Chapter 11

EMILY

***

“Emily, come get the door,” Mom said.

I wanted to ignore her but I knew she knew I had heard her. It was only the two of us in the house, after all. I didn’t want to get the door. I didn’t want this day to come. I had been dreading it but that didn’t change things. It was here. Oh well, might as well get it over with.

I got up from my bed and made my way downstairs. The only reason I didn’t drag my feet was that Louise was outside. The other party, I didn’t care much for. I took a deep breath then I opened the door.

“Hi,” Gabriel said as he made his way past me, making sure to hit my shoulder as he did.

He was so full of it. I wanted to roll my eyes but I didn’t. I put on the warmest smile I could muster for Louise.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said as she gave me a hug.

“It’s good to see you too,” I said and I meant it.

I had missed her. She was like my second mother and my friend. I had always been sorry about the way I left things with her. I should have told her I was leaving and more than that, I should have been there for her as she was going through her divorce.

We stepped away from each other and I ushered her into the house. I closed the door behind me. Gabriel had already found his way to my Mom who was showering him with kisses and hugs.

“You’ve grown so much! And you’ve become so handsome,” my Mom said.

“Oh please,” I said under my breath.

“Do we have a problem?” Gabriel asked.

We did. A big problem.

Gabriel had come up to me when I was talking to Harry. And he had had the nerve to introduce himself as my best friend since kindergarten.

I had to physically stop myself from punching him in the throat. What? Best friend?

Julie was my best friend. He was the person who had broken my heart by not protecting me. He knew what had happened but didn’t do anything about it. He was a hypocrite, that’s what he was. He was not my best friend.

Despite this, I found that my heart was beating hard at that moment. I couldn’t tell if it was because I was angry, surprised, or excited. I decided it was the first. We were going to meet sooner or later, so it wasn't a surprise. And I had gotten over him, so it definitely wasn’t excitement.

All in all, we seemed to have created tension in the atmosphere that Harry felt. He excused himself. I wanted to ask him to stay but I also didn’t want Gabriel to feel like he had made me nervous. He no longer had any power over me.

“Call me,” Harry said before he walked away.

“Okay,” I said, smiling. I didn’t care about whether I had turned red in the face. I actually hoped I had, and I hoped Gabriel noticed it.

“Is he your boyfriend?” he asked when Harry had walked away.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“That’s no way to greet your best friend since kindergarten,” he said.

“You mean best friend in kindergarten. As far as I’m concerned, we stopped being best friends after that,” I said.

This was a low blow and I knew it. He had always felt guilty about what he did to me back then but I was too angry to care. I saw the pain on his face but he recovered quickly.

“Whatever,” he said, “at least I didn’t leave without saying anything.”

He thought he had hurt me back with this statement but he hadn’t. In fact, he had offended me. Why the hell was I supposed to tell him I was leaving? Why did he think he deserved an explanation when he was one of the people who caused me the most pain? Why was he acting like he didn’t know what happened?

“If your goal was to piss me off you’ve succeeded. I have to go now,” I said, turning to leave.

He grabbed me by the wrist. I flicked his hand off me as hard as I could. I had begun to panic. I could feel myself running out of breath. I started gasping for air.

“Emily, what’s wrong?” he asked as he held me by the shoulders and led me back to the bench.

I had never been the same ever since that day. I couldn’t breathe when someone grabbed me. It reminded me of…

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” I said, shaking his hands off me.

I took a few deep breaths and my breathing was soon back to normal.

“Is there something you wanted to tell me?” I asked, “I have to go and get some rest.”

He seemed genuinely flustered. Part of me wanted to offer an explanation but that would mean reliving a past I had run away from. Besides, he knew what had happened. He knew, yet he ignored it.

“I just wanted to tell you about the dinner,” he said.

“I know about it. I’ll be there. See you then,” I said as I stood. I prayed to God himself to not allow my feet to fail me and I was glad they didn’t.

I made my way to my dorm. Remembering that day filled me with rage because he hadn’t even contacted me afterward to find out if I was okay. Yet here he was, in my house, acting like an angel and fooling both of our parents.

I had decided to move on when I moved away from Bakersville, and I had told myself that if I ever met Gabriel I would forgive him and move on with my life, but I decided to re-think things. From now on, I was going to ruin Gabriel’s life. I was going to get my revenge.

“I’m actually really glad we’re all here,” I said, and they all turned to look at me, “I have an announcement to make.”