Saving Emily

2. Friends and Stories

"Dan!" Luther shouts. The front door slams. Emily looks at me with wide eyes.

"That bastard didn't even call." Mitchell says.

"Oh calm down." Aria says. "He probably came home from work and fell asleep."

"Instead of standing here, why don't we find out?" Brianna says impatiently.

Emily looks at me, clearly nervous, almost scared.

Why would people coming over make her scared?

I prop my feet onto the coffee table and all four of them come storming into the living room, and then they completely stop.

"Emily Jane?" Mitchell blurts. He looks at me and waggles his eyebrows.

Emily stands up and walks off to her room and slams the door.

"What's her problem?" Luther asks.

I sigh, irritated. "She had a situation."

"What kind of situation?"

"Wait." Brianna says. "Some girl tried to jump off a building and some guy caught her. They blurred the faces...was that...oh god, that was you?"

I nod.

"That hot babe tried to kill herself?" Mitchell asks.

I could seriously hit him right now. "She's not a piece of meat." I snap. "She's a female with feelings. You could at least try and be less insensitive."

"He's right." Aria tells her husband. "Be nice."

"I am being nice." he defends. "Why'd she try to die?"

"I don't know." I reply, annoyed.

I took Emily shopping and got her everything she could possibly need and she took a shower and then she sat down on the couch in clean clothes looking happier than I've ever seen her and she settled into an episode of Million Dollar Listing with me. We didn't speak but it wasn't really awkward. I just wish she would've sat closer instead of acting like I am some sort of diseased monster. I respect her decision though.

Oh course they had to show up and ruin it.

"Well are you going to bang her?" Mitchell asks.

"What?" I ask. "No! Are you fucking kidding? She's not a toy, Mitch! God!"

"Okay, okay." He puts his hands up in defense. "She'd probably be a good lay."

I hear a door slam and Emily walks into the living room. She changed from her jeans and t-shirt to gray sweats and a black Rolling Stones t-shirt. She looks gorgeous.

"I'm not a fucking Barbie." She snaps. "I'm not a toy for you, or anyone else to play with. Why don't you fuck off and stop talking about me like I'm not here?"

He raises his eyebrows.

Normally me and Luther would bitch out anyone that dares to fuck with our buddies, but this time, we keep our mouths shut.

"Listen Princess-"

"You guys should go." I speak up.

The four of them look at me, searching my face for any sign of humor, or a joke.

When they don't find it, they leave without a word.

"Listen," I begin.

She shakes her head, putting both hands up. "You don't need to apologize to me." she says. "Thank you for sticking up for me...for taking me in...and also for giving me hope. I've been around you for five hours and you've given me more hope in these five hours than I think I've ever had."

I smile. "You don't need to thank me. It's my pleasure."

She hesitates. "Want to come on the dock with me?"

I nod and stand up. I open the sliding glass door and stand beside it until she walks out, and then I shut it.

I was raised to open doors for ladies and treat them like royalty and I have every intention of doing just that.

The dock is the kind that floats. The sky is dark like it's going to rain and the ocean is choppy so the dock is moving from side to side.

I let Emily go first and when she takes three steps, the dock jerks to the left from a wave and she starts to fall. I wrap my arms around her waist and catch her.

We both stand on opposite sides of the dock and we walk all the way out to the edge and then sit down. My legs are crossed but Emily rolls up the bottoms of her sweats and sticks her feet in the water.

"I'm going to tell you everything." She says. "Please don't judge me."

"I don't judge people." I say gently.

"Okay." She sighs. "When I was born, everything was perfect. My parents were parents and it was wonderful. When I hit four though, my Mom got pregnant and my Dad left. He came back after eight and a half months and he beat my Mom." She takes in a shaky breath. "My Dad took my Mom somewhere and they both never came back. I was stuck in the house for four days before my grandma showed up and took me in. The police found my father in a hotel room. He hung himself. Mom was nowhere to be found, and neither was my baby brother. It was scary. Everything was fine up until I hit third grade. My grandma got lung cancer and...she died. I was born in England so all my family is from there and they wouldn't send my to them, even though all of them offered to take me in. I was put into a foster care system and got adopted by some wench. They never let me go. They're still my parents. They have an older daughter and a younger son who are my siblings. They beat me up and treat me like shit and everyone in that family hates me. When I turned eighteen I hightailed it out of Michigan and went to Florida State. My fake family followed me." She frowns. "I was working at McDonalds but I got let go about three months ago. I used what money I had left for hotels and car payments but it wasn't enough. I ran out of money way too fast and my car got towed and I got kicked from the hotel. I ran into my brother this morning, my fake brother, and he said there was a family reunion I'm forced to go to. I mean...I was bullied all my life and I guess that was the breaking point." I don't speak for a very long time. "Now I'm just some stupid girl with severe depression and anxiety." She mutters. "I'm a loser."

"No you aren't." I whisper. "Depression and anxiety are because you've remained strong for too long."

"But now I can't anymore. This family reunion..." she trails off. "They're going to give me shit because I don't have a boyfriend and because I don't have any friends with me."

"Well then I'll be your date and my friends can be your friends."

"I don't want you brought into that garbage."

"I've known you since preschool." I remind her. "I want to help."

"Fine." She sniffles.

"You can remain strong. You won't have to deal with their shit anymore. I'll help you."

All she does is shrug.

"The reunion is tomorrow." she stands up. I stand too.

"Well then I'll make some phone calls and some dinner-"

"Why don't you just invite your friends back over?" she suggests.

"Because Mitchell was-"

"An asshole?" she fills in. "I've dealt with worse."

"Is your mom dead?" I ask.

She sighs and walks off the dock. "I don't know." She says. "My problem is that I can't remember my old last name. I was only a kid."

"What about your grandmother? Didn't they have the same last name?"

She shakes her head. "My grandma is my Mom's Mother so she has my grandpa's last name and my Mom had my Dad's."

"What if she changed it after her dad killed herself?"

She frowns. "Maybe. Anyways' I have trust issues and I get kinda scared around visitors because my adoption parents kind of gave me a reason."

"What if I help you got your mother back?" I ask

"That would be the best day of my life."