Shattered Glass & Broken Hearts

It was three hours after Ronnie and Emily had taken Charlie outside to do his thing, and he still hadn’t taken her home yet. It didn’t exactly bother Emily, but she still felt somewhat awkward spending time around him alone. She didn’t think anyone could blame her, especially given the fact that their situation was a little bit different than most.

They’d spent the time first talking about nothing in particular, and then sitting in silence. She still hadn’t asked some questions that she wanted the answers to, but then again, she’d never really planned on asking them in the first place. Why pull up the past when it would never change anyway?

“So how’ve you been?” Ronnie finally asked her.

Surprisingly, this was the first time he’d asked this question and it was one that shocked Emily. She hadn’t been expecting something like that from Ronnie. She hadn’t anticipated that he would genuinely care to know, but she could tell by the look on his face that he did. He never asked something unless he actually wanted an answer. She was glad to see that despite how much exposure his band had gotten in the last year, that hadn’t changed a thing about his personality.

Still, though. It didn’t mean she knew how to answer the question. How had she been?

She’d been terrible, truth be told. She’d been miserable for the last ten years. She had cried herself to sleep on and off ever since she’d woken up to find him gone. She’d been in not only physical pain, but emotional as well. She still felt an ache in her heart any time she heard the name Ronnie. Whenever she watched her brother’s band performing on stage, she had flashbacks to the shows they’d done with him, and it broke her heart all over again.

“I’ve been alright,” she chose to lie. It was much simpler that way. “You?”

Like she had, he seemed hesitant to answer her question. He let out a sigh softly and then brushed some of his hair out of his dark eyes, a halfhearted smile on his face.

“I’ve been alright,” he repeated her answer.

The two of them settled back into another long silence, neither one of them sure what they wanted to say. Emily knew she could bullshit and make small talk, but it would make no sense and really, it would only make her feel more awkward than she already did at the moment. She sighed and then looked up when the front door of the apartment opened. She smiled when she saw that it was Hanna before she gave her an apologetic look, Jacky walking behind her.

“We thought you went back to your place this morning,” Hanna started. “We…Well, we didn’t—”

“It’s alright,” Emily smiled at her friend, standing up. “You and Jacky needed time. Ronnie said he’d give me a ride but we talked instead,” she shrugged, turning to face Ronnie, giving him a look that told him to go with it. He just nodded, standing up as well.

“It’s been awhile, I needed to hear how she was doing,” Ronnie shrugged. “You’re more than welcome to—”

“I’ve got to get home. Max is probably worried sick,” Emily cut him off, not wanting to hear Ronnie invite her to stay for dinner, or for a movie, or for anything. She didn’t know if she could handle it, if her heart could take being around him for that much longer. Already, she was starting to feel the hurt and the heartache. She needed to get away from him for now; maybe give herself some time to get over the shock before she saw him again.

She turned and faced Hanna, giving her friend a look that told her she didn’t want to stay here for any longer than she absolutely needed to. Hanna seemed confused at first, but then nodded before she said goodbye to Ronnie, telling him that she’d give Emily a ride home. She told Jacky she’d see him later, and then the two started to walk out to Hanna’s parked car.

“What was that all about?” Hanna asked once they were both inside the car.

Emily just sighed and shrugged. Truth be told, she had no clue what had just happened. She definitely didn’t want to explain how awkward she’d felt because then she’d only make her friend feel guilty.

“I honestly just needed to get home. Max has been trying to call me and text me all night and God only knows that if I don’t get back to him, he’ll fly out here and try to find me. Can you imagine how that would go over?”

Hanna’s eyes widened at just the thought of Max finding out that Emily had spent the night with Ronnie, even if the two of them clearly hadn’t done anything with one another.

“You’re right,” Hanna finally murmured. “Getting you home is a great idea.”

Emily and Hanna didn’t say another word about Ronnie or the night that Emily had spent with him. She was glad for that, and she knew that even if her friend probably wondered, this would never come up in conversation for the simple fact that both Hanna and Jocelyn realized how difficult it was for Emily to deal with talking about Ronnie.

It only took Hanna twenty minutes to pull into Emily’s assigned garage spot. She waved goodbye to her friend, promising that she’d call her later on to let her know how the discussion with Max went. It was bound to be interesting; after all, she’d been ignoring Max all night. There was no way he’d just let that slide and both of them knew that.

The first thing Emily noticed when she walked inside her apartment was that the door was unlocked. She already knew that she’d locked it behind herself when she’d left earlier on. The one thing she always made sure to do was to lock the door behind herself any time she left, even if she did live in a decent area of Hollywood.

The second thing she noticed was that lights were on. She sighed when she heard movements coming from within the kitchen, arching her eyebrow when she saw Max poke his head out from behind the wall separating the two rooms.

“Couldn’t you have at least locked the door?” She asked her brother, dropping her bag down onto the couch before she walked over to him. “And aren’t you supposed to be somewhere on the East Coast right now?”

“You weren’t answering my calls or texts. I panicked. I caught the first flight out, it’s a day off,” Max shrugged. “You okay? You look like shit.”

“Thanks,” Emily snapped at him sarcastically.

Max arched his eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. “What’s that for? I’m not the one who ignored her brother all night. I’m not the one who just took off without letting anybody know where I was going.”

“Hanna and Jocelyn knew where I was,” Emily retorted. “I’m twenty-seven years old, Maxwell. I’m not a little kid anymore. You can’t just—”

“No, you can’t worry your family like this,” Max cut her off, narrowing his eyes that were so similar to hers. “You had me worried sick, Em. And not just me, but Mom and Dad too. You never pull stunts like that. Whoever you were with must have had an awfully big—”

“Don’t you even say it or I’ll deck you.”

Max just rolled his eyes before he tucked some of his hair out of his eyes. “So you still haven’t answered my question. Where were you?”

“I’m an adult, Max. I don’t answer to you,” Emily sighed, shaking her head before she started walking towards her bedroom. She knew that she needed to shower since she smelled like sweat from the show, even though she hadn’t been in the pit. And then there was the fact that, simply put, she didn’t want to deal with Max’s questions right now.

“You should at least be a little sorry you worried me and Mom and Dad,” Max muttered. “I mean…C’mon, Em. I’m your brother. I’m the one who’s known you longest, other than Mom and Dad. Don’t you even care that you terrified me?”

His words stopped Emily in her tracks, and she sighed as she turned around to face him, arms still crossed over her chest as she glared at him. “Fine, Maxwell. If you must know. I went to the House of Blues with Hanna and Joss to watch their boyfriends play the show. After that, I crashed at one of the guys’ houses because I was too tired to come home. I just came home. I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I’m wondering why in the hell you flew across the country to make sure I was here when you’ve got thousands of fans waiting on you to play tomorrow night.”

So she was laying the guilt trip on him a little roughly, Emily thought to herself as she watched Max’s face transform from worry into guilt. He put his hands behind his back, something he’d done since childhood as a sign of apology before he lifted his head to look at her.

“Can you blame me for being worried? Em, you never just blow me off like that.”

“Well, maybe it’s time for me to start,” Emily responded to him, her voice just as soft as his. “Max, we’re both adults now. I love you and I always will. You’re my brother, and that’s never going to change. But you’ve got your life to lead and you can’t keep interrupting it for me.”

Max just frowned, taking a step back. “Fine, Emily. You want me to stop caring as much as I do. I get that. I just hope you realize that family’s all you’ve got in life that’s always going to have your back,” he muttered to her before he started walking towards the front door, leaving her standing alone there, feeling guilty for everything she’d just said to Max.