Beautiful Hearts

14

Emaline

I woke up early on Saturday morning. I decided to watch an episode of my favorite series because the only thing I had to do for the day was the lesson with Austin. I hadn't heard Dec in two days, postponed my workouts, and I couldn't wait to see him. Aunt Sophie didn't talk to me at all. At dinner, Dad, Aunt, and Lana usually kept up the conversation.

My father gave me worried looks, but after dinner, I just said I was tired. Even If he had noticed the lack of contact with Aunt Sophie, he said nothing.

I spent my morning lazy and finally it was time for the lesson. When I got there, I was too early and had to wait for them. Fifteen minutes later, Austin entered, accompanied by one of the administrators.

"This time Austin is accompanied by another relative. Now I leave you to work. Have a nice lesson, Austin, Miss Green."

"Thank you!"

I tried not to pay attention to the fact that Declan hadn't come. He had warned me that there would be days when he would not be able to drive Austin but combined with the two days when he seemed to be avoiding me, it was hard for me not to worry.

"How're you feeling, Austin?"

"I'm good."

"Do you want to tell me how a day at school goes?"

"No."

"Is there anything you want to ask me before we start?"

"No."

"Okay, let's have a look at your notebook. Can I?" I took his notebook after getting permission and read through it. There were started but unfinished sentences. Missing words...

I opened the textbook to the same lesson and handed it to him.

"Now we're going to do one of the exercises. Would you read out loud the short text to them? Take your time." He frowned but brought the textbook closer to him, and for a moment he seemed to be reading in his mind.

Then he began to read, confusing the words at times.

"Ok. Take that." I gave him a ruler and showed him how to use it in his aid. I had read that children with dyslexia often saw words as bouncing from line to line, and that could be confusing when reading.

He kept struggling with reading the text and I kept trying with him different ideas. He had changed his handwriting from handwriting only to mixed handwriting and print writing. And I could see that helped him.

We started analyzing sentence by sentence. We separated each word, commenting on what Austin thought it meant and how he saw it written in the textbook. We spent the first hour doing this exercise. In the second hour, we started writing his homework.

At the end of the lesson, I gave him a piece of paper on which I had described useful things they could try at home. I had prepared them for his mother.

On my way home I got off one stop earlier to take a walk. I went through a store to pick up some things and headed home again. I was surprised to see Declan's car in front of our house, and then Declan himself, standing in the doorway with Lana, lost in conversation. When Lana saw me, she stared at me first, then turned, pulled him close, and...kissed him. He didn't reject her, of course. I stood frozen, two meters from them, my head buried in the ground in embarrassment. When I heard Declan's surprised voice, I knew it was safe to look again.

"What was that"

"What? You didn't like it? Do you need a reason to kiss a beautiful girl?" I kept walking for the door and finally, Declan saw me. I nodded and continued to the door. My hand was already on the handle when I heard footsteps approaching.

"Em, can you stay, I want to talk to you."

I turned around and smiled politely.

"I would but my father is waiting for me. We have stuff to do."

And I got in without waiting for his answer. After closing the door behind me, I didn't have time to rest, my eyes met Aunt Sophie's. She was looking at me disapprovingly, she could undoubtedly read in my eyes that I didn't like what was happening outside…

Without saying anything, I went to my room, and even as I was getting up the stairs I heard the door open and close loudly. Almost immediately after that, I received a message from Declan. "Em, talk to me. I'm waiting for you in the car."

I got in my room and threw the phone on my bed. I felt hurt and annoyed at the same time. But why?

I wasn't his girlfriend and I certainly didn't feel like that out of jealousy.

But they would think that was the reason. Like aunt Sophie.

And who I was lying to... I was jealous. But not as his girlfriend, but just as a friend. I knew that our friendship was over if things worked out between them…

As I strode nervously around the room, it occurred to me that if I didn't want to look jealous as hell, I had to go to him and hear what he had to say. I hurried out of the room and ran downstairs worried he could be gone already. Almost at the door, I saw Lana and aunt Sophie silently talking to each other and when Lana saw I was going out, she shouted.

"How can you be so brazen?"

I opened the door and left without saying anything, and was relieved to see that his car was still there. I got in the car and looked at him with an apologetic smile.

"What's up?"

He was observing my face with concern in his eyes.

"You seemed mad. Are you good now?"

My smile faded. Was I that obvious? I tried to smile even wider.

"Mad? Of course not."

He frowned.

"Don't lie to me, Em. It doesn't suit you. I expect you to be honest. Always."

I thought about Lana's secret and felt bad but then that was her secret and lies. I couldn't be responsible for other people's lies, could I? I had no right to divulge other people's secrets. And he was right. It would not be friendship if we were not honest with each other.

"Okay. I was a little mad."

He said nothing, just kept looking at me anxiously and I continued.

"It's alright. It's just when I saw you kissing, I thought I should say goodbye to our friendship. Lana will take care of it."

Dec looked ahead, no longer looking worried, just pensive.

"I didn't think your problems were that serious." "What do you mean?" His words startled me. I imagined what Lana might have told him to make him that worried.

"She told me she likes me but she won't be with me if I don't stop seeing you."

I didn't say anything because I was expecting it. And honestly, even now, when what I feared was really happening, I realized I wasn't mad at Declan. We've only known each other recently, and although I felt like I've known him forever, he couldn't choose me over his love interest. It was not fair to expect it.

"It's ok, really. I mean, I don't think it's fair to you or even me but… I get it." I looked at him and was surprised to see him on the verge of laughing.

Punching him, I laughed with relief.

"You didn't agree?!"

"Of course not." I laughed again and hugged him tightly. He hugged me back and kissed my hair.

"You tend to be overly dramatic, you know."

I got back on my seat and smiled happily.

"You really are an awesome friend. Most of the guys would have thrown me away without a second thought."

"I thought about it." I punched him hard and he chuckled.

My smile froze when I saw my father's car approaching.

"I got to go."

"Em, I need to talk to you about the things Lana told me." Already out of the car, I leaned and with a slightly concerned face told him to wait for me at my favourite coffee shop tomorrow morning.