...But Your Enemies Closer

Chapter Seven - Emily

"You're kidding me right?" Emily asked with a blank stare.

Rebecca had to be joking. There was no way she was being honest. However, by the red flush creeping up her neck to fill out her cheeks in a healthy pink shade, Emily concluded that she was not kidding.

"Winifred," Emily repeated back to the brunette. "Your middle name is Winifred." Rebecca nodded. "Why do your parents hate you?"

Rebecca looked away and rubbed the back of her neck. "It's not that bad," she mumbled out, quite unconvincingly. "And it's a family name. My great grandmother's name was Winifred."

"And I'm sure it fit with her and the time she was living in. I don't see it with you though." Emily shrugged, trying her best not to just burst out laughing like she wanted so badly to. She didn't want to slight Rebecca's feelings though, especially after sharing something personal.

"Okay what's your middle name then?" Rebecca asked and lifted her chin with an air of defiance. "I'm sure it just fits you perfectly, right?"

Emily shrugged. "It's Alexis."

It wasn't a big deal to tell Rebecca about her own name. Whether it fit or not was completely irrelevant really. It wasn't embarrassing and that was all that mattered. Besides, Emily was sure that her parents hadn't spent more than twenty minutes naming her. They probably just picked a name a piece out of a book and then played rock, paper, scissors to see who got the first and middle slots.

Rebecca's haughty nature fell before she uttered a single disappointed sigh. "Dammit."

"What?"

"That sounds good actually," Rebecca admitted and said the blonde's name aloud, "Emily Alexis Frazier. There's a nice ring to it."

I wonder if it would have the same ring if her surname were different. Emily Alexis Knox. Hmm...

"Space case?" Emily asked and snapped a finger in front of Rebecca's face.

"What?" she said and abruptly pulled away from her wild fantasy. "Yeah, sorry. I'm here."

"Where were you though?" Emily asked with a smile, canting her head to the side to observe the brunette thoughtfully.

Rebecca darkened to an even deeper shade red and shook her head. There was no way she was going to share what she had just been considering. Emily already wanted to pin her pride to a wall with the stupid name her parents graced her with, no point in making it even worse.

"Nowhere. Just thinking...about names," Rebecca covered quickly. At least it wasn't a complete lie.

"Like what you're going to legally change yours to as soon as you can?" Emily asked, not even trying to suppress the chuckle this time. "I'm sorry Becca, it was just too easy."

Rebecca regarded Emily with a contemplative look. She had completely ignored the blonde's jab at her and considered something altogether different. It was funny how things always seemed to bubble to the surface around Emily.

"You wanna hear a story?"

Emily nodded. "Sure"

"Around my nineteenth birthday or so I stopped going by Becca. Not everyone listened to me at first – especially not my parents since they had called me by the nickname my whole life – but there was just something about it that I wanted to get away from." Rebecca turned her gaze from Emily and furrowed her brows in thought. "When I stopped talking to my family I stripped the name from my life completely. I would meet new people and always introduce myself as Rebecca and refuse to let them call me anything else. The only exception has been my closest friends who call me Bec every now and again, but somehow that's different."