Bury a Friend | Hemlock Grove |

Chapter 5 | You Missed My Heart |

Trigger Warning for the last half of this chapter.

Emma likes Peter, like a lot. She likes to sit in his living room floor and listen to him and his mom talk about everywhere they've lived, and how they just moved if they wanted to. Emma had only lived in two different places in her whole life, an apartment on one side of Hemlock Grove and the house she lives at now on the other side.

She learns quickly that his mother defies the gypsy stereotypes TV pushes. Lynda doesn't stay home and clean all day, she hustles. Peter says that when his dad was around she was different, but he barely remembers that. Emma knows what that's like.

Lynda always wraps up the night by feeding them some traditional Romani meal that Emma had never heard of before, then she heads to bed. The two teens move outside so Lynda can sleep in peace. They usually sit around the fire smoking, or if they're feeling lazy they'll climb into the hammock.

In her memory, it feels like these experiences happened for months, but really it was only a week or two. It had just started after they took the jar of intestines to Destiny's apartment. Peter's cousin was something else, and maybe in a different situation, Emma would think she was cool. She actually had abilities and she swindled people out of money. It really sounds like the life.

Roman had picked her up from her house then picked Peter up. Emma desperately wanted her own car but it didn't seem likely in the future. She wasn't allowed to have a job, she had to focus on school. Good grades = good college = med school. That's the goal she reminded herself.

They pick up Peter and she scoots over to the middle to make room for him. He's got a bag of candy and the jar of guts in his hands. "Hello!" He says in a very cheerful town.

"How are you?" Emma asks.

"I'm alright, what have you been up to today?"

"Cleaning the house, watering plants, studying, thinking about how to kill a mythical monster, just the girly things."

"Ah yes, the girly things," Peter laughs. She loves his laugh. She thinks it's honest, Peter never fakes his emotions, good or bad. He has a kindness to him that boys here didn't have.

Yeah, Emma likes Peter quite a lot. But Peter likes Letha, sweet, sweet, Letha.

The two converse without the intervention of Roman. Peter tries to throw him a joke but it lands unreciprocated. "Are you okay?" Peter asks.

"I'm fine," Roman looks at him. "What about you? Did you have a good lunch with my cousin?" This stumps Emma a bit.

"Nutrition, they don't call it lunch anymore," Peter tries to lighten the mood. Roman stares daggers into him.

"Roman! Please, eyes on the road!" Emma yells as the cross the yellow line.

"Look, Roman, she pities me. That's it."

"Yeah," Roman says in a voice laced with hatred, "she's all heart." This all called for a very uncomfortable ride that wouldn't end soon enough. Emma's uncomfortable next to Peter, the potential ruined. It's not helped by the tension racing between the two boys.

The first thing Emma notices about Destiny is that she's whimsical and childish but at the same time very adult. Her personality is an interesting combination of those things. Her apartment has beads and tapestries hanging up, and plants in every window. She gives Peter a big hug when she sees him.

"Give me a second," she turns around. She walks a man out of her apartment.

"Happy customer?" Peter asks her as soon as the door is closed.