Emma looked over at her phone. The airport was practically dead and she was beginning to miss her family Even though she said her good-byes an hour ago, she hoped that Sutton or Laurel would have texted her something that she missed out on but her phone hasn't lit up since she got to the airport. Emma picked up the phone. Immediately she pulled up her instagram, scrolling at the photo's she'd posted over the winter break, Kendall's little face looked up into the camera. Emma swallowed back a sob, she knew that the next time she saw that baby she would be almost six months old and she was going to miss so much in her life. She looked at her boarding pass. Her flight was supposed to begin boarding in ten minutes. Emma sighed and looked at her phone, dialing someone's familiar number, "I need you to come to the airport." She said.
Sutton and Thayer were sitting on the Mercer's bench swing enjoying the cold winter air. She wrapped a large plush blanket around their shoulders and she cuddled into his arms. He kissed her on the forehead. Sutton had Kendall in her carrier. She wore a long sleeved onesie with grey and white stripes, her pink plush blanket was tucked tightly around the babies body. A pink cotton hat on her head. She was fast asleep and Sutton smiled. Her little family may have been young, but it was the best thing that had ever happened to her, "Having you here is the best thing that could have happened this year." She said looking up at him and kissing his lips.
Thayer pulled back from the kiss and looked at her, "I'm glad to be here." He said giving her a weak smile then he looked away.
Sutton looked at him, "Thayer, what's wrong?" She said trying to catch his gaze.
He shook his head, "Nothing." He said. Even though he knew there was something he needed to tell her. But when he looked at her, all he wanted was to see her smile. He looked over at her, "Nothing's wrong. Where's my little monkey?" He said looking over Sutton and down at the sleeping baby. So far this being a dad thing really only consisted of holding Kendall when she slept. She was still too small to play with toys and she couldn't crawl or walk yet. So basically all he did was hold her and rock her to sleep when she got drowsy. But those few moments he had with his daughter meant everything to him. How could he possibly leave her again?
Emma slammed the door shut, letting the heat of the car warm her body. She shivered one last time and then looked over at her driver, "Thank you." She said reaching over her body and pulling the seat belt into it's latch.
"So what's going on? Your plane is boarding right now." Ethan said pulling out onto the airport traffic, a car behind him honked their horn, but Ethan just gave them the finger as he kept going.
Emma looked at her worn in jeans and crossed her legs, the fabric of her UGG boots that she'd gotten for Christmas rubbed together, "I can't leave." She said quietly ashamed in herself for making such a rash decision.
Ethan looked at her, "What do you mean you can't leave? You have to go back to school." He stopped at a red light and the car from before pulled up along side him. The driver returned the same gesture that Ethan had shared earlier, but he didn't even pay attention. He turned his focus on Emma.
"I can't leave Sutton. I can't leave Kendall. This is my family and I need to be there for them." She said, then she reached over and rested her hand on his arm that was gripping the gear shift of the Jeep. Her engagement ring glimmered in the light of the afternoon sun. It caught his attention and he looked down at it, "And I can't leave you."
Ethan looked at her, "Emma. Don't."
She looked at him and smiled, "What?"
He looked back at the road. The light changed green and the car next to him took off leaving Ethan and Emma in a cloud of dust, "Don't stay here because of me. Emma you have a bright future. Don't leave school because of me."
Emma looked down, "I'm not. I'm leaving because I want to. Because I don't want to miss seeing my niece grow up."
Ethan sighed and shook his head, "Emma, she's always going to be there. School is a big deal. You are too bright to just give up on school."
Emma looked at him, "I can't go back Ethan. I can't go back to that cold dorm room. I can't go back to feeling like a small fish in a big ocean and besides there's school in Phoenix."
"Stanford is a great school and you can't just give up on Mads like that. What kind of friend just ditches their roommate?" Ethan snapped.
Emma looked over at him, her face was shocked at his response. She was sure he'd be happy that she wasn't going back to California, "What's wrong with you? Can't you just be happy for once?"
"No, Emma!" He snapped, he slammed his break at another red light that caused Emma to jerk forward and slam back against the seat.
"Jesus Ethan!" She cursed.
Ethan looked at her, "You're the only one here who has a chance, Emma. You have a future. Why would you throw it all away for me?"
Emma looked at him cross, "I don't understand why you aren't happier for me."
"Because this is a stupid choice Emma. I'm not happy." He snapped angrily. He pulled into the Mercer's driveway and threw the car in park then he turned to her, "Emma look. You have a bright future. I don't. Ok? The best thing I can do is service motorcycles for a living. But you?" He looked down, "You have so much potential. You are so smart, you have so many opportunities and you're throwing it all away for me."
"And Sutton and Kendall." She reached over the car and took his hands, "I'm not throwing away my opportunities, Ethan. I'm just not going back to Stanford. There are schools here and I can transfer. But I just can't leave my family behind. I just found them, leaving them kills me every time I have to do it. Ethan you mean so much to me and being away from you for 4 months is too much for me. I'm sick of coming home for days or a week at a time. I just want to be with you and my sister and my niece. School isn't going to end because I stay here. I'm just not going to Stanford anymore." She looked at him. He was silent and she studied him trying to draw some kind of answers of how he was feeling.
After a few moments he looked at her, "I still think this is stupid. But it's your life Emma and I'll stand behind anything you choose to do if you think this is right for you." Then he leaned over and kissed her.
Emma smiled and pushed open her door, "You wanna come in?"
"I can't. I told Dan I'd help him do some work on the squad car this afternoon. Plus I'm sure Kristen is going to have some kind of heart attack when you walk through that door when you should be halfway to Stanford by now.
Emma shrugged, "Alright. Will I see you tomorrow?" Ethan nodded, "Ok, I love you."
Ethan looked at her, "I love you too baby." Then she smiled and closed the car door. She waved one last time before heading up the steps to the front door.
"Mom?" Emma called through the foyer of the house. She dropped her bags at the door. The house was quiet, no sign of Sutton or Laurel or Kendall.
"Sutton?" Kristen said walking out from her office. She looked at the girl standing in the living room. Her ripped blue jeans, maroon button down chiffon blouse, tan UGG boots and loosely curled long brown hair and she was smiling, "Emma? What are you doing here?" She sounded almost angry but mostly confused.
"I'm home." She said proudly half expecting Kristen to excited wrap her arms around her daughter and half expecting her to blow a fuse on her for not being on the plane back to California.
"I see that. Why?"
"Because I missed my mommy." Emma said hoping that Kristen would buy into her half lie.
Kristen began shaking her head, "No. You need to go. Emma, school starts Monday. You shouldn't be here." She said.
"I'm not going back." She declared, walking to the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of snapple peach tea.
Kristen followed behind her, "What do you mean you're not going back?"
"I'm not going back to Stanford, mom. I don't care if I have to get a job, I'm not leaving Sutton and Kendall." She said taking a long sip of the cool beverage.
"Kendall and Sutton will be here when you come home, Emma. But you need to go back to school. You need to finish out the semester. We can discuss this when you come home for the summer." Kristen said pushing her daughter back towards the door. Emma froze.
"I'm not going back, mom." She grabbed one of her bags and pulled it back towards her bedroom.
Kristen sighed not knowing how to handle the situation. On one hand Emma was eighteen and fully capable of making her own decisions and on the other, this was Kristen's home and as long as Emma lived under it she would obey by Kristen's rules. She watched her daughter storm down the hall and slam the door. Kristen sighed, somehow she would get Emma back to Stanford if she had to drive Emma herself.