Hardly Worth Your Time

“Bye,” Emily smiled softly after she and Chris broke from their kiss.

“See you tonight,” Chris said before waving to Alex who was in his car waiting.

Emily walked over to the passenger side and climbed in and put her seatbelt on.

“I don’t think you should date him, Em,” Alex spoke up as he pulled out of the parking space.

Emily laughed and looked over to see him with a serious face. “What are you even talking about Alex?”

“He’s a dick,” Alex answered.

Emily laughed again.

“Seriously Em, I really don’t think you should date him,” Alex said glancing over at her while stopped at a red light.

“What the hell Alex? We’ve known him for four years and you know just as well I do he isn’t an asshole,” Emily countered looking at her best friend incredulously.

“Yeah and I’m telling you he’s a dick. He talks about you like you’re a piece of meat when you aren’t around,” Alex confided.

Emily snorted. “And if he did, why wasn’t I told this before?”

“We didn’t think you’d actually get serious,” Alex shrugged.

Emily stared at Alex in disbelief. The car was silent for a couple minutes before Emily furrowed her eyebrows and let out an, “Oh, I know what this is,” she said sending him a glare, “You’re such a fucking pig.”

“What?” Alex asked as he turned into her driveway.

Emily opened the passenger door and slammed it behind her before walking briskly towards the front door. She went to close it before he could enter but he stopped the door and slid in much to her anger.

“Em,” he sighed as she sent another glare in his direction before throwing her bag on the floor.

“No Alex, don’t even,” she warned turning around and pointing a finger at him. “I know why you’re pissed. You did this when I was with Mark.”

“Did what?” he asked coyly taking a step closer to her.

“You don’t want me going out with him because it means no sex for you from me,” Emily replied pushing him away in disgust.

“Oh c’mon Em,” Alex said rolling his eyes.

Emily crossed her arms and looked at him with a challenging look.

Alex stared back at her but eventually sighed deeply and shook his head.

“Just go,” Emily replied shaking her head and looking away from him. “Find someone else to fuck.”

“Em,” Alex began but then changed his mind. “See you tomorrow,” he replied defeated and walked out of the house.

&&&

“Why are you always up so damn early?” Emily mumbled as she walked into the kitchen.

Jack chuckled and handed her Tylenol and a glass of water.

“Thanks,” she murmured swallowing them both. “How long have you been awake?”

“’Bout an hour,” he shrugged returning to rummaging through her fridge.

“And let me guess, no hangover?”

Jack stood up and grinned.

“Ugh, fuck you,” Emily replied slapping his butt as he returned his attention to the fridge.

“Hey!” he yelped turning his head up and hitting his head on the freezer. “Ouch.”

Emily laughed as he rubbed his head and pouted at her.

“That was mean,” he whined.

Emily shrugged. “Want some pancakes?” she asked.

Jack shook his head excitedly. “Yes!”

Emily chuckled and took out the ingredients to start chocolate chip pancakes.

“So you two have a good time yesterday?” Jack asked.

Emily nodded. “Just like old times,” she said with a smile.

“Why won’t you be with him Emi?” Jack asked.

She turned around and looked at Jack before replying slowly, “I know he’ll cheat on me.”

“You were willing to be with him in high school when you knew that he would cheat on you,” Jack replied.

Emily opened her mouth to respond then closed it again. She slowly sat down across from him at the island and thought for a couple minutes.

“I guess it’s one thing to have a crush on someone and another to actually be in a relationship with them,” she paused looking at him sadly, “It physically hurt to hear him talk about messing around with all those other girls, when I just liked him. If I was actually in a relationship it would hurt even more, and I can’t handle that pain.”

“He’s always came back to you though and he will even in the relationship. There’s no difference except the title and that you two kiss more and enjoy the sex more,” he winked making her crack a shy smile. “Even if he does mess around he’ll come back to you, and you know it. But if you let him go now there’s a chance you’ll lose him because you keep pushing him away. What would be worse, feeling that same pain when you hear he’s fooling around on someone he won’t even remember or losing him? How hard was it when we were on tour?”

Emily thought about being away from Alex those three weeks and felt her heart pound violently against her chest at the thought of him being gone longer.

“Are you willing to lose him?”

Oh, so horny oh oh, so horny, oh so horny, me love you long time. Oh so-” Jack pulled out his phone from his pocket and mouthed a sorry before answering.

Emily stood up and began fixing chocolate chip pancakes.

“I smell pancakes!” Alex yelled walking into the kitchen a couple minutes later and sitting down next to Jack.

The three ate with Jack and Alex joking around, but Emily was quiet and picking at her food thinking about the previous conversation. She noticed Alex and Jack both glancing at her every once in a while but said nothing.

Emily’s phone rang and she quickly walked into the living room away from the two boys. “Hello?” she asked flustered from all the thoughts running through her head.

“Hey do you want to hang out today?” Eric asked.

“Uhm, actually,” she paused thinking before replying, “Yes, yeah, I do.”

She heard him chuckle before responding, “I’ll pick you up in an hour?”

“Sounds good,” she replied glancing at the kitchen door. “See you.”

“Bye,” he replied as she hung up the phone.

She slowly sat down on the couch staring at the wall as the phone limply lied in her hand. She couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation she had with Jack.

Was it worth losing him?