Chapter 25

Emilia

I startle awake, groggily checking the time on my phone, it's now six in the evening. Clearly my body needed some sleep. Sitting up on the bed I stretch my arms above my head and then I hear the yelling, which is probably what woke me up in the first place. I was right though, nothing has changed with Arthur and of course him and my mom are now fighting.

Sighing, I collect myself and head to the living room, hoping to persuade Arthur into leaving. Something I did many times in high school. Somehow convincing him to go elsewhere after he'd gotten plastered and was screaming at my mom. When the living room comes into sight, I see the coffee table is littered with at least a dozen cans of beer and a half empty handle of vodka. I wince, that's not good news. I knew Arthur hadn't changed and it appears my mom would never either.

Coming around the corner of the short hallway, my mom and Arthur are standing in the kitchen yelling at one another. The dirty dishes and leftovers are still flooding the counters. My mom's back is to me but Arthur is facing her and now me as I come up beside my mom.

"Arthur, you should leave." I state, hoping to diffuse the situation, the last thing we need is neighbors calling the police on them.

He scoffs. "You always think you know what's best!" He shouts at me. "Tell your bitch daughter to shut up Cathy!"

"Just leave Emilia." My mom cries, the tears aren't for me, I know that much, but ignoring her tears is impossible.

"No. If anyone's going it's you." I point to Arthur. "You're not welcome here."

"Says the girl who hasn't been home in months!" Arthur scoffs, my mom turns around to face me.

"He's right Emilia. You haven't visited me in months."

"Oh, geez I wonder why mom? This place was a mess, you were drunk when you came home and are now, again." I throw my hands up, fed up with her antics.

"Don't you talk to our mother that way!" Arthur snaps. How they went from yelling at one another to yelling at me is beyond me but unable to deal with this exhausting scene I turn on my heels to head back to my room. Maybe there will be one more train back to campus tonight if not I'm taking the first one in the morning.

Before I even make it across the kitchen Arthur grabs my wrist, yanking me back to them. The movement has my whole body turning around to face him and that's when his hand comes up and I feel the hard slap against my cheek. My head swivels to the side, my hand instinctively going up to feel the stinging side of my face. I gape at Arthur, then look at my mom, hoping she'll speak up. Shock colors her face for a brief moment before her expression goes blank. I stare at her, no she has never been the best mother but I never thought she would let someone physically assault her own daughter in front of her and not have something to say about it.

Arthur now stands back a foot, grinning at me smugly with his arms crossed over his chest. Looking back at my mom, my eyes plead for her to do something but she can't even hold eye contact with me, she just looks at the ground like her shoes are the most interesting thing in the room. I turn on my feet quickly, locking myself in my room and packing up the few belongings I brought with me.

It's pure luck that when I get to the train station and check the train times on my phone that one will be here in twenty minutes. The train station is abandoned, most people probably staying home with their loving families. Tears sting my eyes but I blink them away. I've cried many tears over my mom but she doesn't deserve them, not anymore. I plop myself and my small duffle on one of the cold metal benches, tucking my knees up to my chest and keeping my hands in my sleeves to keep them from freezing.

The train is thankfully rather empty, allowing me to sit alone and zone out listening to my music through my headphones. When I finally arrive in Watertown, across town from campus, it's completely dark out. Walking home with it being this dark probably wouldn't be my greatest idea but calling an Uber and having no one know where I am, probably not ideal either. I sigh, exiting the train door, debating texting Rosie so she would at least know where I was in case anything sketchy happens to me. I call the Uber, staring at my screen, ready to suck it up and text Rosie when an incoming call with Liam's name flashes across my screen. Somehow this man always knows exactly what I need.

I feel instant relief at seeing his name but wince at the same time, unsure how I"m going to explain to him that I"m headed back to campus already, and alone. Deciding I'll just figure it out as I go, I answer the call.

∞∞∞

Liam

"Hi." Emilia's soft and sweet voice fills my speaker.

"Hey." I smile to myself, it's only been just over twenty-four hours since I've seen her, but I missed talking to her and hearing her voice. Yep, I'm definitely screwed when it comes to this girl. "How was your thanksgiving?" The line is suspiciously quiet as I wait for her answer, so quiet for too long that I have to check my screen and make sure the call is still connected. "Emilia?" I ask, slightly panicking but doing my best to keep my voice even.

"Sorry. Yeah, um…" She trails off and I can almost see her shaking her head like she does when she tries to clear any unwanted thought from her mind. "Thanksgiving was interesting. I'm actually back in Watertown…"

"You're back at your apartment?" I shoot up from my lying position on my bed. How did she get there? Why is she there?

"Well, almost. I'm about to get in an Uber. I'm at the train station." I think I'm going to have a heart attack. Emilia alone. Alone at night on a train and then in an Uber? Why wouldn't she call me? Of course she wouldn't call you, you're not her boyfriend. Yet. Yet, I think to myself. I have to show her how I feel about her. This moment almost solidifies it for me. If I don't take that risk what could happen to her without me even knowing?

"Liam?" Her delicate voice brings me back to the present.

"Shit. Emilia. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just stay on the phone with me, please?"

"Of course." So I do just that, the whole time she's in the Uber she asks me about how my Thanksgiving was. I hesitate to give her too many details seeing as hers didn't go as planned but she begs for every little detail, so I tell her. I tell her how my mom makes four different pies since everyone has a different favorite, how we kick off the Christmas spirit after we clean up dinner, and how my little sister wants to transfer to Watertown next year. When I'm finally done with the retelling of the holiday, she's officially made it back safely to her apartment.

"Your family sounds amazing." Emilia says, almost wistfully. I wonder if it was too much, telling her about all the good when it seems her family doesn't have this good.

"They're great." I agree with her. They are. We've had our moments over the years but all in all my family is amazing and I'm so lucky to have them.

"Thank you for staying on the phone with me."

"Always."

"Well, I should probably shower. Then I'm going to bed." She yawns into the phone. "I'm exhausted."

"I can come back to campus tomorrow." I offer. I want her to say yes, to know that she wants to see me as badly as I want to see her.

"That's okay. You should spend time with your family." Dang, wishful thinking but she's not wrong. My mom would be heartbroken if I left early, but she would understand when I explained why. She would probably have great advice about his whole situation. "I'll see you on Monday." She wants me to wait for our Monday class? Hell no. I know I need to see her before then to see for myself that she's alright.

"Alright." I'll let her have it for now, she's had a long enough day but there's no way I'm waiting until Monday to make sure she's okay. "Good night, Emi."

"Good night, Liam." She hangs up and I flop back onto my bed, staring at the ceiling knowing sleep will be hard to find tonight while I think of her making the trek back to campus all by herself.

Sleep found me sometime around three in the morning. After hanging up the phone with Emilia I knew it wouldn't come easily. I lasted about an hour before texting her making sure she was still okay. We texted back and forth for a while until sleep eventually won for her, the messages stopping.

There's some sun peeking out from behind my closed white curtains but not much, so if I had to guess it must still be early in the morning. Groaning, I roll over and grab my phone from the nightstand, unplugging it from the charger. I was right, it"s only seven thirty in the morning. No texts from Emilia. That's good though. It means she's still resting and after her day it seems she needs it. Not that she told me exactly what happened. I hope she will though.

Now that I'm up there's no way I'm falling back asleep so I throw on a sweatshirt and head downstairs to the kitchen. Mom is already in the kitchen, closing the oven door and pulling out a tray of muffins as I enter. "Hi, mom."

"Good Morning, honey." My mom walks over to me drawing me into a hug. When I was little there was nothing my mom's hugs couldn't fix. Even now I can feel the tension leaving my body. "What's wrong?" My mom pulls back slightly.

"It's nothing."

She raises her eyebrows and gives me a pointed, I don't believe you look. She did always know when something seemed to be off in my life, well almost always. "Come sit." Mom gestures to the barstools that are tucked under the island before rounding it and pulling two coffee mugs from the cabinet. She fills the mugs sliding one over to me and one in the seat next to me before serving up two muffins. "Now, let's try this again, without lying. What's wrong?"

I let out a low chuckle followed by a sigh. "Well there's this girl." My mom's eyes light up, while she tries to hide a smile behind her mug. I haven't brought a girl home to mom, ever. I dated around but there was never someone I was serious enough about to introduce to my mother. "I mean, kind of. I like her but I may have told her I just want to be friends." My mom lets out an audible gasp at that.

"Liam." She scolds.

"I know. It was stupid. I just panicked and wanted her in my life in some way." I shake my head, taking a sip of my coffee, letting the warm liquid soothe my throat. My mom nods along, understandingly. "Anyways. I don't know the whole story but last night she left her mom's house and headed back to campus, alone. She doesn't go home often and I just have a feeling something bad happened. She took the train and an Uber and didn't even text me. I called her and it just so happened to be as she was waiting for the Uber. I mean I would have driven to her and brought her back to campus, or here." The words rush out of me, like they've been dying to be anywhere but just inside my brain.

My mom sips her coffee, washing down the muffin she was picking at while I let it all out. She's nodding her head ever so slightly digesting this information. I nervously pick at my muffin now awaiting her response. "Well sweetie, she probably doesn't want to burden you, her friend, on a holiday." I don't miss the way she emphasizes the word friend.

"It wouldn't burden me."

"I know that, but how would she?" Well she has a point there. I like to think that Emilia knows I'm here for her but does she really know? I have noticed she often feels like a burden to those around her, always assuring people they don't need to do things for her. I thought I was good at reassuring her that she could never bother me but some scars are deeper than a few nice words.

"I need to make sure she's okay. I mean we talked last night but I need to see her, to really know."

"Then go to her."

"You won't be mad?"

"Of course not. I love having you here Liam but it sounds to me like you really like this girl. That she's important. I could never be mad at you for following your heart or for caring."

"She is important." It's a simple statement with so much truth behind it.

My mom smiles. "Does she happen to have a name?"

"Emilia."

After packing up the duffle bag I brought home with me, I jog back down the stairs anxious to get on the road and back to campus. My mom hands me a reusable grocery bag filled with half an apple pie, enough turkey and potato leftovers to feed a small army, and the still warm muffins she had been making this morning.

My siblings are still asleep so I am able to make a quick exit without an interrogation. Thank god. Ryan would be all I told you so and Eliza would be ready to plan my wedding, even more so than she was already. She takes after mom, those two wear their hearts on their sleeves.

I load everything into my jeep, hugging my mom goodbye and promising to stay all of Christmas break. The drive back to campus only takes about an hour and the whole time I think about Emilia. My first order of business will be making sure she's okay. Secondly, I also think it's time for me to admit my feelings to her. After not being able to be there in the way I wanted the past twenty-four hours I can't help but think things would be different if we were more. If she knew I wanted more. Then again that could ruin everything. Maybe it's a chance I have to take.