Chapter 8
My apartment was just as I had left it when I went to Forks in the first place.
The black leather couch still had a tiny rip on the corner from when my friend Amy brought over her tiny Yorkshire terrier, and the tap in the bathroom was still leaking a tiny trickle of cold water into the sink, down the drain. There was still a crack in the plaster of the kitchen ceiling.
I didn't hang my coat up in the hall closet like I normally did, just dropped it on the floor when I came in. I poured myself a glass of milk and hopped up onto the counter. I stared at the blinking orange number eleven on my answering machine for several minutes before finally reaching out to press the 'play' button.
"Hi, Summer!" came my mother's cheery voice. "I just wanted to let you know that Mary Anne is in town! You remember Mary Anne, right? She's brought her son with her. A lovely boy. Daniel. A year older than you, and very nice. He's going to college to become a doctor. I imagine he'll be living quite well! Call me back!" My mother had been trying to set me up with guy after guy for years.
Beep.
"Hi, Summer!" Mom's voice filled the room again. "I was just wondering if you'd like to go out for coffee on Wednesday afternoon with me and Mary Anne. We can even invite Daniel, if you'd like! Call me and let me know!"
Beep.
"Summer, hi," said Trevor Hills' uncertain voice. "I wanted to tell you that... me and Kylie broke up... Oh, and I wanted to ask you... if you'd go to a movie with me... on Friday. Bye."
Beep.
"Summer, the second you get this message, get your butt over to my place," shrieked one of my best friends, Amy. "I have some exciting news! Bye!"
Beep.
"Summer, where the hell are you?" It was Amy again, and she seemed to have no time for hellos. "Pick up your phone..."
Beep.
"Hi, Summer. I wanted to go out for coffee on Wednesday, remember?" My mother sounded angry. "What day is it now? Thursday. Why didn't you call me back? Phone me as soon as you get in. Bye!"
Beep.
"Summer Johnson, why won't you answer your phone?" It was Amy yet again, and she sounded confused and furious and annoyed all at once. "I wanted to tell you my big news! I even went over to your apartment and waited for, like, hours, and you didn't answer the door and you didn't show up! So now I'm going to have to tell you on your answering machine. Which, just so you know, is lame. Because then I don't get to know what your initial reaction is. So... here it is." Amy paused for a dramatic effect. "I'm engaged! Now phone me back!"
Engaged. That was a big step. I wondered briefly if Amy and Nolan were ready for that, but I was too absorbed in my own problems to really react to Amy's news. I knew that was stupid.
Beep.
"Summer, what do you think you're doing?" I was surprised to hear Bella's indignant voice issuing from the tiny speakers on my answering machine. I wondered how she'd gotten my phone number, as I had still been living at home when she moved to Forks and we hadn't been in contact at all until I'd shown up there for my little surprise visit. "You won't get away from Embry this way! And Alice blames you for how mad I am at her."
"I do not!" Alice yelled in the background.
Beep.
"Summer, hi," came a deep voice that I couldn't place for a minute. "I just want you to know that, uh, Embry's pretty depressed now that you've left." I suddenly realized who it was -- Jacob. "He won't eat, he won't sleep. And, uh, you should also know that Bella's chewed Alice out about fifty times for letting you leave and Alice still won't admit to having seen you before you left, but Edward's told Bella the truth." There was a pause. "You should've stayed, Summer. Now that Embry's... you know... I don't know if I should say it over the phone... But now that he has, you know, he can't be happy without you. Please come back."
Beep.
"Summer Katherine Johnson, you are ignoring your own mother!" My mom practically yelled into the phone. "You won't return my calls, you won't let me in when I buzz your apartment... I know you have call display, so you're obviously avoiding my calls. This is not the way you should treat me, Summer! I've taken care of you your whole life, and this is how you repay me? Is this about Daniel?" She rants on for a while until the machine cuts her off.
Beep.
"Um, Summer? I just -- oh. It's Alice, by the way. Um, I just wanted to tell you that no matter what you do, it won't keep Embry away from you. He's not going to move on -- he can't move on. He'll never get over you and if he thinks that he'll never see you again, he'll probably kill himself or something. I can't tell -- I can't see him. Just thought you should know, you know, so maybe you'll come back. It's not just Embry, either. Bella's pretty depressed, too. Which makes Jasper depressed. Which makes me depressed. Which makes basically everyone depressed. Edward says that because I'm the optimistic one and they're all used to me being happy all the time, and now I'm not, it affects everyone else or something like that. Anyways, I'm going to go know, because this phone reeks. Jacob used it earlier. Bye, Summer."
And, with a final beep, the answering machine fell silent. I pressed erase and wandered into the living room area of my apartment with my glass of milk, but stopped short. My heart almost stopped as I stared out through the glass door of the balcony. My glass of milk dropped from my hand and the white liquid spilled all over the carpet, splashing onto the leather couch.
There -- on the sixth floor, no less -- stood Embry.
Author's Note: Would you look at that! I didn't take a month and a half to update! In fact, I took less than a week! Are you as proud of me as I am? :) So in the way of my life's news, my six-year-old sister was making Valentines last night with my mom (for her kindergarten class) and then she felt sick, so Mum took her upstairs. Later Emma went back downstairs, and then she came back upstairs and said she was going to bed. We figured it was because she'd felt sick earlier. Then Mum found a whole bunch of tissues in the garbage with blood all over them! She asked me and my brother if we knew what they were from and we didn't know. Emma was curled up in bed with her hand tucked into her chest and she had Band-Aids stuck all over her finger. Mum had forgotten to put the Exacto knife away and Emma cut her finger! :( Mum and Dad took her to the hospital to see if she needed stitches... They got back around midnight and Emma's fine. Apparently it was "borderline" for the stitches so they didn't do stitches, 'cause Emma's only six and there's two needles to freeze it. So they used this stuff (Dad says it's kinda like crazy glue) to stick the skin together and then bandaged it up. Emma's gonna be the hero at her kindergarten class! Like last month when Avery broke her arm, everyone wanted to eat their snack at Avery's table. :) Anyways, sorry this chapter's really short. Thank you to 65ashben, jinnabun, LegoLassss, starbright37, vampiremom1221 (I did listen to Kelly while I wrote this chapter), xX Diet Pepsi Xx, HPobsessssssed7, and Cherry Blossoms 1991 for reviewing, as well as two (!) anonymous reviewers, Mia and Rose. I think that's possibly the most reviews I've gotten for a chapter on this story yet! Hooray!!!
