Unraveling What We Want

43: Secrets Out

Emery's view

As the night continues, more and more people leave the dinner and soon Clare announces she will be leaving for a good night sleep for tomorrow.

"Hey, so I saw you head out to the fountain earlier with Gracen. Is everything okay?" Clare asks me on her way out.

"Yeah. We are slowly fixing things. Don't worry Clare. Be focused on your big day tomorrow," I assure her.

When Clare and Riley finally leave I head over to Ethan to tell him, "You don't mind getting a ride home with Aiden, right?"

"It's fine. Why?" he questions.

"I need to talk with Gracen."

"Okay. Well I hope you two get together," Ethan teases.

"We'll see," I mumble as he leaves.

I walk around to find Gracen sitting down and I make my way over to her. "Hey there."

"Hey, Em. So, what are you going to tell me at your apartment?" she asks.

"I can't really explain it here," I say.

"You're not sick right or pregnant?" she asks worried.

"No! Don't worry," I say grabbing her hand, "Nothing is wrong with me."

"Thank god," she says pulling me towards our car and when no one is looking she suddenly kisses me.

"I couldn't help it again. So, I'll meet you at your apartment," she says before we get into our cars.

On the way there I'm super nervous and I'm shaking a little. I don't really want to tell Gracen, I don't want to break her heart, but I have to tell her. I have to tell her for my sake. I need her to know why I was hurting so badly. I have to get this secret out; I've kept this to myself for so long. I only ever dared to tell my brothers and that was by accident. I haven't told anyone else.

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Gracen's view

I didn't know it was possible to be so happy and so scared. I think Emery and I might be on the verge of giving this chance a shot then she comes out with saying she has something important to tell me first. What does she have to tell me? Is it something bad? Will it affect us? Whatever it is has me slightly freaking out, but I have to stay calm. Whatever she will tell me is serious to her.

I park and get out and follow Emery up to her apartment. She lets me in and I pace around her place looking around trying to distract myself from my nervousness.

Emery goes into her room to get something while I sit down on her couch. Emery comes back with a small box in her hands and my curiosity is very high. I wonder what's in the box.

She opens the box and puts it down on and grabs a stack of pictures and hands them to me saying, "I can never seem to make it halfway through all the pictures."

I look through the pictures; the first few are old pictures of Emery, her brothers, our friends and me. Then as I keep looking through the stack, they become just cute pictures of Emery and I. My heart warms knowing that she actually kept pictures of us, "Emery, I can't believe you kept all these."

"I would never get rid of them," she replied.

I look at her sweetly and raise my hand to caress her cheek and just when I was about to lean in to give her a kiss she pulls back.

"I need to explain first," she says.

"There's nothing you need to explain to me," I say trying to kiss her but she gently pulls me away.

"Yes I do. The reason I never make it to the bottom of the stack is because I was so heartbroken after everything we went through. I couldn't bring myself to look at this again," she says pulling the rest of the stack of pictures up and grabbing something. She raises her hand and shows me a ring.

I sit there in complete silence and shock while Emery continues to explain, "I impulsively got it about two weeks before you got your scholarship letter."

My heart was beating loudly as I try to comprehend the fact that Emery bought an engagement ring. "Why...Why didn't you tell me?" I say as tears roll down my cheeks.

"I didn't tell anyone. It wasn't until much later that my brothers found out. But I kept it a secret for a long time," she says trying to hold herself together.

"I had no idea of when I wanted to ask you, then you got the letter and I couldn't bring myself to tell you," she explains.

"Why? Why not? How could you just let me go like that?" I asked sobbing.

"I didn't want to make you choose," she said as I cut her off.

"I would have chosen you in a heartbeat," I said.

"I know, that's why I didn't show you the ring. The only thing that mattered to me was that you were happy with your life and I didn't want you to regret staying with me," she explained.

"I would never regret being with you."

"Gracen, look at all the places you've visited, and all the cultures you have learned. I can see how much you have loved these last three years traveling by the way you talk about your experience. I would never be able to live with myself if I kept you from doing all of this. I couldn't make you choose between me and this opportunity. And I couldn't use the ring, I didn't want to give you an ultimatum, that wouldn't be love if I made you pick from two things you love," she says as tears roll down her cheeks.

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Author note:

What's your reaction to hearing this secret that has been eating away at Emery?