Running Into You

Chapter 22

Henry

Emma knocks on my door at 4:56. I know this because I've been on my couch since I got home nursing a beer and starring at the clock on my DVR waiting for five o'clock to get here. When she knocks I take a deep breath and put my drink down on the coffee table and walk to the door and open it. She walks in and takes her jacket off. She's still wearing the pink sweater and blue jeans she had on at school. She takes a step back and looks around.

"What happened to your apartment?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you have a party?" She walks up to a pizza box that's sitting on the bar and opens it to peek inside.

"No, why would you think that?"

"Henry, your apartment is a dump."

"I haven't had time to clean."

She pushes her sleeves up on her sweater, "Well, help me clean it." She walks into the kitchen area and opens the cabinet under the sink and grabs a trash bag.

"You don't have to do that."

She looks over at me and she says shaking her head, "Henry, you can't live like this. It's not healthy. On a physical and emotional level."

She shakes the bag out and starts putting the paper plates and empty water bottles in it. I sigh and start picking up the plates and beer bottles and other trash out of the living room area. Once we have the living room area and kitchen area cleaned we tackle the bathroom. Luckily, I had done my laundry over the weekend so I could be ready for school this week. When we're finished she washes her hands in the kitchen and takes a seat on the couch. I take a seat in the recliner.

"So, are your parents back from their trip?"

"Yeah, they got back the day before Christmas."

"That's nice. I know you must have missed them."

"Are we going to do this? Are we going to just sit here and make small talk like...like what, exactly? Like we're friends?"

"I don't know what to say, okay? I don't know what to do?"

"Tell me why you're here?"

"I wanted to see you, okay? I missed you. I want to be with you."

"Why? Why now? If you didn't have to come back to gym would you still be here?"

"I don't know. It's complicated. I knew that I would be in your class again and I thought if I could just hold out until then that maybe, I don't know, maybe these feelings would go away."

"Well, I guess your feelings didn't go away."

"You know they didn't." She burrows her eyebrows and turns on me. "How about you? Did you finally see reason? I saw all those condoms in your trashcan. Did you find someone else?"

"I didn't find someone else," I yell bitterly. I take a deep breath and stand up and turn my back on her to pace. "I don't know why I slept with those women. I guess at first I was angry and it was kinda like punishing you."

"Punishing me? How would I even know? Is that why you left those condoms in your trashcan so I would find them one day?"

I turn back around to face her. "No, of course not."

She stands up. "Then why, in God's name, would you do that?"

"When you left did you miss me even a little?" I ask angrily.

"Of course I did. I'm not at coldhearted as you think I am."

"What did you do to get through the day or even the week?"