Chapter 19

Emily steps into the house and slowly walks over to the living room as I turn on my heels and close the door behind her. "Hey Emily, how are you feeling?" Chase questions as Emily perches on the edge of the other sofa and places her brown shoulder bag onto her lap. She had dressed up a bit, I noticed, as she wore a deep red paisley wrap dress and some brown heels. "I'm okay I guess. How great can you really be when you almost drown, right?" She scoffs as Chase chuckles. I slowly and very awkwardly step towards the kitchen with my hands behind my back. Chase watches me the entire way. "I came here to thank you. I don't know what would've happened if you weren't there to save me." "You don't need to thank me as if I did it as a choice. There was no choice at all, I just did what I had to." Chase shrugs while Emily grins as a short blush crosses her cheeks and nervously tucks a dark strand behind her ear. I grab an apple from the fruit bowl and bite into it, a little too harshly, "Oh swoon! A real life super hero right in front of me. Ah, catch me before I faint Superman!" "You'd love to be my damsel in distress just waiting for me to swoop you off your feet. Don't lie, Jones." Chase smirks at me as I take another hard bite from the apple while holding my middle finger up at him. Emily giggles nervously between us, "Well, to show my gratitude I wanted to take you out to dinner." I inhale my apple as the words leave her mouth and I begin choking on it. I grab my chest as I double over, coughing violently until I had dislodged the small piece from my throat. "Fuck, Jones." I feel a hand against my back as I wheeze and place both hands to my knees, "Are you okay?" "Just peachy, Everett." I say as I glance up at him through watery eyes, "Or should I say just applely—ha ha, get it?" Chase chuckles as I straighten my spine and his hand falls to my waist, "You fucking idiot." "I'm a comedic genius." I counter him as I wipe my mouth and glance at Emily who stood on the other side of the island block, staring at us in silence. I realise how close we looked and clearing my throat I step away from him and his gentle grip on my waist falls, "Well, while you guys figure out the plans for your dinner, I'll be upstairs....walking my turtle." He frowns at me, "You don't have a turtle." "Well then...I'm going to practice for when I have a turtle. Practice makes perfect." I say with a wink as I shoot finger guns at him. I then turn around and resist the urge to slap myself in the face. What the fuck am I saying? ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Penn, Noah and Levi had arrived before Emily left so as a result, we invited her to stay and eat pizza with us. Noah was a little reluctant but after promising the biggest slice from the three boxes of pizza we ordered, he was happy. We had all settled in the living room and displayed our healthy selection of pizza, pizza and more pizza. Vera pulled out the left over solo cups from last night and filled them with champagne which she poured for everyone. She settled with her orange juice. "This girl then sneaks into the boys bathroom, grabs Chase's room key and clothes and runs for the fucking hills!" Noah explains as he points to me with the hand holding his cup. Everyone begins laughing as I fold my legs while sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table, "He of course ran after her, butt fucking naked! I swear, the girls who didn't faint went right back to Arlington hall to tell all their other friends." "Or therapy." I scoff as everyone chuckles along with me. I catch Chase's gaze who sat on the sofa, along with Emily, and his jaw clicks as an annoyed yet amused smirk crosses his lips. Those types smirks turned me on the most. I tip my cup in his direction. "You guys seem like you had a lot of fun in Caldwell." Emily says as she plays with the rim of her cup, staring at me with a small smile. Her eyes were so blue and contrasted so well with her dark hair. "I know and we were left down here in fucking Holden Bay. You know what there is to do for fun around here? Nothing. It's a goddamn tragedy." Spencer sighs as he lies down on the other sofa, his feet laying in Vera's lap. "It was only fun when Hayden showed up. Before that it was boring at fuck." Levi explains as he leans back against the sofa next to me, "No offence Chase or Noah." Chase shrugs and takes a sip, "Non taken." "Acca-scuse me!? Hella offence taken." Noah pouts as Penn chuckles and wraps her arms around him. Levi and I start laughing as we fist bump, "That's not funny." Levi shrugs, "I thought it was." "You don't count! You're the one who laughed in the middle of your uncle's funeral for no reason." Noah points a finger at Levi who starts chuckling again, "You sick motherfucker." "Oh how you say the sweetest words to me." Levi says as we all start laughing again and this time Noah starts laughing too. Chase takes a stand from the sofa and begins to make his way to the kitchen. "Hey would you mind getting me another refill, Everett?" I heard the name, but it didn't come from my mouth. It came from Emily who was holding up her solo cup to a now frozen Chase. Everyone went dead silence as they all slowly turned there gazes to me. I then turn my gaze to Chase who was staring at me with the same stunned expression. Emily hadn't noticed all these stares and was still smiling up at Chase. "Only Hay—" I slap my hand against Levi's mouth and grin awkwardly when Emily glances at me with a frown. "Uh, sure..." Chase mumbles off as he grabs Emily's cup and heads to the kitchen. Emily smiles as she flicks her hair behind her shoulder and turns back to us. "So, tell me more about Caldwell." Emily says as everyone has to take a few moments to process what had just happened. I mean, it's not like I owned the right to call him Everett. A couple boys still did it in Elwood but I guess I was the only girl to do so. But it's fine. She can call him that if she wants. I'm totally fine with it, fine fine fine fi— I feel something wet against my hand and shriek, "Ew Levi! Fuck you!" "I was suffocating." Levi grins sweetly at me which on him looked more evil. "Like you would hate that." I scoff as I wipe my hand on the material of my dress and Penn begins to tell another tale from Caldwell.