Emily I'm Sorry; Yellowjackets

fourteen

(Emily, I'm Sorry)
ACT ONE—CHAPTER FOURTEEN

1996

Emily could never fall back asleep after a nightmare, it was one of the reasons she always looked so tired.

Natalie jolted up beside her, Emily turned to face the girl, "You okay, Nat?"

Natalie looked a little shaken, "What are you doing awake?"

Emily shrugged, "I had a nightmare—I usually don't get much sleep after them."

Natalie frowned placing a gentle hand on the blonde's back, and Emily moved closer to her. Leaning her head on Natalie's shoulder moments later.

"Lottie?" Natalie whispered, and Emily reopened her eyes, following the other girl's glance.

"It's okay, he's gone." She tried to reassure Lottie, "Remember? We buried him."

Lottie still didn't break her stare toward the ladder, the whole thing was very unsettling. Emily also had a bad feeling about this place the second she laid eyes on it...however she was trying not to think like that anymore.

"Bad things happened here." Lottie whispered, gradually laying back down.

Emily laid back down and Natalie did the same, facing her.

"What was your nightmare about?" Emily asked softly, Natalie hesitated at first, "The crash. You?"

Emily shrugged, "I can't really remember."

The blonde could remember, she just didn't want to talk about it. It was easier to pretend it never happened.

Natalie knew she was lying, but didn't feel the need to push Emily any further.

"You are the strongest person I've ever met, Emily Jensen." Natalie whispered, brushing a lock of blonde hair away from the other girl's face.

"Now close your eyes, it's okay." Natalie paused, "I've got you."

Emily smiled softly, giving in to her words. Finally closing her eyes.

Emily and Natalie had snuck away from the group a little bit, just stealing a couple minutes at a time for themselves.

"Thank you," Emily whispered softly, and the other girl arched an eyebrow at her.

"I actually slept well last night...for once in my fucking life. So thank you, or whatever."

A smile broke out on Natalie's face, "Happy to help, Emy."

The bleached blonde leaned forward, her lips about to touch Emily's when a gunshot rang out from the front of the cabin.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Emily muttered, following Natalie back to the front of the cabin.

"What the hell?" Natalie exclaimed, "Seriously, someone could've gotten fucking hurt, Travis." Emily added.

"Hey!" Coach exclaimed from the doorway, "Give me that."

Travis didn't make any movement to do as instructed, so Ben spoke up again, this time more firmly, "Travis, give me the gun."

Travis stood up, begrudgingly handing over the gun, "This is a dangerous weapon, and we will handle it as such. Do we understand?"

There were a few nods of agreement from the team, "Alright, that said Travis is right. We're out of food and we're all feeling it. The good news is my father used to take me deer hunting every year as a kid. The bad news..."

The man glanced down to his leg, "Yeah, I am down to one fucking leg. Which means, that if we wanna eat, one of you is going to have to learn how to use this thing."

So Ben decided the best way to figure out who was their best bet at finding food was too, have a competition of sorts.

They worked through the group, trying to find someone with a steady hand. Most of them of course, were not the best at the first task.

Travis however, didn't drop the coin once, that got on Emily's nerves, the smug look on his face as he turned to them, "And that is how it's done ladies."

"Oh fuck this, my turn." Emily stated, Travis handed over the gun, winking at the blonde who of course rolled her eyes in response.

"You're an asshole, Travis." Emily muttered, moving to hold the gun properly. The coin teetered on the edge but managed not to fall into the dirt.

Emily would call that a win.

"Nat," Coach spoke, and Emily offered her a small smile, handing over the gun, "you've got it." She whispered.

Travis' taunting voice, along with the images that pulled at Natalie's mind. The coin dropped into the dirt, quickly she turned around, handing the gun to Van, "Here."

"That's a shame, you know next time we can just stick to something you're actually good at." Travis stated, "Like folding laundry or sucking—"

"Hey," Van snapped, and Natalie reached back for the gun, "I'm going again."

While all of this was happening Emily shocked herself even, when her fist collided with Travis' nose.

His own hand flew up to ease the pain that rang out through his face, and Emily took a step back, "Fuck."  She muttered, shaking her hand out,"This is why I don't punch people."

"Emily what the hell?" Travis exclaimed, and the blonde shook her head, "If you weren't so fucking infuriating."

"Can she do that?" One of the girls asked, "What punch him?" Another questioned.

"No, have a do over."

Natalie didn't seem to care whether or not the rules allowed her to go again, she held the gun back up and this time the coin didn't fall.

A few cheers followed her success, and Emily smiled despite the deep sting in her hand.

"Coach, don't look at me like that." Emily stated, "You and I both know he deserved it."

"I'm not condoning violence, Emily." Ben shook his head.

"That was incredibly stupid," Natalie said, her fingertips brushing over Emily's very bruised knuckles, the girl only winced slightly at the touch, "You should see the other guy."

Natalie laughed, "I did. You may have broken his nose, you know?"

"Good." Emily nodded firmly, "He's an asshole."

Natalie rolled her eyes, "You know, I don't need you to defend me."

"I know, Nat." Emily stated, she knew that the other girl was perfectly capable of defending herself but snide comments like that worked their way under Emily's skin.

"Guys are just so infuriating. Especially when they think they're better than everyone else." Emily crossed her arms.

Natalie gently pressed a kiss to Emily's cheek, and the blonde smiled, "You're really pretty."

"You're not bad yourself, Emy."

Emily leaned forward kissing Natalie's lips, pulling back for a second with a smile and then leaning back in.