Her heart was so golden, it rivaled even the sun.
In which a girl is tired of living by everyone else's rules, so she decides to make her own.
[Outer Banks season 1]
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BY THE TIME Emerson returned to her house, midnight had since passed and it was now the very early hours of morning. The sun was still far from rising, the earth blanketed in navy hues and the tiny glow from fireflies. Crickets filled the silence that hung over the island as the young teenager quietly shut Kiara's back door and thanked her for the ride. She had insisted that she be dropped off a few houses down in case one of her parents was home and still awake, and when she reached her house to find the porch light still on, she was glad she had done so.
Sneaking around was a new concept for Emerson, though it was one she was surprisingly good at. She constantly shocked herself with how easily she could come up with a lie to tell her parents so as to avoid them finding out she'd been hanging around a bunch of delinquents, as her mother would call them.
But still, she had never had to sneak into her house before, and she felt a new set of nerves set in as she tiptoed up the porch steps. Thankfully her mother wasn't home; the only car in the driveway was her father's truck, so she hoped he was already in his room or too drunk to comprehend what was happening. If she was lucky, maybe he was both.
She held her breath as she unlocked the front door and slowly pushed it open. Thank god her mother was so anal about squeaky hinges and oiled them constantly. Emerson winced as she stepped over the threshold and shut the door behind her, silently surveying the house to see if her father was in sight. She could hear a voice somewhere in the house, but it sounded far enough away that she felt she could make it to her room. As Emerson scurried down the hall, her father's voice grew louder. She paused in the doorway, her curiosity getting the best of her.
"No, I don't care about any of that," Duncan was saying. There was a certain edge to his tone Emerson had never heard before. He sounded angry, but also scared and desperate. "All I care about is that I get my money. Alright?" His voice was stern and calm all at the same time, and the low tone he took with whoever he was talking to scared Emerson. She heard the office door open and she inhaled sharply, quickly ducking further into her room and closing the door. She hesitantly pressed her ear against the wood, sighing in relief when the sound of footsteps retreated away from the hallway and into the kitchen. She leaned her head against the door and closed her eyes, momentarily letting her body recognize the beating it had taken that night.
Deciding that she was too tired to take a shower and that could wait until the morning, Emerson peeled her clothes off and replaced them with a comfy pair of shorts and an oversized shirt. Her ribs protested sharply whenever she lifted her arms and muscles she hadn't even known existed throbbed as she moved, indicating just how hard she had worked herself. But honestly, she was impressed with her quick wits and ability to keep Rafe at bay, even if it wasn't for long. She did better than she'd expected, and the fact that even JJ was enthralled by her actions left a warm sensation emulating in her stomach.
Emerson groaned quietly as she flopped into bed and snuggled under her covers. She decided that she had never been as happy as she was in that moment to be in her own bed and get some rest, and she was fast asleep the very second her head touched the pillow.
