Magnolia

n i n e

Emma's foot was bouncing up and down on the tile floor. The class was quiet, making the tapping noise stand out against the silence. I reached under the desk, putting my hand on her knee, stopping it. She looked up, offering a sheepish smile. "Sorry," she breathed. 

I smiled, squeezing softly. I wasn't worried like she was. It had been two weeks since we started dating, and since I was finally told her secret. Nothing bad had happened. If anything, life was better. In fact, before I met Emma I didn't know it was possible to love someone so much. To feel these feelings.

"You don't need to worry," I said, trying to use a soothing voice. "Nothing happened. Nothing is going to happen. We're okay." I assured. We were in art class, one of the only classes I can actually talk to Emma. I grabbed her hand and squeezed. "We're okay" I reminded her.

She shook her head as if she wasn't hearing the words that I was saying. "It doesn't make sense" she whispered, eyes darting back and forth as she thought. "They killed John because he had a lead, a lead that I knew about. They went after me and failed" she paused for a second and looked at me. "And now they've stopped. It's like they vanished" she muttered, more to herself, as her eyes drifted into the distance. 

"Isn't that a good thing?" I asked, trying to be optimistic. 

She looked at me with frustration, as if I was missing something. She could see something I couldn't. "No, it's not. Don't you know the saying? Keep your friends close but your enemies closer". I stared at her with a blank expression. "It means they're planning something," she said, spelling it out for me. 

I could see her muscles tense, the pencil beginning to tremble where it was clamped in her fist. "Hey hey it's okay" I put my hand on her back, "You're going to teach me to fight like you right? Then you won't have to worry about me" I smiled, hoping that once I became stronger and a better fighter the stress of protecting me will wear off.

She laughed softly, shaking her head. "I will always worry about you, Luke". 

I smiled at her, taking a mental image of the way her face lit up when she smiled. When she wasn't worried about me getting killed, we were actually an average couple of high schoolers in love. She came to my lacrosse games, we went to pep rallies and football games. It was the real deal, the whole package. 

But this was no longer young love or puppy love like most would say. This was true love. We both knew it, inside and out. 

The bell rang, Emma springing up, her ever-alert eyes jumping to the windows before landing on me. I sighed, pressing a kiss against her forehead. "C'mon, let's go to English," I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders before we walked to another hour of boring information.

Emma

"I goddamn hate the rain" I muttered to myself as I turned on the windshield wipers in my car. I was on my way home from the office. No updates. No new crimes, no spotting, not locations, no movements. And it was infuriating. 

I hadn't told Luke exactly who they were, or why we were looking for them because it worried me too much. I didn't want to burden him. He claimed it wouldn't, which could be true. But even now, I still believed that the less he knew, the better. 

The Bolax clan killed 20 people in one week. They stole millions of dollars from the people they killed and then used it to do, what we suspect, make, and deal drugs. They were dangerous though. More dangerous than other cases I had handled. They had already killed an officer, and now they had gone into hiding. 

I knew what this meant, as much as Luke tried to argue me. They were planning something, and I assumed it was something big. I don't know what's worse, the feeling of fear I feel for Luke or the feeling of helplessness.