Forever And Ever

22. Grayson

We follow Aria into the living room and sit down on the couch next to Devyn and Leia.

"She came back," Devyn smirks at Emery.

Emery turns away and makes a pout face. She's so fucking cute.

Aria sits with Rebekah.

"Where's Joslyn?" Emery asks.

"She said she had to work on something for cheer," Rebekah says.

"Oh," Emery nods.

Aria and Leia exchange a look, then Aria turns to look at Emery. She shifts uncomfortably and Rebekah cocks an eyebrow at her.

"Why are you so stiff?" Rebekah asks Emery. "You're sitting by you're boyfriend, you should be all relaxed like Leia is."

Emery just glares at her, and Aria turns her attention to me. Kiss her, she mouths.

My eyes flicker to Devyn before I look back at her and shake my head.

Emery knows what Aria is trying to do and looks back at me.

I cock an eyebrow at her in question.

"Devyn's going to be pissed," she mutters under her breath so only I can hear.

"Probably," I agree.

Aria keeps staring at us and Emery shifts again. She doesn't do well under pressure.

"You know we don't—"

Emery presses her lips to mine and I freeze. Her lips are so fucking soft. She touches my face gently before pulling away and tucking her face into my shoulder so she doesn't have to look at anyone. I hear someone get up and then a door slams. Probably Devyn. I wrap my arms around her when I feel her trembling slightly.

Aria smiles at us and Rebekah clears her throat. "I should go," she murmurs as she walks to the door. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

When the door closes, Aria turns to look at us. "You guys made that look really awkward," she shakes her head.

"Shut up," I hear Emery mutter into my shoulder.

"Come on," Leia laughs. "Was that really so hard?"

Neither one of us replies to her.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Emery says, quickly getting up and walking away.

"Was that really necessary?" I ask Aria when Emery can't hear me.

"No," she smiles sheepishly.

"No?" I narrow my eyes at her. "You said that Rebekah and Joslyn didn't believe our relationship."

"They do," Aria says, avoiding my gaze.

"Then why the fuck did we need to do that?" I snap at her.

"I'll go check on Devyn," Leia murmurs and quickly walks away.

"Have you told Emery yet?" Aria asks suddenly.

"What?" I mutter.

"Have you told Emery?" She asks again. "That you love her?"

"What, I—no—I haven't—no," I stammer.

"Maybe you should," Aria smiles at me as she gets up and walks to her room.

I sit in silence for a few seconds before I sigh and walk to the bathroom.

"Emmy?" I knock.

She opens the door and steps back so I can step inside.

"I'm sorry," she murmurs when she shuts the door again.

"What? For what?" I ask surprised.

"I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have kissed you. I should have asked you," she whispers with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I wasn't thinking and I—I don't know, I just—"

"You don't need to apologize to me, Emmy," I say softly, taking her face into my hands and rubbing her cheeks gently. "And you don't need to cry."

"But you haven't kissed anyone before that," she breathes as tears roll down her cheeks. "And I took that away from you. Now you—"

"Emmy," I murmur. "It's okay. I'm not mad and you don't need to be sorry. It's fine. Please don't cry."

She doesn't say anything. Instead, she steps closer to me and wraps her arms around my waist, and buries her face in my neck. I pull her closer to me and hold her until I feel her breathing become even again.

"Let's go," I whisper into her hair. "I think you need more sleep."

We walk back to her bedroom. She opens the door and just stares at her bed. "For fucks sake," she mutters and runs her hands through her hair.

"What's wrong?" I murmur, peeking around her to look at the bed. She left the ice cream there and it melted everywhere.

"Go lay on the couch, Emmy," I chuckle. "I'll put your sheets in the wash."

"Are you sure?" She looks up at me. "I can do it, it'll only take a couple of—"

"You need to learn to stop arguing with me," I sigh and scoop her up in my arms. She gasps but doesn't argue as I carry her to the couch.

I set her down and turn to walk away, but she grabs my wrist. "Are you coming back?" She whispers.

"Yeah," I squeeze her hand softly. "Just let me put your sheets in the washer. I'll be done in two minutes."

"Okay," she lets go of me and wraps her arms around a pillow before shutting her eyes.

I walk back into her room and quickly strip the bed. I walk to the laundry room and throw the sheets in with soap and push start.

When I walk back into the living room, Emery is already asleep. I walk to the closet and grab a couple of blankets. I drape one over her and one on the carpet in front of the couch. There's no fucking way we're both going to fit on the couch, especially now that Emery's already asleep. I lay down on the blanket and pull another one over my body.

I fall asleep to the sound of Emery's breathing.

When I wake up, Emery is laying on my chest with her blanket over both of us.

"Good morning," she smiles at me when she sees my eyes open.

"Good morning," I stretch my arms above my head and look up at her. "Why'd you come down here?"

"I couldn't sleep up there," she points at the couch and scrunches her nose.

"Ah, I see," I smile.

"Why the hell are you guys on the floor?" Aria laughs when she sees us as she comes out of her room.

"Well, because we slept here," Emery says like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"I can tell," she laughs again.

"Well, then why would you ask?" Emery looks confused now.

Aria just shakes her head and continues laughing.

"I'll see you guys later," Aria smiles as she slips out the front door before Emery can ask where she's going.

"I should probably go home for a little while too," I tell Emery.

"Okay," she nods.