It was always the little things that he did that made her fully realize that this, that he, was the one. The small things that made all the difference in the world to her, because it wasn't just the words he said, she'd heard them all before him, it was more.
The way he would always hold her a little tighter whenever she was feeling nervous, or squeeze her hand like he knew, even before she did. It was the way he just always seemed to understand when something was wrong even if she wouldn't tell him.
He was always there, she knew, and Emma loved the fact that she knew she could always depend on him. Honestly, she shouldn't have been surprised when he called her almost immediately after her parents had kicked her out, throwing her things in the lawn and telling her not to come back.
They hadn't approved, didn't understand that she loved him whether they accepted it or not. Still, as soon as she had picked herself up of the ground, still quite in shock from the horrible reaction, her phone rang.
Emma pulled the ringing object from her pocket, not even looking at the name on the screen before bringing it up to her ear.
"Hello?" she said, her voice small as her emotions began to gain control again.
"Hey, Emma, guess what just happened." Isaac's voice came, he sounded excited, and she found that the familiarity of his voice was just what she needed. The black haired girl attempted a laugh, but it came out as more of a small cry.
"Cat stopped obsessing over Shawn?," she hooked, but it sounded forced even to her.
"No... are you okay?" Issac asked, and Emma knew she'd have no luck long to him even if she tried, not that she wanted to.
"Not really, but what happened?"
"Shawn's back..." he answered, his own voice not holding the hot it had previously, laced heavily with concern instead. "What's wrong?"
"Just a bit of dreams with my parents, you know. I think I'm gonna be staying with my aunt for a few weeks though. Let them calm down a bit."
"What did they do?"
Emma said nothing, deciding instead to pick up some of her bags. "Emma?"
"Hmm?"
"What did they do?"
Once again, she said nothing. It was quiet as she started walking the small way to her Aunt Andy's house. Issac signed from the other side of the phone, decidedly giving up on the idea or her answering anytime soon. It wasn't true of course, she just didn't want to tell him over the phone, and didn't even know what to say at the moment.
"I'll be over there soon, okay? In fact, me, Cat, and Carl are coming now."
"You don't need to..." she started before he hung up. Emma sighed, but let a small smile appear on her face and she slipped the phone into her pocket. Two more minutes and she was knocking on the door to her aunt's house. Andy answered the door rather quickly and ushered the girl in.
"Your cousin called and told me you were coming," she explained as the girl was led into the guest room, bed already made for company. "He'll be over here in a few minutes as well. Now tell me dear, what on earth happened to make you come here at this late hour?"
Emma gave her aunt a hug, and finally allowed herself to truly cry, Andy holding her and trying to get her to calm down a bit. It took five minutes, but she was finally able to collect herself enough to tell the woman about what had happened. By the time she was finished, Andy was shaking with rage.
"My idiot brother, how dare he! To kick his child out just because you disagree with her boyfriend? The nerve of that man! I should give him a price of my mind! Hurt my neice, I think not!"
"It's fine, I'm sure they just need to cool off a bit. Do you mind if I stay here for a bit? Like, maybe a week?"
"Of course I don't mind! Don't worry baby, well get this sorted out, I promise."
A knock on the door downstairs caused their attention to shift, and Andy patted the young girl on the knee and got up, Emma following soon after, brown eyes questioning the elder woman.
"I told you your cousin's coming. Him, your boyfriend, and your female friend."
"He's name is Isaac, and hers is Cat."
"Yes, well." The knock sounded again as they neared the door. "I'm coming, hang on."
Andy opened the door and the three teenagers stepped in, greeting them both before walking over to Cat, each giving her a hug in turn.
"You look terrible." Carl commented good naturedly. Emma laughed a bit, shaking her head.
"Sorry to say Cuz, but you don't look good on a normal day, at least I've got a reason."
"Speaking of which, do you mind telling us what that reason is?" Issac asked, pulling her into a side hug that she gratefully returned. She nodded, leading them all into the living room, sitting down on the couch with Isaac, Cat taking a chair on her right and Carl sitting in the couch across from them.
"You want the long version or the short one?"
"Short." Carl answered immediately.
"Then my parents kicked me out." she answered.
"What!" Isaac stiffened beside her, pulling her a bit closer as he realized this would be hard for her to continue. Emma sent him a grateful smile as her cousin finished processing just what that meant. "Why would Aunt Claire and Uncle Erin do that!"
"We got into a fight. They still don't like the idea of me dating and we all got way too worked up. Dad finally heard enough and went upstairs. I followed him to see him packing up my things into bags, and he wouldn't look at me, or listen. When he finished, he threw it all in the front yard, and picked me out. He told me not to come back."
Issac pulled her into a proper hug as she felt herself start tearing up. Carl and Cat went to discuss something or another in the kitchen with Andy.
"It's gonna be okay. They'll get over this and take you back." he whispered to her as they sat there. "I'm sure they're just scared you'll get hurt. Hypocrites."
Emma let out a sad laugh and Isaac pulled her in even tighter, allowing her to cry on him as she needed.
When there other three walked back into the living room, both were asleep. Emma's had her head on his chest, turned so they could still see her tearstained face, and Isaac was holding her tightly, protectively. Andy smiled, and too the others to different guess rooms she had, content with leaving them there for the rest of the night.
After all, it made a wonderful background on her phone.