A Summer of Discovery

Chapter Sixteen

A loud rap on my bedroom door had me jump to attention, my eyes flicked open and I pulled the sheets up around my body. My eyes darted over the room noting the empty bed beside me, she was gone.

"Emery you up sweetheart" Came Pops loud voice.

I hadn't realised they would be back so early. "Yes" I replied.

"Can I come in" He asked. I saw the doorknob turn.

"No I'm not decent I'll be down in a second" I replied quickly moving from the bed and collecting up my t shirt and shorts. I pulled them on and looked into the mirror, my hair was a mess, and my eyes were full of sleep. I had to wonder, was last night a dream.

"Did I sleep with Lilly last night?" I whispered into the mirror at my reflection. It had to be a dream I pleaded with myself. I grabbed a black hair tie from my drawer and tied my hair up. It was only as I hung it and let it swing that I noticed the red mark on my skin at the nape of my neck, both of my hands reached up to inspect it further, I leant so far into my mirror that my forehead touched it. "Fuck" I cursed under my breath. I lifted my T shirt up over my stomach to inspect my body further. There again on the left side of my stomach was a red mark. Lilly had left her kisses on my body. My flesh was branded. How could I go back to New York to Lucy like this? Oh god Lucy. How could I do this to Lucy? I wanted to punch myself in the face. I had done something I swore I would never do, I had cheated. It was Lilly though, she wasn't a stranger, we had history, and I loved her. I always had. I tried to convince myself desperately that this meant something so that the guilt didn't eat me alive. We needed to talk about this. What this meant.

I let my hair down to cover the love bite and opened my bedroom door heading down the stairs and towards the noise of the kitchen. The girls were sat eating pancakes with syrup. Pops was sat at the head of the table with his head buried in the newspaper. Jane was at the stove cooking more, her apron tied neatly around her waist. I rounded the table and took a seat beside Tegan. Pops poked his head out from behind the paper at the sound of the chair squeaking over the lino.

"Hey there sleepy head" He said reaching over and ruffling up my hair with his large hand. Jane turned and smiled. "Emery, good morning sweetheart" She said. "You want some pancakes"

"Sure, thank you" I responded. I stood and walked over to the counter grabbing a coffee cup before filling it slowly with the steaming black liquid. I sat back down. Tegan and Emily were chattering away to Jane about their night out last night, they seemed to enjoy it by the sound of their squeals.

"How was the mini honeymoon?" I asked.

"Oh wonderful" Both Pops and Jane said in unison before giggling.

"That was nice of you to babysit the girls last night Emery." Jane said placing down my plate in front of me. A stack of pancakes with strawberries and syrup stared up at me. I began to cut away the first mouthful. It was as presumed...Delightful.

"I know Lilly would have appreciated the time to herself to go out. This date has been on the cards for over a year you know. She's so picky now she's older. I'm thankful for that but I want her to settle down again with a nice man who treats her well. She gets so lonely living here with us I know she does. I think having girl time with you this weekend has really helped." Jane said as she washed the dishes. I gulped down a piece of my breakfast. She had no idea how much girl time we actually had.

"Where is she?" I finally asked acting casually like I hadn't wanted to ask the moment I had walked into the room.

Pops laid down his paper. "She went out early. As soon as we came in the door she said she needed to head out and see Brian. I'm guessing the date went well if she couldn't even leave it a couple hours to see him again." Pops said with a deep laugh.