Farm Girl Has Bad Boy (#3)

Chapter Nineteen

My mouth hangs open and for a few minutes, I try to catch my breath. Mary stands in front of me, leaning forward with her hands on her hips. She’s waiting for some kind of response; however I have no idea what to say.

“What?” I finally choke out, fearing that I might throw up at any given second. Mary sighs, irritated and starts pacing around my room for about the fifth time.

“I’m jealous because you have Emery and I don’t, okay?” She crosses her arms and stares at me through narrowed eyes. For a minute, I feel like I’m going to pass out. I put my head between my knees and focus on my breathing. How can my best friend like my boyfriend all this time and never tell me?

“You…like Emery?” I gasp and Mary rolls her eyes. Wiping the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand, she avoids my eyes.

“River, when Emery first came here, you didn’t even want him around.” She slumps her shoulders as she sinks into my bed beside me. “I did. You two fight all the time, plus you never take his point of view into consideration. I do. I have to tell you to make you understand why he acts the way he does.” She sighs tiredly and stares at the floor, just like I am. “I understand him, River. You don’t.”

I can’t tell what makes me angrier; the tone of her voice or what she’s saying. With everything that’s going on lately and on top of that my mood swings, I jump to my feet and clench my fists.

“How can you even say that, Mary?” I shout, knowing the noise downstairs overpowers my voice. “I’m your best friend, not to mention that I’m pregnant!” My eyes blur and I blink back the tears that I haven’t realized are there.

“I don’t want to hurt you!” Mary cries, rising to her feet. “Believe me, I don’t! I can’t control how I feel and you know the things I said are true!”

I stare at my best friend and wonder how we could have got here. How one, single, boy has changed my entire life. Things that I thought would always be the same are quickly falling apart, and as awful as it sounds its Emery’s fault.

“How can you do this to me?” I sob, wrapping my arms around myself as I shake. “How can you hurt me like this?”

Suddenly, I hear the familiar creaking of my bedroom door opening behind me. I watch Mary’s eyes go to whoever is standing there and then she looks at the ground, covering her swollen eyes with her hand.

“I’m going home,” Mary mumbles, quickly brushing past me and out of my room. A moment later I feel arms wrap around me from behind, sliding over where I hug myself.

“What’s going on?” Emery asks softly, wiping the tears from my cheeks even though he can’t see that they’re there. “Why are you so upset?” I shake my head and close my eyes, feeling fresh tears roll down my cheeks.

I can’t tell Emery what’s going on as much as I want to. Even though I’m completely at a loss from what Mary said, I can’t tell Emery that. Mary’s still my best friend and as much as I hate how she feels, it’s not my place to tell her secret.

“River,” Emery murmurs, resting his chin on the top of my head. He hugs me tighter and I feel him kiss my hair. “If you don’t want to tell me what just happened, that’s fine, I understand.” He lets go of me and spins me around to face him. I avoid meeting his gaze and instead, tilt my head to face the floor. However it makes no difference as Emery crouches down to my eye level. “There’s a room full of people who love you downstairs and as much as I know you don’t want to, you have to go spend time with them.”

“Can’t you just tell them I don’t feel well?” I mumble, not wanting to face anyone right now.

“Well,” Emery smirks, straightening up. He gently grabs my chin and tilts my head up. “I could, but then I’d have to survive your Aunt Carols stories alone.”