Are You Locked Up in a World That's Been Planned Out for You?

I followed Millie into one of the bedrooms, where I saw our other school friend, Amanda, wearing sweat pants and an oversized shirt as she was curling her hair and doing her makeup.

“Emma! Oh, it’s so great to see you! I’ve missed everyone at home, so it’s lovely to be able to see someone from school!” Amanda loudly said, as she ran over to hug me.

I patted her back a few times before pulling away. However, before I could even reply to her, Millie started gushing.

“That guy that took Emma as his prom date is so cute! She deserves a hottie like him. But you know what that means right? Hot guys have hot friends. We’re in for a great party.” Millie smirked, as she pulled a bottle of something from under the bed.

“It’s a four hundred dollar bottle of champagne. Millie’s dad made sure the hotel staff had it ready in the hotel room. He doesn’t know we’re having this party but he said we deserved it to celebrate the last weekend of our very last ever high school spring break. Millie also told him you were catching up with us too, so he insisted.” Amanda squealed, running over to the wardrobe where they had put three glasses ready, probably had been grabbed from the bar area outside.

“That’s right girls. Amanda and I have been on a cruise all of spring break, with no contact to the outside world. We’ve networked well and met some very hot guys, but tonight we celebrate meeting up with one of our besties, who has bought us the right kind of people for an amazing night.” Millie smirked, getting ready to pop the cork.

She did, and we all squealed as the cork went whizzing into the wall, and we ducked quickly to avoid it hitting us as it bounced off the wall. However I was unprepared, and as I ducked, the cork hit me perfectly in the eye.

Millie and Amanda were too busy to notice though, as the champagne was now spilling onto the carpet, and they quickly rushed to get a towel before it could stain the carpet, and them get in trouble with Millie’s parents for causing damage.

If they were planning a wild party and this was the most damage of tonight, they were lucky.

I mumbled something to them, and they said by the time I would be back they would have a glass ready for me and all would be okay.

I ducked through the penthouse trying to find a first aid kit, noticing a few more people had arrived. No one had approached me yet, so I must have at least looked alright, not too damaged.

As I made my way into the bathroom, I spun around as I felt the presence of another and saw Eric standing there.

“What’s up?” I asked, leaning against the wall and crossing my arms.

“Not too much, how about you?” Eric grinned, but his smile faltered as he studied my face “What happened to you?”

“Um, I could give some cool cover story, but I got hit in the face with a cork from a four hundred dollar bottle of champagne.” I explained to Eric.

“Alright. Well, it’s beginning to swell a little. I’ll go grab some ice to reduce it; we don’t want a big nasty swelling sensation on your face ruining your night do we? It won’t bruise until tomorrow hopefully, so you have until then to explain to your dad why you have a huge bruise on your face after coming back from my school’s prom.” Eric said, trying to lighten the mood but I only scowled at him.

He sighed, but gave me a small smile before kissing the top of my head and bounding out of the room. I waited impatiently for him, and a few moments later he returned with a bag of ice.

He put the ice down, and picked me up to put me onto the bathroom counter. I let out a little squeal, as I wasn’t expecting it.

“I’ll kiss it better, then put ice on it, okay?” Eric grinned, and I nodded.

He did just that, he kissed the right side of my face where I had been hit, and grabbed the bag of ice and lightly put it to the part that was swelling.

I watched him the entire time, thoughts swimming through my head. It really was a shame we lived in different cities, Eric would be such a perfect boyfriend. But in saying that I knew I definitely did still really like Mike, he was just a completely different person. Besides, if given the opportunity, I’m sure he could be this sweet like Eric is being right now.

I need to do what I’ve been doing this past week and completely forget about him for the time being.

“There. I’ll go put this back in the freezer and in about half an hour or so we’ll do this again. Go back to your friends, I’ll hold the fort down for now.” Eric said to me.

I said nothing, but roughly grabbed his shirt and crashed his lips into mine, grabbing his body and wrapping my legs around him for an intense make out session that lasted a few minutes. A few people walked past in that time and cheered, and when I let go, it was a regretful let go.

“Gotta make the most of tonight, right?” I grinned, jumping off the counter and going back into the room Millie and Amanda were in.

The second I stepped in; I noticed that Amanda had the phone to her ear. They both let out a huge squeal when I walked in and handed me a glass of champagne, and I cocked my head to the side as I accepted it, wondering who they were on the phone to.

“Oh my god! Emma just walked into the room! As I said we popped a cork straight into her eye, she looks good, you can’t tell. Work it girl!” Amanda said to the person on the phone but directed the last part to me, handing me the phone.

I shot her a weird look, but accepted it.

“Hello?” I asked into the receiver.

“Heh heh heh. Hey Emma, It’s Jessica, I’m at the precinct, my mother sent me to live with dad for the past week as she busted me when I came home drunk from a party. Dad took me to the precinct today as I’ve been sooooo bored in his tiny apartment.” Jessica informed me.

“How did they even know where to ring you? Oh, never mind,” I asked Jessica, aborting that train of thought as I found a better one “You can just answer yes or no questions. Is Mike there with you?”

“My dad’s partner is right next to me, yes. Dad’s talking to Van Buren about something, but Logan is listening into the conversation probably on dad’s behalf. Can I get some privacy?” Jessica said loudly and rudely, and I could tell the second half was directed towards Mike.

“Suck it up princess, you’re in my precinct.” I heard Mike sarcastically reply, and a smile came to my lips, as I was able to remember his sarcastic personality and hear his voice, something I hadn’t experienced in two weeks.

I had to suppress a sigh though; this time I don’t think either of us could come up with an excuse to talk to each other. In a way I didn’t want to talk to him, I wanted to live out this fantasy with Eric just for tonight. Talking to Mike would just bring us back to reality.

“Don’t put him on, okay? I’ll explain it all later.” I said quickly to Jessica.

“Um…alright. I heard Millie popped a champagne bottle and it got your eye. Are you alright?” Jessica asked me, sounding concerned.

This seemed to get Mike’s attention, as I heard him clearly in the background.

“Emma is with her dad in Miami, right? How is she liking it?” I heard Mike ask her.

“How am I meant to know if you won’t let me talk to her, jeeze.” Jessica snapped back at him, and I had to stifle laughter, as I knew that this was probably the only teenager off limits to a rude, sarcastic reply, and it was probably eating him up inside.

“It kills me inside but I think I might have to let you go. Logan won’t leave me alone, so it’d be hard to ask about Miami and the wild party you’re at now.” Jessica said to me.

I smirked, knowing her true intentions behind her words. She was being truthful in that it was really hard to talk with Logan listening in and I knew she was scared of saying the wrong thing, but she also wanted to fill his head with wild ideas of what I’d be up to, make him sweat a little about the fact we weren’t official and it was all his doing.

“That’s cool. Um, I get back on Sunday afternoon, pretty early in the afternoon too. Want to hang out Sunday night, or is your mum not letting you have people over because of the whole drunk party thing?” I asked Jessica.

“Nah, she loves you, for some reason. She even blamed the drunken party on the fact you’re not here; she said others led me astray. You should definitely come over for dinner or something, I want to speak about the fact Millie said just now on the phone you went to a high school prom with that cute Eric boy?” Jessica asked, but then seconds later she went completely silent and I heard her suppress a gasp.

She had done it, she had done what she was trying to avoid. Mike was now aware of some speculation going around that I went to prom, and in Millie’s words ‘with a cute guy’

I had to shrug though. Whatever. Eric was a sweet guy, and he was mine for all of tonight. I didn’t care about tomorrow. I didn’t care about next week and hell; right now I didn’t care about Mike. I was going to live tonight, and regret tomorrow.

“Yeah, don’t worry about anything tonight. Tonight Eric and I have a pact, we’re together for this one night and anything goes, tomorrow is a grey area, and Sunday is back to reality.” I stated to Jessica.

“Emma I…yeah, sounds good.” Jessica said sadly, and I could tell she wanted to apologise but didn’t know how without making it obvious to Mike that she knew what she wasn’t meant to.

“Hey don’t worry, we’ll catch up better under normal circumstances. This is just awkward as hell, and I don’t know what else to say. All I know is that I’m too sober for this shit, and I’m going to go meet up with a very cute Cuban slash Miami to make out. Seeya on Saturday, I’ll give you a call when I get home.” I said to Jessica, not even bothering to ask Millie or Amanda if they wanted to speak and I hung up the phone.

“What was all that about?” Millie asked, grabbing my glass, which I had taken a few sips from, and filling it all the way to the top, forcing me to have quite a lot of sips.

“Oh, nothing. Just couldn’t talk to Jessica properly because her dad’s cop partner, Mike Logan was sitting right next to her, so it was awkward.” I explained to Millie, however at the exact moment I said that, Eric walked into the room.

We looked at each other for a second and I dropped my gaze, feeling a little guilty he had to hear that. However, Eric just offered me a smile and offered me his hand as he walked across the room towards me.

“I’m sorry ladies, but as the party is beginning to heat up, I’m going to have to steal Emma off you for a while. But I suggest you lovely ladies join us, as this party is about to take off.” Eric said to Millie and Amanda.

I didn’t know what feeling was worse. The fact I should feel guilty that I’m feeling these feelings for Eric when I should be preparing myself to settle down with an exclusive relationship with Mike, or the fact that I was secretly wishing so much that Eric and I could be together for something long term and for real, and if I had to pick between the two right now I would pick Eric hands down.