That's Amore

“So who did you have in mind?” I asked my cousin as we drove away from the coffee shop in her 2009 Dodge Journey. She was sitting in front and Emery and I were in the back. She had pink cheeks and she was still smiling.

“A friend of mine might work. I’ll have to ask her though.”

“You should date him,” Emery blurted out. “He likes you.” She looked at him in the rearview mirror.

“Emery—"

“He’s never done that with anyone before. He doesn’t like strangers and he hates it when they talk about his books. He’s very shy. And! You made him smile. It’s hard to get him to do that; especially when you first meet him. He has a very odd sense of humor. Do you like him, Ms. Anderson?” She blushed again and she shrugged, telling us he was a good guy but she was sure someone would be better suited for him than her.

“But what if he doesn’t like her? He’s very picky when it comes to women.”

“And we’ll have to make her like him,” Emery said. “He’s not very lovable.”

“He seems like a nice guy,” my cousin said. “What’s so unlovable about him?”

“He’s very honest and tactless. He’s gullible, snappy, lazy, messy, rude, and sarcastic. He speaks without thinking, cracks his knuckles, chews on pen caps, pouts continuously though he’s almost 26 and worse of all, all he does is write!”

“I like his writing,” said my cousin. “His books are very good and I think you’re being too hard on him. There are plenty of girls who will date him.”

“We’ll see.” I sighed and looked at Emery, who sighed in defeat. The way the two were hitting it off in the coffee shop, I could have sworn my cousin would have been more than happy to go with Emmitt. She was stubborn, however, and wouldn’t do such a thing. Emery’s cell phone began to ring and when I saw it was Archer, he picked up immediately. “Hey,” said Emery. “What’s the situation?” Emery put the phone between us and we both listened intently.

“Athena and Alex are bringing him to his favorite book shop. You think we’ll have enough time to find a girl?”

“Yeah,” I said. “My cousin’s got one in mind. All we have to do is get her to the book shop and we’ll have them meet.”

“This seems so wrong,” Archer said.

“It is okay!” said Emery. “It’ll be for his benefit!” He sighed again and I looked at my cousin, whose knuckles were a pale as she gripped the steering wheel tightly. Perhaps she did like Emmitt more than we thought.

“Leah,” I asked as I moved forward, letting Emery talk to Archer. “Are you sure you don’t like Emmitt?” She smiled at me, the forced smile she gave people whenever she was unsure or upset.

“Of course, Tiff. I don’t think he’s my type.”

“I don’t get this ‘type’ thing. What is it?”

“I like a certain type of guy and he…he doesn’t quite fit it.”

“What’s your type of guy?” I asked. Leah sighed a little.

“Funny,” she said. “Smart, kind, at least a little creative….” She shrugged. “A few other things but Emmitt Rausia doesn’t really fit any of them.”

“Are you sure? You laughed at him today, he writes, he was very polite to you and Emmitt says he went to Berkley.” I said as I nodded. She looked at me and shrugged.

“I don’t date students’ relatives.”

“So I guess you won’t be dating yourself anytime soon right?” She laughed and rolled her eyes, telling me to sit back. I did as she said and looked at Emery.

“Ms. Anderson, do you know where the Finnegan’s Book Store is?”

“Yeah, I go there all the time. It’s one of my favorite book shops.”

“Really?” Emery asked. “I didn’t know that… huh…anyway. Do you think you can get to your friends and then back to the store before my uncle leaves?”

“How long does he take in the book store?”

“Depends. I think there’s a sale today so he might be a little longer than usual. He takes at least a half hour in there.” She nodded a little and handed me her wallet.

“Check if I have my Finnegan’s card in there? If there’s a sale, I’ll want to get books. I can make it there and back. Tiffany, call Jess for me?” she asked as she stopped at a red light, handing me her phone. I did as she asked and spoke to Jessica. I told her there was an emergency and we needed to go to the book store right away. She was more than willing to go and Leah sighed. “There’s no need to lie to her, Tiff. It’s not like there’s a real emergency.”

“Hey,” said Emery. “My uncle’s relationship status is an emergency.” Leah looked at him before laughing.

“Alright, I’ll give you that.” Leah drove us to a small apartment building near the center of town. She quickly jumped out, leaving the keys in the car. “I’ll be right back. Don’t drive away with my car.” She said as she ran towards the door. I looked at Emery, who was staring at her as she went.

“I think my cousin likes him,” I said. Emery looked at me and laughed.

“I think so too.”

“So why don’t we get them to date?” Emery sighed.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not sure if my uncle likes her. I mean, he seemed to like her but he hasn’t had a date since his girlfriend a few years ago. He’s very picky about his women.”

“But you said it yourself,” I argued. “He seemed to like her. What’s wrong with giving it a shot?” Emery stared at me and shrugged.

“It might work but let’s give this girl a shot.” I nodded a little and watched with Emery as the two girls walked out of the apartment. Leah jumped back into the driver’s seat and her friend Jess jumped in the passenger’s. Jess was a short girl, maybe about five foot seven, and was dressed in a dark blue sun dress with a pale white sweater.

“Hey Tiffy,” she said. She looked at Emery and grinned. “Dragging your new boyfriend on a trip to the book store?” she asked. Emery and I blushed brightly.

“We don’t date,” said Emery quickly.

“That’d be too weird,” I said.

“Yeah, she’s my best friend.” Emery said. I nodded and looked away from Jess. She and my cousin laughed and began to talk to each other about something odd. I looked over at Emery, who was staring out the window. It was awkward, thanks to them, and I cleared my throat.

“What was the plan if this plan fails?” I asked Emery. He looked at me and for a moment, he looked like he would turn away. He chewed on this inside of his lip—something he got from his uncle—and shrugged.

“I’d say we’ll have to find someone else.”

“Oh no,” said my cousin. “I’ve got a better idea. If this doesn’t work, fine. It’s not that big a deal. Jess and I were just talking about the things that this man does. You said he’s got unlovable qualities right? Well, we’ll change that.”

“How?” Emery asked.

“Simple,” Jess said as she turned around. “I’m going to act as the wonderful woman I am and we’ll see how he acts. We’ll keep doing this with the friends Leah and I have and we’ll see what traits the girls like and what they would change. I’ve already got three girls lined up and Leah’s got five more. We’re going to do our experiment and then we’ll change him. Then we’ll get a real girl to test it out on.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Do you remember Madison?” Leah asked. “She was the one that was really skinny and tall? Kinda looked like that State girl?”

“Hannah Montana?” Leah shrugged.

“Sure, we’ll go with her. Do you remember her, Tiff?” I thought back and nodded.

“Yeah?”

“Well, she’s a girl that would like the Emmitt we make and someone he would like. We’re going to have him test his new self with her.” Emery looked at me and smiled.

“You are a genius, Ms. Anderson!”

“Ms. Anderson?” Jess asked. “What are you, a teacher?” Leah glared at her friend.

“Yeah, I actually am a teacher, Jess. It’s kinda what I do during the day.”

“Yuck,” said Jess. “I hate kids.”

“You do not,” said Leah. “You love teenage boys.”

“Okay, that’s different. Teenage boys are fricken adorable. I just wanna take them home and tie them to a bed.” Jess said with a giggle. Leah glared at her and I saw Emery stare at me with wide eyes.

“You are a freak. Get out of my car.” Leah said as she started to slow down.

“No way, Sweet Heart. I wanna see this hunk of man you aren’t going for.” Leah rolled her eyes again and I looked at Emery.

“Ms. Anderson, remind me never to talk to you outside of school again.” Leah looked at him and laughed happily.

“Trust me, Emery, after all of this is over, we won’t be seeing each other outside of school ever again.” Leah turned into the parking lot of the book store and the four of us left her car with wide smiles. I saw Archer, Athena and Alex sitting in the coffee shop part of the store, watching us as we walked. Emery gave them a smile and Leah gave them a wave. They waved back and Leah opened the door for us.

“I’m going to go talk to them,” Emery told me. I nodded and looked at Leah, who was already staring at the newest novels that came out. Jess was searching the aisles for Emmitt and I was left alone. I followed Emery and when he sat down next to Athena, I rubbed the back of my neck. He was telling them the plan and I was standing awkwardly in the middle of the whole coffee shop. “Get a seat,” Emery told me as he rose from where he sat and offered to me. I looked at him and blushed, muttering that I’d get my own seat. He stared at me as I walked back over, my eyes staring down at the ground. He frowned and turned his attention back to the group of A’s to tell them of our secret plan. Archer, Alex and Athena liked it and the five of us rose and started towards where Emmitt would have been. When we got there, we saw Jess talking to him. The five of us split up and took different angles to hear or see what they were saying or doing. Emery and I got in a good position to hear what they were saying. Jess was flirting pretty obviously and Emmitt was less than interested.

“I knew I saw you! You’re the author of those books! They were really good! I liked the second one, though.”

“I hated the second book,” I heard Emmitt say rather tersely.

“Oh?” asked Jess, a little taken aback. “Why?”

“It was too depressing. It really had no happiness like the first one did.”

“That’s true but I thought Archer and the Prince were very good together. They were a bit sophomoric but that’s understandable.”

“Look, you seem like a nice person but I’m not interested in any women right now.” Emmitt said. He started walking and I panicked. I looked around for something to do. I saw Emery listening carefully still. I grabbed a book but when I realized it was the dumbest book I’d ever laid my hands on, I put it back down. Leah always said, ‘If a book isn’t worth holding, it isn’t worth reading. The books call out to us; something about them calls your name and when you hear it, that’s the book you read. There are books that will call to you but they will be false and you will know it when you hold it that the book was not meant for you’. I looked up and saw Emmitt doing a double take. I was pulled into Emery and his lips fell on mine. He hid me by turning his body as Emmitt looked back at us for a longer amount of time. I fell to pieces in Emery’s arms and kissed him back. We heard his footsteps fade but Emery didn’t let up.

A clearing of the throat got our attention away from each other. Emery slowly moved away, his smirk shining brightly. I knew my face was on fire and I hid it as I looked at the five adults who were staring at us. They were all grinning as Emery and I turned to face them. Emery had his hands in his pockets, his head lowered a little. I was almost on the floor begging for forgiveness.

“Not dating, my ass,” Jess snorted as she walked away. Archer and Alex walked over to Emery, congratulating him on his first kiss. I looked at Leah, who smiled at me and nodded in her approval. I walked to her and she put her hand on my head. I looked up at her and she smiled at me warmly the way adults did when a child in an anime or manga did something cute.

“That’ll do, Pig, that’ll do.” She said softly before walking away. I followed her, as I usually did, and she handed me books that called to her. I asked her why she wanted to buy so many books and she shrugged. “It’s research. I can’t write novels if I don’t read them, right?” she asked. I looked at her and then behind her where Emmitt was standing, staring at the book shelves. Leah was oblivious to him, looking at her own collection of books. I stared at her and then at him and saw an odd sort of resemblance. I walked over to him and stared at him. He glanced at me with an eyebrow raised, and frowned.

“What can I do for you?” he asked.

“Why do you like books?” I asked suddenly.

“I can’t write books if I don’t read them, Tiffany.” He said as he walked to the next aisle. I stared at him before looking at Leah. They were so alike and yet they had no intention of being with each other.

“Leah,” said Jess. “Let’s go.”

“I’m still looking,” Leah said as she walked toward the aisle Emmitt was coming out of. They crashed into each other and Emmitt dropped his books. “I’m sorry!” Leah screeched as she fell to her knees and began to pick up the books. “It was all my fault, I’m so sorry.”

“Leah,” Emmitt said as he began to laugh. “Leah, why are you so frantic?” She looked up at him and smiled a little while giving a relieved sigh.

“Oh, Emmitt thank goodness it’s you. I thought I might have run into someone who would be angry with me.” Emmitt shook his head and smiled at her, picking up the books from the floor. She passed him one and offered a smile. He smiled back and it was almost as we were in an anime. If you’ve never seen one, there are scenes where the two main characters come together and the scenery becomes a soft color and sparkles come out of nowhere and there are flowers or some sort of peaceful thing while either the man was glowing while the girl was mystified or the other way around. The two of them looked so happy; I just wondered why they didn’t want to be together.

“Leah, let’s go,” Jess said as she pulled Leah away from Emmitt. Leah smiled at Emmitt before turning with her friend toward the cash register.

“Wait!” Leah said as she ran back toward Emmitt. Emmitt looked at her hopefully but she turned to grab my arm. “Come on, Tiffy. I have to get my books.” I groaned as she pulled me.

“I’m coming! There’s no need to pull!” I snapped as I tried not to drop the entire book stack she had piled in my arms. She smiled back at me and let me go as we stood in line. I sighed, rolled my eyes, and turned away from her with a pout.

“Don’t make me tell your mother that you were kissing a boy she’s never met.”

“She knows Emery!” I snapped at my cousin. Leah grinned at me and shrugged.

“Your father wouldn’t like that,” I ground my teeth and watched as my cousin moved up in line. I looked back at Emery and Emmitt, who were talking quietly. Both looked my way and I smiled a little. Emery smiled back, waving a little and I bit my lip while my cheeks flared once more.

“Come on, lover girl, let’s get this show on the road,” Jess said as she stood at the counter with Leah. I placed the books on the counter and walked passed them toward the door and as I reached the door, Emery stood there, holding it open for me. I smiled at him and walked out. He took my fingers in his and smiled as we walked out, Leah and Jess right behind us. My cousin may not fall for a Rausia but I certainly was going to.