Chapter 16
Emma receives a text on her phone and she looks at it and sighs. Scott asks, "What is it?"
Emma looks at Scott and says, "It's a text from Olivia; she needs to get into the house and didn't want to text Kirstie or you. She's waiting outside, I'm going to go with her to the house and pack all of her stuff with her. She doesn't really need to be in the house alone anyway."
Scott sighs and says, "Do you want me to go with you? You should not have to deal with Olivia on your own."
"It's alright, I need to talk to her anyway, I have a couple of things that I would like to say to her," Emma said. She looked at her phone and texted Olivia back saying that she would be right out. She leaned over to Kirstie and told her as well and Kirstie said, "What, no, don't go. I'll come with you."
"No, it's fine. I know her and I brought her here to y'all summer vacation and I should be the one to send her officially on her way once again, this is twice now, correct." Emma says with a small laugh.
"You are in a good mood," Kirstie says.
Emma just smiled and said her goodbyes and headed out of the club. The group stayed in the karaoke club and sang some more songs to the delight of everyone.
Olivia was waiting outside the main door and was relieved to see Emma, but now, she just felt that everything was rushing back, and she knew that Emma knew everything by now. Emma walked up to her and said, "Let's go, I want to get this over with as soon as possible."
They got a cab pretty quickly and got in. The cab ride was complete silence and there was an awkwardness there that used not to be. They did used to be best friends, but not anymore, if it was up to Emma. She was pissed off about everything that Olivia did and she was planning on telling her once they got to the house. They arrived at the beach house and the two girls walked slowly up the walkway and headed inside. As they walked back to the guest room, Olivia started pulling all of her stuff onto the bed so that she could pack it all up. Emma went to her bag and grabbed her journal and sat on the bed with it in her hands and waiting for Olivia to look at her and said, "I know you read this."
Olivia turned bright red and tried to say, "I'm sor—".
Emma shook her head and said, "No, that's not going to work this time. I'm over your apologies and I'm over you. You lied to me, hurt me, and tried to ruin the start of a relationship with someone I really like. Who does that? Who treats someone like that? You are just a mean girl. I want to know why. That's all I want to hear from you, I don't care about your sorry."
Olivia stood back and was a little caught off guard with Emma's unleashing of feelings, where was the sweet, nice, Emma who never said a mean thing ever. After swallowing some of her pride, she sat on the bed, and found the truth, for she knew that this was the only thing that could possibly save this friendship if she ever wanted to stay friends with Emma. She looked at Emma and said, "Em, look, here's the truth. I was jealous and I wanted the attention of Scott. I saw that he was into you and I read your journal and knew that it was just a matter of time before y'all got together. It was just a matter of one of you making the first move. I thought that if I could get Scott to notice me, he would go for me. When in reality, he never would have given me the time of day. I know you don't want to hear it, but I am truly sincerely sorry and I don't want to lose your friendship." Olivia wiped the tears that were now falling down her face and Emma thought that this was one of the first times that she saw Olivia cry. But, it didn't really change things for Emma; she was still really hurt by everything. She wanted nothing to do with Olivia.
Olivia then got up from the bed and finished packing her things and said, "How am I going to get back home? I don't have a car."
"I'm going to call a rental car for you so that you can get back home. I'll pay for the rental car until tomorrow because I am the one who drove you out here and it's not right if I don't make sure that you get home." Emma said.
"Thanks Em," Olivia said and then asked, "Do you think that we will ever be friends?"
Emma thought about this and said, "I don't know, not right now. Right now, I know that we will not be friends, but maybe after some time, I just really don't know. I think that I need some space from you to be honest.
"I understand that and I hope that you do believe me when I say that I am sorry," Olivia said.
Emma went to call the rental car place and they were going to bring out a car soon. Olivia came out from the back and had her bags all ready to go. The rental car showed up early, thankfully for Emma. She helped Olivia to the car and she got in and said, "Bye, Em, call me when you get back home."
Emma said, "Bye." She had no intention of calling her when she got home. She was so happy to see the brake lights disappear in the distance.
She walked up to the house and felt a sudden chill like someone was watching her. After turning around and checking out the yard, she darted up the stairs and came into the house and locked the door quickly. Emma texted Kirstie, 'the coast was clear, the wicked witch was gone.'
About twenty minutes later, there was a loud knock at the door. Emma thought it was Olivia, who must have forgotten something. She went to the front door and threw it open and was shocked to see a tall man standing in front of her. She brought the door back some to where she was standing a little bit behind the door and said, "Can I help you?"
The tall man, who was dressed in gray sweatpants and a dark blue long sleeved t-shirt, looked at Emma and said, "Yes, I think that you can, is this where Pentatonix is staying?"
Emma's eyes widen and tried to come up with something quick and said, "Uh, no, I think you have the wrong house?"
The man looked at her strangely and said, "Are you Emma?"
Emma felt her heart beat so hard, she thought for sure that it was going to beat out of her chest. She gripped the door and wanted to shove it close. She remained calm and said, "Do I know you?"
The man smiled and said, "You know what, you are probably right, I think this is the wrong house. Thanks for your help." And with that, the man walked away. Emma closed the door, locked it, and then went to the window. She watched the man walk down the road and realized that he had no car in sight. She was freaked out by this and pulled out her phone and called Scott.
"Hey Em, can you hear me, Kirstie and Mitch are singing in the background," Scott said as he answered his phone.
"Scott, listen, you all have to come back to the house now, please." Emma said with a frightened voice.
"What's wrong, what happened?" Scott asked with concern.
Emma told Scott of the strange man coming to the house and that was enough for him. He rallied the group and they headed back to the beach house.
After a little while, they arrived back home. Emma was waiting inside the door for when they came through and once she saw Scott, she ran into him and realized just how scared she had been.
"Em, it's okay, I'm here now," Scott said as he held her close.
Kirstie came over and hugged her as well and Mitch joined too. Emma smiled and said, "Okay, okay, I can't breathe."
Emma broke free from the group hug and looked at Kevin and Avi who were expecting the windows and looking outside. She said, "I haven't seen him come back, but he knew that y'all were here and knew my name."
Kirstie rolled her eyes and said, "I'm so sorry, Em, okay, so no more answering the doors."
Kirstie called the police officer that helped out with the whole Jeremy thing to just bring it to their attention. After the quick conversation with the police officer, Kirstie said, "Well, there's not much they can do. He said that he would send out a patrol car to park outside for the night though."
Emma said, "Thanks Kirstie."
Later that evening…
The group gradually headed down to the basement, where most of their nights ended up. They liked that they could laugh, sing, watch movies, and carry on, without making a lot of noise because of the sound proof walls. They started watching a movie and everyone seemed to fall into their usual locations on the large sectional couch. Avi and Kirstie stretched out on one of the sides with a pillow and blanket. Kevin and Mitch sat in the middle section while Scott and Emma sat on the other long side. Things were a bit different between Scott and Emma now that they had shared their feelings and some kisses. Emma felt more confident with Scott and cuddled with him instantly as he sat down. Scott smiled and wrapped his arms around Emma. Mitch looked from one side of the couch to the other and then nudged Kevin and said, "Kevin, we are surrounded by love, can you feel it?"
Kevin laughed and broke out into a song, "Can you feel the love tonight?"
Mitch joined in and laughed too.
Everyone laughed and joined in as well.
They settled in and watched the movie and as it got late into the evening, everyone headed to their bedrooms. Avi pulled Kirstie into his bedroom and said, "Would you care to sleep in my room tonight?"
"Sure, let me go change, first." Kirstie said with a quick peck.
Kirstie headed into her bedroom and freshened up and brushed her teeth, washed her face, combed her hair, and changed into some cute pajamas she had. She headed down the hall to Avi's room and knocked softly on the door and he opened the door. He pulled her in and brought her to the bed where he laid her down and kissed her like it was the first time. They fell into their own world for the evening. After a hour or so of kissing, they drifted off to sleep curled up in one another's arms.
Next Morning…
Kirstie woke up early and peeled herself away from Avi and smiled as she left his room. She walked softly down the hall and walked into the kitchen. She saw Emma cooking some breakfast for everyone. Emma smiled and said, "Good Morning, K, I thought that we could use a good breakfast this morning after all of this drama that has been going on."
"I couldn't agree more with you, this looks amazing. I'm surprised that no one has come out here yet." Kirstie says.
"I know, right. Who doesn't wake to the smell of bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy?" Emma asked teasingly.
"I might go for a quick walk on the beach before everyone gets up, the sunrise looks amazing today. I'll bring my phone so I can take pictures." Kirstie said as she headed back to her bedroom. She changed and headed out and waved bye to Emma. Emma said, "Hurry back, breakfast will be ready in about thirty minutes."
Kirstie smiled and waved and said, "Yea, I'll be back in a few."
Scott came into the kitchen and said, "Wow, I didn't know you could cook."
"There's a lot about me you don't know," Emma said with a smile.
He walked over to her and said, "I look forward to getting to know you more and more." He leaned in and kissed her. He loved that he could just walk up to her and kiss her anytime he wanted too, she didn't mind either. She couldn't believe that Scott was actually kissing her.
She smiled and said, "I could get used to this."
"Stay here with me this summer, please." Scott asked.
"I would love too, but I have to check with my work, I don't know if they will have the staff for the other sessions this summer. You don't think that you'll get tired of seeing me every day?" Emma asked.
"Never ever," Scott said with a small kiss on her forehead.
Kevin, Avi, and Mitch join them in the kitchen and Avi looks around and asks, "Where's Kirstie?"
"Oh, she went for a walk," Emma says pointing to the door.
"Is she coming back soon?" Avi asked walking up to the door and looking out at the beach.
"Yea, she said that she would be back soon, wait, that was over 45 minutes ago." Emma says looking outside now too. She walks outside onto the deck as the others follow her. They all look for Kirstie, but they don't see her.
"Maybe she went to the pier and got a coffee," Mitch said.
Avi pulls out his cell phone and calls her. No answer. He texts her, 'Kirstie, call me. You ok?'
Avi then walks down the deck out into the sand and looks down the beach one way and the other way.
Emma has a sinking feeling in her stomach and pulls her phone out as well. She calls. No answer. She texts Kirstie as well, 'Kirstie, call me!'
Scott and Kevin walk down to where Avi is standing and they look as well. Mitch is standing on the deck with Emma and they are holding hands. Avi looks to Kevin and Scott and says, "Okay, I'm going to head down towards the pier. Em and Mitch, stay here in case she comes back and call me. Kevin and Scott, come with me."
Em and Mitch nod in agreement and watch the three boys walk down the beach towards the pier.
Avi is frightened and Kevin is trying to remain calm and says, "Avi, she's okay. She just went to get coffee and her phone is probably off or something."
Avi looks at Kevin and says, "I hope so, I just don't feel good about this for some reason."
The boys walked all the way to the pier and nothing. No sign of anything. They look around and decide to head back to the house. Avi notices something in the sand by one of the wooden planks in the pier. He reaches for it and yells at Scott and Kevin, "It's Kirstie's phone!"
Scott and Kevin stop dead in their tracks and run over. Scott pulls it form Avi's hand and looks at it and punches in her passcode. Avi looks at him and says, "You know her passcode?"
Scott quickly says, "It's your birthday, Avi."
Scott pulls up the text messages and says, "Avi, Kevin, look at this."
There was one message, started 30 minutes ago, and addressed to Avi that had not been sent yet, all it said was, "HELP ME".
(Kirstie's POV)
I can't see anything. I try and speak but I can't. Something is covering my mouth and my eyes. My hands are tied together. All I know to do is pray as the tears roll down my face.
To Be Continued…