Princess

nine

I didn't see the quirky boy a whole week. A full blissfully painful week. Mum was home less and less, and school was getting harder and harder. Not to mention, I got less and less sleep. I needed Emerson. I also needed some more alcohol, but that requires Emerson, so basically, I needed the blonde idiot.

    Finally, Friday night came along. I'd just gotten into bed when I heard a knocking on my window. The first thing that came to my mind was, "Oh, must be Emerson." Was I right? Yes, in fact, I was. I clumsily shoved my glasses on my face and opened the window, looking down. Emerson was smiling his ridiculous smile up at me.

    "Princess, let's go stargazing," he whisper-yelled. More like slurred. He was definitely pissed.

    "Emerson, are you drunk?"

    "No, princess, are you?" He laughed at I-don't-know-what, but probably himself.

    "No, I'm not, but you are. I'm coming down there. Don't move." I saw him nod and quickly pulled on a pair of jeans, forgetting a shirt. I realised my mistake when I opened the front door and walked out to find him sitting on the grass twirling it between his fingers.

    He lifted his head and started giggling. "You forgot a shirt."

    I looked down to see that I did indeed forget to put on a shirt. "Shit. Whatever. Emerson, you're drunk. I need to take you home."

    "No I'm not."

    "Yes you are."

    "No I'm not."

    "No you're not."

    "Yes I am." He paused. "Hey! You tricked me."

    "I did, and I'm sorry, but I need to take you home now." I tried picking him up from under his arms, but it was harder than I thought. "E, can you stand up?"

    He stood up and linked his arm in mine. "C'mon, we're going stargazing."

    Damn, he was really set on stargazing tonight. "Fine, but I'm driving. Can I have the keys?" He fished them out of his pocket and dropped them into my palm. "Alright, can you walk to the car, or do I need to carry you?"

    He looked at me with his pretty blue eyes slightly clouded over, like a rainy morning. "Will you walk with me?"

    "Uh... okay?" He grabbed my hand and stumbled a bit as he pulled us both to the car. I opened up the passenger side door and helped him in. I got into the driver's seat, making sure he had done his seatbelt. He had. I started the car, driving carefully down the empty roads of the suburban town. It was quiet, and I pulled into the same open field we'd been to last Friday night. I felt eyes on me, so I took a glance at the boy in the seat beside me. He was staring at me. Slowly, he brought a hand up to my face and rested it on my cheek.

    "You're so pretty," he slurred. "My pretty princess."

    I attempted to gently remove his hand from my face, but he kept it there. He ran his thumb over my bottom lip. My breath hitched. I'd never been this close to someone.

    "Princess, can I kiss you?"

    "Emer-" He cut me off with a kiss. I could taste the alcohol on his lips. I panicked and pushed him away. "Emerson! You can't just kiss people like that!"

    He smirked and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. "But you liked it."

    "No, I pushed you away." His eyes started to water. "No, Em, I didn't mean it like that! Dammit. E, I've never kissed anyone before."

    He looked at me incredulously. "You've never been kissed?"

    "No."

    A mischievous shine reached his eyes. "So I was your first?" I nodded, and he seemed content with the answer.

    "Do you still wanna go stargazing?"

    "Yeah." He fumbled with the lock, letting out a frustrated sigh when he couldn't do it. I reached across him and opened his door. "Thank you, my princess," he giggled.

    I went into the boot and found a single bottle of booze. He waited for me, standing with hands hanging at his sides, the sleeves of the oversized denim jacket he always wore hanging past his wrists so you could only see his fingertips. He rolled up his jacket sleeve and held out his hand. I debated with myself for a moment, but then took it. So, with a bottle in one hand and his in the other, we lay down in the middle of the field in silence. I opened the bottle with my teeth, as I'd seen Emerson do, and took a sip. I wanted tonight to be better.