Bulletproof Love

They arrived at the small diner about an hour late. It wasn’t even close to their record, but it was enough that everyone would definitely notice their lateness; unless of course they all happened to be an hour late too, which Emily severely doubted. With the exception of Vic when they were together, the rest of Pierce The Veil was pretty punctual; they were hardly ever more than five minutes late to anything, unless they got caught in a bad traffic jam, or were so hung over they could hardly move.

When they entered through the double glass doors at the front of the restaurant, they were immediately waved down by three guys sitting in a booth towards the back. The couple walked past numerous tables and booths where people sat eating their breakfast and waitresses bustling around carrying plates of food piled high with eggs, hash browns, sausage, bacon and other very delicious breakfast foods. It made Emily’s stomach grumble in anticipation. She didn’t remember eating dinner last night, probably because Vic had come home last night and they had spent the night… indoors.

“How you two always manage to be so late continues to astound me.” Mike greeted the pair as they slid into the bench seat on the other side of the table with Tony. “You know Em; I don’t think my brother was ever this late to anything before he met you.” He teased. Emily made an affirmative sort of noise. She could believe that, considering what it was that caused them to be late most of the time.

“Hope it’s alright I tagged along.” She was pretty sure this was supposed to be a boys breakfast, considering Vic hadn’t planned on waking her up to go with, but she didn’t feel too bad about it; they had interrupted enough dates and quiet nights in over the years that she figured it was only fair.

“It’s fine. We didn’t expect Vic to make you cook for yourself, he’s not that mean.” Jaime smiled and beside her Vic lurched forward, quickly covering his mouth with his hand to prevent the mouthful of water he had just consumed from spraying all over the table and its occupants.

“Always the comedian Jaime.” Emily rolled her eyes. It was a well known fact among her family and friends that she was not the best cook, far from it actually. She was the kind of girl who managed to burn spaghetti because she forgot to put water in the pot. Her own mother felt so bad for Vic that she would cook everything: casseroles, veggie lasagna, she’d even bake pies, and bring them over so he didn’t have to eat take out the whole time he was home. He still denied that she was a bad cook anytime she made the effort.

A petite blonde waitress came over to their table, notepad and pen at the ready. She looked a little impatient, and Emily realized her and Vic were probably the reason for her obvious frustration.

“Are you ready to order yet?” She had a polite smile adorning her face, but she didn’t do much to conceal the fact that it was forced. She twirled a lock of her honey blonde hair around her finger before smoothing her bangs back to the side of her face with her index and middle fingers, chewing obnoxiously on a piece of pink, watermelon scented gum. Everyone at the table gave the girl their orders, much to her relief, and soon it was just the five of them again.

“So Em, I know we had him all summer, but is it all right if we steal him for a few hours?” She didn’t know why they even bothered asking, she wasn’t his mother.

“Absolutely not.” Everyone, including Vic, stared at her with blank faces; trying to decipher if she was joking or not. “Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll just go chill with Delaney.”

Delaney Matthews an Emily went back to the second grade. They had both been in the same class, and shared a table, which back then pretty much meant sharing everything. You know what they say, sharing is caring. After that they had pretty much become inseparable, and managed to remain best friends all throughout high school.

Delaney was a bit of a character. She liked to wear her auburn spiral curls in a chin length bob, and her freckled skin managed to stay pasty white under the California sun. She had a bit of a thing for wearing short shorts and oversized tee shirts, and going barefoot practically everywhere. Emily would need an extra foot to count how many times they had been kicked out of places, or people refused to serve them because of it. But she loved her anyway.

“Emily!” Emily lifted her gaze from the golden sand beneath her bare feet to where Delaney sat a few yards away on an oversized beach towel. After she had departed the diner, she had called up Delaney and asked if she wanted to meet up somewhere. They had agreed on the beach, and Emily had gone home to change into her swimsuit, a white Victoria’s Secret bikini printed with pink cherry blossoms and black and white striped halter straps and bikini ties, before driving to the beach.

Emily quickly made her way over to where Delaney had set up camp, smiling and bending over to give her friend a hug before setting down her beach bag and spreading out her own beach towel to sit on. Once she had everything set she sat down on the soft material and reaching into her bag. She pulled out her sun tan lotion, and began rubbing it into her skin. If there was one thing she hated more than anything, it was being sunburned.

“So, what’s up with the sudden invitation to a girl’s day?” Delaney smiled her crooked smile, and the freckles covering her face shifted, giving an animated quality to her features.

“Nothing, the guys decided to steal Vic for a boy’s day so I thought I’d ask you to a girl’s day.” She gave an affirmative nod.

“He got back last night, didn’t he?” Emily nodded, slipping on a pair of sunglasses to shield her eyes from the blinding California sun. “Surprised you two haven’t broken up yet.” She giggled, and Emily reached her arm out to give her a playful shove. She knew Delaney didn’t mean anything by it; she just liked teasing her friend. You see, Emily and Vic’s relationship wasn’t what you’d call ‘stable’. Since they got together they hadn’t been able to go a year (their record was eleven months and fifteen days) without breaking it off for one reason or another; at one point they hadn’t even gone two days. Everyone else thought it was ridiculous, but to Emily and Vic it was just what they did. They always got back together, and they always had amazing make up sex, it was practically a routine, and it worked for them.

“We almost got into a fight this morning.” Emily confessed, reclining back on her elbows and looking over at her friend.

“What about this time?”

“He was going to go out to breakfast with the guys and leave me at home. He wasn’t even planning on waking me up to tell me he was leaving.” Emily scrunched her nose up, realizing how ridiculous it probably sounded to Delaney, who hadn’t had much relationship trouble since she met Tom, her husband of a year and a half.

“How long have you guys been together?” She asked with a slight tilt of the head.

“Since my senior year of high school.” Vic was two years her senior, so he had already been out of high school for a while when they met.

“So that’s what, ten years?”

“Nine.” Emily corrected.

“And you guys are still pulling crap like this? I swear, you two are worse than a couple of middle schoolers.” The worst part was that Emily agreed whole heartedly with that statement.