New Beginnings

Chapter 2 – The Sweetest Things to Say

Rain pounded softly on the roof of Craig's garage where Manny sat on the couch, waiting for a certain someone.

"Craig! I missed you." Manny greeted with a smile playing upon her lips.

"Hey." Craig closed the door to the garage. He sat down on the couch and she scooted closer towards him. She leaned forward, but before she could do anything, Craig pressed a finger to her lips.

"Manny, I wanted to apologize."

"For what?"

"For putting you through all of this with Ash, especially before Christmas. I may have not realized it before, but I love you Manny. I can't believe how blind I was not to see that in the first place. I mean, you're smart, pretty, and I was so stupid not to see that in you. Please forgive me.

"Craig, you don't have to explain anymore. I knew in the end things would work out, and I know you really do love me. And besides," she added, her round dimples glittering in the light," I'm just so crazy about you I don't know what to do with myself. I love you Craig, more than anyone else. Ever."

Her cinnamon eyes bored into his, as if she was peering through a window to his soul. She leaned forward, and her lips met his in a heated kiss. He ran his tongue along her lower lip and was accepted entry into her mouth. Manny grabbed fistfuls of Craig's shirt as she pulled him down towards where she lay on the couch. He began to plant butterfly kisses along her jawline. "Ooh… I like..." Manny purred. He continued to kiss her all the way down to her neck, and along her collarbone, before he made it back up to her wonderful mouth. After quite a few minutes of passionate…ahem…endeavors, Manny pulled Craig into a sweet hug.

Meanwhile, at the Dot, Emma Nelson was sitting alone at the front counter, waiting on her order, while sipping a chocolate milkshake. A repetitive tinkling of a bell signaled yet another customer's entrance. Emma paused and averted her eyes to the door, to see who it could be. Lo and Behold, it was none other than Chris Sharpe, who she'd recently been trying to avoid. For a second her mind flew back to the night at the rave, a night she wanted to forget altogether.

'I might as well bite the bullet and do this,' she thought nervously. She eyed Chris coming toward her, and nonchalantly continued to sip her bubbling shake.

"Hey Emma," Chris said quietly.

"Chris, before you say anything else I need to tell you…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry about the rave. It's just that… Well… I like you... A lot… But I didn't know you had a girlfriend and I didn't want to get you in trouble or anything." Chris rubbed his forehead and smiled softly.

"Emma, don't worry about it. Besides that, I never got to tell you because you ran off so fast. I dumped Melinda after you ran off. I wanted to find you, but you were gone." Emma bit her lip nervously and blushed. All of the sudden she felt so stupid, something she wasn't used to feeling.

"I hope I didn't cause that. I'm sorry for messing up everything. I just-, Emma broke off breathlessly."

"Shhh. You didn't mess up anything. I really haven't been able to get along with Melinda for the past few weeks. I was gonna dump her anyway. Plus, I've had my eyes on someone else for a while."

Emma was taken aback. She had just professed her true feelings about him, and he was going on about some other girl! How could he be so insensitive?

"She has medium length blond hair, brown eyes, a beautiful smile, and a great personality," Chris rambled while fiddling with the bottle of ketchup on the counter.

"She seems great," Emma brightly chirped, although inside, she felt quite the opposite.

"You know what the best part about it is?"

"What?" Emma choked out. She couldn't believe he was actually going to tell her who it was.

"It's you,' he whispered.

"Wh-What?"

"You, Emma. All along, it's been you." Emma blushed sweetly and blinked her eyes, as if they were ready to well with tears.

"M-me? But wait. What about Melinda?

"The only reason I dated her was because my cousin, Jacob, pressured me into it."

"But Chris, how could it be me? I -"

"Hush, Emma." He could tell that she was nervous. "'Look. There is no explanation for this." He leaned in and kissed her. Emma suddenly found a pair of soft lips upon hers, and her common sense went right out the window. She couldn't tell whether she was going or coming. All she knew was that she had never felt the same way she did at that moment. Ever.

"I suppose some change is good,' Emma silently mused while pulling Chris back to her for another kiss. A moment later, the got up and walked out of the Dot, hand in hand.

Glittering stars dusted the sky as night fell, and Ashley finally came out of her room for the first time in quite a few days. Her cheeks were stained with traces of mascara and her eyes were puffy and red. She couldn't believe that she hadn't gotten over Craig. She turned the thought over and over in her mind, and ended up going back in her room to slaughter a pillow. Just as she was finishing the massacre, her phone rang. She cried furiously and let it ring. Eventually, her voicemail came on.

'This is Ashley Kerwin. Sorry I'm not in, but if you'd like to leave a message, please wait till after the beep. Thanks, and I'll talk to you as soon as I can. Beep.'

Ashley's earring-studded ears perked up at the caller leaving a message spoke up. She held her breath in apprehension, wondering if it was who she thought it was-Craig. Instead, it was Paige's bubbly chatter, filling the room.

"Hey hon, it's Paige. I saw what happened between you and Craig at the Holidays Around the World festival at school-well, everyone did-and I felt so sorry for you. Don't worry about it, because guys are just so not worth it sometimes. Craig was a jerk anyways... but just forget about it. Bye, and don't forget to call me back!!"

The answering machine clicked off, and Ashley's eyes welled up with tears.

"He was a jerk, wasn't he?" Ashley asked herself, playing with the fringe on her bedspread. She wiped away the stray tears and flopped on her back against a pillow. Snow was falling steadily out her window, and she glanced at the clock. She knew she had to get over Craig sooner or later-but just because she had to get over him didn't mean she couldn't get back at him for what he did to her...