Carnations for Emily

Chapter 26: Same body, different heart.

Jamie opened his eyes slowly.
He was so tired that he slept an entire day away. Crawling out of bed, he went over to his mirror to fix himself up for the day.
Still struggling to believe it, Jamie was awake once more. No longer trapped in his mind.
He eyes were grey as rain clouds, his hair black as night, but the tips were still red.
After getting dressed, Jamie left the house to explore the world he was in now.
Hellen and Jill was gone but as he left the house, Jamie rounded the corner on his road and bumped into someone.

It was Emily again.
"Ah, Jack! I mean Jamie.
I was just coming to see you, according to Hellen you slept an entire day and I got worried." Emily giggled with a bright smile while sitting on the ground after being bumped.
"Here." Jamie held out his hand and pulled Emily up from the ground.
Brushing herself off Emily nodded with a "Thank you."
Twiddling her thumbs, Emily kept looking down at the ground.
"You seem nervous.
What's wrong?" Jamie spoke, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Nothing, it just feels like it's been away since we've actually been alone." Emily mumbled the last few words in her sentence.
"So! What are your plans for today?" Emily's cheerful self came back.
Jamie ran a hand through his hair, he wasn't really sure what he wanted to do let alone where to go.
"I'm not sure...
Since Jack was in control for the majority of my or our life I don't really know about this town.
What is there to do?" He asked.
"How about we go get something to eat first?
I haven't ate anything yet and I'm sure you haven't either, sleepyhead." Emily smiled and took Jamie's hand.
"Let's go!"

After a nice stroll around their home town, Emily showed Jamie everything he missed in the years that he had been asleep.
They stepped into a little family owned cafe and as the bell rang a familiar face came out from the back.
"Hey Emily!" Matt's voice bellowed in the little shop.
"Matt you work here too?
I thought you worked at your dads shop, and worked as a coach part time at the school?" Emily was surprised, she didn't know Matt worked in so many places.
"Yeah, this was a cafe mom was running for a little while...
Before she... you know." He said.
"Yeah, I'm sorry." Emily frowned.
Seeing her look sad made not just Matt's heart ache but even Jamie felt terrible too.
"I-it's okay." Matt exclaimed.
"Life happens." He said with a smile.
"So... where is Jack?"
Jamie threw up a hand.
"Right here."
"Dude, What happened to you?" Matt asked.
"Uh... its a long story, let's just say shit happened." Jamie said with a shaky smile.
Matt nodded and chuckled.
"Alright then, how about you two have a seat and I'll be with you in a few minutes."

Soon enough Jamie and Emily had a nice brunch with a few hearty laughs with Matt.
Jamie barely recalled anything from Jack's time about Matt.
In fact, Jamie doesn't really remember much.
He just knows he has to fulfill his promise to Jack and keep Emily as well as everyone else safe...
"Jamie?" Emily called to him causing him to snap back to reality.
"Huh? Yes?" Jamie said.
"You ready to go?" Emily was smiling once more and for some reason the more Jamie saw her smile, the warmer he felt inside.

As they left the shop Emily suggested they go to the park.
There was something she wanted to see and wanted Jamie to come with her.
"So why are we going to the park?" Jamie asked.
"I told you silly, there was something I wanted to see." Emily said.
"Why do I have to go?" He huffed.
Emily stopped then.
She looked at Jamie with some sort of emotion in her eyes.
"Because I didn't want to go without you..." then she puffed out her cheeks and gave an aggravated look.
"Besides! What else do you have to do today?"
After a few moment of awkward silence, Jamie and Emily finally reached the park.
"This way." Emily said as she lead Jamie along a trail through the woods surrounding the park.
Soon they reached a clearing in the wooded area.
It was a large flower bed and planted in the bed were red carnations...
Emily let go of Jamie's hand, walked to the center of  the flower bed and sat down amongst the carnations.
"You planted these for me, ya know?" She patted the ground next to her, asking Jamie to come sit down.
Jamie bit his lip a little with a slight blush.
Something felt different, all of a sudden Emily looked so beautiful among the flowers...
Jamie wanted to...

"Shut up." Jamie said to himself as he shook his head.
"Come over here please?" Emily begged.
Jamie walked over and sat down next to her.
Emily just laid her head on Jamie's shoulder.
"I know you aren't the same.
You're different Jamie.
I don't know how you feel about me, but I know how I feel about you..."
Emily paused for a moment.
She then giggled and wore her bright smile.

"I love you."

The words she said sent chills down Jamie's spine.
He was dumbfounded, Jamie stuttered a few times before he could get any words out.
"You... you realize Jack and I aren't the same. I've told you this.
We're not the same." Jamie sputtered.
Emily giggled
"I know you aren't the same, but my feelings are.
They're as true as can be."
Emily nuzzled into Jamie's shoulder a little more and wrapped her arms around one of his.
"E-Emily..." Jamie fumbled.
He could only see from within Jack's mind how close Emily was to him.
While Jack never realized it, Emily truly did love him and in this moment he felt a warmth swell up inside him.
A feeling he wasn't used to, yet it was bringing him back from a darkness that lurked inside...

"Jamie..." Emily whispered.
She then leaned all her weight into Jamie pushing him over.
"Whoa!" Jamie laid on his back looking up at The twilit sky.
Emily soon came to view and it quickly dawned on him that she had climbed on top of him.
"Emily..." Jamie mumbled.
Emily then laid her head on his chest.
"You two may have the same body, but your heart beat is much faster..." she said quietly.
The two met each others eyes as only birds chirped...
Emily leaned in...
Cheeks as red as the Carnations surrounding them.
Jamie couldn't think, his mind had gone blank.

And within a moments notice...

Emily finally, after all these years, kissed her dearest friend...

Chapter 26: End