-----First Attempt-----
It had been a week and Emmalin's nervous, worried thoughts of Jeremy Sherwood hadn't gotten any better. They had multiplied and left her an anxious mess. She always did this, worried about people, Emmalin would think about something non-stop until it drove her crazy.
The petite Army Brat had been known to go into obsessive baking binges whenever she was emotionally distressed. Emmalin had started baking through her problems when she was twelve and her family had just switched bases, leaving her with no friends to tell her feelings to. Michael and Claudia Joy Holden were shocked and scared the first few times they had walked into their kitchen to see a mass production of baked goods and their daughter producing even more from their oven. They had since learned to leave her be, and make sure to frequently stock the kitchen with flour.
When she was nervous she'd make cupcakes, loads and loads of cupcakes, there had been many times in the past year when all the counters of her family's spacious kitchen was filled to the brim with cupcakes of all sorts. When she was worried or scared she would make cookies, and not just chocolate chip but white chocolate macadamia nut, M&M, almond, sugar, gingerbread, peanut butter, plus various other types. Piles of cookies of all shapes and flavors would be everywhere in a matter of hours. Bread making occurred when Emmalin had something to apologize for. Most people would just apologize, but sometimes her stubbornness got in the way. Then again, most people wouldn't bake themselves silly. Brownies, when she was angry or frustrated. Pie was made when she had something to thank God for. That Friday morning, when Emmalin couldn't stand it anymore, she succumbed to one of her baking sprees.
"Sweetie, is there anything you need to talk about? I could go get your mother if you needed me to." General Michael Holden asked as he walked into his kitchen, finding his seventeen year old daughter covered in flour. Cookies, pies, cupcakes, brownies, and bread decorated the room in baker's dozens. Cookies because she worried about Jeremy, cupcakes because she was nervous something wasn't okay with him, bread because she should of tried harder to get him to talk to her, brownies because Major Sherwood probably wouldn't even notice anything was bothering his son and that made her angry, but mostly there was pie because Emmalin was thankful that Jeremy hadn't been hurt during his term in Iraq.
"I'm fine." She snapped, not looking up from the many apple pies she was decorating with brown sugar and cinnamon.
"Alright." Her father said while backing away slowly. Normally he and his wife would be able to tell what was wrong judging from what Emmalin was baking, but this time it was impossible since she was baking everything!
"I get it now!" The brunette shouted excitedly, rushing up the stairs and abandoning the messy kitchen.
"Damn, I will never understand teenage girls." The Army General sighed as he watched his daughter bolt out of the room.
Three hours later, Emmalin Holden stood at the doorstep of the Sherwood home trying to decide if she should knock. Taking a deep breath her small fist rapped the front door.
"Emmalin?" Private Jeremy Sherwood answered the door, looking down at the girl on his doorstep confused.
"Hey, Jeremy. Umm… I know it's last minute and all but I'm heading to the movies with some friends and you could tag along. I get if your busy or something." The Holden girl smiled, trying to hide what a bundle of nerves she was. She thought this was a great idea because she could watch him at the movies and find out how he was doing.
"I'm sorry, I can't." He apologized. Emmalin could smell it, the booze on the nineteen-year-old's breath. She hadn't ever touched alcohol but knew enough about it to tell that he hadn't been drinking beer or something, he'd been sipping hard liquor. Jeremy clearly wasn't drunk but Emmalin thought that he might be slightly tipsy.
"That's cool. Maybe some other time? You just…you looked kind of down last time I saw you, which I get because of the dog and all." The Army Brat didn't even bother to mask her disappointment, her amber eyes never leaving his dark ones.
"Emmalin, I'm fine." The solider reasoned with her. His deep, masculine voice didn't sound very convincing though. Emmalin knew better, knew he wasn't being completely honest with her.
Emmalin left that night even more concerned then she had arrived as. She sighed as she realized she had better pick up some flour and sugar on her way home.