delicate | ethma

34

Emma

"So, what are you gonna do?" Olivia asked.

We were drinking hot chocolate on her couch, even though it was the middle of June.

"I have to end it with Daniel," I said. "I just don't know exactly how."

Olivia looked down at the floor. "Be honest with him. Tell him everything. He deserves the truth, so tell him all of it. He'll be more likely to understand."

I looked down at my hot chocolate as a teardrop landed in it. "I just feel bad, Liv. Daniel's an amazing person. He doesn't deserve this hurt."

"Emma, it wouldn't be fair to either of you if you still got married. You wouldn't be happy, and you'd resent him for not being Ethan."

"I know. It's just hard because I do love Daniel. I just realized that he's not the one I fall asleep thinking about anymore."

"If you need a place to stay after you tell him, you're always welcome here, okay?"

"Thanks, Olivia."

"I love you, Emma. I'm always gonna be here to support you. You're my sister always."

I smiled, wrapping my free arm around Olivia. She truly was the sister I've never had.

"I love you too, Liv. You're gonna be my sister forever."

-

"Hello?" I said, sitting down in my bed as I answered the phone the next morning. I had just gotten home from Olivia's.

"Hey, babe." Daniel said. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," I said. "How are you?"

"I'm good. I can't wait to see you."

"Me too," I said. Except I don't know how I'm gonna face him. At least I have a couple more days until he's home.

"So, what are your plans for today?" Daniel asked.

"I think I'm gonna head to the studio and finish some proofs for some clients," I said. "Nothing special."

"Okay. Well, I gotta go. The guys are going to lunch, but I love you, and I miss you."

"I love you too," I said. "I miss you."

"I'll call you tonight, babe. Okay?"

"Okay. Bye, Daniel."

He hung up the phone, and I laid back on my bed. Well, technically our bed.

I stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking about everything Daniel and I have done together these past two years.

Just because I'm in love with Ethan, doesn't mean Daniel and I don't still have amazing memories together. It doesn't mean I never loved Daniel.

It just means I'm moving on from the Daniel Era of my life.

I got up and opened the cabinet to my bedside table, taking my photo album out as I sat on the floor.

I flipped through the pages, reliving every memory at the sight of them. Daniel and I on our first date, at his cousin's wedding, us together at Christmas, our first New Year's kiss, the two of us on a dinner cruise in LA, a picture Olivia took of Daniel and I smiling at each other on a random Saturday night in her living room.

A picture of us together at the bar our group frequents, and many other random pictures that people have captured of us together.

Through these pictures, I didn't see myself. It's a completely different Emma. An Emma that only could see the man that put a ring on her finger. The Emma that didn't know how she really felt all along.