Sean sat in his bedroom. He had his dress pants and his nice shirt on. His tie was in his hands. He was thinking about the past couple days. Emma and him had been over—but it wasn't, at least not for him—he was in love with her.
He
had been staring off into space during Mr. Simpson's class. Miss
Nelson and Mr. Simpson were getting married tomorrow. Emma hadn't
invited him. He supposed it was because of that fight that he had had
with Jimmy. He didn't mean to push her down, but it wasn't his
fault that she had gotten in the way. It wasn't until he pushed her
down that the rest of the world went spinning down. Tracker knew
something was up. He didn't say much, but somehow Tracker just
knew. Emma helped him want to become better. It was so complicated
that he didn't know what to do. He had wanted to kill Jimmy and he
could've, but then when Emma said not to, he was torn. His anger
won, he couldn't help it. All of a sudden he was brought back to
the here and now by a comment from J.T.
"Do
we really have to hear this?"
Manny
spoke up, trying to keep quiet. "J.T., shut up. I'm trying to
listen.
"And I'm
about to throw up." J.T. responded.
Sean
just had to say something. "Somebody's never been in
love."
Toby
looked at him. "And you have Sean?"
Manny
looked a little in disbelief, "Really. With who, exactly? Not Emma
by any chance?"
Sean
shut up. It was true. He was in love with Emma. What could he say
about that? He ignored them for the rest of class.
His
day had been pretty uneventful after that. He was reading in the
library when Manny came in.
"Hey
Sean."
"Manny."
She had gone to the book shelve that was behind him.
"So,
tomorrow—big wedding."
"Yeah.
Give my best to Miss Nelson."
"Actually,
you can tell her." He looked up from his book. What did she mean?
"Emma came by earlier to get some books and she said this was for
you."
"Emma
wants me at the wedding? He could hardly believe his own
words.
"Yeah.
She made me promise, I'd, like, get this to you."
"Cool.
Thanks." Manny started walking off still holding the invitation and
playfully trying to keep it from him. "Hey." Finally he got it
from her. "Thanks Manny." She left him alone with the golden
invitation. An invitation that was all for him—maybe there was hope
after all. He put it in his binder and tried to continue reading his
book. It was harder because he was wondering how he could handle
this. He couldn't afford any mistakes otherwise that might really
be the end. Craig came up and sat down.
"So
how's it going?" He asked Sean.
"Good."
"What
did Manny want?"
"She
wanted to give me an invitation to Emma's wedding."
"Wait,
Manny invited you to a wedding for Emma?"
He
thought for a minute; that was wrong. "No. Emma gave Manny an
invitation to give to me to go to her mother's
wedding."
"That's
awesome. See and you were worried that you weren't invited. I told
you that it was probably going to be a little late."
Sean
looked around. "I was not worried." He really had been and Craig
knew that. After all he knew that he had mentioned it a couple of
times.
Craig just
smiled at him and said, "Sure. Look, I gotta get going to class.
But I'll talk to you later."
"Cool."
And with that Craig left. He knew that Craig did have feelings for
Manny, even though it was kind of complicated. And no wonder, if Emma
had acted the way Manny had he wasn't sure that he could've taken
it. She had acted like a little kid. It was kind of like she had
never had a boyfriend before.
Finally
school was over. Tomorrow he could go to the wedding and talk to
Emma—maybe set things right. He walked home and went inside. He
didn't have that much homework, so he did that right away. Then he
went outside and started working on the bike. His brother came home
about ten minutes later.
"Hey
Sean, how's the bike?"
"Good."
"I'll
be out in a minute."
Tracker
went in and came back out with a pot of something; he wasn't sure
what it was. But Tracker sat on the steps and watched Sean work on
the bike. He had been working for a good hour. "Doing some good
work man."
"Huh."
"Here,
use this." Tracker handed Sean a wrench and sat back down. "So, I
thought maybe we'd get out of the city tomorrow. Go up to those
Bayside Backwoods for some action. Sean handed Tracker the
invitation. Normally he would have loved to go, but this was more
important. "Nelson as in, Emma
Nelson?"
"Yeah."
Tracker
handed the invitation back and Sean put it away. "Looks like
you've got some better plans."
All
of a sudden he heard Manny. "Sean." She tripped and fall down.
"Ahh. Ooh. Uhh." She got up.
Tracker
asked, "Are you okay?"
Sean
stood up. "Manny, are you okay?"
"Fine."
There
was something wrong. Why was Manny here? "Something
wrong?"
"Yeah,
sort of." She looked at Tracker and then Sean looked at
him.
"What?"
Sean gave him another look. "My gosh, you've got to be kidding."
He got up and went into the house.
Manny
looked uncomfortable. "Remember that invite I gave
you?"
"Yeah.
It's right here." He took it out and showed Manny.
"It's
sort of a mistake." Sean felt his heart fall. She didn't want him
there. "Sean, I'm really sorry." Manny must have given it to
him. "It's just..."
"Don't
worry about it." Sean didn't want her to see him upset. HE handed
Manny the invitation and she took it.
"Sorry."
'"No,
no, no, doesn't worry. It's-it's no problem." He watched as
Manny left. HE couldn't believe it. Sean went and sat back down .
Oh well, he just had to brush it off. Tracker came out and leaned in
the doorway.
"Everything
all right?"
"Yeah.
I'm fine. Fine." He wasn't really. But what could Tracker do
about it , force Emma to invite him?
"Because
my offer for tomorrow still stands if you want."
"Yeah."
Looks like they were leaving the city tomorrow. It would be for the
best; at least he wouldn't have to think about this mess. Emma
didn't want him there after all. He was crushed. He didn't really
do much the rest of the night.
The
next day he was working a little bit more on the bike before they
left. Tracker was on the stairs again looking at a magazine. "Man.
These wrestlers today. Oh, Sean. You got to check this out
man."
Sean went
over to the magazine. "Mmmm, yeah, she's—"
Tracker
interrupted him. "Hi Emma."
"Emma.
Great." This was not what he needed. She pulled him a little away
from Tracker.
"Sean,
I've ruined everything."
"What
are you talking about?"
"I
interfered and ruined everything and I don't think the wedding's
going to happen and everyone's going to hate me." He wanted to
comfort Emma, but he couldn't, at least not physically. Why had she
even come to him? Wasn't she still upset at him? He would try to
help her.
"Emma,
you interfering—it's nothing new. Do people ever hate you for
it?"
"Maybe,
behind my back?"
"No,
never..." He could never hate her, how could anyone? "So don't
worry about it. It'll all work out." He turned and started back
to the bike.
"I
really, really hope so." She went and stopped him again. This time
her back was facing Tracker. "Sean, what about what I did to
you?"
Did she
have to bring this up? "It sucked all right? Manny should have
never invited me."
"I
know." He turned and headed back to the bike. "I should have."
He turned and looked at her, what had she said? "Sean if the
wedding does happen. The party starts at three."
Emma
started to leave. "Thanks. Emma. " Sean put on his jacket and
Emma turned around. "What happened to your hair?" It was
extremely poofy. She pointed at him and left. Sean turned back
towards Tracker.
"So,
um...I take it we have a change of plans today?" Sean looked down.
He guessed, he wasn't sure what to do. Maybe he should just not go
and not worry about it. But she had come over and asked him herself,
but maybe she felt guilty.
It
was 3:30 when Tracker came into his room. "You know staring at that
tie isn't going to make her appear before you."
Sean
looked up. "I wasn't hoping that."
"No?
Look, I know how much you still like her."
"Huh?
Whatever."
"Okay,
okay, pretend all you like. But if I'm not mistaken the reception
has already started. Get that tie on and get going. Or do you need
help with that?"
"No,
I got it."
Tracker
left the room. Sean put the tie on quickly and left.
He
got to the reception. He saw Craig, Manny, Mr. And Mrs. Simpson, Mr.
Raditch, J.T., Toby and Emma. Even with her hair still looking poofy
she still looked good. The dress suited her. She looked like she was
enjoying herself. He leaned against the tree nearest him and just
enjoyed watching Emma. Before he knew it Emma was walking toward
him.
"Hey."
"Hey.
Uh, it's a slow song and you're not dancing."
Emma
looked back towards the reception. "no one really caught my
interest."
"Oh.
How about now?" He said, hoping that maybe she'd say
yes.
She looked up
at him. "I'd love to."
He
put his hands around her waist and she put her hands on his
shoulders. This felt comfortable. They leaned their foreheads
together. Then they leaned in and kissed. He was in heaven. They
leaned back against each other's foreheads. He wanted to stay here
forever. He knew it wouldn't be, so he kept his eyes closed and
lived in the moment.
