My Only Mistake Was Loving You

(2) Breaking Your Heart?

I texted James my address and he was here in a mater of minutes. I expected him to be alone, but he brought along Daniel. They both had ice cream, but while James was driving, Daniel was holding my ice cream too.

"I thought that if I brought company, your mom wouldn't mind me being here for longer than just dropping off ice cream." He shrugged and got off the car.

He brought a smile to my face. Smart guy.

"I'm sure she won't mind since it's not just us two and either way we're all in plain sight. I'm not sure why she insists on thinking I'm some kind of whore."

Daniel laughed, "I'm sure she doesn't think that of you. My mom is the same way with my sisters. And one of them is 20!"

That made me laugh. Daniel was related to Jame's ex girlfriend, Daisy, who was 20 and he had another younger sister that was 13 and her name was Abigail. I found it sort of strange that James and Daniel remained friends, given that Daniel and I were the same age, but also that Daniel looked just like his older sister. I knew I couldn't do it. Be friends with my ex's siblings...

Not that I had that to worry about. David's only siblings were already 30.

I pulled out lawn chairs and we sat in my front yard eating ice cream. I caught my mom peeking at us through the window. I knew later I wouldn't hear the end of this, but apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Hey, are you going to get in trouble for us being here after all?" Daniel asked nodding towards my mom.

"Probably. It doesn't matter though. She doesn't know what I'm going through and I'm glad you guys came to keep me company. I think the last thing I needed was to be alone." 

James smiled, "I knew this would be worth it. Do you need me to talk to your mom, little one? Maybe she'll cool off if I tell her it was all my idea."

"No, you don't have to do that. It won't make much of a difference anyway. Thank you, though. That was very sweet of you, old one."

We all laughed at that one.

"Good one." James said without adding the 'little one'. I hated it. I wanted him to tease me. It made me feel special.

When we finished out ice cream, Daniel asked if he could go inside to use the little boy's room. I walked him in and James and I walked to my backyard.

"You have a small backyard." he stated.

He was only looking until where the grass ended. That was about a fourth of my backyard.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. Do you see that wooden fence all the way back there?"

"Yeah, what about it?" he asked. Realization seemed to dawn on him after he asked the question. His eyes widened and he walked further into my yard. "No fucking way this is all yours."

"You're right. It isn't mine." I smiled at him trying to make him believe I was joking, but then I finished, "It belongs to my dad."

He laughed and shoved me lightly. "You knew what I meant!"

Daniel walked out shortly after and, like James, began to admire my backyard. I didn't think of it as a big deal. It was like any other yard. My neighbor's yards were bigger than this one. They didn't have a basketball court or multiple fruit trees, but they were still bigger. I wonder what my parents would have done had they had a bigger yard.

"Hey Emma, what is this?" Daniel asked pointing at my garage. Well, Garage and storage rooms. My dad was in the middle of making the two storage rooms a house.
I explained that to Daniel and he just kind of stared in admiration. Their reactions made me laugh.

"Uh, Em, do you have dogs?" James asked with his voice shaking a bit.

"Yeah why?" I asked.

"Because there's a big black lab coming out way." He slowly began walking backwards away from the dog.

"That's Tito. He won't bite, I swear it."

I called my dog over and he ran towards me eagerly and licked my hand that was reaching voer to pet him.

"Sick. Can you trade lives with me?" asked Daniel.

"Sure, but I'm keeping my dog." I replied. I squatted down and hugged Tito and whispered to him, "I wouldn't leave you, Tito."

Daniel's phone started ringing and he excused himself once more. "It's coach. I have to take this."

Daniel was a soccer player. A pretty good one, I'd say, but I couldn't say much. I quit soccer when I was 9, so I kept to myself about my opinions.

James walked closer to me, grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer to him. We were inches apart now. This felt weird. He brought his hand up to my face and caressed my cheek.

I stood there wide-eyed. I didn't know what to do. I decided to break the silence, "What's wrong, James?"

"You're beautiful." He said simply.

"Um, thanks." I replied unsure of what I should say to him. The proximity was making me nervous.

"David must've been a fool to let you go. I would have never treated you the way he did. You deserve so much better." He stated.

His words made my eyes start to water. This whole time I wasn't even thinking about David breaking up with me.

"No don't cry." He said as he rubbed his thumb on my cheek. They were like cheek-wipers for rainy days.

A tear escaped my eyes and trickled down onto his hand.

"You're breaking my heart, Em."

We heard Daniel approaching and we decided to break up the intimate moment. I walked into the garage and cleaned up my face. I grabbed some water for the boys and pretended that was my whole purpose.

"What's going on?" Daniel asked James.

"Nothing, she was just upset." replied James.

Daniel squinted his eyes at James. I knew he didn't believe him. "Whatever, man." Daniel said at last. He was dropping it.

A wave of guilt began to engulf me. What was I thinking letting him get close to me like that? Jesus Christ. He is my friend's ex-boyfriend. It breaks all rules of girl code and Daniel wouldn't forgive me if I let this progress.

James and Daniel soon began to leave since they needed to get to Daniel's practice. James explained that he sometimes takes Daniel to practice simply because he wants to go and support him. James was a good guy. He was a good friend. I had to stay away from him. I knew myself. I wouldn't stand not falling for him and that was wrong.