His Secret Obsession

Have you ever gone through life and thought. Well crap, how did I end up as a side character in my own story? How was it possible to be one of those people helping the two main characters get together. Showing them how pretty and popular they are and how perfect they would be for one another. Well, that would be me.. Emery Lewis.. But my friends call me Em. That's how I felt since I was nine years old. That's a pretty hard pill to swallow as a kid. Especially one that was so dedicated and motivated to find her very own happily ever after. Even at that age, I believed in fate and soul mates. Like with my first crush, Jacob Davison, I was convinced he was the one. My naive little kid heart fluttered every time I laid eyes on him. My palms would sweat and my smile would widen to uncomfortable levels. He was absolutely perfect. Blonde hair, blue eyes, funny and smart. Not to mention he was the fastest boy in third grade. Do you know what that means? He was dubbed the most popular boy in third grade as well, and me? I was his trusty sidekick that seemed to be there to make him laugh and cheer him up when he was upset or having a bad day. I was never the fastest or the prettiest girl..definitely not the smartest. Let's just say math sucks. I was more artsy and kind. I loved to put on a brave face and be that person who was there for everyone. Well, guess who he did crush on? The fastest girl in third grade of course. Mackenzie Prescott, my best friend in the whole world. Mackenzie was not only the cute, smart, and overall popular girl. She was also the most sought-after in the whole school and every boy that I ever liked seemed to think that too. I just so happened to be the chubby girl that was always available to help out and knew everything about Mackenzie. Let’s just say third grade was the first time I realized my life wasn't turning out to be the fairytale I thought it would be. My role was meant to be the beloved supporting side character who sacrificed herself for the greater good of the world so the true heroes could get their happily ever after. And it sucked, big time. I can still recall the moment Jacob came up to me, saying he had a crush on someone and that I knew who it was. Of course, being the naive little girl that I was, I thought he was alluding to me. I never said it out loud. I was too shy and reserved to even mention my name as a possibility. He never told me who he was talking about that day but I spent hours overanalyzing every laugh, touch, and look on his face for weeks. Little did I know I was focusing on the wrong clues. Little boys don't do nice things or smile at you broadly when they have a crush, they tend to tease you or make you flustered and embarrassed. I should’ve known that as soon as I saw Jacob with Mackenzie. That was the first time I had a small taste of what heartache felt like. It was like this small voice inside of my head kept saying I wasn't good enough. Reminding me that I would never be that stick-thin perfect girl. I was always heavier as a kid with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. I had fair skin and tended to be more on the tomboy side. For that, I can thank my dad. Sadly, my beautiful mother Carrie Lewis died when I was only two years old. It was a car accident that changed our lives forever. I don't remember much about her, just stories and pictures my dad and grandparents showed me. I had her hair and eyes, but that was pretty much it. I lived in a small town in Washington state called Roy. It was located in the middle of the woods with tall pine trees and a huge river that ran straight through it. My dad, Allen Lewis, and Uncle Jack lived in the house with me. They owned their own auto shop and worked out of their garage. My dad remodeled a few classic muscle cars for a couple of high-end clients that helped keep us afloat. Considering he was a single dad, he welcomed any opportunity that brought in money so he didn't have to have a nine-to-five job. When dad tended to travel for work, my Uncle Jack would take over. We spent a lot of those days fishing and camping, which he loved to do. Truthfully, Jack felt more like an older brother to me than an uncle considering he and my dad were eight years apart. Let's just say Jack isn't known for being the most responsible adult in the world. My dad wasn't too thrilled when he came home one day to find me, Uncle Jack, and a few of his friends playing poker in the garage. He was furious. Dad ended up forgiving him when he found out I had won though. Considering I was only eight at the time he gave me a ten and kept the rest for hush money. Now don't get me wrong, I was in no way an outcast. I had a few trusty friends, they were quite popular too but oddly enough I never fell into that category. I wasn't naive, I knew I would get invited to birthday parties or other types of things because there was one person who always went with me. Mackenzie. She was a different type of girl. Mack was the type who was scouted for modeling even as a baby. Her golden tan skin and silky black hair weren't her only draw. It was those beautiful clear blue eyes that made her even more mesmerizing. Her whole family had them, even her older brother Carson. I guess the fact that their mom Heather was a model didn't hurt either. Their dad Vince on the other hand was a retired football player turned lawyer. It's safe to say they hit the jackpot big time. The question you might be asking though, is why were they in such a small town like Roy? Well, Vince actually grew up here, he was even a friend of my mom and dad's since they were in grade school. They lived on ten acres now with a house that was 15,000 square feet. So they weren't exactly slumming it like the rest of us. They had an indoor pool and fast cars, even housekeepers. Whenever my dad and uncle had to go out of town for work, I would almost look forward to it because I would get to stay the week at Mackenzie’s house with her family. It was like a second home to me. I even grew close to her brother, Carson. He is three years older than me and Mackenzie. He and his sister would bicker and fight a lot, but I grew to have a pretty awesome relationship with him. One of the perks of knowing the Prescott’s since being a small kid was that I didn't just have a relationship with Mackenzie, I also had a good relationship with her family too. When Mackenzie would leave for a few hours to do a photo shoot or film a commercial, I would hang back and play games with Carson. We would usually play Mario Kart or shoot some hoops on their private basketball court. Did I mention they had an indoor pool? Oh I did? Well they have an outdoor one as well. My dad and uncle would even come over sometimes and swim in the summer. Dad worked for Vince as his personal mechanic. He even taught Carson how to do basic maintenance like checking his oil and filling his tires with air, things like that. On the rare occasion that Mackenzie would stay the night at my house, Carson would sometimes come and tag along too. He really enjoyed my dad and Uncle Jack's company. They even go on camping trips now and then. Mr. Prescott isn't the most involved parent. He has crazy work hours and tends to miss out on a lot of father-son bonding moments. I guess Carson looked up to my dad for a lot of advice. When he was in high school, he and a few friends started coming around more. One friend in particular who I have grown to despise entirely, Asher McNeal. He seemed to be the one to hang around the most. Asher and Carson were on the basketball team and Asher just so happened to be the Centre. Meaning he was pretty much the tallest kid in school. Being 6'3 as a freshman and still growing definitely did something to a kid. Let's just say he was the local celebrity. I will go more into him later. As you can probably tell, I'm not much of a fan. I might have been a long time ago but now I want nothing to do with the guy, or so I tell myself. There has to be one girl in this town who doesn't want Asher McNeal right? So I made the decision to have it be me, even though that might not be the entire truth. But anyway, Carson was the power forward and sat at a measly 6'1" ,poor Carson. With me being my whopping 5' 3" they all looked the same from down here,so I couldn't really tell the difference. I guess tall genes just run in the Prescott family. Mackenzie was 5'10" and seemed to have legs for days , I guess that's a good thing when you are a legit model. Her dream is to move to Los Angeles and become an actress. Being in the Pacific Northwest we don't really have a lot of opportunities like that here unless you live up north in Seattle. Mackenzie travels to LA every couple of months for a few gigs her mom sets up, but now that we are out of high school it seems like she is there more and more. She just got accepted to go to the University of California for their drama program after this summer. Me on the other hand, I see no reason to leave Washington. I am staying right here and will be going into the nursing program at St. Martin’s University. Mackenzie leaves for college in a few weeks and now that we are both officially nineteen, we are going to make this summer count. Mackenzie decided to take a year off of school and was traveling to Europe with her mom and cousin. I stayed home helping my dad out in the garage and started my online prep to eventually get into the nursing program. Since I wasn’t too much into the party scene, it kind of felt like Mackenzie and I drifted apart a little. Some things began to change even during our senior year. I would rather stay home on the weekends while she seemed to find the party scene all on her own. I guess it really began in our freshman year of high school. While Mackenzie joined the cheer squad, I ended up in art and music. I also began really losing weight this past year. I started to go running in the mornings and picked up a few healthier eating habits. This is honestly the smallest I have ever been in my life. It feels weird if I’m being honest. My whole life I was always overweight, so having more energy and being in a size medium was a goal I never thought I would reach. It’s the end of July now and I have lost a total of sixty pounds since the beginning of the year. I don't know what started the whole thing, but I wasn't complaining. It’s hard getting used to my new body though. I still have curves but now they are in all the places you would want them. Mackenzie has been gone for almost a month, so she hasn’t seen my full transformation yet. I am meeting up with her for the first time tonight at her house for a party her brother is having. He just turned twenty-two and I know there will be alcohol involved. This will be my first "adult" party and Mackenzie is on a mission to get me drunk. Apparently, she wants me to finally put myself out there. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t tried before. Well, not fully, but still. I honestly don't care that I’m still a virgin. I want to wait. I want to give myself to that one person who I knew I was meant to be with. Corny I know, but I must’ve watched too many Disney movies growing up and always wished there was a Prince Charming waiting for me somewhere out there. A girl can dream, right?