Disclaimer: I do not own the lying game or any of his characters.
I had no other choice than to get off the bus. The bus driver would have thrown me out if I hadn't. He needed to respect his schedule he said. He drove away as soon as Ted had picked up my bag.
"Why were you going like that Emma?" Kristen said when she took me in her arms and embraced me. Where I was going? Vegas. I was planning on going back to Vegas. But that's not what she wants to hear right now.
"Yes, and why where you even on that bus? Why didn't you come home yesterday? You had us worried sick Emma!" Ted almost yelled as he took me in his arms too. Worried? They were worried? Sure, they were, they'll get in trouble with social services if I disappear like that. That's why they were worried. Don't dream Emma.
"What did Sutton told you?" I'm sure she had to tell them something. Actually, she didn't even have to lie, because I did just as she wanted.
"She told us you got in a fight with Thayer. That you never really wanted to be here in the first place." What? No way! She really did tell them that? Couldn't she at least find a better lie? Something that doesn't make them feels bad. Because I'm sure they did.
"Is it true Emma? You don't want to be with us?" Kristen asked as she whipped of a tear off her face.
"I did have a fight with Thayer. But that's not why I left." Not at all. I left because of your beloved daughter.
"So why did you Emma? Why where you going away? Did we do something wrong? Do you want to go away?" Ted said cutting of Kristen. Oh god, my heart was breaking over and over again.
"No, you didn't do anything wrong. It's me." They didn't do anything wrong. There are perfect. All I ever wanted. Even in my dreams I never had such a great family.
"So why were you leaving Emma!" Kristen continued. I'm not sure they really want to know. And it isn't going to do anyone much good. They don't want to know that their daughter is a bitch.
"Does it really matter why?" I asked. "Because it isn't going to change anything. One day you'll wake up and you'll be tired of me. Best case scenario, I'll be over 18 and you'll be able to kick me out of your house without having social services on your back, and if it happens before I'm 18, well social services will just put me in another family and wait till I'm old enough to get kicked out of there. I figured I better left before I got kicked out again. Better leave with good memories of you guys." I said without crying anymore. I would have thought that I would be crying my guts out, but I guess I already cried out every single tear I had in my body. But that had to happen, I'm crying since yesterday…
"What? You really thought we would kick you out Emma?" Ted said as he looked at me with his blue eyes. I can't tell if it was disappointment that I was reading on his face or just sadness. I didn't even nod.
"Emma, we wanted to tell you when the paper work would have been done. We were about to adopt you." Kristen said as she took my hand. "We would have never kicked you out! You are as much a part of this family as Laurel and Sutton! By Friday everything would have been done and you wouldn't even be in social services anymore! Even for the law, you would be our kid!" What? Adopt me? They were really thinking of adopting me?
"You wanted to adopt, me?" I repeat like if maybe it would make any more sense the second time.
"Yes. We were about to talk about it to you yesterday at dinner. Laurel already knew about it and thought it was a great idea!" I'm not so surprised they don't say anything about what Sutton thought about it.
"Emma? Is that something you could want? If you don't want us to do that you just have to tell us!" Ted said as he took my surprised face for something else.
"You were about to adopt ME!" I repeat again not believing it. I was about to leave, the one and only family that actually wanted ME.
"We still are going to do so. Now let's go back home, I'm sure everyone is going to be glad to hear we found you before you left. I can't imagine how hard it would have been to track you down in Vegas." Track me down?
"Let's go back home." Kristen said as she putted an arm around my shoulder and leaded me towards the car.
Kristen let her arm around me during the way back home. I think she was scared I would disappear or leave again. But I've already tried to disappear, and it never worked. I was nervous. More nervous than I was when I stepped on the bus. I still couldn't really believe what they had told me. Why would they want to adopt a 17 year old? Why would they want to adopt me, when nobody ever wanted me? It didn't make any sense for me. But I'd just leave it like that. If they did it, I guess it would be the most beautiful day in my life. If they didn't, well I'd still have some more time with them. I wonder how Sutton is going to react when she'll see me come back home. I'm sure she isn't going to be really happy about it.
"Emma, you have to promise us to never do that again" Do what? Do us I'm told by Sutton? I'm not sure I'll ever listen to her anymore. Not even when she asks me something. After what she did, I don't even want to look at myself in the mirror. Because if I did, I would see her. How sick is that? Who would actually sleep with her sister's boyfriend just because she didn't agree with her?
"I won't do it again." Till you ask me too. If they ask me too. I don't really know what to think about both of them. They seem like if they really care about me. Those tears I saw on Kristen's face, where real. Even Ted had water in his eyes when he found me. Maybe, this time I won't have to leave. This time could be different.
"You better don't! Because if you did, I'll have to come and take you back home. Even if I have to come find you on the other side of the world!" Ted added.
"I promise. I won't leave again." I replied. Maybe I won't have to leave again.
"You better don't! I, no, WE love you Emma. You may not be born in our family, and it took us some time, but you ARE our daughter! I love you as much as if you would have come out of my own belly." Really?
"Kristen is right Emma. We love you as much as we love Laurel and Sutton." First they tell me that they want to adopt me, and then they tell me that they love me?
"Maybe you could just say it again tomorrow?" I whisper.
"We'll repeat it every single day if it is what we have to do for you to believe us sweetheart. We love you." I felt my heart beat harder. We were arrived at home by now. I couldn't wait to find my bed again. I thought I would never sleep in it again.
"Let's get inside. I'm sure Sutton and Laurel want to see you." I wouldn't bet on that one.
"We're home!" Ted said as he opened the door. He didn't want to let me carry my own bag back into the bedroom. I felt even guiltier after that. Why did I have listen to Sutton? Well, I do know why, because of what she did and what she said. If she was able to sleep with him just to get after me, she could be a lot worse.
"Ted, let me take it to my bedroom." I almost beg him again.
"Emma, I'm going to put your bag where it belongs." He says as he looks at me. "And I hope, it will stay there…" I had promise I wasn't going to run away again. Maybe I wasn't the only one with a trust issue. But I get why they have a hard time to believe me. Kids who run away once usually do it over again.
"Laurel? Sutton? We're back!" Kristen said as she almost pushed me in the kitchen. "You probably are starving! What do you want to eat? Do you want to go out? Maybe we could eat at the club if you want to? What do you feel like having tonight Emma?" Rest? Maybe a pain killer. I would be happy with only a chair. My feet are killing me!
"Why don't I cook? I can cook if you want too!" I said as I sat on the one of the chairs around the table.
"Sweetheart, I ask you what you wanted to eat, I didn't ask you to cook. So what do you want?" Kristen said.
"Maybe we could…" I start not really knowing what to say. "Maybe we could just order some pizza?" I say and regretted it. Why did I say pizza? Couldn't I just have said something that I know they had in house.
"Oh. I see someone finally come to her mind." Laurel said as she entered the kitchen. I felt how cold she was. She was mad, really mad.
"Pizza it is! I'll go order some right away." Kristen said and left me alone with Laurel. Laurel looked at me with her arms crossed around her chest. She didn't say a word and just stared at me.
"Soooo, how was school today?" I ask trying to break the ice.
"Really? You want to talk about school? Okay, let's talk about school. I went to bed last night thinking that something had happened to you, and I woke up even more freak out because you still weren't back home! So I went to school, somehow hoping I would find you there, but still no Emma. No Emma decided to run away from home without even saying goodbye! That's how my day at school was!" She said without taking back her breathe. I was right. She was mad. Don't have to be genius to see that.
"I'm sorry…" I couldn't find anything better. She was right. I had been selfish. Not thinking about how they would feel. I had thought they would have been relieved. But obviously, I was wrong.
"Oh, that makes everything better, you're sorry. I feel sooo much better now!" She adds as she open the fridge and put a bottle of water in front of me. "You should drink." She said. Laurel is really one of the sweetest person in the entire world. Even when she's mad at you she thinks of what's best for you. So I took the bottle and drink.
"I'm sorry." I repeated. There was nothing else to say.
"What did she do?" She then asked me. What? How does she know?
"What are you talking about?" She was going to say something but Kristen walked in the kitchen and Laurel kept quit.
"They should be delivered soon. I haven't seen Sutton yet, where did she go?" Kristen said. I was wondering if somehow she thought Sutton had done the same stupidity as I had done.
"She went at Mads." Oh, she went back at the place of the crime. I wonder if she's with Thayer right now. The thought of it only made me sick.
"Is it okay I just go lay down on my bed till they are deliver?" I ask so I they would stop staring at me.
"Sure, sure. I'll call you as soon as they get here." So I stood up and tried to walk normally towards my bedroom. Ted was still in it when I entered it. He was looking at the wall.
"Oh, Emma. I was just putting your stuff away, when I noticed that there missed a picture on this wall…" I looked at the wall and know exactly which picture was missing. I opened my purse and took the picture I had put in it before I putted it back on the wall.
"Nothing missing anymore." I said as I avoid his look. I walked towards my bed as normally as I could a sat down.
"Emma? Anything wrong? You don't really walk normally…" Oh, and I thought I did. And how does he even know how I walk?
"Really? So you know exactly how I walk?" I say joking. Maybe he would just forget about it with a little joke.
"Emma, could you please take of your shoes for me." If I say no, what is he going to do? Laurel had joined us and was waiting in the door opening, probably waiting for Ted to leave and for us to continue our conversation. Ted looked at me and I saw I better didn't discus with him. So I took of my shoes and he saw the bandage Ethan had wrapped around my feet yesterday. "May I?" He asks as he points towards the bandage.
"It's nothing, just a little scratch…" I lied hoping he would believe me. But who covers a little scratch with a whole foot bandage?
"Well, I'll see that for myself will I." He says as he slowly and carefully takes it off. I tried my best not to let him see that it wasn't really pleasant. "Oh god Emma! How did you do that?"
"I kind of walked on broken glass…" I tell him. He's a doctor, lying to him wouldn't be really helpful to build up there trust again.
"I think I'm going to be sick!" Laurel said and got out of sight.
"And you didn't think it would be a good idea to go to the hospital?" Nope, I had still the image of Sutton with my now ex-boyfriend in my head.
"Not really…" Now he was going to think I was just stupid and regret the fact that he told me he was about to adopt me.
"Stay here, I'm going to get some stuff and take care of that. I think you'll like to have some pain killers." He said and almost run out of my bedroom.
Ethan did a good job, Ted didn't found any piece of glass left in my feet. Ted didn't do too much but I was glad he had taken a look on them. Besides, he had given me a pain killer too. And I was feeling a lot better already. I could run a marathon without even feeling them. The pizza guy wasn't here yet and Ted had to take a call and Kristen was calling someone too. I think she was on the phone with Alec or something like that. So Laurel took her chance, entered my bedroom and closed the door behind her.
"What did she do to make you leave?" She asked as soon as the door was closed. "How do you feel?" She asked as soon as she saw my feet.
"Honestly? Betrayed." Betrayed by the two persons I thought I could trust.
"So, I'm right? She did do something to make you leave? You would have never just left if she had done something too you. Right?" No, I wouldn't have run away if she hadn't. Why would I even want to run away?
"When we were riding to Char's, I had dared disagree with Sutton. But she told me it was okay, that that's something sister are allowed to do. Yesterday, I got a text from Thayer's. He asked me to come over so I did. When I got there, Mads showed me to Thayer's bedroom. I opened the door only to see Sutton in bed. She told me that I was a real pain in the ass, that nobody wanted me and that I need to leave. That she could take everything away that she had given to me."
"That bitch! And Thayer! I would have never expected him to do that! He seemed like if he was so into you! I get why you left. O come here!" She said as she come over by herself and hugged me. "Poor girl! I'm going to kick his ass for cheating on you! And Sutton! She went way to far this time! Have you told mom and dad?" No way! I'm not telling them!
"I'm not telling them Laurel. They don't have to know. I don't want them to hate her." She wanted to add something but Kristen came and told us the pizzas where there. Laurel still looked at me trying to figure out if she would tell them. But even if she wanted to, she didn't. I decided I would call Ethan before I'd get to bed, just to let him know that I wasn't leaving town anymore. And after everything he did, he deserved to know.
Two chapters on one day. What can I say? I got inspired. I don't know if you guys have noticed it but I try to update at least on chapter a day. But, I'm not sure I'll be able to do that when school is going to start again.
So, let me know what you thought of this chapter! Review!
I also wanted to thank all of you again for reading and reviewing.