A- Villain

Chapter 11 - Not the time to be flirting

The first words I can think to say to Emily are, "I think you may have just saved my life."

Emily laughs and sets her keys and phone down on the table between us. She's wearing an oversized school hoodie with athletic leggings, looking relaxed while I'm nervous and fidgety.

She gives me the tiniest of smiles, "That was your ex, am I right?"

I quirk an eyebrow, "How did you know that?"

She shrugs one shoulder, "Jessie's mentioned her before."

Of course Jessie mentioned Maggie to Emily. She probably told Emily all about the tragic breakup, making sure to include the fact that I haven't went on a date since she broke up with me. Emily most likely knows more than I want her to.

"Ah, I see," I purse my lips and cup my hands around my ice cream bowl, staring into it like it contains the secret to life. I slowly look up, "Do you want me to buy you some ice cream?" I ask sheepishly. I don't know why, but I feel so embarrassed that she had to save me from my ex. What did Jessie tell her exactly?

Emily shakes her head. Her long, brown braid falls over her shoulder. "Oh, no. You don't have to do that."

I look down at my ice cream again and mumble, "It's what a good fake boyfriend would do."

When I glance up, Emily has a wide smile on her face. "Only if you didn't clean them out of all the Rocky Road."

I mimic her grin, "We'll have to see about that." At that I slide out of my seat to go buy some.

When I get back, Emily is more than thrilled to see the heap of ice cream in the bowl. "Thank you so much!"

I slide back into the chair and give a nod, "No problem. It does come with one condition, though."

Emily's already scooping Rocky Road into her mouth, but she suddenly stops. "What's that?"

I run my hand over the back of my neck, which shows more of my nervousness more than anything. "I need to know what Jessie told you about me and Maggie."

Emily sets her spoon back into the ice cream, making sure to make direct eye contact with me. It's this trait about her that intimidates me the most. "She told me before we went on a double date that you would probably be a little awkward because you hadn't dated anyone since Maggie,"

I groan aloud, "Ugh, she seriously said that?"

She shrugs nonchalantly, "Did it stop me from going?" Emily is racking up some serious brownie points tonight.

I smirk, "I guess not."

Emily continues, "Jessie told me it was a pretty nasty breakup, but she wouldn't tell me any of the details. She said Maggie was to blame, though."

I roll my eyes, "That's the understatement of the year."

Emily's silent for a moment before she asks, "Do you want to talk about it?"

The short answer to that is no. There's a reason hardly anyone knows about what happened. It's humiliating on my part, and I don't want Maggie to have the satisfaction of knowing I still talk about her. All of our friends thought it was a mutual breakup because I never told them otherwise.

"I don't really want to talk about it here. This is one of my favorite places, and I don't want to reminisce on a sad story." That's what I say out loud, but my real excuse is that I'm worried if I start talking about what happened, I'll get stuck in a dark place mentally. Right now I'm able to avoid it by not talking about it.