After my conversation with Jacob in the woods, I went back to the house to make sure Embry was okay. I had started the whole mess and it was my job to clean it all up. The russet skinned boy was cautious around me, and I knew without him saying anything that I smelled like Jacob and my lips were plump from his kisses. I wanted to let him know that everything was okay with us, so when I entered the room, I threw my arms around him and kissed him with all the emotion that had built up in my heart. He gladly accepted my embrace and everything was good again. Well, he was a little scratched up, we had some talking to do and some discussions about where we stand, but overall, everything was alright.
The rest of the day was surprisingly not awkward. Jacob stayed away in an attempt to resign himself to his fate. I thought the whole situation was a bit melodramatic, but I figured that having his heart broken twice was not something easy to recover from. The guys had told me about his unrequited and unusual relationship with Bella Swan, combined with the knowledge that he had run off for a while to escape this town and all the memory that was trapped here, I could understand. Having never given my heart to anyone but Embry, I had never had to deal with the pain of having a broken heart like he had, but I was not without sympathy. According to everyone else in the group, heartache wasn't something to sneeze about. My relationships were just starting to smooth themselves out, I wasn't about to borrow trouble. Thankfully, Colin started acting like my little brother again and the pack was able to hang out without stress.
I was up in my room after dinner with Sam and Emily when I got a phone call from Rachel. Apparently she had purchased some vodka and sprite and wanted somebody to share it with. When I asked why she didn't share it with Paul, she responded with "Paul has a dick. Now get over here." Sounds like a girl's night out, so I put my hair up into a ponytail and headed off to our little meeting spot on the beach. By the time I got there she had a fire going and was already slightly buzzed from some beer she had earlier.
"Rach baby, you need to stop drinking before I'm around." I greeted her as I plopped down on the blanket beside her. My best friend gave me a scathing look before passing me a glass of vodka and sprite. I took a sip out of the bendy straw and choked. "Damn! Gimme a warning next time you give me a majority of vodka chica." She laughed at me and I took a big swig to make up for it. I knew that if she was starting us off with something hard, then she had a story to tell.
"I wanna get drunk tonight Auggie, so don't push it." She sounded off, as though there was something heavy weighing on her mind. I would wait until she had more alcohol in her system before I pushed her for information. I found out by accident that Rachel is more susceptible to my probing for information when she was slightly drunk.
At first I started with easy questions like, "How was your day?" and "What side of the bed did you wake up on?" Often enough she would just laugh at me, but there was a hard quality to her laughter, like she was borderline hysterical from what was weighing her down. I decided it was time to break out the big guns, so somewhere between her second and third glass of mostly vodka, I started asking the tough questions.
"So why the random drinking night doll? Paul being an ass?" I was just teasing, so I didn't expect her to start crying. She wasn't being neat either. She was sobbing; big heaving gasps that made huge streams of salty water pour from her eyes. I pulled her into my arms and let her cry away. If she was this distraught, I was going to have to tan her boyfriend's furry hide. "It's okay Rach, you can tell me anything."
"Paul isn't being an ass at all. He's being freaking perfect." She confessed. She was furiously wiping at her eyes, trying to get rid of the tears that were still running down her face.
"If he's being so wonderful, then why are you upset?" I asked. She turned puffy eyes my way and what she said rocked my world off its axis.
"I had an affair." My green eyes went wide and my jaw dropped. Rachel took a large swallow of her drink before starting to cry again.
"When did this happen sweetie?" I was wracking my mind, trying to figure out when all of this madness had occurred. She started speaking, but it was so riddled with hiccups that I had to tell her to take a few breaths before what she said started to make sense.
"After Embry and Colin got into that fight, I decided I needed to get away for the weekend since the beach trip was obviously cancelled. I went up to Port Angeles, just to hit up a bar or something." She paused, her face guilty, "I ended up having a one night stand with some guy at this one bar with awesome rock music and we didn't use protection." With her story completed, Rachel slumped against me and cried until her eyes were completely dried out.
I was lost for words. I had no idea what I was supposed to say to that. So I held her in my arms and let Rachel cry her heart out. She had walked herself into this situation, but she was my best friend and it was my job to hold her hand through the hard times. If something came of her one night stand with that nameless guy, it could throw off her burgeoning relationship with Paul. It would always come back to me to help her pick up the pieces of her broken heart until Paul could do it for me. I scooped up the liquor that we didn't drink and dumped it into a garbage bin on our way home from the beach. I walked Rachel back to the Black's house and helped her onto the couch. I tucked her in and left a bottle of tylenol next to her on the coffee table before I left for home myself.
When I got back to the house, it was really late. Sam and Emily had gone to bed and only the porch light was left on for me. Despite the large amounts of alcohol consumed, Rachel's news had sobered me up quickly, and whatever buzz I had going earlier was completely gone. I trudged up the stairs to my room and tried to avoid stubbing my toe on the corner of the hall way like I always do. The only sound left in the house was the shuffling of my feet on the wood floor and my breathing. My room was dark and quiet, and without another person for the first time in a long time. I turned my night light on and slumped on my bed. I glanced down at my phone that I had left in my room while at the beach and realized that someone had texted me. Considering I don't text, this was attention catching. I opened up my phone and read it.
Gusty, you better have a damn good reason for not calling me.
I didn't have to look to know who sent it. Emma was the only person who ever referred to me as Gusty. Not even Jackson, the one who loved to give monikers to every person he met, didn't like the nickname. But, Emma was one stubborn Pennsylvanian, and she consistently called me Gusty, even when I asked to be called August. I closed the text and punched in her number so I could leave her a voicemail. They were several hours ahead of us and I didn't want to wake her up. When the call went through, I almost burst into tears from missing her so badly.
"Greetings friend, you've reached the voicemail of Emma Du Bois. I'm either unavailable or ignoring you. Leave a message and if you're lucky, I'll get back to you. Until then, peace."
I laughed even as the machine asked me if I wanted to page her as an option before instructing me to wait until the beep to leave my message. When the beep sounded, I started speaking.
"Hey smart ass! It's August. You texted me, so I'm calling you. Sorry I didn't do so sooner. There's a time difference here, so please try to avoid calling me at unholy hours of the morning. I love you ya bump on the log, call me back. Oh! And say hi to Jackson for me, would ya?" I hung up the phone and set it on my bedside table. There was nothing I wanted more at the moment than Emma handing me a glass of chocolate milk while Jackson rubbed my neck. They had a talent forcheering me up that couldn't be taken away, no matter how many miles across the U.S. we happened to be.
Emma was my best friend. And holding you when you cry is just something that best friends do.