To live a life of Love (complete)

Chapter 9: Matilda

Emma started ignoring me after Nick left. She acted like I had committed a horrible crime and now she didn't want to be associated with me! And I don't even know what I did wrong!

I have been noticing that Emma keeps giving me extra tasks to do every time Nick came over but I just thought she wanted some alone time with him, I never suspected that she wanted to keep us separated.

And now I was beginning to suspect that maybe Emma was changing because Nick wanted to spend time with me. I was beginning to suspect that she was... jealous.

But why? There was nothing going on between Nick and I, he just wanted to see me because he's trying to solve my secrets! Not because he liked me. I mean, I liked him as a friend but nothing more and I think he feels the same way.

So why would Emma want to separate us?

It broke my heart when Emma started ignoring me and I decided that if she wanted to be like that then I didn't care. It was her loss.

So when Emma snapped at me to do things, I would purposefully forget and just went about doing my normal chores and when Emma went out to see Nick, I would sneak into her room and read some of her books instead of doing anything she asked me to do.

The house wasn't getting any dirtier from me slacking off – I made sure of that – and when Emma returned from Nick's place, she wouldn't even notice if I had done what she had asked her to do!

And so life continued as normal even though I saw less and less of Nick.

I was beginning to miss Nick when two weeks had passed and I hadn't seen him at all but I just assumed he was busy and that Emma was taking up all of his spare time.

So when I was cleaning the windows one afternoon, I was very surprised to see Nick crouched behind a bush, looking up at me.

I couldn't help the grin from climbing up onto my face and I happily opened the window and helped him climb in.

"Matilda!" Nick said, smiling.

"Nick! Long time no see!" I said, grinning back "Wherever have you been?"

Nick's smile faded slightly and he just said "I've been busy at work and then Emma keeps coming to the shop when I'm just taking my break. She's been keeping me busy."

"Don't you like her company?" I asked, surprised.

"I do but... I don't like that I hardly ever see you anymore." Nick said and then blushed when he realized what he had said.

I could feel heat rising in my cheeks too and I quickly turned away to start wiping another window.

"I mean... I meant because you're my friend too!" Nick quickly added still blushing.

"Yeah, I've missed you too. I meant to visit actually but... Emma's been keeping me busy, too." I said, trying to relieve some of the awkwardness and not really succeeding.

"It's almost as if Emma's been keeping us separated on purpose!" Nick said and I could tell that he was only half joking.

"Yeah..." I agreed halfheartedly.

"What's wrong, Matilda?" Nick asked softly and I looked up to see him gazing down at me with concern.

"Emma's been ignoring me." I said quietly "I think she really is trying to keep us separate. And I can't do a thing about it! I don't know what I've done wrong! I don't know how I'm supposed to fix this! It's just so frustrating!"

"Matilda, listen." Nick said and grabbed one of my hands in his "You haven't done anything wrong it's just that Emma isn't used to sharing things. She wants me to herself and doesn't want you tagging alone. But I'll talk to her. Don't worry, I won't forget about you!"