The Hollow Days

I've kissed plenty of girls, sure. But none, like that. Emma tasted sweet and her lips were soft despite the roughness of the kiss at first. Eventually the kiss became more passionate, and slowly we pulled away from each other. We laughed inspite of ourselves and I laced my fingers through hers, shooting her a knowing glance. I was nervous, but I forced myself to do this. I had to, because even if I'm scared I'll always be scared, I'd rather get all of this out of the way.

"Why don't we go to my house?" She says happily, a small smile giving her face a teasing expression.

I lick my lips, trying not to stutter. "Are you sure?"

She nods eagerly and pulls me along, and I struggle to keep up with her. I knew she lived around here but I didn't know which house. Finally we made a turn down a dark freshly paved driveway, leading us right into a tan house. It looked so clean and new. I could imagine all the expensive, tasteful things inside. I was already planning to be careful to not touch or break anything when we walked inside and my whole entire thought process stopped. I look around at all the pictures of their family. A lot of them were just her mom and her. Draped over a recliner was a home-made quilt. I peered into the kitchen, where a round wooden table was, with wooden chairs to match it. The kitchen felt like home, and kind of smelt of apple-pie. I gasped as I heard a barking sound. I look over at the German Shepard puppy and smile, it was cute. I kneel down and pet it gently. It sniffs my hand cautiously and then accepts me with a lick.

I laugh. "Emma, this is..."

"Cluttered?" She sighs in frustration. "Sorry my mom is so weird about the stuff she buys to put in the house. She never gets rid of stuff, it's all so tacky."

"I wish my house looked like this." I take her hands in mine and grin. "It feels more like home than my actual house does." We both laugh for a minute, then I pause and lean in to press my lips to hers again.

"Emma!" The front door closed. "Emma I need your help with some...oh!"

I pulled away from Emma quicker than I probably even should of, despite the situation. I could feel my mood shutting down, too rapidly for me to even catch it. "I-I-I'm..." I close my eyes for a second, trying to get ahold of a proper sentence.

I was completely shocked to hear her mother's high-pitched obnoxious laugh. I could feel my shoulders relax and my fist come unclenched. "It's nice to see someone in this place besides Emma and myself!" She sets her bag of groceries on the counter. "You two be careful though, you understand?"

I nod eagerly but Emma speaks up, "mom, please. I'm always careful." She bats her eyelashes and they both laugh. I couldn't help but to smile. "And, by the way. This is Elliot."

"So you're the famous Elliot!" Emma's mom takes my hand and shakes it carefully, giving a teasing smile that somewhat resembled Emma's. "I'm honored."

Emma rolls her eyes as I blush. I want to say something, but my mouth is pretty much locked up. I can't manage a single word. Not even a sound. I just nod and try to smile, even though I could already feel myself sweating. I don't know why this made me so nervous. Was I even supposed to be here?

Yes Elliot, you fucking like the girl, make a good impression.

I kick myself mentally and back away from her mother and more towards her as her mother goes to put the groceries away in the fridge. "Emma, could you be a dear and get the rest of the groceries in the car?"

Say something. "Oh," I try to push myself to finish the sentence as they both stare at me, "er, I can do that for you." When they both smile at me I hurry into the living towards the door. I couldn't really think straight, and I had no idea why. Was it because I had never even met a girl's parents like this before? One that I liked, a lot, I mean. It seemed so stupid to me that I couldn't even put together a sentence for them. I wanted her mom to like me, but I couldn't try hard enough to make it happen. She actually probably thinks I'm some awkward kid. I lean against the car and let my head fall back.

Fuck, why am I even trying?