Chapter 4

I woke that Sunday morning, feeling refreshed and alive. I checked my messages, but there wasn’t one from her. Instead, there were a lot of questions on Facebook about the status change and a notification that Emma wanted me to confirm our relationship. I smiled and clicked accept, adding a link to her profile next to my relationship status.

I was about to go to the shower when I heard footsteps thundering down the stairs and my door was flung open. “You’re ENGAGED!??!” Lilly blurted out. “For REAL?!!? When? Who? How?” She took in my appearance and gaped. I was wearing a pair of gray gym shorts and a bright pink sweatshirt, after all. “What the fuck!??! When did you start wearing pink?”

“When my fiance started dressing me,” I said lightly. “I’ve updated my profile. She’s listed now.”

“Who is she?” Lilly wanted to know.

“Emma,” I said. “I proposed so that she could get in to see me at the hospital. I think we’re both comfortable keeping things like this though rather than back it off.”

“Wow!” she said, stunned. “Can I tell Mom?” she grinned impishly.

I laughed and nodded. “I’m gonna go get a shower. I imagine she’ll want a word with me when I’m done.” I pulled off the shirt and dropped it on the bed before I crossed the hall, stripping off before I got in the shower. I took my time and let the hot water sooth out the stiffness that comes from sleeping on the floor.

I crossed the hall with a towel around my waist and sure enough, she was there waiting for me. Beck and Lana being there surprised me though. I figured I’d have to have this talk more than once. I noted that Lana’s jaw was bruising nicely.

“Hello,” I said calmly before I dropped my towel and started walking around, getting dressed. I didn’t bother covering my nudity and I even decided to put on socks first, standing awkwardly so that they could get their cheap thrill since it was the only one they were getting.

I’d stepped into a pair of shorts when Charlotte broached the subject. “Engaged?” she asked tightly, clearly reigning in her temper.

“It’s on the internet. That means it must be true,” I said brightly picking out a fresh pair of jeans and putting them on. “Emma couldn’t have gotten in to see me as a friend. I asked her to marry me in front of the cop who came to collect me. Thanks for that, by the way. So not only is it Facebook official, it’s noted in a police report.”

“So it was just for the sake of getting her on the visitor’s list?” she asked, relaxing some.

“Yes and no,” I said, being infuriatingly pleasant. “She’s been a Godsend to me this past month. Friends have been hard to come by for a baby-killer like me. Aside from starting at a new school, it seems that I have a nasty reputation. Emma never stopped treating me well. I asked her because she needed a way to get in to see me. I put it on Facebook because she means a lot to me. Don’t worry, I don’t intend to pick a date until we’re both graduated and there’s a good chance we’ll call it off, but for now, we’re on the same page. I only put up the status. She sent me the message to confirm her as my fiance.”

I threw on a t-shirt and then pulled Emma’s sweatshirt on over it. The three of them had noticed it and they didn’t look best pleased about it. “What?” I asked, reading their glances.

“You asked us not to buy you anything pink,” Lana noted.

“Well, this isn’t mine. It’s hers. When she found me without a jacket on Friday, she put this on me.”

“And you’re still wearing it, why?” she asked.

“Because it reminds me of her. It smells like her.” That reference hit home and she looked a little less angry and a little more ashamed.

“I want to meet this girl,” Charlotte demanded. “Bring her for lunch.”

“I’m afraid I already made plans to go out for lunch, but we’ll see how the afternoon goes. Maybe when she drops me off.”

“You’re not hearing me,” she said testily. “I said ‘bring her for lunch’.”

I whipped my head around to face her and the girls suddenly looked uncomfortable. “I heard you perfectly fine, CHARLOTTE. I heard you make demands like a petulant child. You’ve pushed me far enough that Dr. Spencer would testify in an emancipation hearing. The fact that she’d do that should tell you that you need to check yourself. I will NOT be bringing Emma for lunch. On a day that tensions are not running at 120% of tolerance and we’re not on the verge of another fist-fight or screaming match, I will consider allowing you to meet her. Until I can be certain that she will be treated with dignity, respect and kindness, I will shield her from the harm that I believe may come to her here. Are we clear or are you LOOKING to make this a contest of wills?”

“I will NOT be spoken to like that in my own house, young man!” she said indignantly.

“Then let’s step outside,” I said calmly, but with a hard look on my face.

The girls looked like they wished they could be anywhere else but here at the moment.

Charlotte’s eyes flashed and she got to her feet, crossing the room and slapped me across the face.

Instead of retaliating, I looked back at her calmly. “You once told me to never stop standing up for what I believed in. I won’t let you harm that girl with even so much as a hostile attitude. You can hit me all day and it won’t change a damn thing. You can either change your attitude or you can keep this up. After that slap, I’m not convinced you should see Emma today, period. And if you keep it up, you might never see her. We could get married and have kids and the closest you’d get to them would be to beg Lilly to show you the pictures on her phone. As long as I’m concerned about how you’ll treat her, you’ll have to step over my dead body to get at her.”

She was furious and I wasn’t helping, but I didn’t care. She slapped me again and then stormed out of the room. I wished I had my phone, but it was in my locker at school.

I glanced at the girls and suggested that they go and explain to Charlotte that I wasn’t going to back down. I went next door to see Patty and Dan. I told them what had happened and that I thought things were going to get worse in a hurry. I used the phone to call Dr. Spencer and told her that things were deteriorating. I explained last night and this morning.

“Referring to her as Charlotte isn’t helping matters, but you’re probably right about keeping her and your young friend separated. Tensions are high and she’s grasping for some control by the sounds of it. You took that from her last night and now she’s trying to get it back. I’ll call Carl this afternoon and tell him to check on it first thing in the morning. He’ll contact you when he knows something.”

“Thanks, Doctor,” I said, sounding relieved. “I don’t know how much longer things are going to be safe here. She’s already degenerated into hitting me when she’s frustrated.”

“If she does it again, get out of there. Pack your backpack so you can grab it and run at a moment’s notice.”

“Sounds like you expect trouble from her,” I said, troubled by the way she was talking.

“Violence is never okay. It might be a slap now, but it’s a small nudge between swinging an open hand and swinging a granite paper-weight. Get out of there before one becomes the other.”

“Understood. I don’t have my phone today. It’s still in my locker. If I have to run, I’ll call you when I get to a phone and hopefully we can figure something out.”

We hung up and Patty and Dan looked distraught. “What did she say?” Dan asked.

“That it’s a small step to go from being mad enough to swing an open hand to being mad enough to swing a granite paper-weight.” Being in Patty and Dan’s house again made my skin crawl. I felt so uncomfortable that I wanted to bolt, but I mastered the urge to run.

“Charlotte would NEVER do that!” Patty said, horrified.

“Normally, no, but angered and embarrassed enough to be out of control? She was out of control enough to hit me twice this morning. What else might she do? I need to go. She wants me to pack a bag in case I have to get out of here in a hurry. I need to get money, clothes, I don’t even know what else.”

“Calm down. I’ll go with you. We’ll pack you a bag and bring it over here. It’ll be safe and we’ll get you set up with money well enough to keep you from worrying.”

She came with me and we took a large tote bag, filled it nearly to the top with money and then put a few days worth of clothes in on top and around the bricks of cash. We packed my computer and a few other necessities into my backpack and I felt a little better. Patty helped me pack an emergency bathroom kit with soap, shampoo, razors, spare toothbrush, shaving cream and deodorant into the side pouch of the tote. We hadn’t seen my mother or the girls, but they could be upstairs still talking to her. We moved the bags next door and she put them in the back of the front closet.

“I think when I go, I should plan to take a large enough share of the money to see me through indefinitely and just not come back,” I told her and Dan when we had the bags settled. I wasn’t happy with that contingency, but it was all I had to go on.

“Even if you only left a few million, it would be enough to do everything that you’d planned for. It would send Lilly to school and take care of household bills indefinitely.”

“I intended to put all the girls through school,” I reminded her.

“We weren’t certain you were still willing to do that, given what’s happened,” Dan said delicately.

“I wouldn’t hold any of them hostage for their college education,” I said, surprised that I hadn’t been clearer about that. “I hope you guys have been helping Tabby and Collie with their apartment and expenses. I never asked, but since they admitted they got a place together, I hope that they haven’t had to get jobs to support it.

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Dan said, clearly relieved. “We’ve been making sure their bills are up to date along with their tuition. It’s all paid. We didn’t figure you’d object to it for this year, at least.”

“I’d intended that for all of us. If it makes you feel better, we can split it up and move half of it over here so you don’t have to worry about Charlotte going crazy.”

“I’d rather it went with you,” Patty said lightly. “Having it in the house is not something I want to have to think about.”

I nodded. “Then we’ll bag up what I’m leaving behind. I have a plan for how to move the rest of it. You know those large rolling toolboxes with the locks? We’ll pick up one of those.”

“That would work,” she said. “If you want, we can grab one of those later today.”

“Emma’s picking me up in a half-hour. Maybe I’ll see if she can stop by Home Depot to see what they have.”

“Alright. Want me to scout out next door and see how things are?” she asked lightly.

“Running interference would be appreciated,” I said. “I can see her storming out to the car to have it out with Emma in the middle of the street.”

“Good point,” she said and went to see where everyone was.

“That sweater is new,” Dan said quietly. “New wardrobe?”

“Borrowed from her. Maybe I’ll try out some of her other clothes to see what fits,” I said blandly.

“I don’t buy Dr. Spencer’s assessment that your sexual orientation is changing,” he said lightly. “Just between us guys. You’re straight as an arrow.”

“Yeah, I am. That was a little bit of invention on her part. Partly because she’s disgusted with this whole drama and partly because it was wildly inappropriate for Charlotte to pry into her diagnosis. I am pretty fucked-up. I have trust issues like you wouldn’t believe and I haven’t had a sexual thought or impulse since this all started. She called it Sexual Aversion Disorder, I think. I have chronic stress, depression related to that, insomnia, PTSD and a laundry list of other problems related to anxiety. I have enough wrong that she didn’t need to invent anything. She just wanted to see what the reaction was to certain things. I know that even if my sexuality was more flexible, you and Patty would love me the same as you always have. I think Charlotte might be having problems with the possibility of a gay son though. The pink sweater and the diagnosis from Dr. Spencer has her rattled.”

“That could be,” he sighed. “Things kind of blew up, huh?” he commented dully.

“Yeah. Teenagers tend to make a mess of things. It’s our defining characteristic.”

He laughed. “As much as things have been falling apart around you, you haven’t been making the messes. Mostly, you’ve cleaned them up. Patty told me that once Dr. Spencer got you to focus, it was less than a minute before you put your finger on Marlene.”

I nodded. “Until then, I’d been trying to figure out what I’d done wrong. I knew it must have been something because they all took off one on top of the other. If they’d just talked to me, we would have laughed about it and none of the past six weeks would have happened.”

“Live and learn. Communication is important.”

I nodded and we chatted about less important matters until I saw Emma’s Ford Focus come down the street. I said goodbye and then dashed across the lawn, hopping the picket fence and jumping in the car hurriedly, glancing at the front door.

“Hello, Bride-to-be!” I said sweetly, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.

“You’re in a much better mood,” she said with a smile as we pulled away from the curb without incident.

“Why not? My knight in shining armor is here to rescue me from my family for an afternoon of being cutesy enough to make other people sick with the sweetness of it. What’s not to be happy about?”

She chuckled. “How did it go last night?”

“It was both good and bad. The girls showed up with their collars and expected I’d take them back and all would be well. My sister had a meltdown because she fucked up, then she punched-out Lana and had to be pulled off. Patty and Dan are good, but everyone else is aware that they’re not likely to make my top twenty favorite people.”

“Oh? And who IS on this list?” she asked playfully.

“You’re at the top,” I assured her. “Followed by Patty and Dan. Then there’s Dr. Saddler and Dr. Spencer. Scarlett Johansson because ... reasons. There’s a few other people, but those are the important ones.”

“I’m listed ahead of Scarlett Johansson?” she asked, surprised.

“She’s not a real redhead. That hurt her on the points spread. She’s maybe seventh or eighth. Besides, she doesn’t return my calls like you do.”

“I see,” she smirked. “So if she DID return your calls?”

“She’d jump to fourth,” I said with a nod. “Maybe third. I’d have to shuffle some things around. You’re still way out in front though.”

“I see. What did I do to get so many points on her?”

“Well, there’s that thing on Facebook that people are talking about,” I pointed out. “Remind me to tell you about THAT early morning drama. Then there’s the fact that you’ve been there for me all weekend and that you’ve made my day at least 25 times in the last 30.”

“So all that’s enough to put ScarJo out of the top spot?” she asked skeptically.

“It was enough for me to say no to four gorgeous women willing to do just about anything to get me to forgive them,” I told her seriously. “And none of them dye their hair. Tabby’s a natural redhead. Of course, if Scarlett were to crawl into my bed naked, that would make her a solid #2. She’d have to be willing to roll around with you too. Threesome or GTFO, right?”

She laughed. “So you’d kick Scarlett Johansson out of bed if she wasn’t willing to have a threesome with you and me?”

“I assume that by the time I ever have a chance to meet her, that you and I are going to be sharing a bed, so it’s just rude to crawl into someone’s bed and not cuddle up, right?”

“You certainly are sure of yourself,” she commented, looking at me sideways.

“I suppose I am, but I think I have good reason.”

“Oh? Do tell,” she challenged me.

“I put up the engaged thing, but I didn’t attach anyone’s name to it. You did that. We should probably talk about it a little. Not in a bad way, but I asked you under less than romantic conditions and you were well within your rights to back that up once I was released.”

“How do you feel about it?” she asked, looking at me sideways.

“The more I think about it, the more my reaction is to nod in approval,” I said. “When I asked, it was so that you’d have a way to see me in the hospital. It’s more than that though. You DO make my day. You’ve gotten me through the worst six weeks of my life and made me feel like I’m having good days even when I should be screaming. Like I explained to Patty last night, you’re brilliant, gorgeous, funny, sweet and energetic. You make me smile when I want to cry, you make me laugh when I want to scream. Friday I asked because you needed the status to visit me. Today I’m asking because I want you. Emmaline Robinson, will you marry me?”

She smiled at me and pulled the car over to the side of the road to park before she leaned over and kissed me deeply. “Yes,” she said sweetly. “But you have to give me my sweater back.”

I laughed. “You don’t want your fiance wearing pink?” I asked playfully.

“It’s not that,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m cold. That’s my only sweater.”

I quickly pulled it over my head for her even though I wanted nothing more than to keep it forever. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. Let’s go find a jewelry store and then get you some more sweaters so I can steal that one back.”

“You like wearing pink?” she teased, pulling the bulky sweater on again.

“Nah. Your sweater smells like you though. I got the best sleep I’ve had in a month wearing that last night.”

“You wore it all night?” she asked, looking at me strangely.

I had a t-shirt on under it,” I assured her, “and I didn’t do anything unwholesome with it. Just slept.”

“That’s kind of sweet,” she said, surprised.

“I haven’t been sleeping well. Drifting off to sleep with that on made me feel a little like you were there. It made me sleep more peacefully than I can remember since summer,” I confessed.

That earned me a much longer, deeper kiss. My head was spinning a little when she sat back. She drove us to the mall and we browsed through the jewelers looking at rings until she found one she loved. I pulled out my wallet and counted off $100 bills until it was paid for and then I took her hand and put it on her finger. For a wonder, they’d had it in her size and she felt like the fit was good. She kissed me and we left the store hand in hand. We spent the next hour or two shopping before we had a late lunch at Olive Garden. I got my trophy sweater back and she wore one that she’d picked out for me.

“So we need to rotate sweaters,” she said. “I want one that smells like you as much as you want one that smells like me.”

“I’m okay with that. I’m not limited to sweaters though. I’d wear your t-shirts.”

“Just shirts?” she said, suddenly flirty. “I could hook you up with some cute bikini panties.”

I laughed. “The reason we’re doing this is so we have clothes that smell like each other. If I’m smelling your panties, I don’t necessarily want to be wearing them. That’s a feat of gymnastics I can’t perform.”

She was taking a drink and snorted, coughing a few times at the thought of me trying to wear her underwear and smell them at the same time. “If you could do that, you wouldn’t need to marry me to lead a happy, fulfilling sex life,” she pointed out when she could breathe.

The tone of our relationship had changed today with me asking her to marry me seriously. I liked where we’d been, but I also liked where we were. We knew we were years away from setting a date and pulling the trigger, but I felt more strongly about her than I’d known even a week ago. “I love you, Emma,” I said out of the blue. It was the first time I’d said it to her. I know. It’s weird to get engaged without saying it at least once, but at the same time, I said it all the time when I told her she was smart and beautiful and sweet and the thousand other things I told her every day.

She grinned and told me she loved me too and then we kissed.

We finished our dinner and I convinced her to take me to Home Depot where we filled the back seat with a huge tool carrier on wheels and the padlock to secure it. I explained what it was for once we had it in the car. We went to a movie and I couldn’t tell you to this day what it was about. Afterwards, we went for a walk and I explained about this morning and my mother’s reaction to the news. “Just another example of how you turn a bad day into a perfect one,” I pointed out.

She grinned and kept looking at the ring as if to convince herself that it was really there. “You’re not going to catch a lot of Hell over this, are you?” she asked, concerned.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said soothingly. “I’m looking into alternative housing right now. Once I get the word, I’ll be out on my own.”

“Can you really do that?” she asked, surprised. “I thought you had to live with a parent.”

“There’s a few ways I can get around that and I’m weighing them all to see what one works best. I promise, when I know more, I’ll let you know what’s up. I may even end up closer to you.”

“Close enough for sleep-overs?” she asked with a smirk.

“I think your roommate might object,” I laughed.

“Don’t be so sure. You’re campus famous. Everyone knows who you are. It’d be different for her if you were just some kid she met on the street, but Epic? That’s a different set of rules. You’re probably the smartest guy on campus and that’s mileage you can use to pick up.”

I laughed. “We’ve been engaged two days and you’re already trying to set up a mistress for me? What’s my midlife crisis going to look like?”

“Wait ‘til I get you back to Malibu. You’ll be swimming in quim,” she assured me.

“That’s going on Facebook when I get home,” I chuckled. “Swimming in quim. Love it!”

We went back to the car and stopped by the high school. Thank God for football season because the school was open for the team to access the locker rooms and gym for practice. I got my jacket and more importantly, my phone. I took a picture of Emma modeling her new ring and then posted it online.

We pulled up in front of Patty and Dan’s and we split up our sweater purchases before we heaved the tool case out of the car. “Want to meet Patty and Dan? Lana and Beck might be home, but they know you. Just let’s keep things low-key. They spent a lot of time rubbing my face in what they were doing with their boyfriends. I don’t want them to feel like I’m doing that to them.”

She nodded and picked up my bag of sweaters while I wheeled the toolbox up the walk. I opened the door and poked my head in. “Hey!” I said, seeing Dan and Patty chatting on the sofa. I opened the door the rest of the way and Emma helped me get the toolbox inside. “I wanted you guys to meet Emma. Emma, this is Patty and Dan Powers.”

They were both thrilled to see us and Patty admired the engagement ring we’d picked out, kissing her on the cheek and hugging her tight.

“I know you kids only just decided this, but are you thinking about a wedding before or after graduation?” Dan asked lightly.

“Probably after,” Emma admitted. “He’ll probably have 10 degrees before I have my license though, so we’ll see.”

“Ideally, four years from now,” I suggested. “I’ll be 18 and she’ll be 22. I’ll be the designated driver at my own wedding.”

That made the four of us laugh. I was on a cloud.

Patty and Emma started chatting and Patty complimented her on her looks and assured her that I’d told them how beautiful she was, but they’d had no idea.

“She really IS uncommonly attractive,” Dan told me, clapping me on the shoulder. “She looks familiar somehow though. I can’t quite place it, but she reminds me of someone.”