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Feeling for You

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"Emma!" Sean yelled.

She pushed past the people crowding around her, desperate to get to the door before Sean or Manny could get to her.

Sean was pushing past the revelers, pulling his clothes back together along the way. Manny was trailing behind him, hastily buttoning her top back up.

Right in front of the door, Emma smacked right into someone in her haste to escape.

"Whoa, Em." Craig put her hands on his arms, halting her movement. "What's wrong?"

Craig's presence provided the opportunity Sean and Manny needed to catch up to Emma. Sean stopped in front of her, and attempted to grab her hand, but she jerked backwards from him and knocked against Craig. He returned his hands to her shoulders to steady her.

"Emma, please. It wasn't what it looked like." Manny said.

Emma looked at her incredulously. She couldn't believe the words coming out of Manny's mouth. "Did you honestly just say that to me?"

"Em, you have to listen …" Sean tried.

"No!" she cried. "I don't. I know what I saw Sean. You two were all over each other."

Craig's mouth dropped open, his eyes flicking between Manny and Sean, taking in their rumpled clothing and mussed hair.

"Didn't take you long, did it?" he asked Manny.

Manny flushed hotly. Sean glared at Craig, stepping closer to him. "Stay out of this."

In doing so, Sean also stepped closer to Emma who was still in front of Craig. She placed both her hands on Sean's chest and shoved him backwards. He stumbled, knocking into Jay who had come to investigate the ruckus.

"What's going on here? You guys are disrupting the party." he complained.

Nobody said anything. All four of them continued to glare at each other, too angry or embarrassed to say a word.

"Whatever." Jay said, going back to the party, but turned back briefly. "Keep it down."

"Em," Sean said quietly, "please, just talk to me. Let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain," she said sourly, "I wouldn't put out so you found someone who would." Her eyes went directly to Manny, whose lip began to tremble.

"It's not like that Em." She said slowly.

"Oh really? Then you weren't about to have sex with my boyfriend?" She yelled the last words, causing someone to turn the music off and everyone to listen to the fight going on in the foyer.

Craig shook his head. Manny would never change. Part of him felt responsible, like Emma's pain was his was his fault. He had broken Manny's heart, again, and she had tried to make herself feel better by throwing herself at Sean, not caring that he was her best friend's boyfriend. And Emma looked ready to just fall apart at any moment.

"Come on," Craig took hold of Emma's hand, "I'm getting you out of here."

Emma looked at Sean, his face the epitome of sorrow and regret. He opened his mouth to say something, most likely another apology. She turned her face away from him, squeezing her eyes together tightly. She didn't want to hear another false defense. So she let Craig lead her outside to his car at the curb.

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Craig pulled into the parking space, letting the car idle and quit. Emma had been staring blankly out the window ever since they'd gotten into the car. The only movement she'd made was a brief nod when he'd asked her if the hotel was alright. He knew Joey's was the first place Sean and Manny would look for her, and his label had given him money for a room during his stay.

He got out and walked around to her side, opening the door, and took her hand to lead her into the lobby. He got some weird looks from the few patrons loitering around, leading a girl who appeared to be out of it into a hotel in the middle of the night.

She stood almost robotically as he checked in and got the key. Craig noticed the bell boy looking her over, either wondering if she was drugged or merely checking her out. Craig placed his arm around her shoulder, steering her to the elevator.

"Em, you alright?" Craig asked once he got her into the small room. He'd asked for a double, but there weren't any available. He retrieved the extra blankets and pillows from the closet to create a make-shift bed on the floor.

Emma was sitting in the middle of the hotel bed, legs crossed under her, staring down at her folded hands in her lap. She looked up at Craig and his heart broke into a thousand pieces. Her eyes glittered with unshed tears, and the ones she had let fall had left tracks on her red cheeks. He sat in front of her and took her hands in his. They were like ice, and he began rubbing them to warm them up.

"Can I ask you something Craig?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"Of course."

"Are you in love with Ellie?" She searched his hazel eyes for the answer she wasn't sure she wanted.

"I don't know." he said honestly. "I think I could be, if … you know, if we decide to …" he trailed off uncomfortably. Craig didn't feel right talking about Ellie with Emma, not sure how she felt about her given the fact that Sean had loved her once and that he himself had chosen Manny over her.

"Is that what you want?"

Craig sighed. This entire conversation had come out of left field. Emma was still reeling from finding Sean with Manny. She wasn't in any condition to hear that he was crazy about a girl he was fairly certain she couldn't stand.

"I saw her today, before I saw Manny." he told her. "Manny freaked when she found out. We broke up."

"I want to say I'm sorry, but you deserve better." Emma said sincerely.

"Manny's your friend Emma." he said.

"She was." she contradicted. "Craig, if you want to be with Ellie, then you shouldn't let anything stop you."

Craig felt a small smile forming its way onto his face. Emma would always think of everyone else before herself. It was one of the things he loved about her. Even though she was devastated, she was putting his feelings above her own. He wanted to tell her that, but he noticed she had gone silent again.

"Hey," he said, "you okay?"

"No." she shook her head, causing more tears to spill over. "I'm not."

Craig pulled her closer and hugged her tightly. Rubbing her back soothingly, he kissed her forehead. "It'll be okay. I promise."

"How can it ever be okay Craig? Sean swore to me that he would never hurt me again. And Manny … she's like my sister." Emma scoffed, pulling back from Craig's embrace. "Some sister. She was going to have sex with my boyfriend. In my bed. What kind of a friend does a thing like that?"

She stood and walked over to the window. "I don't know why I expected better from either of them. Sean's broken my heart before. I never should have trusted him again. And Manny always thought he was cute. She did the same thing to you, remember." She turned back to him and it was all he could do hold her gaze. "Right? You were upset about Ashley and she went after you. She didn't care about Ashley then, and she certainly didn't care about me tonight."

"I'm not excusing what Manny did," Craig told her. He came up in front of her and placed his arms gently on her shoulders. "But you know that no matter what happens between you two; Manny would be there in a second if she thought you needed her."

"Yeah," Emma spat bitterly. "Just like she was so worried about me when I was sick that she was ready to just forget about it because she was angry about me over Peter. I was sick Craig, and she cared more about her own feelings than she did me."

Her head drooped forward, and her shoulders began shaking with restrained sobs. He pulled her forward and she let go, clutching the back of his shirt as the sobs racked her body.

He let her cry as long as she needed. When she had calmed down enough to pull back, she smiled at him weakly. "Thank you for being here with me. I … I don't think I could do this alone."

Craig pushed a stray hair that had gotten stuck to her cheek back behind her ear. His finger trailed down her cheek and she breathed deeply. She pressed closer to him, wanting the warmth and solidity he was providing. He held her tighter, needing to be there for her as much as she needed him.

He kissed her forehead again, about to suggest they go get something to eat, but one look in Emma's eyes and he stopped before he began. There was a glint swirling in the dark brown depths that he recognized, even though he'd never seen it from her. Not directed at him at any rate.

Emma tentatively raised her hand to his cheek. Craig knew he should stop her. There was a tightening in his chest that told him something was happening. Something that shouldn't be happening.

It was like it was happening in slow motion. Emma's lips, always so pink and smiling, pressed sweetly against his. Her other hand came up, cupping his face gently. Craig allowed his hands to rest in the curve of her waist. He knew he should stop her. She was in pain and just trying to make herself feel better. But the part of him that wanted to rescue her decided to let her use him to help ease the hurt she was feeling.

Things changed when Emma let her hands roam down his back and under his shirt. He made to pull away, but she opened her mouth and deepened the kiss substantially. It was wrong, way wrong, he knew that. But the feel of Emma's mouth moving under his and her slim fingers skating over the skin of his back made him not care and instead he tangled his hands in her hair and directed her backwards toward the bed.

They landed in a twist of limbs and a soft grunt from Craig. Emma's nails were digging into his shoulder blades, first through the thin cotton of his tee shirt, then against his bare flesh. He was loosing himself in the tan of her skin and the taste of her mouth and the scent of her hair as she whimpered beneath him.

Emma buried her fingers in Craig's mop of dark curls. She felt him moan against her throat when she began nipping at his earlobe. This wasn't how she'd intended the night to go. She was supposed to be at home, alone in her bedroom with Sean, immersed in the night she'd planned for so long. But with Craig hovering over her, his dark eyes boring into hers and his expert hands moving over her body in ways she'd never dreamed possible, she was finding it hard to care.

They were falling under, sinking deeper into a moment neither of them wanted to be in or wanted to end and they were powerless to pull themselves out. All thoughts of Sean, Manny, and Ellie flew out the window in the shadows of the desire overpowering them and taking them to a place they were never meant to go.

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