Girl That You Love

They spent New Years in LA with the rest of the band, but then once the holidays were over, Emma headed back to New York City alone, while Patrick stayed behind in LA to prepare for their trip to Australia for a few days of concerts. Emma prided herself on being that girlfriend who didn’t mind their time apart, but when they were so close to the wedding she couldn’t help be get a little anxious about their distance.

“Home sweet home,” she sighed, dropping her luggage on the floor by the front door of their condo.

“Don’t try and sound so happy about it,” Robbie joked as he slipped into the house behind her, carrying a large black duffel bag.

“You know, you don’t really have to stay here with me. I am going to be fine,” she replied.

“Patrick asked me to, and Marcus agreed. Just in case. IT’s not like the paparazzi were particularly kind at that New Years Eve party,” Robbie pointed out.

“You’re right. Well, you can take that guest bedroom right over there to the left of the living room,” she said, picking her luggage back up and dragging it up the stairs.

“Hey, do you need help with those?” Robbie asked her.

“Oh, um, no that ‘s okay,” she replied quickly. It was a little weird to her to have another man in her and Patrick’s room, and Robbie was no exception. He stared at her for a second and then just shrugged and hefted his duffel into the downstairs guest bedroom.

Once Emma was up in her and Patrick’s room, she closed the door and heaved a sigh. She was a little relieved to have a few days to herself, and was annoyed when Robbie told her that he was staying at the house per Patrick and Marcus. She didn’t even have time to really convince Patrick otherwise. However, she had a little bit of peace and quiet at that moment, so she decided to take advantage of it.

After unpacking, she went into the bathroom and filled up the Jacuzzi tub they had with some of the bath soaps and lit a few vanilla candles around the edges. She turned off the lights and undressed, slipping into the tub and sinking into the bubbles. She closed her eyes and reached over to her iPhone, turning on a playlist she had created for relaxing and started daydreaming.

When she was younger, she was much better at pushing all of her worries and anxieties out of my mind, focusing on other things, happier and more peaceful things. But as she grew up , it grew harder for her to do so. Patrick always told her that she has the busiest mind of anyone he had ever met.
The only thing she was determined to not think about was the wedding. Although she was excited about it, it was still overwhelming to think about. Barbara had taken care of most of the planning, and all Emma and Patrick had to do was to show up. Yet, it still made her nervous to think that they would finally be married. They would be joined together legally and forever.

As if she was reading her mind, Emma’s phone started ringing. It was Barbara.

“Hello?” Emma said into the phone.

“Emma, darling, how are you???” Breathed Barbara. She always seemed more excited to talk to Emma than Emma was to talk to her.

“Barbara, I’m fine, how are you?”

“Simply marvelous. I wanted to call you to ask you about the photo session the day before the wedding. Now, I know you said Central Park, but I talked to my meteorologist friend and he said there may be heavy snow that day. Is there an alternate location we could look into?”

Emma scrunched up her nose. “Wait, you want me to relocate our photos based on a hunch from some guy who reports the weather on the local news channel?”

“He’s a METEOROLOGIST dear. It’s a science,”

“That has more error in it than gambling. Barbara, Even if it snows, I want to have my pictures in Central Park. I’m putting my foot down on that one.”

“But Emma,”

“Barbara, if it snows that day, we will pay the photographer double. Patrick does not care,” Emma said sighing. “Now, if you don’t mind, I am trying to relax right now.” She listened to Barbara’s repeated apologies and hung up.

She closed her eyes and tried to quiet her mind. She rubbed her temples and let her thoughts start to drift away. She was actually feeling quite calm until,

KNOCK KNOCK

“Emma! Hey, you all right in there?” Robbie’s voice broke into her still mind, filling it with his annoying voice.

She groaned. “Robbie, yes, I’m fine.” She answered curtly, hoping he’d take the hint.

“Good, just making sure. Hey want to watch a movie or something?”

“Uh, no, Robbie, that’s okay. I just want to rest tonight. Have lots to do at work tomorrow,” she called back.

She could hear him shuffling outside. Please just go away, she thought pleadingly.

“Okay then. Have a good night. If you need me, let me know,” he said begrudgingly.

Emma listened to his footsteps, her heart not slowing until she could no longer hear them. She didn’t know why, but she was tiring of Robbie’s constant invasion into her life. At first, having him around, as a friend almost, was fun, but lately, it felt as if he was everywhere, and it didn’t help matters that he had to be around when she wanted just a little bit of alone time with Patrick. Even Marcus didn’t spend that much time with the guys.

Her phone rang, breaking into her silence once more. “Jesus Christ,” she muttered, rolling over and looking at the phone. Her heart lightened when she saw who it was. “Thank God it’s you,” she breathed as she answered the phone.

“I hope you say that fifty years from now,” Patrick joked. She offered no laughter with his. “Um, Emma, you okay?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I just… We just got home, and already I got a call from Barbara about some meteorologist telling me I need to change our photo venue and then Robbie’s been bugging me…”

“What? What’s wrong with Robbie?”

“Nothing, it’s just he wants to hang out, and I just kind of want to be alone. It’s weird, Patrick, having him in the house and you not being here,” she said truthfully.

“I thought you and Robbie were like best buds, tight or whatever,” he teased.

“Doesn’t mean I want to live with him,” Emma retorted. “I just don’t understand why he needs to be here every day following me around like a lap dog.”

“Shall I remind you of the death threats and the enraged fans?”

“Who haven’t bothered me in a month. Patrick, this stuff fades faster than your black jeans. No one cares anymore,” she reasoned.

“First of all, my jeans don’t fade… that fast… and second, maybe the masses don’t, but the ones that do, the ones who believe that you don’t deserve to live, they still care and they are still out there,” Patrick said.

Emma sighed. There was no use arguing with him. He had his point of view and he wasn’t going to change it.

“Emma?” Patrick said timidly after she was silent for awhile.

“What? Oh, sorry, just thinking.”

“Emma, you’re not mad at me, are you?” he asked.

“No, Patrick, I’m not. I’m just… really tired. Man, I just need to sleep.”

“Okay. Well, I love you.”

“I love you too. Have a safe flight tomorrow.”

She hung up and rested her head on her pillow, groaning. The last thing she wanted was to start fighting with Patrick right before their wedding, especially when they had such a good Christmas together. She closed her eyes tightly and started mentally willing each of her body parts to sleep, a trick she used to do when she was younger, in hopes that it might just help her forget all of the problems she was making up in her head that were making her irritable and keeping her up.