Living With The Emerson Girls

Chapter 2

"And this is the game room," Ariel said, waving her arms around the huge room full of electronic heaven.

"Nice. Xbox 360, PS3, Wii... I could live in here. You up for some..." I picked up one of the games. "Modern Warfare 3? Impressive," I said. I could learn to love this. 

"Nah, I'm not any good. It's only here because my cousin left it the last time he came over." She flashed me a smile. 

I picked up a controller from the dusty shelf. Flicking on the game system, I placed it in her hands. As the screen came to life, I showed her how to shoot and reload and aim and pretty much everything she needed to know.

     After I finished killing her about twenty times, Athena walked in, and gave me a weird look. Ariel giggled and stood up, throwing the controller on the couch. I paused the game in confusion, watching as the two had an almost telepathic conversation. 

"What?" I finally asked. 

"It's dinner time," Athena said, as she smirked, shook her head at Ariel, and walked out of the room. 

*****

 "So how has your day been so far Zachary?" Mr. Emerson asked me as we sat down for dinner.  

"It's been good. Ariel kinda gave me a tour." 

"Yes, Ariel has always been the outgoing one." George said, and Ariel turned a dark shade of pink. 

A pretty lady who looked about 40 came bustling in all of a sudden, holding a briefcase and what seemed like thousands of papers. 

"Hi honey," she said, kissing George. "Who's this?" 

"Zachary, Jessica and Edward's son. Zachary this is my wife, Claire." She nodded in recognition. 

"Nice meeting you, Mrs. Emerson."

"Oh please, call me Claire. Now I'm going to run upstairs, and I'll join you for dinner later." She said, as she ran up the stairs. 

"So are you going to live here forever?" Audrey asked, fiddling with her spoon. She was having trouble getting up on the tall seat, so I lifted her up and placed her there.

"Um it depends on how long my parents are on vacation, Audrey," I said. 

"Do you play any sports Zachary?" George asked me.

"Um, I play lacrosse." 

"Are you any good?" 

"I'm alright." 

"Ariel's school has an excellent lacrosse team! Too bad you won't be staying that long, or else you would have been a nice addition."

"I go to Ariel's school too." Athena spoke up, giving her father the death stare. 

"Yes, of course." 

A tense silence passed across the table, and you could feel the uncomfortableness in the air. 

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked, wanting to escape Athena and her father's "staring contest." 

"Down the hall, and three doors to the left." Riley said abruptly, speaking up for the first time since dinner started.  

I got up and pushed my chair in, and locked myself in the bathroom. Once inside, I pulled my Blackberry out of my shorts. I unlocked the phone by typing in my girlfriend's name as the password. 

I met Brooklyn at the beginning of freshman year. We didn't start dating until mid junior year, and even then I hadn't asked her to be my girlfriend yet. We've been a couple for five months, but we act more like polite friends rather than boyfriend and girlfriend. She's kind of... controlling, though. The only reason I was still in a relationship with her was I didn't really want to hurt her, or her family's feelings.