Emily's Heart

Chapter 9: Emily P.O.V.

9  Awkward

Emily

A week went by, but no Jake. Then it was two weeks, then a month. Each day as I walked into our gathering place, I felt hopeful that he’d be there.

Another training session over and no Jake. I stood with my back to Greta as she locked the door and punched in the code to set the alarm.

“You were off today, Adams. What’s up?”

“Nothing. I have the right to an off day, don’t I?”

“Not really.”

“Do you ever descend from your throne long enough to get out of bitch mode?”

“Whatever.”

That seemed to be Greta’s answer whenever I called her on anything. “Whatever,” she’d say.

“I’m actually paying you a compliment.”

“Right. What, in that sentence, was a compliment?”

“I said you were off today, which implies that most of the time you’re on. But you’re so defensive, you never see a compliment when you get one.”

“Defensive? I’m not defensive,” I said.

Greta laughed. “I think that proves my point.”

Damn, will it ever be easier with her? Or is she like this with everyone?

I decided not to get into it with her and let it pass. She asked me what was up. Maybe I should tell her. I didn’t have anyone else to talk to about it.

“You want to know what’s up, fine. I’ll tell you. It’s Jake. He’s what’s up with me.”

“You heard from him?”

“No.”

“Disappointing. Between the two of you, I figured you’d be the one to not get over yourself. I never figured he’d be the one with his head still up his own ass over the whole thing.”

“Gee, thanks, Greta.”

“Sorry, but it’s true.”

It was true. I couldn’t deny it. I’d known Jake almost my whole life, and it wasn’t like him to hold a grudge. But then again, we’d never lived in a world filled with Ciardha’s Dark Energy either. It was harder and harder to be our best selves.

Either that, or I’d hurt him so deeply that he couldn’t take seeing me again. I couldn’t blame him. I’d thought about it a lot since we’d met with Jake, and I tried to put myself in his shoes. Truth is, if it had been reversed, I’d probably have been so badly wounded that I’d have turned a long time ago.

So I decided to give up on seeing Jake again. Greta and I had tried our best to get him to see reason, but it hadn’t been enough. I only hoped that he’d stay Lucent without us.

The next day when Greta and I arrived at our headquarters, Megan, John and Ashley were already there, waiting for us outside the door.

“Sorry we’re late,” I said.

“No worries. We were early,” Megan replied.

“Well, try not to be early,” said Greta. “It’s dangerous to stand around out here.”

We all turned our heads away while Greta punched in the security code. We’d decided that for the safety of the whole group, only Greta would have the access code to unlock the door to our meeting place. She changed it frequently and told it to no one. We figured that would at least prevent any of us who turned into a shadow from giving access to a whole gang of shadows.