Chapter 23
Drew
I
finally understand why Emmett and I can say so much to each other without opening our mouths.
“What was she like?” I ask, wanting him to feel the same ease with me as I do with him. Wanting him to share the part of him that is real and raw.
I see his face brighten as he recalls memories of his sister.
“Lennon was always the life of the party. Center of attention, all eyes on her.” He lets out a chuckle. “She was two years younger than me, and I spent my time during her short life being her biggest fan. She could brighten up any room she walked in.”
Emmett’s smile is contagious, and I love seeing this side of him. I find myself wondering if his protective instinct I’ve seen hints of is from being an older brother.
“She sounds wonderful.” My hand still placed over his. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate you asking about her. I feel like everyone in my life just forgot about her.” I see the sadness in his smile trying to overwhelm the happiness.
“So,” he says, ending the conversation for now, slipping his hand out from underneath mine to clap his together. “About that drink?”
“Do you have Whiteclaw?” I ask, sitting back in my chair.
“I have Truly.”
I stick my tongue out in disgust letting out a fake gag. “Truly?! Those are the worst hard seltzers! I’ll take a vodka club with a lime, please.”
I can tell he’s amused by my declaration of my least favorite hard seltzer brand on the market. “That your drink of choice when you go out? A double, I assume?” He asks, grabbing a glass and filling it with ice.
He moves with an ease behind the bar, like it is second nature, not even having to think about what he is doing.
He grabs the vodka bottle and pours two shots without even having to measure. Also, not waiting for me to hear if I actually wanted a double, but it’s a rightful assumption after what he just witnessed in front of my apartment.
“On the off chance I go out, yes. Either that or a lime Whiteclaw.”
“Interesting. I feel like I’m learning a lot about you lately.” He tops the glass with the club soda from his bar gun, grabbing a straw at the same time.
He sets the drink down in front of me on the coaster he set out when I sat down, catching me staring at him as he works. I blush a little, not only because he caught me but because I like the way he looks here.
In his bar.
He moves with a rhythm of experience, and he looks like he is in his element. Smiling, surrounded by people who respect him, in a place that he owns.
A place he named after his sister.
The smell of the alcohol, mixed with the glass of wine I had earlier with Lacey, allows me to release my inhibitions and ask, “And aside from my drink choices, what else have you learned about me?” I take a few sips of my drink, carefully watching him as he grabs a glass from the sink to the left of him, drying it with the towel he had hanging over his shoulder, placing it on the stack of glasses at the end of the bar.
I like that he chose a spot near the back. It is secluded, and I can put all my focus on him.
“You like to read.”
“Did I tell you that?”
“No, but I saw the bookshelves in your apartment, and I’ve seen you come home with Barnes & Noble bags a couple times, so I assume you go there to buy books.”
“Great assumption. If you were one of my students, I would praise you for using your context clues.”
He laughs, and I’m a little surprised with myself for talking about my job with such ease.
“I was actually there today. Barnes & Noble that is.” I add, taking another sip of my drink, not warning to expand more on my prior comment.
“No good ones to bring home today?”
“It’s kind of a long story.”
“Good thing I have no other place to be for,” he checks his wrist that doesn’t even have a watch on it, “the rest of the night.” He wears a proud grin at his cheesy joke. I give up and let him have a laugh.
Emmett listens to my every word as I tell him about what happened as I was checking out earlier today. He doesn’t say much aside from a question here or there, asking to understand the whole picture.
“And the worst part, I didn’t even get the two books I wanted.”
“What books were you there for?”
“Well, I have this annoying habit of reading a book I don’t know is part of a series, so I was there to get the next two.” I slide out my phone from my back pocket and pull up the picture I screenshotted from online, my way of creating a book-shopping list. “See. And look how pretty the covers are.” He leans in to glance at my phone, a little confused, probably not relating to only choosing books with appealing covers. “I was so excited to have all three on my shelf. I’ll probably just order them online.”
He leans back, amused, smirking at me.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he says. “I think it’s cool that you read. I’m not much of a reader, but I like hearing you talk about it.”
I blush, wanting to keep this conversation going, “So, what else have you learned about me?” I take a few more sips.
“Well, I’m glad you asked.” This time smiling with his teeth, and I feel like I just witnessed a blue moon. “If we’re talking more recently, I learned that you have the meal choices of a picky teenager seeing as your grocery cart contained freezer waffles and pizzas. You have bad taste in Pop Tart flavors.
“But before learning all that, I know own multiple pairs of the same exact jeans, some looking more worn than others, and your music taste ranges from pop punk to punk rock to dad rock, I assume depending on your mood. Also, you do this thing with your nose when you’re nervous or deep in thought.” He flares his nostrils while scrunching up his nose, showing me a tick I didn’t even know I had.
Not knowing how to respond, my widened eyes and my crimson cheeks not helping me hide what I’m thinking, I feel like I’m about to fall out of my chair.
“And, you have an asshole of a boyfriend… No offense.” He adds. This time with a wink that sends butterflies flying in my lower belly.
Damn.
I’m in awe. This guy probably knows more about me in the six months we’ve known each other than my whole family… And the asshole boyfriend.
Ex-boyfriend.
“Wow.” That is all I can say.
I take a couple more sips of my drink, not sure if releasing my inhibitions more and asking questions I don’t know I can handle the answers to is the best idea. But, also not really caring because this is the most relaxed and normal I’ve felt in days.
“You’re definitely someone I like learning about.” He sets his hands on the bar, on both sides of me, leaning in closer but just a little. His rolled up sleeves putting his sculpted, inked forearms on display right in front of me.
“Ex-boyfriend.” It comes out of my mouth before my mind can stop it.
Emmett cocks his head to the side, still looking at me.
“Reed is my ex-boyfriend. We broke up when we graduated high school.”
“You broke up in high school?” I can tell that clarification made him more confused. “How long ago was that?”
“I graduated almost five years ago,” I explain.
“So did he not get the memo, or?
“Well, living alone, I get lonely once in a while, so he comes over every now and then.” I’m not really sure why I’m explaining this all to Emmett, but I’m finding the more I’m around him the more I feel like he sees the real me, the one I’ve been trying to hide, so I might as well tell him the things I don’t share with anyone besides Lacey. I feel like this connection between Emmett and I have is mutual… Even though I still feel embarrassed explaining the relationship Reed and I have.
“You guys have known each other for a long time, huh?” Emmett asks, and, for the first time, turns away from me to grab a bottle behind him.
“Yeah. He was my first love, taught me all there was to it, and he was always there for me. My parents were never really there when I needed them, but Reed always was.“ I notice Emmett paying a lot of attention to the drink he is making in front of him, more attention than I think he needs to based on my prior observations.
Why is he avoiding my eyes?
I continue, “I think he was trying to do the same now, but I wasn’t ready to hear it. I guess I’m the asshole for screaming at him like I did.”
Emmett sets a new glass down on the bar with a tad more force than what is needed, making me jump a little. I notice a sharpness to his face, an intensity in his demeanor that was not there a second ago.
I can tell he realized how the noise made me react, and the sharpness slightly fades, but I can tell something I said upset him.
“Don’t you dare feel bad about what you said to him. He had no business telling you that you seem ‘out of it,’ or touching you when you didn’t want him to.” The way the words seem to burn as they leave his mouth, I remember how the same intensity I feel radiating from him now is what I felt when he was standing next to me when I was telling Reed off.
Emmett doesn’t even know all the details of my and Reed’s relationship, yet he is still saying the same things Lacey was saying earlier today.
What am I not seeing?
“What kind of prick thinks he has the right to ask for anything from someone who has gone through what you’ve gone through?” Emmett doesn’t even seem to be talking to me now. He seems to be just talking, releasing the thoughts he must have been holding on to since we made our way over here.
“Emmett,” I try to bring him back to me, “don’t worry. I’m used to it. Used to him. You don’t have to worry about me.” I try to subside the anger that is bubbling in him, not wanting him to waste any feelings on Reed. I feel a wave of warmth at the thought of Emmett looking out for me.
But, when my words leave my mouth, it is like everything Emmett and I have been through together the past few days disappears, and before me is the angst-y, brooding stranger in the elevator who wants nothing to do with me.
“Let Eddie know if you need anything else. Drinks are on the house. I’ll see you around.” Without another glance, he heads straight through the door that leads to the part of the bar that’s for employees only.
And with that, I’m alone.