The Eccedentesiast

Chapter Eleven

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Chapter Eleven
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"Give me a minute!" Emma yelled out, silently cursing under her breath right after. "Shit!" she hissed.

"What are you doing in there?" Daniel yelled from outside her bedroom door. "Do you have a guy over? Girl, get it!"

"No!" She rolled her eyes. "I'm-I'm changing."

"You were supposed to be ready ten minutes ago. I know your schedule."

Emma groaned when she felt the stinging coming from her abdomen. Her shirt brushing against the torn skin.

"Okay. You can come in now." She pulled her hoodie right over her body to cover up when Daniel opened the door and entered the room.

He threw himself on her bed. "I've seen you in your underwear and bra you know? We've all seen you in your underwear in bra." He threw his hands up, not getting what was wrong this time.

She laughed sarcastically and turned around, resting a hand on her popped-out but practically invisible hip. "You're making me sound like a slut."

Daniel shrugged. "You're far from a slut."

Emma chuckled. "Whatever." She grabbed her jeans from her bed and pulled them on. "Are we picking up anybody else?" she asked.

"Nope." He stared intently at the text on Emma's hoodie. He read it over and over again, needing a distraction.

"You okay?" Emma sat down on the floor, in front of where Daniel was sitting on her bed and began putting on her shoes.

"Mm-hmm." He nodded, his fake smile almost gone unnoticed. "Just great," he whispered.

Emma looked up from her shoelaces. "Talk to me."

Daniel sighed and looked into her eyes. "Do you ever think about marriage? Like, the future. If you'll want kids, or if you'll have that family home with the perfect husband who you'll probably end up divorcing when you're both forty."

Emma put her head down again and began with her other shoe. "I don't know."

"I do," he admitted. "And I'm fucking scared." His voice cracked with emotion.

Emma rested her hand on his right cheek. "At least you can imagine yourself in the future." She smiled at him and moved her thumb, rubbing his cheekbone. "That means you're strong."

He took her hand off and held it in between both of his. "What if those images go away at some point?" His bottom lip quivered.

This was raw emotion, and anybody stupid could see this. Daniel was hurting, he always was, but maybe . . . maybe he's not hiding it as much anymore. Maybe he wants everybody to know because no one other than his friends will ever look his way.

"Then you call me. You call your best friends. You call someone that means everything and I mean, everything to you."

𖨆

"There's only one solution to this easy problem."