Corren's Fight

Chapter Nineteen - Infinite

The strips of bacon hissed and spat at me as they fried in the pan of oil. I stared deeply at the cooking meat until heavy footsteps broke me out of my trance. Jem stumbled into the kitchen, gave me a wary glance, and slid into his usual spot at the end of the counter, obviously hungover. Maybe even partially drunk. His eyes were still red and his face somewhat pale.

"Morning, Jem!" Emily chirped, coming around the corner.

Jem jumped and clutched his head. He muttered a greeting.

"How's that omelet coming, Babe?"

I grabbed a spatula and poked at the circle of rising yellow in the pan beside the bacon. "Almost done."

Emily came beside me and inspected the bacon. "Jesus, Corren! The bacon's done! Are you trying to burn it?" She took the pan and slid the bacon onto a plate.

At that moment Emily's phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket. "Oh, it's my mom. I'll be right back. I gotta take this."

I watched as she disappeared into the living room and out to the back porch. Seeing that the omelet was ready I slid it onto the plate with bacon, sprinkled cheese on it, and folded it over. I set the plate before Jem.

He slowly stared up at me. "What's this?"

"Breakfast."

I turned back to clean the kitchen.

"I don't want you taking pity on me, Boy."

"It's not pity," I said, taking the pans over to the sink. "It's called being kind- something Emily taught me."

"You didn't have to do this."

I rises the dishes and soaked the sponge in soap and water. "Jem, I'm going to be honest with you. I think by now it's suffice to say you're more to me than my father ever was after... after Scott." I cleared my throat. Talking about Scott still got to me from time to time. "The least I can do is make you breakfast after a long night."

I heard him sigh. "You two eaten yet?"

"Yeah, we ate earlier."

Jem was quiet. "She's good for you, ain't she?" He was referring to Emily.

"She is." I replied.

"Do you love her?"

It was my turn to pause. "Yeah... Yeah, I do."

"Have you told her that?"

I shook my head to the dishes. "No. I don't want to scare her, or complicate things."

"How is a declaration of love, teenage love, going to complicate things?"

"Things are going great right now, Jem. But I need to figure some things out first." My thoughts flashed to my dealing situation. I couldn't drag Emily into that.

He snorted. "Teenagers."

I figured that was the end of it. I was wrong.

Jem went on, his tone soft. Something I was not used to. "Love is rare, Son. Especially at a young age. People will tell you it comes and goes, and it does, but it is rare to find love in these younger years of yours. Most relationships are so pretentious at your age. What I have seen with you and that girl out there, well, that is something I have not seen in a while. The way you two interact with each other, like you're both two pieces of a puzzle that fit. Two entirely different people that work as one... You don't see that often. When love like that comes along you gotta hang onto it. She wont wait around forever."

I swallowed, my mouth becoming dry. Why was that? Did I still fear loving Emily? Maybe I still feared not being good enough. Maybe I feared it would never work out.