Everything with you

Part 24

Emma

It takes me two whole days to convince Hales to get up from her bed and go out for coffee. She was still ignoring Nolan, although he did come by the dorm, but she refused to see him. I had asked him to leave on two separate occasions during these two days. To be honest, he looked remorseful, but I felt like there was something more going on beneath his weary eyes.

"I think it's time you changed out of your PJ's Hales.". I nudged her. She looked tired. Her eyes were surrounded by dark circles now, and her hair was a wild mess. She was still in her pajamas, despite my nagging. She just grunts in response.

"Come on.. Get changed. Some fresh air would do you good.".

I go through her closet and find some decent clothes and force her to wear them. We head out for coffee, and as soon as her favorite Frappe hits her mouth, I see her smile.

"See, I told you, you'll feel better," I say.

"The coffee's good," she exclaims.

"Uh.. hum." I take a sip of the hot coffee and smile.

"Someone's in a good mood," she says, looking at me.

"Well, I did drag my best friend out to have a coffee when she was surviving on junk food and water for the past 2 days."

"Ha, no, that's not it. Let me think. Maybe it has to do with... I don't know a hot soccer team captain. Who I found in your bed two days ago," she quips with a grin.

"What.. No! "II struggle to form a sentence as I stammer.

"Relax Em.. I've been meaning to ask. How'd your date go?"

"Um, it was fine. We don't have to talk about that if you don't want to." I say quickly. Weirdly, I didn't want her to feel bad about things with Nolan by bringing up Justin.

Hales holds my hand and looks me in the eye.

"Emma, I never want you to not share the happy things going on in your life with me just because of the stuff going on with me."

"I.. um.." I take a moment because emotion clogs me up. I'd never had a close friendship develop with someone over such a short period of time; I truly considered myself lucky. She notices it and gives my hand a small squeeze. I take a deep breath and start talking.

"Well, we actually didn't end up going on the date."

"What? Why?" she says with a shocked expression.

"It was pouring when he came to pick me up; we kind of got caught in the rain. More like drenched. We decided it would be better to change before we went out, and then one thing led to another," I say, looking directly at my coffee.

"And...?"

"We ended up kissing!" I exclaim. I'm sure I'm red now.

"Well.. I did see that when I walked in. I'm sorry for interrupting, though," she frowns.

"There's no need to be sorry, Hales," I assure her. Since we were nearing the Nolan topic, I figured we could finally talk about it.

"So, are we finally going to talk about Nolan? What have you decided to do?" I question.

"Ugh.. I don't know, Em. He hurt me. I never really expected him to say those things about me. We've been together for almost three years now. I know his parents behave a certain way, but that doesn't excuse what he said," she says with sadness.

I just nodded and thought about what she said about Nolan's parents behaving a certain way. I resonated with that with my mom. I knew she wanted the best for me, but she hovered around me so much that sometimes I felt like I was a project to her more than her daughter. I bring my mind back to our conversation.

"I get that. Just so you know, Nolan has been checking with me daily about how you are, for what it's worth," I say.

"Well, that, to me, is worth nothing right now. I've been with him throughout college; he was my first real boyfriend. I think.. I think I need some space. Maybe a break would do us both some good. You know to clear our heads."

"That makes sense. You can take some time to just relax and focus on yourself," I add.

She nods in agreement. We finish our coffees and head back. Hales met with Nolan later that day, and they had the "talk." To be honest, I was more nervous than her. When she came back, she was surprisingly in a better mood than she had left.

"What happened? Did you do it?" I ask, standing up from my bed.

"Yeah.. We are officially on a break," she says as she lands on her bed.

"On a break? Is it like a Ross and Rachel break? Or will you both still not be seeing other people during your break?". I am confused.

"I don't know Em. Ross and Rachel break! I'm not going to date someone else, but I will definitely not be dating Nolan any time soon."

"How'd he take it?"

"Umm.. not well, but he couldn't convince me this time though."

"Okay.. Well, good for you.. first time single in 3 years.. that's exciting!"

"Ugh.. I don't know. Let's see Em," she says, defeated.

"Everything's going to be fine, Hales. I'm sure of it." I assure her. I am interrupted by a call. It was my mom. I answered it.

"Hi mom"

"Emma! How are you? I've been trying to reach you for the past two days," she says, worried.

"I'm fine, mom. I was busy. I had exams and my job."

"Hmmm.. you and your job.. your life would be much easier if you'd just focus on your studies, dear." she whines.

I grunt as I say, "Ugh.. Come on, mom.. you know where I stand on this.. let's not do this again."

"Fine.. Do as you wish. What do I know, right?" she says with a huff. I was getting more irritated as she continued.

"Is that all? Did you actually have something to say to me?" I question.

"I called to talk about Michelle's wedding next week. Are you coming?". Michelle was Noah's older sister. She was a sweetheart to me growing up, and I would hate to miss her wedding. Though my mom was still trying to set me up with Noah, who had clearly not come out of the closet yet, It made sense for him to take his time; both his parents were preachers in the church, and they were uptight as they came. I'm nearly as close to my mom.

"Yeah.. I'm planning on coming, but please stop trying to set me up with Noah. I am seeing someone," I say quickly.

"Someone? Who?"

"His name's Justin. We've been on a couple of dates," I add.

"Hmm, then I don't think Justin will have any problem attending the wedding with you," she pushes. I roll my eyes; she was trying to check if I really was seeing someone. Usually I would have backed down by now, but today I didn't feel like it.

"Well, if you must know, he is planning on coming with me to the wedding as my date." I hear a gasp from my mom. I look at Hales, who is now looking at me with wide eyes and an arched eyebrow.

"Okay.. Great! We can't wait to meet him, dear," she responds flatly.

"Great! I'll call you later, mom." I cut the call and toss my phone to the bed. Oh no! What have I done? Hales must find my horrified expression amusing because she laughs—I mean, full out ROFL's.

"What am I going to do?" I say with worry. I can't believe I just told my mom that I would bring Justin home with me... as a date... to a wedding without even talking to him once. Hell! I'm not sure what we even are right now. Are we boyfriend and girlfriend? Were we exclusive?

"Well, you're just going to have to ask that hot date of yours to attend the wedding with you," she says calmly after finishing her laugh.

I groan.. "Shit! What if he says no?" I say anxiously.

"Well, his loss then, babe.".

I have really dug myself a deep hole this time. I wondered how I would get out of it.