The Directors Little Sister ✔ J.A.

{54}

The next morning Emily creeped into the apartment. She was afraid Logan might hear her come in, and then the flood of questions would come;

'Where were you?'

'Why didn't you call or text?'

'Why did you leave?'

Unfortunately for Emily, today must have been the day Logan decided to get up early, because there he was, sitting at his laptop probably uploading his vlog.

"Don't even," Emily warned, raising her hand to cut off Logan.

"Fine. But why did you leave?"

"Because Logan, in case it hadn't passed through your thick skull, Alissa is Jake's ex. She cheated on him, hurt him, made up lies and rumours about him. And you just put her in this video to get a few extra steps ahead of him. Some big brother," Emily scoffed, and turned on her heel and slammed her bedroom door shut.

Emily was happy to get it all out. It seemed to just be building up inside her, making her think all night, which resulted in her not sleeping. So instead she ended up staring at the white roof in Jake's room as Jake silently slept beside her.

Emily needed a shower, anything to clear her head. So she ran the tap and got in. It was calm and relaxing, pushing away everything. Rumours, lies, stupid drama, the small scars on Emily's thighs.

She traced her finger over one. The feeling of the rough crescent made Emily shiver. It was so out of place on her skin. It made her feel ugly. Emily would wear make up on her legs on days she would wear shorts. But the day Jack saw them was the day Emily had forgotten all about that. Something inside of her wished he hadn't of seen them because now his eyes always seemed to hold a small amount of sympathy.

Then Emily's mind wandered to the girl who had made her do this to herself. The girl who had said such cruel things it nearly brought Emily as far as killing herself.

Kylie Matthews.

That girl had always been perfection in the eyes of everyone in Emily's grade. She had looks, brains and quite a lot of friends. The first time she had ever told Emily she was fat or ugly Emily had kept a strong façade until she got home. This continued everyday for two weeks until Emily brought a razor to her skin. Then, it had felt like a sort or release, like all her problems were flowing away with her blood down the drain. Now the memory just brought pain.

Kylie was now working behind some checkout in a small gas station. She had been expelled after news broke out about Emily.

Emily would look back on that and think, 'look where I am. Living in LA with my brothers, I have some of the best friends ever and the best boyfriend ever, and you are stuck getting paid $20 for a day's work and coming home smelling like gas'.

Emily switched off the shower and stepped out. She dried herself off and changed into a fresh pair of clothes.

When she got back out to her room, she saw she had a text.

N.V: I'm in LA tomorrow if you want to meet?
Me👑: I would like that. Where?
N.V: you know that tiny little Café?
Me👑: ahhh, the Café. Sure, let's say 2:30
N.V: okay see you then.
N.V: hey, is it okay if I call you?
Me👑: sure

A few minutes later Emily's phone started ringing. She quickly accepted the call and put it to her ear, waiting for his voice to come through.

"Hey,"

Emily smiled. It had been so long since she heard his voice, so long since she had seen him. It hurt too much to look at his videos or see pictures of him.

"Hey,"

"So. Why is this so awkward?" he laughed.

Emily sighed and shrugged, then realised he couldn't actually see her, so she said, "I don't know. There's not really much for us to talk about any more,"

This made Emily feel sad. She remembered the late night conversations her and Neels used to have, sitting cross legged across from eachother either on his bed or over the phone.

"How about the fact you have a boyfriend," he shouted down the phone.

Emily started laughing at his mock surprise. "Oh thanks Neels, it's nice to know you had support in me,"

Emily could hear the sound of Neels' laugh. It sent chills down her spine.

"Have you told him-"

"No, and I'm never gonna tell him," Emily cut Neels off, almost shouting at him.

"Okay, okay," he laughed.

The two ended up talking the day away. It was just like old times, as if all this drama never happened. As if Neels was just a half hour drive away sitting on his bed in the Team 10 house, the sound of Alissa and Tessa laughing in the background, or Jake shouting at his vlog camera.

But he wasn't there, and that wasn't happening. Instead, Emily had to hide the fact that she was even talking to him, let alone meeting him for lunch and a good old chat.

Emily missed the old times.