Chapter 3 - Rain
"I'm not sure about this," Emmy said as she looked at her reflection in the full length mirror on Mark's door, "It just seems...like a bit much."
Mark snorted a laugh, "You wouldn't know too much if it bit you on the ass, Emmy," he said and looked over her once more, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Okay," she rolled her eyes and looked sideways at him, "It's not enough."
He huffed and didn't respond to her, apparently he knew no matter what he said she would not be happy. He was probably right, she thought.
She looked up and down her reflection. Mark had insisted on her hair being down, pinning back a few strands from her temples to the back of her head, holding back her hair from her face with a lovely emerald-green rose clip. Her makeup was simple, thankfully. No base, her skin was good enough without it, but Mark had put eyeliner on her to highlight her "doe eyes" as he liked to call them, topping it off with a silver-green eyeshadow that made her eyes more vibrant and bright, instead of their usual dull, paleness, and to bring it all together, she wore a light pink lip gloss.
Her outfit was another thing altogether.
It was a simple almost sleeveless, white tee-shirt that clung to her every curve, a low, v-neck, button down, green sweater, dark blue denim skinny jeans, and black flats.
She bit her lip.
"This just isn't me, Mark," Emmy said pulling at the tightness of her sweater, "Not even a bit. Besides," she turned back to her reflection, running her hands down her sides, "Isn't it a bit dressy for today?"
"It's a date, Emmy," Mark retorted leaned against the off-white wall of his room, looking over her, "You're supposed to be dressy."
"But," she turned to look at him, her thumb nail between her lips, "He never said it was date. He just wanted to meet, that's it."
In truth, she hoped it was a date. She hoped with all her might it was a date, but he had never said it was and she didn't want to over think the situation, which, she thought, she usually did.
"It doesn't matter," Mark said standing straight, wiping an imaginary piece of lint off her shoulder, "Besides, you don't have to have a reason to get dressed up, which this is not by the way. This is simply dressing nicely with style."
"I swear," Emmy rolled her eyes, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were gay."
Mark barked a laugh, "Gay?" he shouted snorting a laugh, "Please, I could never be gay. I like pussy too much."
"And we have reach too much information!" Emmy threw her hands up and walked out of his room, "Way too much information!"
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
*Don't 4get. 7 the park.*
She smiled and her fingers zoomed across the keyboard.
*You're a hard one to forget, Danny. I'll be there.*
*It's happened to me b4. I'll see u there*
She pushed her phone back in her pocket with a smile. She didn't see how anyone could forget those eyes, or his smile, or his voice. He was just so handsome! There's no way someone could forget him!
She wrung her hands and looked at the clock. It would take her five minutes to walk to the park and she wanted to get there early, and it was just now six forty-five.
"Should I go ahead and head out?" she asked no one in particular, "Or is that too early?"
"Oh, God," Mark called out tiredly from his room, peeking his head out, "Just go! Or you'll be pacing the whole time you're waiting!"
She laughed, "You know me so well!" she called back to him as she grabbed her messenger bag and keys, "I'll see you later!"
"Bye!" he called before she shut the door.
Emmy turned and faced the street, putting her head phones in to listen to music on her phone. The first to play was "City" and she skipped it, not really in the mood for it and next played "Pigskin". She smiled shyly with a blush, she really liked this song. With it playing in her ears, Emmy began her long walk to the park to meet up with Danny.
By the time she got there, the sky had clouded up darkly and the wind had picked up, driving just about everyone out of the park. She picked a bench closest to the inner part of the park, sitting and listening as her music shuffled to "Levitate". She dug her phone out of her pocket and looked at it quizzically. It sure had played that band a lot, not that she minded, she loved Hollywood Undead, but it played it more than usual the last few days. She sat it down on her lap and, without realizing it, starting singing along. She checked the time.
6:56 P.M.
Eh, she thought, she had some time before she had to worry about him showing up. She bit her lip and looked around, making sure no one was out, before she let herself relax and move to the music.
"You know, I can take you straight to heaven if you let me!" she sang along closing her eyes, "You know, I, I can make your body levitate if you let me. You know that I, I can make you body levitate, le-levitate! I can make your body levitate, le-levitate! You know!"
She felt a tap on her shoulder and jumped with a small scream, her heart going to warp speed in less than a second as she spun around to see Danny at her side and she pulled her head phones out, "Levitate" still playing in the background.
"Dear God, Danny," Emmy put her hand to her chest, "You scared the shit out of me."
"Well," Danny shrugged as he took a seat beside her, his hands tucked in his pockets, "You just seemed really in the zone, I didn't wanna interrupt you."
Oh. Dear. GOD!
He had heard her singing! Shit!
She groaned and dropped her head in her hands, "I'm so sorry you had to hear that," she apologized not looking at him to hide that crimson blush spread over her face, "It's horrible."
"It was really good, actually," Danny said leaning back on the bench after he had looked around, "I really like the way you sound, you have a good voice."
Emmy snorted a laugh then threw her hands over her mouth. God! She snorted! Ugh! She just couldn't get a break!
She looked over at him mortified and was shocked to see him smiling broadly at her, "You have a cute laugh," he smiled and pushed her hand away from her face, "And cute blush too."
She laughed a nervous chuckle, so much for making a good impression. She had already ruined it by singing, and the damn snort didn't help. Not even her nice outfit would save her now.
"How was your day?" Danny asked trying to fill the silence.
"Oh," she finally said happy that he broke the ice and turned off her music, but suddenly she felt so self-conscious, pulling her bag over her stomach and sides, "Good, actually really good. How was yours?"
"Busy," he huffed a light laugh scratching his day old stubble, "unbelievably busy. It was like, as soon as it got time to come out here, everyone wanted us to do something. Meetings, conferences, the works. It was crazy. I barely was able to get out."
"Conferences?" Emmy questioned uncertainly.
"Oh," Danny rubbed the back of his neck, trying to find something to say, "For, uh, the concerts and stuff, ya know, um, that stuff. Where we'll be going, what times, that kinda stuff."
"Oh," Emmy said understandingly, "You travel with the band?"
Danny chuckled and looked at her through his sunglasses, "Yeah," he smiled coyly, "Yeah, I do."
"That must be pretty rough," Emmy looked down at her lap, picking at her finger nails, "Do you get to see your family at all."
"When we have breaks between tours," Danny said relaxing a bit now.
Emmy whistled and looked over at him, wishing Mark had let her keep her bangs down because now she couldn't secretly observe him through them, "They must miss you a lot with you being gone so much," Emmy continued nervously.
"I guess," Danny replied almost sadly, "It does make it hard, ya know, for relationships and everything. Things just get stretched too much and falls apart."
Now she looked over at him and saw a look of sadness on his face. What did he mean by relationships? Did he mean family wise, or . . . Emmy's heart sank, did he have a girlfriend back home, where ever he was from, or a wife?
"What do you mean?" she gently pressed for more information.
"You know," he rubbed the back of his neck, "People just fall away from each other when one of them is gone for too long at a time."
"Oh," she said and the silence stretched out between them.
"So," she offered, "What band do you travel with?"
Danny looked over at her like he was trying to decide if she were playing with him, "Just a band," he tried to brush it off.
"Come on," she smiled pushing his leg with hers, "What band?"
"Promise you won't flip, or anything?" Danny asked as he turned and faced her.
"Sure," she said blowing it off, seriously, how big of a band could he work for anyways?
"I travel with Hollywood Undead," he said plainly, like it was no big deal, like Hollywood Undead wasn't known around the world.
Emmy was stunned.
Hollywood Undead?
She counted to ten before she spoke, "The Hollywood Undead?" she asked calmly, surprising herself and apparently Danny too.
"Yes," Danny answered slowly.
Emmy took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I will not fan girl," she whispered to herself, "I will not fan girl. I will not fan girl."
She turned back to Danny who had a broad smile, "I'm used to fan girls," Danny said with a light laugh, "I deal with them, literally, on a daily basis."
"But I promised I wouldn't freak out," she barely managed to say around the ball excitement in her chest, "And fan-girling is freaking out, like big time freaking out."
"Okay," Danny laughed crossing his arms over his chest, "You can freak out a little."
Her heart jumped and her smile got wider, "Are you sure?" she inquired.
"Hell yeah," he laughed at her reaction, "Mostly I just want to see what you call fan-girling."
Emmy looked forward and her smile became uncontrollable, "Ohmygod!" she nearly screamed and turned to him, grabbing his hand, "You travel with Hollywood Undead! That's like, the coolest band ever to hang with! I can't believe you act like it's no big thing! It's a huge thing! I mean, you get to travel all over with them, be at their concerts! How is this not a big deal to you! This is amazing! You just became like a millions times cooler!
"I mean," she was up off the bench and practically jumping around, still holding Danny's hand, "You were a million times cool already, I mean, you're hot as hell and everything, but I mean, Hollywood Undead! That's huge! They are my favorite! Like, ever! Hell, I think their even my phones favorite! It's on shuffle and lately has played a shit ton of their songs! Ohmygod, Danny! This is so awesome! You are so lucky!"
Emmy's excitement had died down some after her outburst and she looked at Danny, realizing she had pretty well flipped her shit, and she blushed hard. But Danny was laughing, "Yeah," he laughed standing with her, "That is fan-girling. Not exactly what I have to deal with, though, which is nice, but it's still fan-girling."
"I'm sorry," she chuckled and tried to take her hand back from Danny to tuck an imaginary strand of hair back, but he held tight to her and she looked up at him, unknowingly biting the corner of her lip again.
"I kind of liked it," he said softly stepping closer to her, "It was really cute."
Emmy smiled shyly at Danny who now, at five feet seven inches, almost towered over her at five feet three inches, "Thanks," she barely whispered.
He was so close now, Emmy could feel the heat coming from his body and she shivered, more from nerves than cold.
"Are you alright?" Danny asked her leaning in, "You shivering, you must be cold, let's -"
They heard a car door slam, then another, followed by two others and voices calling to each other, "Someone said they saw him over here," one of the people said.
"Shit!" Danny hissed and looked over his shoulder up the hill a ways away from them, "We need to get out of here. Follow me?"
"Okay," Emmy numbly nodded a look of confusion dominating her features, not understanding what was going on.
"It's a news crew," he explained as he took her hand walked deeper into the park, where the trees were thick.
"Oh!" Emmy said finally understanding. The news crew would question him about the band, so they couldn't find him. That made sense, "This way," she offered and took the lead.
"Where are we going?" he asked uncertainly.
"A place they'd never think to look," she said smiling over her shoulder at him, "I promise, they won't find us here."
Danny took his sunglasses off as it got darker and Emmy was once again caught in the snare that was he's eyes, they were beautiful, "Thanks," he said smiling at her, "I appreciate the help."
Emmy giggled and slowed them down as they came up on rocks, "It's no problem," she said pulling him up with her, "I know what it's like to have the news crowd you and invade. Here," she said pointing to the rock formation in front of them, "There's a little dip in all those rocks, no one can see you, even from a helicopter, it's covered by trees. So they won't find us."
Danny followed her without protest up into the rocks and settled into the depression among the large boulders, "See," she smiled over at him slightly breathless from the climb and laid down, "No one will be able to find us. Not unless we wanted them to."
Danny sat down beside Emmy and looked around before looking back down at her, "Thanks for this," he said genuinely a soft smile forming on his lips.
"You're more than welcome," she smiled back at him then looked away, pretending to pick at something on the rock.
That look in his eyes got to her, like he could see right through her. Emmy bit her lip, what did he see, she wondered, when he looked at her. Her stomach turned, suddenly she didn't want to know what he thought.
"What did you mean earlier?" Danny broke her train of thought.
"Huh?" Emmy asked, not understanding what he meant.
"The comment about the news and everything," Danny explained as he laid on his stomach beside her.
"Oh," she said and turned away from those grey-green eyes of his, "I know how it feels to have people poking around your business and not having any respect of your privacy."
"What got the news interested in you?" Danny asked nudging her with his elbow, "You can tell me."
Emmy bit her lip, did she really want to open that Pandora's box? All that nonsense had ended years ago . . . .
"Emmy?" Danny said her name softly, almost lovingly.
No, she must have imagined his tone of voice. She looked over at him, putting a well-practiced fake smile up, "Oh," she waved it off, "It was just something that happened so long ago. It doesn't even really matter anymore."
Danny looked worriedly at her, the curiosity brewing in his eyes, but he let it go, "So," he asked expertly changing the subject, "What are we going to do for the rest of the day?"
"Well," Emmy said sitting to peek up over the rocks, "We can wait for the vultures to leave, and then leave ourselves, or we could stay up here all night."
Danny put his chin on his hand, "I'm stringing leaning to the staying the night up here," he laughed smiling down at Emmy, "But I have to be back to the hotel we're staying at by midnight at the latest."
Emmy frowned, "I understand," she said trying to smile, she had really been hoping he was for the latter instead of the former.
"But," Danny quickly added moving closer to Emmy, throwing his arm around her waist, "I think the vultures will be out late. Let's plan to stay till midnight, then we'll see what happens. How does that sound?"
Emmy's couldn't think as the blood rushed to her face and her ears buzzed. Danny was so close to her, it overwhelmed her, his smell, his heat, the feel of his muscles under his clothes, it was almost too much for Emmy's inexperencedness.
"I'd like that," she breathed looking up into those eyes that held her hostage, "I'd like that very much."
"And if we're going to be out here most of the night," Danny continued softly, "We'll have to stay extra close to keep warm. It's been getting colder at night, you know."
"Yeah," she managed to choke out as her voice seemed to flee from her.
Danny was closer now, so close she could feel his hot breath on her skin, feel the heat of his face against hers, "Wouldn't want either of us to get sick," his voice was husky now, "Now, would we?"
She shook her head, no longer able to speck, unknowingly caressing the tattoos on his forearm.
'God,' she thought desperately, 'Kiss me already!'
His lips brushed hers.
"It's Christmas in Hollywood, Santa's back up in the hood. So meet me under the misletoe, let's fuck!"
"Ugh!" Emmy growled and fished her phone out of her pocket, "I'm going to kill him for changing his ringtone. Can I not have a single moment of peace!" she demanded thoroughly frustrated.
"Sorry," Mark said on the other end, "Are you busy?"
"What do you think?" she questioned.
"Again, sorry," he repeated, "But you might want to head back. The news is calling for a big storm to head our way. I thought I would give you the heads up."
Emmy sighed, "Sorry, too," she said, "I shouldn't have snapped. Thanks for the warning. I might be late getting in though, so don't wait up."
"You went on a date with a very hot guy," Mark said, "That is something to wait up for. Oh! Speaking of hot! Take a picture of him! I wanna know what Mister Stud-muffin looks like."
Emmy couldn't' help but laugh, "Whatever," she told him, "I'll think about it. Goodbye."
"Please!" Mark begged and Emmy hung up on him.
"Who was that?" Danny asked very confused.
"My roommate," Emmy explained, "We've been friends since high school. He was passing on the news of bad weather."
"He?" Danny questioned.
"Yes," Emmy laughed patted Danny's arm, "Mark, the friend that called me the other day when you were helping me out of that tight spot."
"Oh," Danny said simply and dropped it.
"We should probably head out," Emmy said reluctantly as thunder sounded in the distance.
"Yeah," Danny agreed, "As much as I want to stay, it's best we get out of this shit before it hits."
Danny stood and offered his hand to Emmy which she took and he helped her to her feet. He helped her climb down the boulders and when she was firmly on the ground, he brought her close to him, "I had fun, Emmy," he said softly as his hand brushed her cheek and the blush that bloomed in response, "I had more fun today than I've had in a long time."
"Me too," was all Emmy could manage to say.
Danny grinned a boyish grin and leaned in, brushing his lips against her lips, his nose resting along side hers. Emmy closed her eyes and leaned in the rest of the way, kissing him softly.
Thunder crack above them and rain began to pour around them. Emmy squealed from the cold and laughed, Danny laughing alongside her, "Come on," Danny called over the rain, "I'll give you a ride home."
"Thanks," she laughed and they started jogging back to the parking lot.
Before the got completely out of the tree line, partly shielded from the rain now, they looked for the news crew and their van, neither of which were in sight, "I think the coast is clear," he grinned over his shoulder to Emmy, "Ready?"
"Hell yes!" she laughed and held tight to Danny's hand.
They jogged to a nondescript black car with tinted window and Danny had to fish his keys from his pockets to unlock it. When the door clicked they both jumped in and laughed, dripping wet from their stint in the rain.
"Well," Emmy laughed looking down at herself, "I'm glad my bag is waterproof."
"It is a good thing," Danny agreed and started the car, turning the heat on full blast when he noticed Emmy shaking.
"Thanks," she smiled over at him, "I don't know about you, but I could go for a hot shower now."
Danny laughed, "Yeah," he agreed and began to back out and drive off, "I think I could go for one, too."
Emmy smiled at him.
"So," Danny asked as he pulled up to the stop sign, "Where do you live?"
Emmy gave him her address and off they were.
When Danny pulled into Emmy's drive way, she didn't want to leave the car. She chewed her lip and hesitated to open the door, her hand pausing on the handle.
Danny reached over and grabbed her arm, "Wait," he said and she turned to him, letting go of the handle.
"Yes?" she asked nervously.
"I had a great time, Emmy," Danny said softly, putting off letting her leave, "I mean it, a great time."
"I did, too," Emmy told him in a small voice, leaning closer to him.
Without warning Danny leaned in a captured Emmy's mouth with his and kissed her hard, grabbing her chin and pulling her as close as he could get her. Emmy's hand came up and tangled in his hair, feeling the same desire to be with him as he felt for her, at least, that was what she hoped. His other hand gripped her arm as his tongue grazed her lips and she parted them, moaning at the taste of Danny, and almost lost it when he lightly bit her bottom lip, sucking on it as he did so.
Danny pulled away, "You should go," he said breathlessly as he kissed her cheeks, "You need to dry off so you don't get sick."
"Mhm," Emmy moaned and kissed his hand, "I know."
She kissed his thumb and, in a moment of sheer courage, lick the underside of it before taking it into her mouth and sucking.
Hearing Danny moan was almost her undoing, almost. Danny kissed down her jaw to her neck, his teeth scrapping her ear lobe.
"Ah," she cried out and clung to him, "Do that again."
He did and she nearly came out of her seat as a heat rushed through her body and settled in between her legs, she wanted so much more.
"Don't even try to take this weapon from me! I like you more and more the less that you breathe!"
Emmy groaned and pulled back, fishing her phone out of her bag.
"I come undone, I think I'll kill everyone. My, what have I done? Fuck it, let's kill everyone!"
"You better have a damn good reason for calling me," Emmy demanded.
"We need to talk," a familiar voice said over the line and her heart stopped, the blood draining from her face.
"Why are you calling me?" she demanded but her voice was weak, giving away the fear that gripped her throat, "How did you even get my number?"
"Please," he asked calmly, "Emmabeth, give me a chance. I can make it right, I promise."
"You shouldn't call me again," she said weakly, her voice coming out as a whisper as his voice conjured up memories of things better left in the darkness of the past and nightmares, "Loss my number."
She pressed 'End Call' before he could respond and sat numb in the heat of the car, all blood drained from her face.
"Emmy," Danny said gently, "Are you okay?"
She shook herself and pulled her fake smile up, "Of course," she lied and turned to him, her smile never reaching her eyes, "It was just some stupid kid doing a prank call."
She could see Danny knew it was a lie, but thankfully he didn't press further. He leaned over and gently kissed her and pulled away, running his thumb over her bottom lip, "Text me when you get out of the shower?" he asked as he leaned back in the driver seat.
Emmy's smile was real this time, he sounded so adorable when he said it like that, "Yes," she said with a small chuckle, "I'll text you as soon as I get out, but no texting and driving, k? It's dangerous even in the best conditions, but doubly so in rain."
"I promise I won't text and drive," Danny crossed his heart, "I'll catch you later, Emmy."
She opened her door and was blasted by the cold wind of the storm, "Bye, Danny," she said and stepped out of the car, closed the door and ran to her house, turning and waving when she got to the porch. She barely saw him wave back before he pulled out of the drive way and headed down the highway.
She stepped out of the hot shower and wrapped in a towel, drying herself off before she gathered her wet clothes and went to her bed room to put fresh clothes on. She slipped in her matching cotton grey panties and bra before putting on a pair of navy blue sweats and white tank top.
She walked to the kitchen first, wanting to make a hot cup of tea before she sat down and texted Danny back. As she waited while it brewed, she wondered where Mark was. He hadn't had work, at least not that she knew of. She turned and looked at the dry-erase board on the fridge.
"Got called into work. Be back by one. Be safe. - Mark"
Under the message, taped to the board was a condom.
"Mark!" she yelled and walked over, ripping the condom off the fridge door and shoving into a random kitchen drawer.
Her coffee pot beeped, she poured a cup of fresh tea, and went to sit in the living room, pulling out her phone to text Danny.
*Hey! Just got out of the shower and sitting with a warm cup of tea. So nice to be toasty.*
She hit send before she realize how stupid that sounded. She face-palmed, dropping her phone in her lap, "Ugh!" she groaned, "He's going to think I'm an idiot."
Her phone buzzed.
*Glad ur warm now. Was worried 4 a bit. I just got back 2 the hotel*
*Text when you're dried and dressed too. I'll talk to you later*
*Later*
She smiled, remembering the heat she felt build in her. It had been a long time since she had felt that kind of heat.
Her heart dropped when she remembered the call. Emmy almost dropped her glass as she shuddered. She shakily sat down her cup and hurriedly went around the house locking windows and the doors. Her heart was racing. He couldn't get in, not now.
She sat down and held her head between her legs, trying to remember to breathe evenly.
He didn't even know where she lived! She was being so silly! She texted Mark.
*Hurry home as soon as you can. You know who called me just a few seconds ago when Danny dropped me off. I'm by myself at the house. I've already locked the doors and windows.*
She sat her phone beside her and sank to the floor, pulling her legs up to her chest as best she could, wrapping her arms around her knees.
"Somewhere, far away from here, I saw stars, stars that I could reach, yeah," she began singing. Singing was good, it eased her nerves, "It was a midnight, this side of twilight, you fell down below the ocean beach, yeah."
Even Blue October wasn't helping, she realized as tears pricked at her eyes. Nothing would ever make those horrible years go away. . . They would always be there to haunt her.
Her phone buzzed.
*Mark - I'm on my home now. Just hang in there. Should only be 20 minutes*
*Don't rush. The rain is bad. See you in a few*
*Mark - See you in a few*
She put her phone down and started to rock back and forth unknowingly, "I assembled all the sand that cover wedding beaches to build a castle so your mom would have a place to stay," she continued, "Behind the water slide and down the hill where heaven reaches, land and time is left to float away, yeah."
She heard the thunder crack and the wind howl outside and the sound soothed her. She got up and rushed to her room to get her blanket and curled on the couch with her phone. Quickly she texted Danny.
*I may fall asleep soon, so don't worry if I don't text you back. I will when I wake up*
She held her phone to her chest and closed her eyes, still humming "Sound of Pulling Heaven Down" by Blue October, but soon she was surrounded by the numbing darkness of sleep.