Chapter 51

Emma panicked, unable to think, and she suddenly started beating Brent on the chest. Startled, Brent jumped backward and fell off the bed onto the floor, landing hard on his naked ass.

“What-” he started to ask before Emma burst into tears.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry, God, I, I,” she was saying as she jumped up from the bed herself. She had her face covered and tears were streaking down her cheeks.

“I have to ... I’m sorry,” she said as she ran towards the bedroom door. Brent watched in complete confusion as she left. He should have gotten up to follow, but was frozen like a deer in headlights. A moment later, he heard the front door slam behind Emma.

Emma, naked from the waist down, was standing in the hallway banging on our front door. I was out at that time, but luckily for her, Jess was home and answered right away. There was no one else in the hallway to see here, but she was so worked up she wouldn’t have known (or cared) if there was.

“Emma, what are you-” Jess started to say before Emma pushed her way into our apartment.

The half-naked Emma plopped herself down on the couch and continued crying into her hands. Jess sat down on the side of her and put her arms around Emma (as best as she could, anyway.)

Emma cried for several minutes during which Jess did nothing to interrupt her, letting her explain things when she was ready.

“Oh, Jess...” Emma said, as the sobbing subsided.

“Shhh ... take it easy. Take a breath and then tell me what happened,” Jess said calmly.

Emma did take a deep breath. She realized that her hands were shaking so she squeezed them together firmly to steady them.

“Brent and I were getting ready to ... to ... you know, do it ... and...” She stopped after “and.”

“And you got cold feet? It’s ok, you-” Jess said but Emma shook her head.

“No, it wasn’t that. I wanted to. But when he got up on top of me, I panicked. I freaked. I couldn’t breathe. It was just like my cousin on top of me all over again. And the boy from high school. I really like Brent and never thought that...” Emma started to sob again.

Jess squeezed Emma tightly. “Shhhh ... it’s ok. It’ll be ok,” she said.

“Oh God, Jess ... he’s going to hate me. I know it. I don’t even know if he’s still over there. Oh God, what have I-”

“Hey, hey, hey. Look, you did nothing wrong. Stay right here. I’m going to go talk to him,” she said, releasing Emma and standing up.

“O-Ok,” Emma said. She sniffed in between two sobs.