EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) (15 page)

As the three of us squeezed through the crowd, I saw Daphne talking to Evan and Josie.

Daniel wanted to walk us all the way to 69th Street, but I wouldn’t let him. He’d have to walk back up to 72nd Street and that made no sense. When we got to his street, Daniel left us and insisted that I called when we got home.

Lily immediately started talking about Chad and I
got a weird feeling that we were being followed. I kept turning around, but had no idea where to look. There were people everywhere.

When we got inside,
I called Daniel. “Okay, we made it home alive.”

“G
reat. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I walked in the kitchen to get a glass of water and
Mom said she was taking Amber for a walk. As soon as she left the house phone rang. I reached to get the phone, but it was missing from the base. I heard the answering machine pick up and it was another hang up.

“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”
Einstein

Lily and I walked to work and hoped it wouldn’t rain since we both forgot our umbrellas.

I spend most of the day filing
, which was a little better than marathon photocopying.

At the end of the day,
I walked home through the park. It had only been three weeks since I first saw Daniel, but now it seemed like he’d always been a part of my life.

Suddenly, I felt somebody grab me.
“Oh my God!” I screamed and turned sideways.

Daphne was standing there laughing,
thrilled by her ambush. “You were in a trance.”

“
You scared me to death.”

“Thinking about
anybody I know?” she asked.

“Daphne, please s
top,” I begged. “So what happened with Evan last night?”

Daphne got
excited and said, “You were right. Nothing’s going on between them. Josie called Evan and asked him to go with her."

"I figured as much."

"As we stood there talking, Nick Logan walked over, and Josie started flirting like crazy. They ended up leaving together and Evan walked me home.”

“Good, I’m glad. They were really weird last night. When they passed me, they both gave me the dirtiest looks
.”

“Evan
I get, but why would Josie?”

“I have no idea. S
he obviously has an issue with me.”

When we reached my street, we said goodbye and made plans to talk later.

I entered the apartment and put the file on the table. Dad was talking on the phone in the den and waved at me as I passed.

I sat on the couch and waited for him
. My head started spinning, so I closed my eyes.

“Hi Buttercup.”

His voice woke me up and I said groggily, “Hi Dad. I can’t believe I fell asleep. How was your trip?” 

“Good
, but I might have to go back next week.” Dad began explaining something about some corporations, but I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Are we
still going to Grammy’s this weekend?” I asked when he was done.

“
Yes, I’m taking tomorrow off, so we’ll leave late morning and miss the traffic.”

“S
ounds great to me,” I said happily. “I left a file that Sonia said you needed in the foyer.”

I went
in the kitchen and asked Mom if she needed any help.

“Just set the table,” she said and handed me the plates.

Mom had made a caprese salad and some shrimp kabobs over rice. It all looked delicious, but I started feeling queasy and just played with my food.

“
Are you okay?” Mom asked when I put my hands to my temples.

“I have a headache.” I
started feeling dizzy. “Maybe, it’s the heat.”

“Go li
e down. I’ll bring you some medicine.”

The medication worked and feeling better,
I wrote a song called ‘I Want to Tell You.’

I want to tell you all my feelings

I want to tell you everything

But I’m worried that my honesty might make you run away.

What if you can’t handle what I’m saying

And you can’t stand to be around me

If it creeps you out will you stay around or will you leave me

Be great if you felt the same way but what if you don’t

Will I just end up with more pain

I’m scared that I love you

I’m scared of wrecking our friendship

I’m scared of sabotaging everything we have

I’m scared that I love you and that I’m afraid to tell you

I’m scared you’ll disappear once again.

I’m sure you’re the one I’m meant to be with

I can’t stop how I feel for you

Are you capable of loving me or is this just crazy?

I’m sure you love me as a friend.

Is it something more to you too?

I’m hoping you love me too and that you’re not afraid.

Be great if you felt the same way but what if you don’t

Will I just end up with more pain?

I’m scared that I love you

I’m scared of wrecking our friendship

I’m scared of sabotaging everything we have

I’m scared that I love
you and that I’m afraid to tell you

I’m sca
red you’ll disappear once again.

After I finished the song, I stared at the ceiling wondering how Daniel felt about me. I heard a buzzing noise and realized it was my cell. I forgot to turn it on when I left work.

“A
re you sitting down?” Lily asked excitedly.

“Yeah, what’s up?” I said and got back on the bed.
             

“
You won’t believe this, but Daniel was in Paris last summer. I have a picture of all three of us on the Eiffel Tower,” she shrieked.

For a minute, it didn’t register.
“What are you talking about?” I said stunned.

“I
was working on my scrapbook and found a photo of him standing behind us. I emailed it to you.”

I went to my computer
and sure enough it was him. He was standing sideways talking to a girl. I could only see her back. She had long brown hair and had on wooden bangle bracelets.

“I can’t believe it.”

“All this time, I thought you were stalking him, but he’s been stalking you.” She laughed and said, “I’m obviously kidding.”

“I know. I’m going to look through my p
hotos. I’ll call you back.”

I grabbed my photo box under my bed and st
arted searching. Sadly, my pictures had no Daniel in them. At least, we had one. Daniel and I had another thing in common, Paris. I couldn’t wait to tell him.

When M
om came in to say goodnight, I showed her the photo. “What a small world,” she muttered, as she walked out.

I wanted to call Daniel
, but felt funny. All of a sudden, as if on cue, my cell rang and it was him. “I was just thinking of calling you,” I confessed.

“
You can call me anytime.”

“
You were in Paris last August, right?” I began.

“Yes, how did you know?” he asked.

“We were there for Lily’s birthday and she found a photo of you standing behind us on the Eiffel Tower. We were destined to meet,” I said and quickly got embarrassed by my comment.

“
Yes, I guess we were. I was vacationing with some friends,” he said. “I’d love to see the picture. Can you email it to me at [email protected]?”

“Sure. I’ll do it right now.” I had his email!

He opened it and said, “It’s definitely me.”

We talked about France
for a bit and then Daniel asked, “Are you around this weekend?”

“No, we’re going to my grandmother’s
on Long Island.” I loved going to Long Island, but now with Daniel in the city I wanted to be in both places at once.

“
Have fun. I’ll call you next week. Maybe we can do something.”

“I’d like
that,” I admitted. I printed the photo and put it in my bag. That way, I would have him with me at all times. I took out my journal and wrote about the block party and the photo.




A crazy dream woke me at six o’clock. I couldn’t remember it, except that I was scared. My headache was back, so I grabbed the medicine and reached for my water bottle, but it was empty. I went downstairs and found my parents talking at the kitchen table.

A call from France woke them around five o’clock and they weren’t able to fall back asleep.

Thank goodness, I had put my house
phone in my bedroom on silent mode.

A new secretary had called, having forgotten about the time difference. Dad called her a flibbertigibbet, his favorite word for incompetent people. The secretary told Dad that she found some files he left behind. Dad asked her to overnight the f
iles to the New York office and said he wasn’t missing anything. He had no idea what she was talking about.

Since we were all awake, we got an early start for Long Island. Halfway there, D
ad realized he forgot to bring the file that I had brought home. He left a voice message for Sonia to send a different file by Federal Express.

When we arrived, Grammy was outside puttering in
the garden. Mom went to help, Dad rushed off to make calls and I took Amber for a walk. The beach was totally deserted.

When I got back to the house,
Aunt Cecile was pulling into the driveway.

Lily and Uncle Ian were catching the bus
after work and were expected around eight. I changed into my bathing suit and jumped in the pool.

Around two o’clock, bored with swimming
, I took Amber for a walk to the Causeway Beach for a change. As we were heading down the beach, I noticed a black car with tinted windows pull into the parking lot. No one got out and I couldn’t really see anyone from my angle. When I came by again on the way home, the car was gone.

I found
a note on the table that Grammy, Mom and Aunt Cecile had gone food shopping. I heard Dad talking on the phone in the den, so I got my books and camped out on a lounge chair by the pool to read poetry. All the poetry now reminded me of Daniel.

When Lily and Uncle Ian
finally arrived, Dad took orders for grilled fish and salmon burgers. As I ate, I saw a motorboat anchored off the beach right in front of Grammy’s house. The boat was on a private buoy, so it most likely was a neighbor enjoying the night.

I wasn’t that hungry, so
I jumped in the pool and waited for Lily to finish eating. When she was done, Lily ran towards the pool and dove in.

As Lily surfaced, I yelled to her,
“Hey, you have to wait two hours before swimming.”

“Sure, I’ll jump right out,” Lily
laughed and started doing laps.

One
summer, Mom, Dad and I had visited friends in Piscara, Italy and we went along with their relatives to the beach. After eating lunch, I jumped up and ran right into the water while the other kids just sat on the edge of the water and watched me enviously. I kept asking them to come in, but they said they weren’t allowed. Our friends told us that all the locals waited two hours after eating fearful of cramps. The adults gave my parents dirty looks, appalled that I was allowed to swim. This wasn’t the only strange thing. If they ate watermelon, they had to wait three hours to swim and some people wouldn’t even bathe.

When I first told Lily the story, she wisecracked, “So if you eat pizza and watermelon do you have to wait five hours?”

Later that night as I looked out my window admiring the full moon, I noticed that the boat was still there and the lights were on. The evening was cool so we opened the windows and enjoyed the night sounds.




The following morning, Lily wanted to kayak after breakfast. The motorboat was still there and with nothing better to do, we paddled towards it to investigate.

As we reached the boat, we saw a person disappear below. As we pulled away, the person reappeared. Lily thought that was strange and we paddled back towards the boat. Again, the occupant went below.

“I’m not leaving until I see who is on that boat,” Lily stated. W
e paddled back and forth hoping the person would appear eventually.

My arms started to ache and I moaned, “Let’s forget it. Who cares?”