Just Once More - Chapter Three
I can promise you forever, even if it is for only one day
The next few weeks flew by for both Emery and Austin. They met each other every day at the hospital and made sure that they spent a little time talking to each other whenever they could. They even exchanged cell phone numbers and texted each other when they had spare time from doing all the other things that they had going on in their lives.
“How come I’ve never seen you at school?” Austin sat down beside Emery at their hangout, the ice cream shop that only they went to. They’d decided to eat dinner before going their separate ways to practice and walk the dogs.
Emery took a small bite of her cheeseburger and swallowed before answering. “You have.” She looked at Austin, waiting for his response, as she took a drink of her soda through the straw.
Austin was dumbfounded. He didn’t think he’d seen her before in school, but maybe she’d only seen him because of football and all that. “Oh yeah, how’s that?" He needed her to explain more so that he could try to figure out when and where.
Emery was becoming more comfortable around him, even though she never thought that to be possible. She knew what she was going to tell him might change their friendship. Either he would feel bad, or he would finally remember her from all the teasing and walk away.
“OH MY GOD, it is like pixie girl.” Emery tried to make her best impression of Apryl, the leader of the vicious pack of cheerleaders that followed the players around. She was Austin’s girlfriend or ex-girlfriend depending on what rotation of switching partners they all seemed to be on.
Austin felt the blood drain from his face as soon as Emery said those words. It wasn’t him who’d ever said anything to her. He didn’t even laugh at Apryl and her entourage's attempt at humiliating others, but he did remember the teasing. “It wasn’t me.” He knew he sounded like a five-year-old trying to get out of trouble for something he was caught doing he shouldn’t, but he played no part in the harassment.
“I didn’t say it was.” Emery saw that Austin was going to go the humiliated route, and he was doing it well. “It doesn’t matter who said what or who didn’t. I just ignore your girlfriend and the other…”
“Bitches.” Austin finished Emery’s sentence. He knew what most of the school, well, mainly the girls, thought about that particular circle of friends. “And she’s my long-time ex-girlfriend.” He made sure to stress that he and Apryl were over, even though most of the school thought they were still an item, thanks to Apryl’s constant hanging on him.
Emery choked a little on her own saliva when Austin announced that the girls he’d been hanging around with for the past three years were total bitches. She always thought they were a close-knit group, or at least that’s how they seemed to those on the outside.
“You better eat.” Emery motioned towards his half-eaten dinner. “You’ll need it for the grueling practice coming up.” He’d been telling her what they had to do in all of their practices. She had much more respect for him regarding what he put himself through just for football. She knew she wouldn’t make it five minutes in the weight training, cardio, and practice plays that Austin had to do every day. No wonder he was in as good of shape as he was.
Emery sneaked glances at Austin while he finished shoveling the triple cheeseburger and fries into his mouth. She took one last nibble and packed the rest of hers to throw away.
Austin walked Emery over to her car. He still felt like shit after what she announced how he should know her.
“So…” he wanted to ask her to the party that was going on this weekend, but knew that would probably be a big no-go since it was obvious she wouldn’t be comfortable around any of his group. “I’ll give you a call when I get home later.” He saw asking more than telling her what he was going to do.
Emery nodded it was okay, which was a shock to Austin. He thought she’d definitely say no about him calling.
Austin bit down on his bottom lip and slowly moved his head towards hers. She looked panicked, like she wanted to hurry up and get away. Austin placed a tender kiss on her cheek. “Sorry.” He whispered softly in her ear, then backed away and ran over to his truck. He didn’t want to see whether she approved or disapproved of the small gesture. It was for all the shit that his so-called friends had put her through and also for the fact that if he kissed her on the lips like he wanted to, he knew he’d probably get slapped across the face or chase her off for good.
Emery watched as Austin’s truck backed out onto the main road and took off in the direction of the school. Her hand was still on the spot that he’d just kissed. She didn’t know whether to think it was because he felt sorry for laughing along with his friends' jokes all those times, or maybe he just wanted to kiss her. She let out a deep sigh and went on her way to the animal shelter. At least with the pup’s kisses, there was no hidden meaning behind them. They did it because they genuinely liked her, which would be so much better if that were the reason that Austin had kissed her than if he’d done it out of pity.
The sound of her cell phone buzzing alerted Emery to the incoming call. She’d laid down after her nice long hot shower and was almost asleep. She’d spent nearly two hours playing and walking the dogs at the shelter, which was enough to exhaust anyone.
The number that showed was Austin’s. Emery assumed he was making good on his promise to call after practice.
“Hey.” Emery sat on her bed and brushed the hair back off her face. It wasn’t like he could see through the phone or anything, but as a natural instinct, she wanted to look semi-normal and not have her hair flipped out in all different directions.
“Hey,” Austin repeated Emery’s greeting in the same soft tone that she’d used. “Sounds like you were already sleeping.” He looked at his clock once more. It was only nine o’clock, and there was no way a seventeen-year-old girl would be sleeping this early during the summer.
“Almost. It was a busy day at the shelter.” Emery stood up and walked around a bit trying to wake herself up more. “How was practice?”
Austin let out a low groan. “Grueling. We had to teach all the new varsity the plays and drills that we run every week.” Austin flopped down on his bed and stretched out. Maybe Emery had the right idea about going to bed early; this kind of felt good. If she were here, lying beside him, he wouldn’t be ready to crash out.
He quickly sat up and shook his head.
‘Where the hell did that thought come from?’
He continued to tell her about practice, and she told him about some stuff that happened at the shelter. At least with this kind of talk, his mind wasn’t having thoughts of her lying on the bed with him.
A knock sounded on Emery’s door. “Hold on.” She murmured to Austin as she walked over to see who it was. “Hey.” Emery greeted her mom, who stood outside her door holding her lineup of nighttime medications.
“Oh.” Mrs. Warden was surprised to see Emery was still awake and on the phone. “I’ll leave these over here.” She set the tray with the pills and water on the nightstand beside Emery’s bed. She was curious as to who her daughter was talking to since she hardly ever had her friends call, but she wasn’t going to intrude on a personal conversation.
“Was that your mom?” Austin heard the other person and assumed it was Emery’s mom since it was a female voice.
“Yeah.” Emery locked the door of her bedroom after her mom left.
“Oh, I better let you get going.” Austin saw that they’d been on the phone for over thirty minutes. He didn’t want to keep her talking if her mom needed her for something.
Emery really didn’t want to stop talking to him, not just yet. It was finally good to talk to someone other than her small circle of friends at school, the people at the hospital, and those who came into the animal shelter. But, she knew the routine for taking her medications couldn’t be interrupted. The two new ones that her doctor had ordered, one made her nauseated, and the other made her sleep, so there was no sense in trying to keep Austin on the phone while she either wanted to puke or pass out.
“Okay, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” Emery was just about to hang up when Austin blurted out a ‘wait.’
“Um.” He never really had to ask a girl out before; they were just always there. “There’s a party this coming Saturday, do you think you’d want to go…like with me.”
Now, a touch of panic set in. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear the response. It would be great if she said yes, but then again what if his friends acted like complete asses, especially since he knew they’d be drinking.
“Don’t answer yet. Sleep on it and tell me tomorrow.” He quickly pressed the end call button on his phone so she didn’t have a chance to respond.
He gave the phone five minutes to see if she’d call back, but since she didn’t, he set it on his nightstand. Maybe she wouldn’t say no, maybe she would actually think about going.
Emery stared at her cell phone. It seemed Austin had just asked her out, not like on a go-get-ice-cream-after-volunteering date, but a real date-date. She was going to call back and tell him no she couldn’t go.
One, she couldn’t drink alcohol and was sure everyone else would.
Two, his friends were not hers. Apryl would surely have a great time making her rude, childish comments all night.
Three, she’d never been to a party-party. She’d gone over to friends’ houses when they had to get together, but never where parents weren’t home, and it wasn’t some type of pool party barbecue.
Emery set her phone down on the stand beside her bed. She would tell him tomorrow she couldn’t go and give him a chance to find someone else to take. She quickly took her medications and placed her head back down on the pillow. She wanted to be asleep before nausea had time to take hold.
“Hey honey, how are you feeling today?’ Emery’s mom was washing up the rest of the lunch dishes when her daughter made an appearance in the kitchen.
Emery rolled her eyes behind her mom’s back. It was the same question over and over. She knew her mom meant well, but she asked how she was feeling at least ten times a day. “Fine.
“How are you?” Emery returned the question and grabbed a banana and bran muffin to eat.
“Oh, I’m doing well. How is Becca doing?” Mrs. Warden glanced over her shoulder when Emery didn’t answer. She had a look of confusion on her face.
“I guess okay, why?” Emery hadn’t talked to Becca for a while. She’d been too busy with all the stuff she had planned to do this summer.
“Wasn’t that Becca you were talking to last night?” She assumed that it would be since she and Emery would call each other every once in a while.
Emery shook her head no. “Austin.”
Her mom seemed shocked that she was actually talking to a guy, as her mouth formed a long, silent ‘Oh’.
“And how is he adjusting to the volunteer work at the hospital?” Mrs. Warden was surprised that Emery and Austin had hit it off so well that they were calling each other.
“It’s going well. The younger boys seem to like having a guy there to play all their video games with.” Emery looked at the clock. She hadn’t realized she was running late. “I better get going. I told them I’d be in before one today.” She grabbed a Gatorade out of the fridge and her keys off the key holder. “I guess I’ll see you all later.” She gave her mom a quick hug.
“Oh, Emery.” Her daughter turned around before leaving. “Your father and I will be going to dinner and play on Saturday night. If you would like to come, you are more than welcome to. I think two of your father’s colleagues will be attending.”
‘I really don’t think I could handle listening to middle-aged people all night.’
“I don’t think I can, but thanks for asking. I think Austin wanted to do something that night.” Emery closed the front door before her mother could ask the millions of questions that were going through her mind.
Now, what was she going to do? Her mom would probably be seeing his mom at their scrapbook meeting and telling her that Emery and Austin had a date.
‘How am I going to get out of this one?’
Austin was already gaming with Brian when Emery finally got the department. She snuck in without him seeing and went straight over to where Anne was helping another little boy.
“Has Molly made it down here yet?” She looked around but didn’t see her red-headed friend anywhere.
Anne shook her head no. “I think her mom was in this morning, and they were watching movies today.”
“Okay, that’s cool. She was looking run down, so this will give her time to rest.” Emery glanced at Austin out of the corner of her eye. He was still occupied with Brian. So she was still safe from having to give him an answer just yet.
“Sounds like advice someone else could use.” Anne patted Emery on the hand and went back to helping the little boy with his painting.
Emery shook her head at Anne’s comment. She went around to the other side of the room and helped several of the little girls who were looking at the new picture books.
“I didn’t even see you come in earlier.” Austin was walking with Emery out to the vehicles. They didn’t have much time to talk today, in fact, not at all, since there seemed to be more kids in the activity room than at normal times.
“You were busy with Brian and the boys…you know, doing your guy things.” Emery pretended to hold a game controller and make faces at the screen like they always did. It was getting so much easier to talk and joke around with him over this past month.
“Ha, real funny Emery.” Austin gently pushed her, but it was enough to knock her off balance. He quickly grabbed her and pulled her close to his chest. “Sorry, I didn’t think you were such a lightweight and couldn’t handle a little baby push.”
Emery heard him chuckling with his comment. She smacked his chest and pushed herself off of him. She liked the feeling of being close to him, maybe too much. They needed to get their relationship back on a friendly status before either of them got too close and got hurt. “You’re just a big brute taking advantage of poor helpless girls.”
“Emery, if there’s one thing that you’re not, it’s helpless.” Austin had found out over the last couple of weeks that he’d known Emery and that she was unlike any other girl that he’d ever hung out with. She was sensitive, caring, and put others above herself without ever wanting anything in return. “So, have you decided anything for tomorrow night?” Austin had waited all night and day to hear her response to going to the party with him.
The killer question had been asked. Emery hoped he had forgotten or would rescind the invitation, but now Austin was standing in front of her, waiting for an answer.
He looked sort of paranoid hearing what she might say, did he want her to say yes, or did he really want he to say no she couldn’t go so he could get out of the whole situation?
She had told her mom that she and Austin had plans, but did she really want to follow through with it?
‘You only live once, Emery.’
Her own words came back to haunt her. “Sure, I’ll go.”
Oh my God, what did she just get herself into?
Austin was shocked and elated all at the same time. He was expecting a no that she had other plans, or maybe her mom didn’t allow it, but Emery had just said yes that she’d go to the party with him. He knew he was thinking and behaving like a middle school boy just getting his first date, but before this, he never really wanted to go out with anyone, not even Apryl. Those girls were nothing like Emery; she was just so…different in a good way.
“Really?” He needed one more confirmation that she was actually going to go.
“Yes, but I won’t drink…you know, like any alcohol.” Emery knew she couldn’t because of all the medication, but she was sure he would see it as her being just a prude.
“That’s cool, neither will I.” Austin knew his friends would question why he wasn’t drinking with them, just like they’d been questioning why he wasn’t going to their hangout much anymore. He was getting good at excuses, but now that Emery was agreeing to go out with him, they all would know the real reason why he’d been absent at most gatherings that they had.
“You better get going, football practice, remember.” Emery pushed Austin towards his truck.
“You going to the animal shelter?”
Emery shook her head no. “They had enough volunteers today, so I’ll probably just head home.” Not that she really wanted to, but what else was there to do?
“Wanna come over to the field…you know, to watch the practice?” He was aware that they were only running new plays today, and there was no running or weights this evening. He was sure it wouldn’t be the most exciting thing for her to do, but it would give him a chance to sort of spend more time with her.
Emery had gone to football games before and seen Austin play, but she’d never been to any of their practices, unlike their cronies who followed them around all the time.
‘Only live once’ kept going through her mind.
Emery rubbed her face and thought about the question for about three whole seconds. “Okay, just let me follow you over.”
And had another moment of wondering what the hell she just got herself into.
Emery is getting in deep. Considering the secret she's keeping from Austin and us readers, I'm wondering if she's being fair to him.