Feel That Fire

A few days later

Emmalyn had managed to successfully avoid both Matt and Brian for two days. She had been staying with Zacky and Blair. She’d been borrowing Blair’s clothes to wear to work each day. Zacky had tried to convince her to take some time off so she could get away for a while, but Emmalyn wanted to throw herself into work and forget what had happened. She had expected Matt to react the way he did, but she had not expected to confess her love for Brian in front of both of them. She wasn’t ready to cross that bridge yet simply because she knew that Brian did not return the feeling of love. She knew deep down inside that he loved her, but he was not in love with her.

“Hey girl! So, Jasmine just called. We are going to your brother’s cabin in Big Bear for the weekend!” Blair said excitedly jumping on the couch next Emmalyn.

“Who’s we?” she asked with a skeptical look.

“Just the girls! No boys. Just us!” Blair beamed. They had been around the guys nonstop for almost six weeks. It would be nice to have a little break.

“Ok, that sounds nice. When are we leaving?”

“In a few hours. You need to pack!”

“Ugh! That means I’m going to have go to Matt’s house to get my stuff. Damn!” Emmalyn cursed heading for the front door.

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, I’ve got to do this on my own.”

Quietly closing the door behind her, Emmalyn began to creep quickly towards the stairs. Both Matt and Jasmine’s cars were in the garage along with Jimmy’s car in the driveway. She could only pray that Brian wasn’t with Jimmy. Before she made it to the third step, a hand landed on her left shoulder.

“And just why are you sneaking around?”

Emmalyn whipped around only to come eye-to-eye with her big brother. She glared at him while shrugging his hand off of her shoulder.

“I’m going upstairs to pack my things,” she said as she started back up the stairs.

“What!? You can’t move out! I’m sorry, Emmy! Please don’t leave!” Matt begged as he followed her to her room. Once inside, she began pulling items of clothing from the closet and her drawers.

“I’m not moving out. Yet. I’m packing for the weekend at the cabin with the girls. Now will you get the hell out of my room?” she barked. Matt stood there stunned. Emmalyn rarely raised her voice or snapped at anyone.

“Emmy? Have you talked to Brian at all?” Matt asked gently.

“No, but you took care of that, didn’t you? How could you say those things to him? How could treat him like that? He’s one of your best friends!” she screamed.

“I know. We’ve worked everything out. He really cares about you and he knows what will happen to him if he hurts you. I want you two to be happy, Em.”

“Whatever, Matt. I love you, but I’m still angry with you.”

“You need to talk to Brian. He misses you. I’ve never seen him so sad.”

“I’ll think about it. I’ve got to finish packing.”

“Ok, I get it. I’ll be downstairs.”

The next night

“So what! I’m still a rock star! I’ve got my rock moves!” the girls sang while dancing around the living room of the cabin. They’d managed to down three bottles of wine in the past hour.

Dani, Jasmine, Blair, Liz, Bella, and Emmalyn were in their pajamas listening to a mix on Liz’s iPod.

The six women had failed to notice they had an audience standing just inside the front door. Brown eyes watched amused as the women danced around drunkenly. He chuckled to himself watching his friends Dani, Jasmine, Liz, and Blair. His eyes then set upon Bella. He shivered slightly in fear. Bella was Emmalyn’s best friend and she was fiercely protective. Finally, his eyes roamed over Emmalyn’s body. She looked amazing in her pajamas and her caramel hair flopping around in her ponytail as she danced with Blair.

Loved swelled in his chest as he saw her smiling. After only two days, he couldn’t believe how much he had missed her. He missed everything about her. Her voice, her smile, her hair, her skin, her smell. You name it, he missed it. He shook his head in disbelief. All of these feelings for a girl he’s known since she was a toddler. He hadn’t even slept with her yet and his feelings were this strong. His heart flopped in his chest as thought of the love he felt for her. How could she think he didn’t love her? Zacky had told him about the conversation he’d overheard between Emmalyn and Blair. It broke him to think she didn’t feel like he could love her. He had to prove her wrong. Suddenly, a scream interrupted his thoughts. One scream turned into six.

“BRIAN!” Dani screamed at him after the girls stopped screaming. “WHAT THE HELL?”

“You can’t just sneak up on us like that!” Jasmine scolded him while holding onto a startled Liz. The six women glared at him.

“What are you doing here?” her voice spoke up from the back of the group. Bella had a tight grip on her right hand while her left hand pushed her bangs off her forehead.

“I need to talk to you. We can do this here in front of everyone or we can go outside. It’s your choice,” he said trying to sound calm. Emmalyn just stared at him for a minute before walking past him and out the door. Brian followed her and shut the door.

“Talk.”

“First of all, I want to say that I’m sorry for the way things went down the other day. I should have kept my cool with Matt. I would be just as pissed if someone did that with McKenna. Secondly, I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did when I heard you say you love me,” Brian said standing a few feet from her.

“Brian, please. Don’t,” she whispered wrapping her arms around her body.

“No, I need to say this. I should have said that I love you too,” he said walking closer to her. “I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you,” he chanted stopping directly in front of her. His hands cupped her face and his thumbs wiped away the tears coming from her hazel eyes.

“You love me?” she questioned. The look of complete shock and disbelief on her face almost did him in.

“I love you. I love you. I love you. You’d better believe it, Em, and you better get used to it. I’m going to be saying it a lot for the rest of your life,” he promised pulling her face to his. Watching her carefully, he leaned in to place his lips on hers. Emmalyn eagerly returned his kiss and he wrapped his arms around her. The two stood kissing outside the cabin while five pairs of eyes cried tears of joy from inside the cabin.