Story Time! Part 7 "I think I should be asking you that question." Nick replied, immediately disliking the overconfident man standing at the door. "Am I at the wrong house?" "Yes. Yes you are. Go away." Camila said as she walked into the living room, swinging a hand towel like a whip. He was there, and he was there to cause her unintentional grief, as she knew all too well, "Cammy, as charming as ever. Who's this guy?" He smirks at her, and she glares at him, annoyance and an all too familiar impatience rising to the surface, "None of your business, go away." She repeated more forcefully this time. Genie practically shook with unknown emotions as she gripped the arm of the couch, grinding her teeth together. If there was anyone she did not want to see, he was definitely up there, along with naked Nick and Satan. She tried to amuse herself to lessen her own sudden and boiling rage, to no real avail. "Who is it?" Mrs. Raudales mouthed to Genie, as she peeked out from the kitchen, as she did when strange people were at the door. "Emmett." She replied despondently, now fidgeting with her fingers, as anxiety mingled with unbridled anger. “Oh Dios.” Camila’s mother sighed. She knew what happened when he was around. That boy, even when he meant well, only seemed to make her daughter feel worse. She would kick him out normally, but she decided for once that Camila was a big girl and she could finally solve her own problems. That, and her favorite soap opera came on precisely when he arrived. She figured it couldn’t be worse than when he would try to take Camila places, which distressed her and her parents, because now she would definitely not go anywhere with the likes of him. Camila called it the dark ages. He called it a first. As she stared at him, as the words spewed senselessly from his mouth, and he got that look on his face which made her feel unsure of what she even felt about him, disgust? Anger? Sadness? She felt her resolve waver, it had always been easy enough for him after it happened to get her to forgive him. Nick’s, however, remained firm, not listening to the other man’s argument as he slowly inched the door closed, but Emmett was good at making a ruckus. Which is why Anthony, who had come inside to as he so eloquently stated “take a leak”, froze in his tracks. He saw him, and that was that. “Little dude!” “Emmett!” Anthony waltzed over like how Emmet had taught him to, leisurely, uncaringly, ultimately really douchey. “Let him in,” Camila lifted her glasses and rubbed her temples. There was no use in fighting it. Nick attempted to protest, but Camila just shook her head. He reluctantly allowed him passage, and went to follow him. Emmett triumphantly strolled into the living room where Genie sat on the couch, unnoticed. He turned to Anthony, who had been at his side, “Sup little bro?” Emmett stuck out his fist to bump with his excited mini-me, who did just that, “The sky, man.” “Do you know who this joker is?” “Camila’s boyfriend I think.” Emmett’s eyebrow shot up, “Oh, really. Interesting.” He said casually, his tone of voice just asking for a punch in the face, in Nick’s opinion. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my best friend,” Camila huffed, “Not that you would know. Keep in touch my ass.” she muttered under her breath, and Nick could hear the hurt in her voice. Emmett made his way to the couch, almost sitting on Genie, who made a strangled noise. “Holy shit Red! I almost sat on you. It’s a party up in here, man.” Genie narrowed her eyes at his nickname for her. “Oh dear,” Camila muttered under her breath, the dreaded confrontation. “You.” Genie could barely withhold the dam that separated the river of of emotions flowing through her; anger, betrayal, affection, and hate from her mouth. “Uh...me?” Emmett pointed a finger at himself. “What the fuck are you doing here?” Her voice was shrill and uncomposed, “You promised...” She trailed off. “Wha-?” he looked at her, confused, “What have I done to deserve this treatment?” he said, fed up with all the hate he was receiving from these people, all he had wanted to do was say hi, and he couldn't even do that much. “Uh...Em, you probably want to hightail it out of here. Stuff is about to get violent.” Anthony warned, seeing Genie’s face, mouth twisted, face muscles contorted. He rarely saw her like this, in fact, he was fairly sure he hadn't ever seen her upset like this, “I think you should hightail it little man, this is between me and her. And these two assholes who are just here for the show.” he gestured toward Camila and Nick who were in the middle of it, Camila with her hand comfortingly on Genie’s shoulder, Nick just sort of standing in the corner, pretending to be a ficus while hugging the cool side of the tiled fireplace, the only place not covered by cobwebs, because, mainly, it was the best place to get a good view and not get anything thrown at him. “Did you just cuss in front of my little brother?” Camila had to say, if only to fill the gaping silence. She squeezed Genie's shoulder, an unspoken vow that she would bludgeon Emmett to death with Nick as a weapon, if necessary. “Cam, I don’t think right now is the best time for this.” Nick interjected, the tipsy voice of reason. Anthony took Emmett’s advice and peed in the upstairs bathroom. “You never called me. Not once.” she said slowly, as she rose from her seat. “I can explain...” “Of course you can. You can explain everything huh?” Genie knew she was unreasonably mad, but she just didn’t care anymore. “Legit, I just...I forgot.” he admitted, silently pleading for her to not freak out on him because he told the truth, which he understood was highly unlikely, but a man could hope. "Because that's totally a good excuse." Camila muttered, "Well, I thought it was." Nick admitted, and she could not be mad at the impaired man. “Of course you did.” she replied, as they both waited for what Genie had to say to him. But she remained uncharacteristically quiet. For a few seconds, anyways. Camila thought it was to gather her thoughts. “You...forgot.” she said slowly, dragging out the syllables as if to emphasize just how ridiculous this statement really was. “I know that makes me a horrible person and shit, but I have no other justification for my actions. What else can I say other than sorry?” Emmett simply seemed to give up on trying to appease the angry female confronting him. “I don’t know, maybe come up with a better lie than that?” Nick suggested helpfully, although with the natural hint of sarcasm that tended to expose itself at the worst of times. “But I’m not lying, I got caught up in the move...” he trailed off, begging with his eyes, which stared with an uncomfortable intensity into Genie’s. Camila remembered. She remembered all too well. Him getting his acceptance letter from Harvard, his excitement, his empty promises, she understood this, but she knew Genie was in a position where she could deny the truth, being distraught and female and all. The awkward silence that ensued filled the room for such a minimal amount time, but yet seemed to span for hours, made Nick reason right now was an excellent time, for some reason, to go get something to drink or eat, shamefully admitting to himself along the way that it was pretty pathetic how quickly he’d been affected by the small amount of alcohol. He squeezed past Camila rubbing uncomfortably close along the way. Genie and Emmett watched, Genie’s anger slowly seeping away, understanding taking over. Plus the fact that Camila tried desperately to climb over the couch in attempt to give him space; though Nick could’ve easily gone the other way, but that would’ve been risking going in between the fighting couple. Genie began to giggle as Camila wiggled over the couch, Nick continuing on his merry way, rather oblivious to her struggle, wrapped up in his own thoughts. Emmett chuckled alongside her, as he wobbled comically past the tight fit. They both shamelessly burst out into laughter as he tripped over himself and caught onto Camila’s pant leg, dragging her down into the abyss. Genie watched Emmett out of the corner of her eye, as she’d always enjoyed the manner in which he laughed, silently, mouth gaping open, somewhat like a retarded seal. Looking at him only caused her to laugh harder, freely and unabashedly. Her anger seeped away until she was just left with pure amusement. And with that, their evening passed over its roughest part. Emmett and Genie sat close to each other, with the cup holder in between them. Nick sat beside Camila, reclined in the seat near the joint which she bounced on. He ate a bit more of her mother’s cooking, which she insisted were called pasteles (pa-ss-tell-ez), and immediately felt better. He now felt a certain amount of optimism for the rest of his stay, maybe this wasn’t going to be a complete disaster, which Camila foretold as he got all of her contact information a few weeks back. This optimism stayed with him, for a time, however not nearly as long as he’d have liked, which was forever, really. But everlasting bliss would be boring, eh? If it happened in this story, we’d be writing the script for a new Disney movie. ZING ;D ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A RoyQin© story. I've decided to go in and edit the original post to contain the pages of all the story updates for convenience sake. Do leave feedback/thoughts.