Bittersweet

Chapter 3

Chapter Three...

I can do this. I can do this. I kept on chanting for five minutes looking at myself in the mirror. It was evening already and we had to get ready to go to my aunt's friend's house. Two human interactions were enough for a day. I didn't want to make a fool of myself again. But on the other side, I didn't want to disappoint my aunt too, so I had no choice but to suck it up and go.

"Oh Emily! You look pretty" my aunt cooed at me when I came downstairs. I didn't do much, I just wore some faded jeans and white flowy top, but it still was a change from the sweatpants and shirt I wore all day. "You should dress up more often" my uncle smiled at me.

"Ok now hurry or we'll be late!" my aunt went into a bossy mood again. Uncle Jack just shook his head and grinned at me. Aunt Cherry brought the brownies she made from the kitchen and then shouted at us to move out.

We walked to their house. It wasn't that far, just two house next to ours. "Don't worry, Lily is a really friendly person" I looked around and didn't realize we already reached there and I was shaking with nerves. Aunt Cherry had already rang the bell.

The door was opened by a sweet looking woman. She was really beautiful and had a gorgeous smile. She greeted my aunt and uncle and finally looked towards me. "Oh! You must be Emily. I have heard a lot about you. I am Lily McCarter, but you can call me Lily. Come on in" she said and then she hugged me. I just looked like an idiot standing over there. My aunt and uncle burst out laughing at my expression.

Just then there were loud thuds coming from inside the house, like someone was descending the stairs. Lily just rolled her eyes and said "That must be Dylan, I have told him lots of time to come down slowly, but no, why would he listen to me?" Aunt Cherry and Uncle Jack just laughed at this while we went inside.

Wait. This means there is another person in the house. Today is so not my day. I silently hoped that this Dylan person is some four year old kid. But judging from the noise he was making while coming down, I doubted that. My suspicions were confirmed when a boy with a really gorgeous smile came walking really fast and enveloped my uncle in a hug.

"Jack, Cherry, I thought you shifted there permanently. I thought you weren't coming back." "Ofcourse we were Dylan, we missed this place and especially you so much to leave this town forever." After hugging my aunt, he finally saw me. I was horrified when I actually got to look at his face. He was the same green eyed 'bad boy' from the store. The boy who's phone I broke. The boy who almost made me pee my pants.

All the expressions were wiped from his face. "Who's she?" He asked like he was disgusted. I did the only thing I could think of at the moment and moved to stand behind my uncle. "Dylan! Thats no way to talk to a girl" Lily shouted at him. "No problem Lily, he'll come around, you know how he is around new people ." My uncle told her.

"Dylan, this is my niece, Emily. Em, this is Lily's son, Dylan." I just nodded at him, unable to say anything. However, Dylan didn't even spare me a glance.

We all went to the dining room. I noticed that the inside house structure was similar to ours. But Lily's house was decorated more beautifully and had a really homey feeling to it. Though that was expected because ours was still filled with unopened boxes from our shifting.

Aunt Cherry placed the brownies on the already set table, and then we all sat for dinner. Uncle Jack sat on the head of the table. Lily and Aunt Cherry sat on either side. Dylan sat next to his mom and I sat next to my aunt which was unfortunately facing Dylan.

"So Dylan, I was trying to call you in the afternoon, but your phone kept going on voice mail. I tried many times." I looked away wide-eyed. Oh God, please don't let Dylan tell them it was me. Please don't let- "That might be because someone, purposely ran straight over me and knocked my phone out." He smirked at me. Too late. I blushed from embarrassment and looked at him horrified. That was not what happened, I didn't run into him purposefully, and he was also not watching where he was going. 

My uncle looked between us confused for a moment, but then he finally got it. "Wait did you guys already meet before? Were you the one who broke his phone Emily?" My uncle asked me.
I was tomato-red by now. "I-It was just an a-accident " I managed to stutter out without looking up. Great. We haven't been here for five minutes and I have already made a fool of myself. I felt Aunt Cherry's hand holding mine under the table. She squeezed it and whispered 'it's okay' to me.

"Hey Emily, its no problem. Dylan here has already got a new phone, he was only teasing you." Lily told me. "God, that's pathetic. Is this how she is? If yes she will never survive high school here with this attitude." Dylan snorted. 

"Dylan, watch your mouth, young man" his mom yelled at him. "What? I was just stating the truth." "Actually, Lily he's right." My uncle said. We all looked towards him confused. "Dylan, can I ask you a favour?" "Anything " he replied. It seemed that he liked my aunt and uncle more than just his mom's friends.

"Can I trust you to help Emily through the school. Just the first few weeks, then you can do whatever you do at school. But Emily right now really needs someone to help her. Please." Dylan wrinkled his nose as if the thought of simply being with me nauseates him. I looked towards my uncle angrily. I can take care of myself. He makes me sound like a special case. I don't need pity from anyone, especially this impolite boy in front of me.

Too bad I didn't have the courage to say anything in front of them, which ofcourse resulted in Dylan reluctantly agreeing and all the arrangements being made without any of my consent. 

After the dinner, we all sat in the lounge. Dylan and Uncle Jack were talking about sports, Lily and Aunt Cherry were gossiping about the recent news in town and I was just sitting there pretending to listen, but was actually wondering how this year would go.

After all there was an extra addition by the name of Dylan in my life. Oh! If only I knew....    

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