Disclaimer. This does not follow any of the movies, or books. It's just...a boy in love with a girl, and his annoying family. And brothers especially.
Okay, so there's this girl. She's incredible. And not just because of her bod, but that's it's own subject all on it's own. But anyway, her name is Emerson. Yeah, I know that sounds like a dude's name, but trust me. She is anything but.
Oh god why'd I write that? My stupidity when it comes to girls is so severe that I think it's terminal. It's probably how I'm going to cack.
I sat back and looked at my computer screen, staring at the words I typed. Why the hell was I even keeping a diary? Diaries were for little girls. Like my little brother. They were stupid and idiotic.
Which was exactly what I needed to store my stupid and idiotic thought process.
I clicked 'save' and closed the laptop. I spun around in my chair and slumped down low, my ass hanging off the seat. I groaned and stared at my wall. There was a knock on the door and I grunted an "Enter". My little brother, Greg, carefully trodded up the few stairs to his brother's room and stood in front of me, the disgruntled teenager.
"What do you want?" I barked.
"You said you were going to take me to see that new horror movie tonight," Greg said, his tone hinting at accusatory. I sighed and peeled myself off of my chair and straightened.
"Oh yeah," I mused. Since my brother started the eighth grade, the two of us had gotten along much better.
I walked to the door and looped my arm around my brother's neck, playfully dragging him down the stairs with me.
"Greg, Roderick, come here please!" Susan Heffley, our dear mother, called from the kitchen. Greg and I looked at each other, clearly annoyed that our guy's night had to be Peanut Butter MUFfiNed. Postponed By Mom Until Further Notice.
"Boys, boys, there you are. Good," our mother said, ushering us into the kitchen. Our father sat at the table with our baby terror, Manny, delicately destructive age four. Greg and I looked at our parents and then at each other.
"Your father and I have decided to take a second honeymoon!" Susan said delightedly. Our father had a dour look on his face that read "Kill me now, it'll be less painful." and we chuckled.
"Okay, so what does that have to do with us?" Roderick chuckled, wondering what else on earth his parents had up their sleeves. Susan looked at Frank and then back at us.
"We are giving you boys the choice of staying here or staying with a friend while we're gone!" Susan exclaimed. Greg and I looked horrified and elated at the same time.
"But what's going to happen with Manny?" Greg asked, asking the question itching at both of us.
Susan waved her hand like it was no worry. "We're hiring a babysitter. She's going to be staying here the whole month. She's a lovely girl, too. We interviewed her and everything, right Frank?"
"Hunh? Oh yeah. Great girl. Cooks, cleans, laundry. And she loves Manny. She thinks he's a little angel, if you can believe that," Frank laughed. Greg and I chuckled and Susan shot all of us a mom death glare. Instantly, all three of us stopped laughing.
"Yes. She is a lovely girl and she loves Manny. It's a win-win situation!" Susan smiled.
Greg and I chuckled. "Yeah, but not for us. We're homeless for a month!" I declared agitatedly. Greg nodded.
What the hell was I supposed to do for a week on the streets? The guys from the band certainly weren't generous enough to let me crash with them. And there was no way I was spending the week with my grandparents. I shuddered at the thought.
"Well, like I mentioned earlier, you boys are welcome to stay here, or you can go to a friend's. Greg, I've already called Rowley's parents and they said it would be alright for you to stay with them. As for you, Roderick, you'll have to find someplace. Or stay here. It's up to you," Susan stated. I chuckled. Like it would be a hard choice.
"I'll call the guys. No way am I staying here with a babysitter," I guffawed. Susan smirked as she looked at her husband.
"Alright. We'll call Emerson and tell her that the house will be empty," she grinned. I felt all the blood drain from my face and into my fingertips, making them heavier than usual. My heart raced and my legs nearly buckled. Emerson, the girl I was so insanely hot for, was going to be babysitting that little monstrosity? The lucky little bastard! I regained my composure and swallowed the lump in my throat.
"Actually, this is a big house. I might as well stick around to help her out. I mean, if she's cool with that," I sputtered. Susan grinned and winked at Greg. I felt my face grow hot and I grabbed his brother by the collar and dragged him into the living room.
"Excuse us," I said, leaning around the doorway before ducking back and boxing Greg around the ears.
"You fucking double agent!" I whispered. Greg put a hand to his chest and mocked being offended. I glared at him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
"I just suggested to Mom and Dad a suitable babysitter. She is quite a suitable babysitter, so says her website," Greg smirked. I wanted to rip his brother apart, limb from limb, right here and now. But that would be too much blood. I didn't want a crime scene in this house right now. Not before Emerson comes over. I let go of my brother and pushed him away gruffly. Menacingly cracking my knuckles, I nodded my head in the direction of the kitchen.
"Is everything okay?" Susan asked concernedly. Greg and I beamed falsely, Greg wrapping his arm around my waist, and me putting my arm around Greg's shoulders, my hand firmly squeezing Greg's shoulder, attempting to separate his arm from his body.
"Peachy, Mom," I said through gritted teeth. "We're going to go now. Bye!" I steered Greg out of the room and clear out of the house to my van out front.
"Get in," I said, shoving Greg towards the passenger door, before walking around the front of the van to the driver side.
"Roderick, I..." Greg started, but I cut him off by starting the engine. It was loud enough to convey to my brother how royally pissed I was about him telling our mother about the girl I was in love with. I saw him open his mouth again to speak and I instantly cut him off.
"Can it, mistake," I grunted. He closed his mouth and sat back in his seat. I pulled away from the curb and headed into town. I watched Greg out of the corner of my eye as he looked around at the familiar drive to the theater. He turned to look at me and I kept my eyes forward, focusing on the road.
"You're still taking me to the movie?" Greg asked quietly. I knew he was trying to poke the bear, and the bear was, sadly, used to being poked. I groaned and nodded my head.
"Yep," I sighed. "I want to see it. And Mom would have a fit if I didn't take you. I'm just saving my own ass. So like I said, can it." After that, Greg didn't say a word the entire rest of the drive to the movie.
It was a pretty sucky movie, if I do say so myself. The effects were shit and the girl wasn't even that hot. It was a dumb plot like and the characters sucked. Slashers now were so overdone. If you wanted a good piss-your-pants, sore-throat-from-screaming movie, go watch the ones pre-1990. They were the good ones. Trust me, I know. I had nightmares after some of them.
But anyway, I still haven't forgiven Greg for telling Mom and Dad about Emerson. I don't know if I ever will. But seeing as he is going to be staying here as well while they are out of town, I have to put up with him. He didn't want to live with Rowley for a month. And frankly, I didn't blame him. So he's going to stay home.
I saved that entry and closed my laptop. I walked over to my bed and flopped down on it, lying diagonally across the mattress, on top of the comforter and everything. I didn't remember falling asleep, nor do I remember waking up under the blankets either.
Sitting up in bed, I rubbed my eyes, adjusting to the sunlight pouring in. As much as I hated mornings, I loved daybreak. Sunrises to me were the most beautiful inspiration, and I jumped over to my desk and stared out the window. The sun was just rising over Plainville and I smiled, my breath catching in my throat as rosy pinks and bright oranges painted the skies. I sat back in my chair and opened my laptop.
I pulled up Emerson's website and stared at her picture again. For the thirtieth time this week.
Her dark hair framed her ivory face, her hazel eyes staring out, like paintings in tortoise shell frames that were her glasses. She was grinning, holding her little sister, age seven, who was the spitting image of her big sister. If you didn't know Emerson was eighteen and a big sister, you'd think she was the little girl's mother. I closed the tab and sat back in my chair again, contemplating what to wear that day. It was summer. I had graduated, just squeaking by by the skin of my teeth on Honors, and I was a free man. College loomed ahead, and I wasn't prepared. In the slightest.
Emerson had made me want to do better in school, because I wanted to impress her, but to no avail. She didn't even look at me when I made the Honor Roll last semester of school. It was like I did all that hard work for nothing.
"It wasn't for nothing Roderick. You got into a great school. You graduated with Honors! You have our pride in our son," my mom said to me the afternoon after graduation. She knew how much I had tried to impress Emerson, and how hard I had tried my second semester of my junior year and my entire senior year.
I changed into cargo shorts and a band tee shirt and headed downstairs to breakfast. Mom, Dad, Greg and Manny weren't up yet and I glanced at the time on the microwave.
"That's why," I mused to myself quietly. It was six thirty in the morning. Shrugging, I grabbed one of Mom's award winning chocolate chip cookies and headed out the back door to take a walk around the neighborhood before anyone else disturbed my perfect peace, ie my family.
Closing the door quietly behind me, I headed up the driveway towards the front of the house and down the street. It was cooler morning, with dew heavy on the grass, and a thin layer of clouds hanging low around the treetops. Sunlight filtered over the trees and down to the streets, and into windows, and in fingers down to the road, making some areas of pavement glow orange. I shoved my left hand into my pocket and bit into my cookie, munching thoughtfully, lost within my own mind.
"On your left!" a woman's voice called out behind me and I had just enough time to jump out of the way before a girl about my age came running up behind me. She slowed her pace and stopped, turned around and took out one headphone.
"Roderick, Roderick Heffley, right?" she grinned. I had to do a double take on her before I recognized the hazel eyes in the beautiful face.
"Yeah. Emerson Applegate?" I smiled, trying to play the ignorant card. She grinned wider and nodded.
"It's nice to meet you," she grinned. I felt a pang in my chest. So she only knew me by name. And barely by face. I felt as if I was looking at my heart on the ground, stepped on, run over and dirty.
"You too," I choked. She looked at me peculiarly but made nothing of my odd behavior.
"Hey, I'm babysitting for your parents next month," she said, as if I didn't know. I looked at her with mock surprise, hoping she didn't catch that I knew already.
"You are? I knew they were getting a babysitter, but I had no idea it'd be you," I laughed. "You never struck me as a babysitter."
She gave me a deadpan look. "It's my job. I am the highest recommended babysitter in this town," she said flatly. Aaand there I go. Six feet down, laying in a coffin of stupidity. I shook my head and tried to backpedal.
"I never meant it like that, I meant that I never...I'll stop talking now," I said, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. She chuckled.
"It's okay. I think I know what you meant," she smiled. I sighed a sigh of relief.
"So you don't think I'm a total ass?"
"No I don't," she smiled. I sighed again.
"I know you are," she added. My heart dropped out of my chest and all of my limbs lost feeling. She stared at me and started to laugh harder than I ever saw anyone else laugh in my entire life.
"I'm...just...kidding!" she choked out, her laughing suffocating her voice. I stared at her, not sure whether to be relieved that she was joking or angry that she said I was an ass. She calmed down and wiped the tears of laughter out of her lovely eyes.
"Your face was priceless," she continued, catching her breath. I laughed bitterly and went back to my sulking. She stepped up to me and cuffed he across the shoulder. "Oh lighten up. It was a joke, Roderick."
I looked at her and her hazel eyes caught a ray of new sunshine and were illuminated as amber and emerald citrine and all sorts of beautiful colours that made up her exquisite hazel eyes.
"Yeah," I said finally. She smiled and moved away from me, starting to jog in place.
"I have to finish my run this morning, but hopefully I'll see you next week?" she said, moving further and further away from me. My hear soared. She was hoping to see me. I grinned and nodded.
"I think you will," I called. She started to run again and I smiled. My first real conversation with Emerson Applegate. The girl I'd been in love with for six years.
