Tattered Blinds

Chapter Eighteen

Emma

All I could do was look at him. I couldn't say a single word. My mind was blank and I felt that if I was going to say something, I would choke. 

"Emma, are you okay, you look like you just heard the worst news in your entire life," Alex said to me. I looked at him and took a gulp. 

"Wh.. Wha... What!" 

"What? You wanted to know," Alex said. 

"No, I'm not mad, but, since when?" I asked him. 

"I'm not gonna mention that, but let's just push that past us, now you know," He shrugged. But no, I couldn't just push it past  myself. This was a topic I wanted to talk about, and I wanted to talk about for a long time. 

"Alex," I said, but I didn't know what to say. I just decided to change the subject. 

"Yeah?" 

"Never mind," I said. He ate the last piece of the crust on his pizza and I gave my crust to him. I hated it. 

When we were done eating, we walked through a couple of more shops. My heart raced every time I thought of Alex liking me, no not liking me, loving me. I checked the watch on my wrist and I almost gasped at the time it was. 

"It's three-thirty!" I said to Alex as we walked into Lids, a hat store where all the kids in our school got their hats. 

"Yeah, time goes by fast when you are having fun!" He turned to me and poked me in the stomach. I smiled really big and we walked to the back of the store, where Alex got most of his. I helped him pick out a few as he tried them on. I looked around the store and noticed all the cool hats. Then I, no, it wasn't real, wait yes it was. That was Elijah standing there with Trevor and Luke from school. 

"Alex, look, it's Elijah!" I said, my heart starting to race. Alex turned to look at him. 

"Gross," he turned back to the hats. I put my hands on my hips. 

"Alex, let's just go say hi, you like Trevor and Luke!" I tried to talk him into it. 

"No," He acted stubborn. I then thought of a really smart idea. 

"Please, for me?" I asked in a really flirty tone and I grabbed his hand. He then acted like he was in la-la land

"Okay," he quickly said and we walked over to where they were. Trevor and Luke spotted me first and started to smile. Elijah still had no idea what was going on. I walked up to him so close that I could breath and he would feel it. I poked him. He tuned around. 

"Hey," He started off angrily before he noticed it was me. "Emma! Why weren't you at school today?" He asked me and gave me a huge hug. 

"Long story, what are you doing here?" I asked. I was surprised that I could talk to him so easily. 

"The mall, hunny bunches, I live here!" He smiled. I couldn't believe that he called me hunny bunches. 

"Oh stop it!" I joked. 

"Trev, Luke, wanna go entertain Alex while Emma and I go have some fun?" Elijah said to Luke and Trevor. I looked at Alex. 

"No, we were just leaving," Alex said putting the hat he was going to buy on the shelf. "Come on Emma." 

"Alex, come on bro," Elijah said. Alex cooled down and Trevor and Luke walked out of the store with him and went somewhere I didn't know. 

"How you doing toots?" Elijah asked me, he threw his arm around my shoulder and we walked out of the store, and walked in the opposite direction of Alex and Elijah's friends. 

"I'm doing good, never been to the mall before," I admitted and blushed. 

"First time, wow! Well, I suspect you've never tried Berry Blasters?" He asked. I wrinkled my brow. 

"What's that?" 

"We are going there, right now!" He said and we got on an escalator. 

"What is it?" I giggled. 

"Fruit smoothies, the best!" He smiled. "I'm buying!"

"Elijah, no," I said. 

"Come on, never had someone pay for you before?" He asked me. I thought of Alex and I didn't want to talk about him in front of Elijah. 

"Nope," I lied, sparing my life not talking about Alex. 

"Why wouldn't anyone do that for a," he paused and scooted closer to be, we were looking each other right in the eyes. "Beautiful girl like you!" I could feel my cheeks getting hot. We got off at the top of the escalator and walked to Berry Blasters. I got the same thing as Elijah, Orange Wild Dream. We went and sat down at a table. 

"I am so happy I ran into you!" I smiled at him and took a sip. It was really delicious! 

"Not as happy as me, I was crushed when I didn't see you at school today, I was hoping that we could play piano together again!" 

"I'm sorry, I was up pretty late last night," I replied. 

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing special," I answered shortly. He shrugged. 

"So," He said and he grabbed my hand. Oh God no, he is not proposing! No, no, no, wait, I just found out he liked me, get this out of your head Emma. I'm thirteen for crimeny sake! 

""So," I replied. 

"What are you doing Friday night?" He asked me. I didn't have anything planned. 

"Nothing that I know of," I replied. 

"Do you want to maybe go catch a movie?" he asked me. 

"Sure!" I said ecstatic that he asked me to go on a date. 

"Great," He smiled and let go of my hand. Suddenly Alex walked up to us. 

"Emma, we're leaving, now!" He said. 

"Alex, I'm talking to Elijah!" I replied. 

"You came to this mall to hang out with me, not this knock-off piece of crap!" he pointed at Elijah. I gasped. 

"How dare you!" I stood up. 

"How dare me, no how dare you! After I just told you l loved you, and ditch me to hang out with him, you know what, have a good life with him, I'm leaving!" Then Alex walked away. 

I felt a tear run down my cheek as I watched him walk out the door. Elijah came up behind me and gave me a hug. "It's okay sweetie, you're okay here with me..."