Grabbing Hold (The Motorcycle Kid #1)

22. Sweet, Sweet Distraction

"What do you think is going on with Emma?" Natalie asked Kale in a whisper. She dropped the shopping bags on one of the food court tables, taking a seat and flipping her dark hair over her shoulder. Shoving her sunglasses on her forehead, Natalie crossed her legs.

They were at the local mall in Misty Vale, which despite its tiny size had a decent amount of variety. It was Emma's birthday, after all, and her friends wanted nothing more than to make sure she had a great time. Originally, Natalie had planned a shopping trip to Harpers Ferry with the rest of the girls, but as a result of Emma's recent deviant behaviour, they were restricted to Misty Vale.

Kale sat across from Natalie, his brown hair still messy from his shower that morning. He'd spent the night watching over Holden, who'd managed to pick up some kind of cold after spending the entire day at Lake Minley and staying in the same wet clothes for the next six hours. Kale'd been pretty ticked off about the whole thing, especially since there were two grown adults watching his brother and his friends. How hard was it to get a bunch of eleven-year olds to change clothes?

"I don't know," he replied to Natalie's question, fiddling with his phone. "Something's definitely off. She hasn't been acting very normal lately."

"I don't think Em is ever normal, Kaley," Natalie chuckled, and he grimaced.

"Don't call me Kaley."

"What? It's cute." Nat teased.

"No," Kale said vehemently, pointing directly at her. "You're cute. That blonde chick over there in the blue is cute. My dog is cute. Kaley is not."

Natalie laughed, tugging her sunglasses back down.

"How's Holden doing?"

Kale shook his head. "The cold's pretty minor, if you ask me, but the kid's miserable. He keeps asking for Dad."

"He's out this weekend?"

"Yeah," replied Kale, still scrolling through his phone. "Apparently some woman went into cardiac arrest late last night and he needs to monitor her over the next few days."

"Well, that's crappy."

"If I'm being honest, I'm more worried about Emma. She hasn't been herself the last couple days."

 "So have you asked her? I mean, about the way she's acting?"

"Naw. I don't get it. Elliott called a couple weeks ago, said he was coming home. You should've seen her face. She was ecstatic." Kale smiled to himself, and Natalie blushed as her mind flashed back to the couple years after puberty when she'd had a crush on Emma's older brother.

"That was the first time she looked genuinely happy since..."

Kale's voice trailed off. It was an unspoken agreement. They would never speak of that day again- it was too painful to talk about, and Emma had worked so hard to recover and resume some sense of normalcy, it wasn't fair to dredge up memories best left in the past. Natalie's face was quiet and thoughtful as she studied Kale's pain-filled expression.

She knew he blamed himself for everything that had happened that night. He'd been the one to invite them, and he hadn't protected them. His friends, who were like his sisters.

Sometimes Natalie wondered if he'd ever forgive himself for something he'd had no control over.

"On the bright side, I think we can safely say Emma's gonna have the shock of her life tonight."

Natalie chuckled. "Do you guys have everything ready?"

"Is your distraction in place?"

"Of course. I texted Ryder last night. He should be able to keep her occupied for a couple hours."