Under the Surface (7 page)

I hesitantly
try it. I’m glad she made it sweet because I hate the bitter taste of coffee.
The drink is a lot like hot chocolate, but nutty, like there’s peanut butter in
it or something.

“Not bad,”
I say while keeping myself from gulping down the entire cup. “I
usually don’t like this stuff.”
And I will not admit to you that this is
fucking delicious.

She smiles in
triumph. “You probably don’t like coffee because you don’t put anything in it.
I don’t like it plain, but I can drink it all day long with some cream and
sugar in it…are you still okay with giving me a ride home after this?”

“Yeah,
absolutely.”

Emmy
continues to drink her coffee and looks content. I’m starting to think she’s
warming up to me. “What are your plans for the weekend?”

She puts her
cup down. “Well, technically my weekend started today because I don’t have
classes on Fridays, but I don’t think I really have any plans. What about you?”

“I’m going
home to see my dad tomorrow. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve visited, so I
figured it’s time for me to take a trip over there?”

“You said
your family lives in Newport right?”

I nod.

“That’s nice
that you live close enough to visit. Are you close with your parents?”

“Yeah. I’m an
only child so I always had a good, close relationship with them. My mom passed
away a few years ago, but we were really close. She’s who got me into
photography. She took the most amazing photographs, they always told a unique
story. And my dad and I like to get together every few weeks. I don’t like that
he’s alone in the house by himself. I’m worried about him being on his own.”

I think back
to a phone call I had with my dad a while ago. Something about him sounded off,
which had me worried. It’s taken him years to recover after my mom’s death, and
I want to make sure he’s doing alright.

“I’m sorry
about your mom. But that’s nice that you were so close. I don’t really remember
mine, she passed away when I was really young.”

We both share
the loss of our mothers. There’s another small piece of her family life, but I
wish it wasn’t such a sad one.

“That must
have been hard for your dad and for you, growing up without your mom.”

“It was
definitely hard,”
she says while staring down at her coffee.

“Do you miss
your dad? You’re all the way on the other side of the country.”

“No,”
she says flatly. “
I don
’t miss him at all.”

Why? What
happened between the two of them?

“Is that why
you moved here?”
I ask.

Emmy takes
and deep breath and lets it out. “I need to get back home. I have a shift at
the diner in an hour.”

She’s
blocking me out. I shouldn’t have pushed. Just as she was starting to open up
to me, she’s closed herself off again. “I’ll take you back now.”

“Thank you.”

When we reach
my truck Emmy says, “When you get back from visiting your dad, do you want to
hang out again?”
She’s hesitant when she asks it. Almost as
if she’s worried I would say no. I don’t understand why she thinks that, maybe
it has to do with how our conversation ended.

“Of course we
will. I’ll text you sometime next week after I get back.”

“
Good,
”
she says, and I drive her home.

Chapter Seven

Emilie

I’m shopping downtown with Noel. It’s not
my first choice of activities, because I never have enough money to buy anything,
but Noel promised we wouldn’t be gone long, so I agreed to go.

“So you ran
into Ren when you were getting dinner the other night?”

I had just
finished telling her about how I ran into him last Thursday.

“Yes,”
I say while flipping through a rack of clothes at the boutique
we’re shopping at.

“And then you
went back to his house afterward.”

“Uh huh.”

“And you
slept over.”

“Where are
you going with this Noel? I’m pretty sure I know, but I want you to say it.”

“I’m not
going anywhere with this. I just want to know if you left anything out of the
story. You hung out, slept there, but
didn’
t
hook up?
”

“Exactly.”

“Why not? You
said he’s fun, you’re attracted to him. What was stopping you?”

“We’re
friends, that’s what’s stopping me. You know I don’t date. And if I hook up
with someone, then it’s usually a one-time thing, maybe two. I like hanging out
with Ren, so if I ever decided to sleep with him, I feel like things might get
too awkward for us to continue hanging out.”

“I see. Maybe
you should just give it a try.”

“No.
Absolutely not. I don’t have a lot of people I hang out with. You’re basically
it, and I don’t want to take Ren off that list.”

 Noel
tries on a thick crocheted scarf. “What if you like laid out ground rules or
something beforehand? That might work. How long has it been anyway, since
you’ve last had sex?”

I have to
count the months on my fingers. The last time was with a guy named Steven. I
met him on campus after filling out paperwork in the admissions office, just
after I transferred here. “Four months or so I think.”

Noel makes a
dramatic move of catching herself from falling. “I’m sorry,”
she says while clutching a nearby chair and pressing her hand to
her chest. “My heart and my vagina could barely handle that statement. How can
you stand going that long without sex? If you’re not going to get with Ren,
then we need to find you a man, stat.”

I can take
care of myself, physically, but Noel does have a point. I do miss sex. “Then we
should go out together soon. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten drunk and had
a good time.”

“Yay! I know
exactly what we should do. Halloween’s coming up in a few weeks and my friend
is throwing a party. We can wear sexy costumes, flirt with some guys, and drink
way too much champagne. It’ll be great.”

“I’m down.
What are you going to be?”

“
I don
’t know yet.
We’ll go shopping for our outfits together. Let’s wear something related or
matching!”

She walks
over to a mirror to check out the scarf she tried on.

I hear my phone
beep and I see it’s a text from Ren.

Ren: What are you up to?

I haven’t
heard from him in a week. I was worried I scared him off when we got coffee. I
quickly text him back.

Emmy: Shopping with Noel, then work later. What about you?

Ren: Ah the mysterious Noel. Let
’
s hang out
when you
’
re off.

I don
’t get off until two in
the morning. I wonder if he’ll still want to hang out.

Emmy: I get off at 2 a.m. is that too late?

Ren: The night is still young at 2 a.m. let
’
s go to
your place.

I’ll need to
be sure to clean up before he comes over, but it sounds like a good idea.

Emmy: Okay see you then.

“Who are you
texting?”
Noel asks. She’s gathered about five different items from around
the store.

“Ren.”

She smiles
while raising her eyebrows. “Ren, huh. And what are you two chatting on about?”

“He wants to
hang out later. I told him to come over after I get off work.”

“You don’t
get off until two. This sounds like a booty call.”

“It’s not a
booty call. And do people still use that phrase?”

“Everyone
uses that phrase. Two a.m. ‘
hang out
’,’
she quotes using her
fingers, “Is almost always more than
hanging out
.”

Yes, I do
understand that when someone is asking to go over to another person’s place at
two in the morning it’s basically asking for sex. But this is different. “Well
in this case, I don’t think so.” I say to Noel.

Noel adds
another article of clothing to her fast growing pile. “If it’s anything other
than watching movies and drinking beer, I better get a phone call first thing
in the morning. That’s all I have to say. And even if that’s all it is, I still
want to hear about it.”

Even though I
don’t think it will turn into anything else I agree with her. “Deal. You’ll of
course be the first person to know.”

“Yay!”
She claps her hands together in excitement. “Now back to
shopping!”

* *

I’m just finishing up at the diner. I have
a few more tables to clean, then I can go home.

“Hey, Emilie,
is that boy out there for you?”
Farrah is walking away from
the front windows and over to where I’m cleaning.

“Uh, no.
Nobody should be here for me.”
I
don
’t know what she could be talking about. Maybe it’
s Maggie
’s husband. I
remember her saying that he was giving her a ride home tonight.

“Well there’s
some guy standing outside his truck and it’s parked outside. He’s pretty hot, so
if you aren’t going home with him, I might reconsider my ride.”

Is Ren here?
“Hold on,
Farrah, I might know who it is.”
I quickly clean the last
table and drop my rag off in the kitchen.

“Sure, now
you remember,”
Farrah says as I get back into the dining area.

“
Ladies,
”
Maggie says. She
’s holding her purse and has a gray sweater on over the clothes
she wore to work. “Let’s get you all clocked out. I’m ready to close up.”

I grab my
stuff from the break room in the back of the diner and clock out. When I get
outside I see Ren standing by his truck.

“What are you
doing here?”
I ask.

He looks
surprised by my question. “Aren’
t we hanging out?
”

“Yeah we’re
hanging out. I just figured you would meet me at my house. I didn’t think I
would see you here at the diner.”

“Why would I
make you walk all the way home alone when I was already planning on driving to
your place and could pick you up on the way?”

He’s right,
but I can’t believe he went out of his way for me. “Thank you for picking me
up. It’s nice to not have to walk home from work late at night.”

“It’s really
no problem.”
He opens the door to let me into his car. When I look out the
window I notice Farrah staring at me while standing next to the guy who has
been taking her home lately. She has her arms crossed.

“You have a
good shift?”

Ren draws my
attention back to him. “Tips were good today, so my shift wasn’t too bad.”

“And shopping
with Noel—that was good?”

“We had a
good time. Shopping isn’t my favorite thing to do, but we got lunch and mimosas
after, and that was fun. What did you do today?”

“I went to
class, took a nap, and edited some photos. That’s just about it. I’m sorry I
didn’t text you earlier this week. I’ve been busy with work and school.”

“I
understand. How was your dad?”

“He was good.
I stayed in Newport all weekend with him, but I feel like he’s hiding something
from me.”

“What do you
think he’
s hiding?
”

“
I don
’t know. I
don’t think it’s bad, but I feel like lately he’s always trying to draw my
conversations in a different direction. I’ll figure out what’s going on soon
enough.”

We get back
to my apartment, and I’m glad Ren drove me home. The light over the parking lot
is flickering in and out, and I know that would have made me nervous to walk
through.

“How long
have you lived here?”
Ren asks as we walk up to my apartment.

“Since June.
I had another apartment that I lived in for around two years before this one,
just outside Providence. After I finished with community college there, I moved
here because it was closer to school.”

“And how did
you meet Noel?”

“She was
taking some classes at the community college I went to along with ones at the
university. We met there and became good friends.”

I unlock the
door to my apartment. “You’re lucky you warned me you were coming over. I
actually cleaned up today.”

“What, you
live like a slob?”
He asks jokingly.

“
No, I don
’t live like
a slob. I just had some dirty clothes around the house, and dishes in the
kitchen. It’s all clean now, so you’
re welcome.
”

“Damn, and
here I thought I would come over and find your bras all over the place.”

“Try and
contain yourself. We’re under my roof now.”

“Okay boss
lady, I’ll behave. Now, what are we going to do?”

“
I don
’t know,
you’re the one who wanted to hang out. Are you hungry?”

“Starving. Cook
me something good.”

“I’m not
cooking you anything. Make yourself some food. I’m eating leftovers.”

“Fine. But
I’m going to help myself to your kitchen.”

“Go ahead.”

“What
leftovers are you eating?”

“Mac and
cheese,”
I say while I pull it out of the fridge. “And there’s only enough
for me.”
I pop it in the microwave to heat it up. After I take it out, I
make a show of how good it smells. “Mmm, delicious.”

“That’s not
fair, Emmy. I love mac and cheese.”

There he goes
calling me Emmy again. I remember him using it before. “Why do you use that
nickname on me?”

“
I don
’t know,”
Ren says while he looks through my cabinets. “I just like it. I
feel like it’s what I’m supposed to call you. You don’t like it?”

I’m
undecided. “
I don
’t know.”

He just shrugs
while flipping through my cabinets. “You don’t have any regular food in this
house. Just boxed cake mix and a bunch of wine.”

“I can’t
think of two more important kitchen staples. There’s some stuff in the freezer,
you can eat that.”

He pulls out
some frozen burritos and puts them in the microwave. Ren then pulls himself up
to sit on the counter. “You want to go to the beach?”

“This late at
night?”

“Yeah, we can
drive down to the water, make a fire on the beach.”

I haven’t
made it to the water in a long time. “Let’
s do it.
”

A smiles
reaches across Ren’s face. “Excellent. You got any blankets we can get sandy?
It’ll be cold tonight.”

“Sure, I’ll
grab something.”

I get two
older blankets and quickly change into more comfortable clothing. Ren is just
finishing his food when I get back into the kitchen.

“Should we
bring anything else? We’ll need stuff to start a fire.”

“Nah, this
will be fine. We can go to my dad’s house. There’s plenty of stuff there to
start a fire.”

His dad’s
house? Somehow I don’t really feel comfortable going there.

“Do we need
to go to your dad’s house? Won’t he mind? It’s pretty late.”

“He won’t
mind. I’ve shown up in the middle of the night before. If we don’t wake him up
then it’s fine. If you bring a change of clothes we can even spend the night
there.”

“Okay,”
I say hesitantly. “But if we decide we don’t want to stay we can
head back here tonight?”

Ren gets off
the counter he was sitting on. “If you don’t want to sleep there I’ll drive us
back.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

* *

“You ever make it over to Newport before?”