annabeth said. "I am glad you liked it" "liked it? are you crazy I loved it. Thank you, Em" she said. "Lily go," she heard Emmalyn's voice. "Hey, Liv I will call you later Evelyn's cat is in my room, Lily, no." She heard a loud bang accompanied by a loud curse.

"It was my painting, Evelyn" she heard Emmalyn shout. She hung up the phone. She hoped Emmalyn's painting was ok. She looked at her own. It needed some final touches, then it would be great. She finished her homework before Evelyn arrived. The doorbell rang and Annabeth covered her canvas with a light veil. No one had seen her painting, not even Emmalyn.

"Come in," Annabeth said as she gave her a chair. Evelyn sat on the chair and looked around, "you have a pretty room" she said. "Thanks," Annabeth said, "What part of the text were you facing a problem with?" she asked. "This" she pointed out, as Annabeth explained Evelyn asked for a glass of water. "Sure," Annabeth went downstairs and brought her a glass. She placed half-filled the glass on the table beside her next to Annabeth's painting and pointed to her lip gloss. "You use that?" she asked.

"Yep, it smells like strawberries," she said. "I have that too, but don't use it much," she said and they went back to the books. After they were done, Evelyn got up and checked her phone. With a smile she turned to Annabeth, "thank you, Annabeth you have no idea how much you helped me," she started walking towards the door. "I will walk you down," Annabeth offered. "Sure" Annabeth followed her when Evelyn suddenly turned and Annabeth's hand hit the glass. The water spilled all over her painting, soaking through the cloth. "I am sorry," Evelyn said.

"It's fine," Annabeth said, her eyes burning. All her work was gone, all the hours she spent destroyed and there was merely a week left before submissions. Annabeth bent down and pulled the cloth out all the paints were mixed, it looked like an amateurish mixture of painting unlike what was supposed to be her masterpiece. "Let me help you" Evelyn bent beside her. "It's fine," Annabeth said, still staring at it. "Ollie," she heard Alex call her. She didn't pay any attention to him. Suddenly Evelyn held her face and kissed her. Annabeth was too shocked to react when the door opened followed by a what the fuck. She immediately pulled back and saw Emmalyn standing at the door. Emmalyn threw the birthday cake to the floor and rushed down. "Em," Annabeth ran after her.