More Than Just Butterflies (Marianas Trench fan fic)

Chapter 13

***Mike's POV (a couple weeks after the last chapter)

I walked into Starbucks for the umpteenth time today and noticed Emma in the corner still by herself. I swear she was here more often than I was, and that’s saying something! I ordered and headed towards her. She was staring so intensely at her laptop screen that she didn’t notice I was there until I dragged the chair across from her out from the table for me to sit on. She jumped and it looked like I almost scared her to death.

“Mike!” she gasped.

Was it just the glare from her computer screen, or was she extremely pale? Maybe it’s just the lack of Texas sun.

I smiled at her, “Sorry about that.”

She gave a weak forced smile and tried sounding chipper, “It’s fine. I probably shouldn’t be concentrating so hard on a computer screen. It’s bad for my eyes.”

She stretched and rubbed her eyes. I noticed that she had dark circles and bags under her eyes.

“You ok, Emma?” I asked.

She stared at me for a second and then blinked a couple times before answering as if she zoned out, “Oh yeah. I’m fine. I’m just a bit tired, that’s all.”

Something wasn’t right.

“Mike! We have your drink!” one of the baristas called out.

As I returned to the table, I took time to examine Emma. She looked like she’s lost some weight since she moved here. She was never big, she was average size before, she was just thinner now. She just didn’t look right.

“Emma, how are you?”

She kept working on her laptop, “Mike, I said I’m fine, I’m just-“

I slowly closed her laptop and stared intently at her, “Emma, how are you?”

She looked away for a second and I swore I saw her eyes well up. She took a breath and began tugging at the bottom of her shirt.

“If I tell you something,” She whispered. “Can you promise to keep it a secret? Even from the guys?”

I was starting to get anxious. “Emma, are you ok? What’s going on?”

She bit her lip but that didn’t help the quivering that was slowly coming.

“Mike, I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I thought she loved being around us.

Her face was turning red as she continued talking and holding back tears, “Remember when you guys invited me to dinner a couple of weeks ago and I said I had plans?”

I just nodded as questions flew through my mind. Was she with a guy? Was she on drugs?

“Remember how when you guys were there, there was a collision between a couple of waiters and waitresses and it caused a huge mess?”

“Yeah, what about…” Then I realized something. “We never told you that.”

“I know.” She took a deep breath. “I was there. I’ve been working there as a second job for quite a while now. You guys never told me where you were going but I had work that night. I didn’t realize you were going to come into my restaurant. I walked out the kitchen, saw you guys, panicked and crashed into some people in an effort to hide.”

She still hadn’t looked me in the eyes. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Why do you need to work there?” That was the only thing I could think of.

“So I can eat.” She said sheepishly. “They pay me with leftovers. Sometimes they’ll give me some cash, but it’s mainly just in food.”

I didn’t expect to hear anything like this. I kind of stammered before asking, “Is that all that’s going on?”

She shook her head, “Mike, I’ve been living in my car. I don’t have a home. I have a part time job and then a job that just pays me in food. The only way I’m showering is through a local gym that I bought a membership to.”

“What happened to you staying at the hotel? I thought you came here for a full time position?” I was so confused. When did all this happen?

“I did. They cut my hours because they couldn’t afford to keep me full time. I think something went wrong with my transfer. It was better than firing me.” She lost it then.

I swooped in and held her as she cried. How long had she been doing this? Why hadn’t she told us? All I could say was “It’s going to be ok.”

She eventually pulled back and looked at me, “You can’t tell them. You can’t tell them anything, ok? Promise me.”

“Not even Josh?” I was shocked.

“Especially Josh.” She said sternly.

“Why can’t-” I began.

“Promise me!” she looked miserable.

I hesitated before saying, “Ok. I promise.”

“Thank you, Mike.” She hugged me again.

“Under one condition.” I added.

I felt her tense up some and she slowly pulled away to look at me.

“I want you to stay with me until you figure things out. There’s no way I’m letting you continue to live like this. I’m your friend. I want to help you.”

She just stared at me for a couple of seconds and just started bawling again. I held her again and rocked her some. I thought I heard her whispering “Thank you” but I didn’t want to ask. I was just going to stay like this until she was ready to let go.