Emerson's Fury : L.B. Pavlov (2 page)

“Emerson! Dinner!” Finn yelled from the kitchen door. I slipped out of the hammock and headed for the house.

“Wash up, honey,” my mom said when I walked in, a cool breeze following behind me as I pulled the door closed tightly.

“OK, I’ll be right out,” I said, walking into the powder room to wash my hands. I glanced in the mirror at my windblown hair. What I wouldn’t have given to have my unruly curls back. I had insisted on cutting my hair into a short bob when I was in first grade, only to have it grow back thick and pin-straight. I combed through my long, dark hair with my fingers, shaking out any leaves that it had caught as I sat out in the hammock.

My dad walked through the door just as I came out of the bathroom. He gave me a big hug as we all sat down to dinner.

“So, how was the day?” my dad asked, looking at Finn and me and then gazing at my mother. Every time my dad looked at my mom, he got this sappy look on his face, like a lovesick schoolboy. It always made me laugh, but I sure hoped that someday somebody would look at
me
that way.

“Well, I talked to Indy a couple of times, and he is getting more settled now at school. His roommate had bronchitis, but he is finally on the mend, so they will hopefully get to know each other better now,” my mom said, smiling.

“He texted me this morning and said he’s coming home this weekend to go to Dad’s game with us,” I interjected excitedly before taking a bite of my chicken.

“I don’t want him to feel pressure to come to the game. I want him to settle into school. He’s got plenty of games left to come to,” my dad said sincerely.

“Well, I want him to come. And he better bring Bella,” Finn said, and we all burst out laughing. Bella is Indy’s girlfriend. She is absolutely stunning—tall
and thin; long, blonde hair; and big, beautiful eyes. She and Indy had been dating for two years. They attended St. Viator’s together, and she went to Notre Dame with him as well. They complemented one another so well, and they were both very even-tempered, so they got along great. Finn became star-struck whenever he saw her. We would all laugh at how goofy he acted around her. That was the beauty of Finn. He didn’t really care what anyone thought most of the time.

“Tell Dad about how Johnny asked you to homecoming,” my mom said excitedly.

“Well, he dressed up in a gorilla suit, and Brock and Brandon were holding bananas, and he held a big sign that said, ‘I’d go bananas if you’d go to homecoming with me,’” I said, laughing.

“Clever,” my dad responded, winking at me.

“Totally cheesy! That’s so old school. A gorilla suit?” Finn said, also laughing.

“I think it’s romantic,” my mom said, hitting him with her napkin as she joined in the laughter.

“Did you say yes?” my dad inquired.

“Of course I did. We’re going as friends,” I said uncomfortably.

“I don’t think he wants to go as friends,” Finn remarked confidently.

“Yes he does. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I gave him a look to let him know I was annoyed.

“Emerson, a dude doesn’t put on a gorilla suit for a friend. He
likes
you,” he explained, still smiling at my discomfort.

“Are you asking anyone?” my mom asked Finn, attempting to change the subject.

“Well, I’m thinking of asking Brynn. But I’m not putting on a gorilla suit, I can promise you that. I was thinking, maybe we could rent a small plane to write a message for her above the school.” Finn said with mock seriousness.

My parents both burst out laughing. “No, Finn. Get a gorilla suit. We aren’t renting a plane for you to ask someone to homecoming,” my dad said, smiling at him.

“Hey, I took a shot. You gotta go big or go home,” Finn said, laughing at his own joke.

“I think you better come up with a new plan to ‘go big,’” I said, laughing along with him.

Finn would come up with something great. He always made everyone laugh, and he wasn’t afraid to be the center of attention. However, he would never
convince my parents to rent a plane, so he would need to get creative to come up with something better than that—and less expensive.

Finn and I did the dishes and talked about some different ways that he could ask Brynn to homecoming. I told him that he should go call Indy and ask for some ideas. Indy always had great ideas for dances, but he did them in a much quieter way. Girls loved Indy; he just had a charm about him that drew girls to him. He was always humble about the attention he got, but you couldn’t go anywhere without girls staring at him. So Finn thought it was a good idea to call.

I was lying on my bed doing homework and thinking about what I would wear to homecoming. My phone beeped, and it was a text from Paisley, my best friend. She was so happy that I had agreed to go with Johnny, even though it was just as friends. Paisley and Mila had been my best friends since kindergarten. The three of us did everything together. C. J. was my best guy friend, but we were more like brother and sister. C. J. was my Uncle Carlos and Auntie Jen’s son. They were family friends, but we were very close to them. Uncle Carlos used to be my parents’ security, back when they needed protection from some crazy person. Uncle Carlos and Auntie Jen had two daughters whom I loved, Katherine and Emma, and Auntie Jen had a surprise pregnancy while my mom was pregnant with me. Carlos Junior (C. J.) and I were born two days apart, and we had grown up together. We all went to St. Viator’s, the same school that my parents had gone to.

I texted her back, saying that we needed to go dress shopping that weekend. Mila, Paisley, and I would all go Saturday, and we would get dresses, shoes, purses, and anything else we needed for our senior year and last homecoming dance ever. I couldn’t believe this was my last homecoming. I would definitely go to the homecoming game because tons of my friends were on the football team, including C. J., who was team captain. My brother Finn was only a freshman, but he was already playing varsity as the second-string quarterback. He usually played a few minutes in each game, and he hoped to be starting quarterback the following year.

Sundays were reserved for Colts games for the next couple of months. Mila, Paisley, and C. J. usually came with us to the home games and sat up in our box to watch my dad. We always had lots of family and friends at all the games, and they were so much fun. My dad was well-known in Indiana, and he had a ton of local fans. He had been playing for the Colts for just under twenty years, and it was rare for an NFL quarterback to have a run that long for one team. I was
always so proud of him when I watched him play. My dad always stayed calm and cool during games, and he didn’t let the pressure get to him. He loved football and it showed. That was exactly how I felt about running. I always tried to emulate my father’s work ethic. He was always determined when he played and always gave 110 percent of himself.

The next morning before I left for school, I listened to Finn try to sell my parents on multiple extravagant ideas for asking Brynn to homecoming. He wanted to rent a plane, a helicopter, or a blimp. He wanted to fill her classroom with roses, have a band serenade her, or have the police escort her to her home and then ask her. My dad nixed every single idea and told him to keep it simple. Simple was not in Finn’s vocabulary. As I drove him to school, I told him that maybe he should just bring her roses and ask her in a sweet way.

He finally surrendered. “OK. You’re right. I will tell Mom that we need to buy one hundred and fifty fish that we can put in her pond. I will make a poster that says, ‘Of all the fish in the sea, I only want YOU to go to homecoming with me.’ You like it?” he asked hopefully.

I burst out laughing. “You need to fill her pond with live fish? Why don’t you give her a bag of goldfish crackers? You are so over the top, Finn!”

“I didn’t think of crackers. That doesn’t seem very exciting, does it?” he said, and I could hear the irritation growing in his voice.

“I think you can keep it simple and just ask from the heart,” I said decisively. “I don’t think you need to make a grand gesture.”

He was deep in thought, and clearly he didn’t like my suggestion. I doubted Finn could sell my parents on the idea of purchasing a hundred and fifty fish for Brynn. This was just who Finn was. He had been like that his entire life. When he was a kid and played with Legos, he always strayed from the directions. He always did everything larger and grander than your average person did. But that was what I loved about him. Finn himself was larger than life, and so the big gestures worked for him.

The day went by quickly. I was anxious to get home and go for my run. That was the highlight of my day, what I looked forward to most while I was at school. There were rolling hills all around my house, and I would run for miles.

I saw Johnny at lunch, and he seemed very nervous. I didn’t want it to be like that, because we were good friends and I wanted it to stay that way. I had hoped he wanted us to go as friends. Most of the dances that I had gone to had been with friends. I’d had two boyfriends while I was in high school, but neither one was anything big or memorable. I dated Chad my sophomore year for three
months. He had just moved to town, and he seemed so different and unique, which I liked. We ended up having literally nothing in common, there was no spark, and there just wasn’t anything magical about it. I dated Luke the summer before senior year for a couple of weeks. We had known each other since first grade, and I think we had hoped there was something there, but it was more of a friendship.

Luke was famous in my household because when I was in first grade, I came home and told my dad how he had pulled my hair in school several times. My dad did not raise me to be a demure little girl. He showed me a couple boxing moves and told me if Luke touched my hair again, to pop him in the nose. My mom disagreed with his advice and told me to “kill him with kindness.” The next day when Luke decided to pull my hair for the final time, I went with my gut and took my father’s advice. I popped him right in the nose as hard as I could. He started to cry, and he got a nosebleed. I got a note sent home about not punching my classmates, and my mother was mortified. My dad high-fived me, and he was beyond proud. Luke never touched my hair again, and we ended up going to junior prom and dating that summer. We didn’t have much in common beyond our funny history together though. He was still a little cold toward me because he disagreed with the idea that we didn’t have anything in common. I hoped that over time we could be friends again. I thought that once he started to like someone else, he would stop being angry.

I ran eight miles and cleared my head. I felt great. We all had dinner and waited for Indy to get home. He would be home for the weekend and wouldn’t have to go back to school until Sunday night, after my dad’s game. I loved when he was home. We were very close, and I could talk to Indy about anything.

When he finally got home, we sat up talking, and he filled us in on all of his new friends and told us about his classes. Finn told him all about how he asked Brynn to homecoming and had us both cracking up over the expenditure of his entire savings on the fish because my parents refused to finance his extravagance. However, Brynn absolutely loved it, and everyone in school was talking about what a great idea it had been.

“You did not fill a pond with live fish?” Indy said laughing.

“Oh, yes he did.” I said smiling.

“Dude, you’ve gotta go big with the ladies.” Finn said, as we were all hysterically laughing now.

“Who does that?” Indy asked, as he reached over and messed up Finn’s hair.

“Don’t tell me that you’ve never done anything grand for Bella?” Finn asked curiously.

“Always from the heart. That’s the way she likes it.” Indy said proudly.

I smiled at my two brothers as they joked with one another, “I’m so glad that you’re home, Indy. I missed you.”

“I miss you guys, too. How’s mom doing with me gone?”

“With the golden boy gone, all the pressures on me to bring joy to the family!” Finn shouted, and we all laughed some more.

“She’s doing pretty good, but she misses you.” I said sadly.

“Oh, please. She’ll be fine. It’s the circle of life, Indy. You gotta move on at some point.” Finn said, staring at us both.

“The circle of life? What are you talking about? Going to college is not the circle of life.” I said, with absolute annoyance at his ridiculous statement.

“This one is so literal sometimes.” Finn said to Indy, pointing at me.

I threw a pillow at him, “Okay, I have to run in the morning, and then go dress shopping with the girls. I need to get some sleep.”

“Some beauty sleep!” Finn said sarcastically.

Indy laughed, “I love you Em. See you in the morning.”

“Love you, too. Good night.”

c h a p t e r    t w o

All three of us had tons of dresses to try on. We had a rule that we had to show each other every dress we tried on, regardless of it being bad or good. We took turns modeling gown after gown, laughing at some and gasping at how gorgeous others were. I found a pale-pink, strapless, baby-doll-style dress. It had beautiful beading around the bodice and was very pretty. It had layers and layers of flowing fabric, and I twirled around the dressing room while we all laughed. Paisley found a deep-violet dress with a cutout back. It complemented her fair skin, and she held up her long, blonde hair, which she would wear in an updo. It looked so pretty on her. Mila found a black spaghetti-strap dress that looked gorgeous on her. She had a dark, blunt bob; her hair was modern and edgy, and the black dress was the perfect look for her.