For Every Missing Shade

Entry 15

The past few days have been entirely uneventful. Emma and I couldn't see each other, so we tried to video chat, text, call, and used any number of different apps to reach each other.

We should have guessed that none of them would work for us.

It was a good couple of days to be grounded anyway. It took the rest of Wednesday and Thursday to fully recover from that flu, and she said that she was exhausted and had stomach problems all week. By the time that Friday rolled around, though, I was begging my clock to give me the green light to go back to her.

We still met up in school, and most of the time Stew would be with us. We started to become something of a trio together. Emma and Stew got along perfectly fine. Emma lived for Stew's juvenile sense of humor, and Emma was entertaining enough to keep Stew's attention span. Really, I'm surprised I didn't let it happen earlier.

Friday after school, I had to stay behind in my chemistry class to take a test that I didn't study for. Knowing that it was the last thing between me and getting ungrounded, I was distracted the whole time.

I had the same feeling I did after every test: well shit. But, I was finally free. I got out my phone and started a message as I opened the door.

I didn't get too far out of the classroom before my heart almost stopped. I saw blurs of two people around me, both of them screaming. I jerked backwards. They gave both sides of me a hard push and yelled again.

I realized who it was. "You didn't even scare me," I said, my face red.

"Oh, come on. You don't need to try to impress me with being tough and hard," Emma began. "I already know you're a wuss. You won't change any of that."

She patted me on the back when she said it, and I shrugged it off my shoulder. Stew was still giggling about the whole situation, so I pushed him away.

"What are you two doing?" I asked.

"Well, we were going to steal you right from class," Stew spouted out, "but you seemed very intent on failing so we let you be."

"I could have used a kidnapper during that. Maybe he would have given me an A out of pity," I joked.

Emma spoke up again. "Well never fear because we're getting milkshakes to drown your sorrows in."

We all walked out to Emma's car. She drove while Stew and I both wreaked havoc in the rest of the car. I sat with the seat as far back as it could go, my feet draped over her dashboard. The music was loud, and I turned it even louder every time a song I liked came on. Stew sat in the back pretending to play the drums while I wailed on a make-believe guitar.

Emma parked her car, we got out, and ordered food at a local drive-through. We laughed, told jokes, and everything was just as it should be. Our conversations started to run dry right as our drinks did, and Emma excused herself to the bathroom.

"Well, you two are getting along," I chirped.

Stew agreed. "Dude, she's really cool. And, weirdly enough, it seems like she's super into you. Hold on tight."

We clinked drinks and surrendered ourselves to social media while we waited for her to come back.

She made her way slowly to our table. "Hey guys, my stomach is hurting again. Is it cool if I drive you two back to school? I might go home and take some meds or something."

I got up and fixed my backpack on my shoulder. "Emma, are you sure you shouldn't go to a doctor about this?" I asked. "It's been happening for a couple of days now."

"No, it's happened before. Maybe I'm about to be on my period or something."

I quickly became flustered. "Well, are you... I mean, have you started... ya know?"

"No Israel," she said loudly, "my vagina is not bleeding right now. Please, never say that again."

Stew howled in laughter as my embarrassment heated to a boiling point.

When we pulled up to the school parking lot, Stew and I got out of the car. I looked into the car and sent her off with a kiss. I waved at Stew as he ducked his body into his clown car, and I did the same with mine.

I went home to my mom and dad and talked to them while they were on the couch. I asked about dinner, and they pointed me in the direction of the fridge. We talked about my test while I microwaved some leftover lasagna. I tried to give them as little information as possible, which only made them ask more questions. After all of that, I went up to my bedroom to call Emma.

She picked up after three rings with a, "Oh, hello there, my darling."

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Just perfect, I was about to go to bed."

"Well, I'm glad I caught up with you. How are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm fine. It happens sporadically for some reason. After a half-hour to an hour I'm usually fine again."

"That's weird. Why do you think it's happening?"

"Not sure, I might actually go to the doctor at some point to check it out. It's weird, but it'll be okay. I have a sense about these things."

"I guess I have no choice but to believe you. I hope it goes away soon."

"Amen to that. Alright, I'm going to go to bed. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Goodnight."