Keep Me Guessing

--Emma's POV--

So summer rolled around once again.

Fantastic.

Yeah, no.

Most kids my age would be jumping for joy once that final bell rang, throwing their books and papers in the air and hollering at the top of their lungs, beyond ready to flock to their favorite hangout spots and have their kind of "End of School" Party.

Now, these parties have variations. For example, there's the stoners' take on parties: waiting 'til midnight and sneaking out to the nearest abandoned kids' swingset to smoke a few joints and possibly whip up a campfire that they would use not to sing campfire songs, but to launch homemade rockets into the air. Then, there's your popular boys and girls: flocking to the filth-ridden community pool, decorated with over-the-top expensive party favors, in the parents' attempt at keeping everything clean, when really there was almost always going to be at least half a dozen hookups under the surface of the water or in the bathrooms before the clock struck 8. Oh, and we can't forget the nerds: running home and setting up their Playstations and XBoxes, headgear and all, ready and waiting for their only friends in the world, probably in Australia, to log on and face off in an epic battle to the death.

I, however, didn't associate myself with any of these groups. I didn't even throw my books and papers in the air in the first place. My novel close to my heart, I would drive home and turn on my latest romantic comedy I had ordered off of Netflix or read that book I swore I was going to finish the night before, but instead passed out at 10:00 before I could do so.

I wasn't any of those stereotypes. Not a nerd, a popular girl, stoner. Just me, Emma. My own special kind of person.

Cliche, I know. But totally cool with me.

So today, the second day of summer, I was off to do exactly what I had aforementioned, just as I had the night before. Only, I had only just arrived home when my cell phone obnoxiously rang in my back pocket. I sucked in a breath, recognizing the ringtone immediately, and a little irritable to say in the least at the completely unnecessary, nasally rapping and cussing that I had heard far too often.

You can bet it was my best friend's idea to assign herself a Lil' Wayne ringtone.

Nevertheless, I picked it up and, with one last breath, answered.

"Hello?"

"EMMA WE HAVE A TAKER!" Alice screamed into the phone, so loudly that I nearly threw the book I had been holding into the air.

"Alice, let's try not to scare the living shit out of me, okay? What a great way to start summer." I mumbled once I had recovered. Putting my book down on the coffeetable in front of the couch, I made my way to the fridge, though I knew I wouldn't pick anything out. I hated that about refrigerators - no matter how many times you look, you never find anything, because let's be honest, nothing's changed in the last 30 minutes since you last opened it. Not like that stopped me.

"Yeah, oookay." She said with a huff, pissed that I hadn't replied to her outburst. "Emma, did you hear a word I said?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did."

"Feel free to comment."

"Well, I guess I could start out by saying I have no idea what you're talking about." I said honestly. "A taker?" Who was taking what? Or who? Me? I didn't want to be taken.

"The notebook, Emma." She said slowly, like I was a 7 year old child and didn't speak basic English. "Someone took up the notebook!"

"You have got to be kidding me."

I should probably point out right now, it was not my idea to set up this thing. Alice, intent on finding me a bad-boy boyfriend, left this list of clues that honestly, were kind of stupid, in a notebook that my grandmother had bought me for my birthday. I wasn't happy about it, because A) she totally wasted my brand-new notebook that I could be getting some good use out of, and B) I had no desire to communicate with some guy that I didn't even know.

"Emma, this is good. He not only figured out the clues, but he even kept the notebook! God, I think you could be getting lucky here."

"He kept my notebook? That wasn't a direction!"

"No, but that's why this is so great. He's a rule breaker!"

"Alice, open your eyes. We probably just found a homeless groupie that's going to sell MY notebook for some weed on the streets."

"Oh, lighten up and come down to Jaxx. You can see for yourself." Alice said nonchalantly, completely ignoring my rant, as usual.

"You left it at Jaxx?" Oh, even better. Let's just leave my innocent black notebook out in the open for the drunken teenagers that spent their Monday nights not studying for their Pre-Cal final the next day, but at the local nightclub, raving the night away. Summer or not, there were plenty of better things to do with your time in Baltimore than get wasted at Jaxx.

"Just get your ass over here, Em. You have 10 minutes." And with that, my best friend hung up on me.

I scoffed, but found myself actually following her orders and running upstairs. I don't think this was because I was curious about the stranger by any means, but more focused on stopping all this before it got too carried away. And finding my stolen notebook.

To note, I wasn't the type of girl that went out there and got mixed up in any particular scene. The last thing I needed in my life was drama, and this kind of thing was just begging for drama and emotions. No thanks. I had my future to plan out.

Besides, just looking at me, you could tell I was a homebody. Just picture a 5'5, skinny, green-eyed, doesn't-know-what-to-do-with-her-cascade-of-long-brown-hair 21 year old girl. Voila, you've just pictured me. And let's not forget my lazy sense of style; I loved nothing more than my light knit sweaters and tanks with tattered flare jeans and flip flops, maybe even accessorizing with a plain silver ring or two and slouchy hat. I rocked the carefree dorm girl look, never willing to spend more than $20 on any single piece of clothing or jewelry that I would wear out in no time. Practicality was key.

So, with only a few light strokes of foundation and liquid liner thinly applied to my top eyelids, I took my keys out of my purse and headed out.

___________________________________________________

I wasn't too familiar with the nightlife around Baltimore. I rarely went out after midnight, so I never really made it as far as downtown, where Jaxx was located. But out of all the nightclubs (not to say there was a plethora), Jaxx was by far the most popular, and the one I knew best. Alice had dragged me there a number of times, all in her hopeless attempts at hooking me up. The last few times, she had even "forgotten" to mention to me that we were going there, but I knew she intended to be spontaneous about it, in hopes that I would give in. Never worked.

Pulling into the Jaxx parking lot, I tried to distract myself from the lingering situation ahead of me. Finding a space, I thought about why it was that bars and clubs had parking lots, when it's illegal to drink and drive? Walking up the steps to the wide swinging doors, I wondered how it was possible to inject the neon in the neon green "OPEN" sign when we all knew neon was flaming hot, yet the sign was always being flipped from side to side by human hands. Doesn't that burn like a bitch? And how was it green anyways? You can't dye neon, can you?

I was thankful for these questions occupying my mind, but once I was inside, I was immediately snapped back into reality. I quickly found Alice leaning over the bar, ass totally sticking out for all to see, as she talked, no doubt suggestively, to Eric, her favorite bartender who she had practically eating out of her hand. I rolled my eyes, but made my way up to her, sitting on the stool next to her.

"Emma!" She exclaimed, hugging me tightly, nearly lifting me off my seat. Once she released me, I just eyed her, letting her know not-so-discreetly I wasn't too thrilled about all this.

She rolled her big gray eyes at me, "What's got your panties in a bunch, huh?" She sat back in her stool, swiveling it so she could face me. She toyed with her long mess of tangled chain necklaces as she returned my look with a smirk.

"I can't believe you actually set this thing up. And here?" I gestured around me, the dark, smoky bar clearly not my kind of place.

She waved her hand dismissively, "Better this than The K Club." I didn't want to know, so I said nothing. "Anyways, Eric?" She smiled at Eric, who nodded and started to reach under the bar.

"Ah, I can't look!" Alice laughed in excitement, and turned around, away from the bar, covering her eyes with her hands.

I rolled my eyes and said to Eric, "Let's see it."

With a grin, Eric pulled out what my Taker had left me. My mouth dropped open when he placed it on the bar in front of me.

I couldn't even comprehend what I was looking at.

He had just set down a tall, frosted Collins glass of a dark drink in front of me, the top of which was still sickeningly fizzy. I stared at it, unsure of what to think of the murky drink - a dark brown, almost black color that made my stomach turn.

"Oh. My. God." I glanced at Alice, whose eyes were wide and mouth also gaped at the specimen infront of me.

"Alice, what the fuck is this?" I asked cautiously, completely dumbfounded.

"Emma. We SO have a winner." She said, shaking her head in amazement and reaching out to touch the drink, as if this thing was the Goblet of Fire. She looked at me, "Do you have any idea what this is?"

"Uhm, no. I don't. And this first impression isn't too promising."

"This," She slid a finger across the brim of the glass, "is a Black Velvet."

I raised an eyebrow, "Okay?"

"This is the probably the manliest mixed drink out there. The absolute perfect combination of Guinness stout and Brut Champagne." She said dreamily, propping her chin on a fist as she took in the sight of it.

I just stared at her. It was like she was speaking a foreign language or something.

She let out a short breath, "Emma, whoever this guy is, he's a genius. Black Velvets are not only masculine and handsome, but dark and mysterious. Just look at it!"

I did look at it. Pretty seriously, too. Alice was right about the whole dark thing; it was the murkiest drink I had ever seen. But I hadn't quite picked out the mysterious part of it yet.

"So let me get this straight. You think that this total stranger is trying to hint to me that he's tall, dark, and mysterious, through a mixed drink?"

Alice nodded her head once, "Yep."

Once more, I stared at her. This was absolutely ridiculous.

I rubbed my eyes in defeated frustration. "Alice, I don't think this -" I started, but was cut off.

"Emma, think about it! All those clues I left, he solved. All those drinks I hinted, he ordered. And now, he leaves us probably the most significant clue yet!" Her voice raised higher with each statement, completely ecstatic.

"By "the most significant clue yet," you mean the one clue that leaves us totally clueless."

"EXACTLY!"

Was I in an alternate universe or something?

"Eric?" I waved our bartender over. "What did the guy that left this drink look like?"

He wrinkled his nose in thought. "He flipped his hair a lot."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "That's it?"

"I told him not to give any hints about who he was, Em." Alice explained, as if it was obvious.

"What? Why?"

"The whole point of the notebook is to talk to, and hopefully get to know, a random boy that's willing to hunt you down based on what you write in it. It's so romantic." Alice finished with a far-off smile, gazing up at the ceiling.

"So basically we're on a wild goose chase, but blind." I stated.

She thought about this, then replied, "Kinda."

"Alice..." I was just short of strangling my best friend. This wasn't something I signed up for or wanted to waste my time doing. A complete stranger between the ages of 21 and 25 communicating with me through a Moleskine notebook? Contrary to Alice's belief, my life wasn't a cheesy paperback romance novel starring Fabio in loose breeches.

"Em, this isn't even about setting you up, really. It's about having something to do over summer other than sit at home and watching The Notebook." I opened my mouth to retort this comment, but she held up her hand to shut me up. "All I'm saying is, this could be fun, a big adventure. And he's obviously into it, too, since he went so far as to leave something with such effortless symbolism."

"It's a bar drink."

She shook her head, "No, it's an opportunity."

I sighed, not really sure I was up for this. I looked back at the drink, which, I then noticed, had a note taped to the bottom of it, the edge of a piece of paper peeking out from under it.

Flippy thought he was just soooo smart. Really.

"Doesn't take orders very well, does he?" I observed wearily, glancing at Alice.

She smiled widely, "Adventure calls."