Under the Surface (6 page)

Chapter Six

Ren

If she turns around she’s going to think
that I’
m
stalking her.

I haven’t
seen Emmy in about two weeks, and haven’t been able to stop thinking about her.
What’s weird though is it’s not even in a romantic sense. I just wanted to hang
out with her again.

I keep ending
up in the same places she’s at, first the diner, now RJ’s. I love this place
too, which is why I’m here, but she doesn’t strike me as the girl who will
believe that I just ran into her here by chance. Which is true.

But I really
shouldn’t worry so much about what she’ll think if she sees me, maybe she’s
been wanting to see me again too. I’ll use this as my chance to talk to her
again.

She’s sitting
at a table in the back by herself. She has no drink or menu in front of her, so
I assume she’s waiting for a pizza to go.

I quickly
head over to the register and order a medium cheese pizza to go. I keep my eye
on Emmy to make sure that she hasn’t left the table, or that no one else has
joined her.

She’ll
probably get annoyed if I sit with her, complain that she wants to sit by
herself, or something along those lines.

So of course
I decide to join her.

“Hey,
gorgeous,”
I tell her.

She looks up
from her phone, and when she sees me an annoyed look plays onto her face.

“Do I know
you?”
She asks. But I can catch the slight upturn of her mouth so I know
she’s joking.

I sit down at
the table with her.

Remembering
what we got the last time we were here I ask, “So, did you get the veggie
again?”

“I have taste
buds, of course I did.”

Sassy, sassy.

“Are you a
vegetarian?”

“No, just
like that pizza. And what are you doing here? Stalking me or something?”

I freakin’
knew she would think that.

“Actually,
no. Running into you is an accident. I came here for pizza, obviously, and got
lucky by seeing you. I took you to this restaurant remember? I didn’t need your
input on that.”

“You have a
point.”

“Glad you
agree. So what are you doing after this?”

“Eating
pizza, obviously,”
she smiles.

“Let’
s hang out.
”

I wonder if she’ll
actually agree. I’m not trying to get her into another date, I genuinely just
want to spend time with her.

“Not as a
date right?”

“Nope, just
as friends.”
Which is the truth.

She takes a
deep breath. “Sure, why not?”

Again this
girl surprises me with her answer.

A waitress
walks over and hands us our boxes of pizza. We thank her and make our way out
of the restaurant.

“We can go to
my place,”
I tell her.

“Where’s your
place?”

“A few miles
from here, a quick drive.”

“Okay, but
can you drive me home after? I walked here.”

“Yeah, I can
do that.”

I lead her
over to where my car is parked, and we both get in. I anticipate another
comment about me driving a truck, but one
doesn’t come.

“How come you
walked here?” I ask. “Your apartment isn’t that close.”

“
I don
’t have a
car,”
she tells me as she buckles her seat belt.

“Didn’t you
say you’re from Nevada? Did you fly over here to come to school?”

“No, I drove.
It took me a while since I went across the country. I had to sell my car
though, that’s why I don’t have one.”

“Why did you
sell it?”

“I needed the
money. It’s expensive living on your own.”

I can
understand that, but I wonder why she doesn’t have anyone who can help support
her. I mean, I usually pay for most of my own stuff, but my dad would never let
me be so far off that I would have to sell my car. I try to think back on her
saying if she had family here, but I think she bypassed that question.

“You probably
make good money in tips at the diner, right?”

“Sometimes. I
try to be really nice to all the customers, and drunk kids who come in at night
usually tip me well on accident. And older couples who are regulars tip well,
but the diner is pretty casual and relaxed, most people just do a small tip or
nothing at all.”

Part of me
can’t believe she’s actually nice to everyone who comes in.

“
You, nice? To
all
the
customers.”

She gives me
a questioning look. “Yeah, I’m nice to everyone who comes in.”

“You’re not
that nice.”

“What are you
talking about? I’
m nice.
”

I can’t help
but roll my eyes at her comment. “You’re kind of direct, and not in the nicest
way. I think you tend to just say whatever is on your mind. I think it’s funny,
but to some people that doesn’t come across as nice. Your friends are probably
used to it though. I tend to act that way with my roommate, Mason, but it’s all
in good fun.”

“
I don
’t really
have a lot of friends. I do tend to be direct with people, but I don’t think
I’m
mean.”

She looks
upset when she’
s
talking. I don
’t think she’s mean, she just isn’t the cookie
cutter nice girl. And the fact that she doesn’t have a lot of friends surprises
me.

“
Look, don
’t take what
I say too seriously. I was kind of joking about the not being nice thing. I
like your personality, so don’t beat yourself up over it.”
I pull into my driveway. “
Look we
’re here, let’s forget
about it and just relax, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

I grab both
the pizzas and get out of the car. Emmy follows behind me and into my house.

As I
’m opening the door I
say, “My roommate, Mason, is probably home. You might remember him from work.
He came in with me that night I ate there.”

“Was he the
hot one that sat on the left of the table?”

I look at
her, “What do you mean the hot one?”

She’s laughing
away. “I’m kidding. I didn’t think anyone else at the table was hot. I’ll
probably remember your friend once I see him.”

I noticed she
said she ‘didn’t think anyone else’ was hot, meaning she thought that I was.
Not wanting to date me or not, it’s a confidence boost to know she’s attracted
to me.

Mason’s
standing in the kitchen, looking inside the fridge. “I hope you realize you’re
sharing that pizza with me, there’s no
food.
”

“And whose
fault is that? You eat everything in sight.”

He turns
around and smiles when he sees who I’m with. He walks over to where we’re
standing by the front door.

“You hear
that, Emilie, I eat everything in sight.”

Leave it to
him to say something dirty to Emmy as a form of greeting. I hold back my laugh
because I don’t know how Emmy will react to his joke.

To my
surprise she busts out laughing. She turns to me while pointing her thumb at
Mason, “I like this kid.”

“I’m
surprised you guys went out again,”
Mason says. He looks at
Emmy, “I heard your date didn’t go well.”

“It didn’t
really. And we’re not on a date, just hanging out,”
Emmy replies. “We ran into each other when we were getting
dinner.”

“And what are
you guys going to do now?”

I hold up the
boxes of pizza, making it obvious.

“Right on,”
Mason says. “I’m joining you.”

We take the
food and set up on the couch in front of the television. Emmy picks a comedy
and the
three
of us laugh our asses off while eating. Mason brings over a
couple beers and we each get a little buzzed. Emmy becomes more talkative, and
I was able to find out that she’s an only child. Another small personal piece
of her that I now know about. By the time we were done watching movies and
eating, Mason goes to bed and Emmy and I remain in the living room.

“So you think
Mason’s funny?”
I ask.

“He’s
hilarious. He’s got a dirty sense of humor, kind of reminds me of my friend
Noel.”

“They would
probably get along well.”

“Yeah, I’ll
have to introduce them. Hey, what do you think Mason thought of me?”

“I think he
thought you were cool. Why?”

She shrugs, “I
was trying to act a little nicer tonight. I didn’t want him to get a bad
impression of me.”

Shit. She’s
still thinking about the comment I made earlier about her not being nice.
“Don’t worry about what I said earlier. He definitely thought you were nice,
trust me. And stop thinking you’re mean. I shouldn’t have said that earlier.”

She looks
like she doesn’t believe me. “Okay, Ren.” She ends that conversation. “What
time is it right now anyway?”

I check my
watch. “It’s about midnight.”

“I guess I should
get home soon. I’m really tired.”

I’m exhausted
too. “You can sleep here, and I can take you back in the morning.”

She pauses.
“You don’t mind?”

“Nope, not at
all.”

“Okay, but
I’m taking the couch.”

“It’s all
yours. I’ll bring you a blanket.”

“
Thanks, Ren.
”
Emmy pulls off her shoes and lays down on my couch. I go into my
room and grab an extra blanket I have on my bed. When I get back to the couch I
throw the blanket on Emmy, covering her face in the process.

“Ren!”
She shouts.

Laughing I say,
“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight!”
She yells back after I reach my room.

* *

A smack in the face with a pillow wakes me
up. When I open my eyes Emmy is standing next to my bed. Her hair is piled on
top of her head and she looks ready to smack me again.

“What the
hell are you doing?”
I ask while sitting up.

“You don’t
have any coffee.”

“You woke me
up like this because I don’t have any coffee?”

“Yes. I tried
calling your name, and I even gently shook your arm to wake you up. Those
things didn’t work, and the pillow felt like the most fun other option.”

This woman is
nuts.

“
I don
’t drink
coffee.”

She looks
shocked. “How do you function in the morning? And didn’t you order coffee when
you came into the diner?”

“I try and
get enough sleep, that’s how I function. But today that seems to be an issue.
And yes, I did order coffee, and that was only so I could sit and talk to you.”

“Oh. Well I
think we should go get coffee.”

“Let’s get
coffee in an hour.”

I try and
close my eyes to block her out.

“I’ll die
from lack of caffeine by then. Where are your keys? I need to borrow your car.”

Oh no she
won’t. I practically jump out of bed. “
You aren
’t borrowing my car. I’
ll drive us.
”

The smile on
her face shows her success in getting what she wants. “Can I borrow a
sweatshirt?”

“Sure.”
I grab her one from my closet then head outside.

We get in my
car and drive to the coffee shop.

“Sit down,
Ren. I’m going to order you something.” Emmy says when we walk in.

I hold up my hands,
“Fine, fine. But make it good, I don’t really like the taste of coffee.”

I take a seat
at a table in the middle of the cafe. The place is small and only one other
person is inside
—
an older man reading a newspaper. It
smells strongly of coffee and there’s country music softly playing over the
speakers.

I watch Emmy
as she orders our drinks. She’s wearing my sweatshirt, and it looks way too big
on her small frame. She laughs at something the guy behind the register says,
and I oddly find myself being jealous of him making her laugh.

“Try this,”
Emmy says while placing a white to-go cup in front of me.

“What is it?”

“
I don
’t know. I
asked the guy to make the sweetest, best, doesn’t really taste like coffee,
coffee drink he could think of. I took a sip,
it’
s
good.
”