That evening, Emma was laying low in her room when her phone rang. When she picked it up, she heard, "Hey beautiful. It's good to know that you're still alive. How did it go?"
She answered, "It went."
"That bad?"
"My mom totally lost it! She went off about me still being her little girl and she made such a big deal about me spending the night alone with a boy." Emma put a sarcastic tone on those last few words, mocking how her mother had said them hours earlier. "I mean does she have selective memory or something? She let you stay alone with me that night they were with my brother in the hospital."
"But, that was different. I think she thought she had some control over that night. At least we were in 'her' house at the time. If nothing else she knew where you were and who you were with. She was probably just worried about you last night."
"Why do you do that?" Emma sounded frustrated.
Jay proceeded with caution. "Do what?"
"Defend my parents when I complain about them."
"Well, it's no secret that my relationship with my own parents has been pretty nonexistent, so I guess I just think it's nice that yours actually care enough to worry about where you are and what you're doing." There was an awkward silence as Emma was suddenly stricken with guilt for playing the 'woe-is-me' card in front of Jay after everything he had told her about his childhood of practically having to raise himself. Fortunately, for Emma, Jay changed the subject quickly. "So, what now? Are you ever allowed to see me again?"
"For now, I guess." Emma realized that she had not really discussed who she could and could not see with her parents as of yet, but she knew that their conversation was not over, just on hold. "But, my parents want to talk to your parents, tomorrow."
"Oh, okay," Jay replied nonchalantly.
"Okay?[!] How can that be okay?[!]"
Jay laughed a light-hearted, not-a-care-in-the-world, laugh. "Em, I'm not worried. No matter what they want to happen between us, they can't keep us apart 24/7. We still live in the same town and go to the same school."
Emma deflated. "Yeah, I guess you have a point there." Recently, Emma had begun to notice that Jay had a way of calming her better than anyone else in her life. At times, it annoyed her, because every now and then she just wanted to be mad. It made her feel better somehow, more empowered over whatever was making her go against her natural instinct to believe that people were inherently good, in the first place. Sometimes she just wanted to let her blood boil, but Jay never made it easy for her. The Emma that he fell in love with wanted to save the world and everyone-good, bad, and in between-who lived in it. Being angry at someone or something was not conducive to reaching that goal, so he always tried whatever he could to still the raging emotion that threatened to darken his girlfriend's beautifully bright eyes.
At least, this time, Emma was appreciative of his efforts and basked in the way he could make her feel even after such a stressful confrontation with her parents. "It's driving me crazy not being near you right now," she whispered as her heart tightened with the realization that the events of last night had solidified the bond between her and this guy on the other end of the phone line. The possibility of being taken away from him for longer than a day or two was a horrifying thought that she believed could cause her irreparable damage if it ever became a reality.
"Yeah, I want to be with you too. But, we probably shouldn't upset your parents anymore right now. They just need a little time."
"Patience has never been my strong suit."
"They'll come around."
There was another long pause as Emma, satisfied with the state of her parental problems for the moment, switched gears in her mind. "…So, um, should we talk about last night, or not? I'm not really sure how this works."
"What do you want to talk about?"
Emma's lack of experience suddenly made her extremely uncomfortable. "I don't know. Shouldn't we be having one of those 'what does this mean' conversations? Or, do people not have those anymore, because sex doesn't mean what it used to mean in relationships?"
"Sex can mean whatever you think it means." Jay's tone was patient and kind. "What did last night mean to you?"
"You first." Emma's insecurities had come out to play. Did Jay feel the same way she did? There was no telling how many girls he had hooked up with back in his ravine days. Usually, that seemed like a lifetime ago, but what if it wasn't as in the past as she thought it was? Was it wrong for her to put so much consideration and emotion into something, Jay had once done and possibly still did just for fun, not love? She could not bring herself to tell him everything going on inside her head until she knew where he stood on all of this, for risk of humiliation.
Jay could sense Emma's anxiety building, so he skipped the 'I asked you first' argument and went straight to his answer. "Okay, well, last night meant…everything to me. I know that it was your first time and for you to feel comfortable enough to share that with me…I just want you to know that I get it. I know you didn't go into this lightly, and it wasn't just another time for me. I've never loved like I love you and everything with you is more intense than anything I've ever experienced before. I just don't want you to worry that sex is all I wanted out of you, and that I am going to start to pull away now. This thing we have going here is much more than that for me, and I can't think of anywhere I would rather be than with you for as long as you'll let me."
Relief enveloped Emma. "You're kinda perfect, you know that?"
"Yeah, I get that a lot."
Emma rolled her eyes but smiled. Jay really was amazing and she was glad to hear that he felt the same way she felt about him. Just then, Spike hollered for her from upstairs. Emma moved the phone away from her mouth so that she would not yell into Jay's ear. "Be right there, Mom!"
Emma moved the phone back into position. "Jay, last night was amazing for me too and you just said exactly what I wanted to hear. I have to go now, but I'll see you at school on Monday, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. Bye, beautiful."
They both hung up and Emma went upstairs for a somewhat silent dinner with her parents and younger brother.
Please forgive me for becoming a bit distracted by the 90's Are All That programming these last few weeks! I am so sorry it took me this long to update!
I hope you all liked this chapter. It literally took me days to get the wording just the way I wanted it. I felt as though the concept of the chapter was a bit boring, so I tried to dress it up with some fancy writing. Also, I didn't want to make Jay too mushy, but, considering this is chapter 51, I think there has been enough time in their relationship for him to develop some real and strong feelings for Emma. So, I hope you like where this went.
More drama is coming soon! Preview: The 'rents have a talk.
