Author's Note: I wasn't sure if anyone is reading this story. So if you are, and you enjoy it, please leave a review! Thank you for reading! :)
•Chapter Four: Jealousy•
Ember watched Colt walk into the living room with Lauren, but then sighed and turned back to wash the dishes from dinner. Jessica was standing a few feet away wiping down the kitchen counters when she heard Ember sigh.
"Are you sure everything is okay?" Jessica asked her, eager to find out what was causing the tension at dinner.
"I'm not sure. Colt is so difficult to read. I never know what's going on in his head. I thought things between us were fine, but then things changed after chemistry today."
"Did something happen?" Jessica asked, pressing for more information.
"Not that I can think of. The only thing that happened during class was the choosing of our lab partners for this project. I got paired with this new kid, his name is Corey. And Colt was paired with Lauren."
"Ah, I see." Jessica stated simply. She had a slight idea of what the issue was, after-all, she knew her boy. She loved all of her sons dearly, but she had always been closer with Colt. She didn't know with 100% certainty, but she had a feeling she knew what the problem was.
Before Ember could ask Jessica what she meant, the sound of the doorbell ringing interrupted their conversation.
They heard footsteps running towards the door, the door opening and then closing.
"Oh, it's you." Colt stated simply.
"Yes, it's me. Is Ember home?" Corey asked.
"Ember! Your boyfriend is here," Colt yelled out, purposefully trying to push her buttons.
Ember looked at Jessica with a confused look on her face, dried her hands off with a nearby dish towel and headed towards the front door. She found Corey standing there with his hands in the front pockets of his dark-washed jeans. He smiled at her as she approached him.
"Corey! This a surprise! I didn't know we were meeting tonight," Ember told him.
"I know I probably shouldn't drop by unannounced—," Corey began but was interrupted by Colt.
"No, you shouldn't." Colt mumbled under his breath.
Corey shot Colt a look, but Ember rolled her eyes, giving him permission to continue. Without responding to Colt's mumbling, he finished his sentence.
"Like I was saying, I know I probably shouldn't drop by unannounced, but I figured there's no time like the present. I was wondering if you wanted to get a head-start on this project," Corey stated.
Ember looked over at Colt and he met her gaze. While looking into Colt's eyes challengingly, she said to Corey, "I'd love to start working on the project with you."
Colt's eyes narrowed, but he returned his attention to Lauren, or attempted to anyway. Ember and Corey were in the back of his mind.
"Do you guys want to join us in here?" Lauren asked, winking at Corey.
"No, I'm sure we'll be alright without them," Colt answered for the pair.
"He's right. I'd rather go into my bedroom anyway," Ember replied while she flipped her hair back over her right shoulder with the back of her hand.
Colt's stomach clenched at the comment and he thought he would throw up right then and there. What was this feeling of sickness? He'd never felt like this before.
Ember grabbed Corey's hand and led him up the stairs, Colt's eyes were on them until they were out of sight. Rocky was coming out of the bathroom when the pair walked down the hall to her bedroom.
"Hey Ember, who is this?" Rocky asked.
"This is my lab partner, Corey. He's new here." Ember answered gesturing towards Corey.
"Hey man, I'm Rocky." Rocky stated as he held his hand out for the boy to shake. Corey returned the hand shake and introduced himself.
"We really need to work on this project so I will talk to you after while," Ember stated simply and led Corey into her bedroom. When the door shut, Corey walked over and sat at the empty chair that was at her computer desk. Ember went across the room and sat on her bed.
"So.. what's the deal with this Colt dude?" Corey asked as he was digging in his backpack for his notebook.
"I'd rather not talk about him, he's not that important."
"I have to disagree. You two were staring each other down rather intensely... a lot of heated feelings there for sure," Corey answered.
Ember shrugged. "I've always tried being nice to him, tried to be his friend and he's always hated me. Last week, things shifted with us and I thought we were finally making progress and were beginning to be friends... but I was wrong. Things shifted after Chemistry class."
"You mean, things shifted after you got paired with me and he saw us talking and enjoying conversation?" Corey asked matter-of-factly.
"I'm sure you have nothing to do with it. Colt couldn't care less about who I talk to." Ember shrugged again.
Corey wanted to argue, but he didn't press the issue. Colt showed all of the signs of jealousy, even if Colt himself wasn't even aware of it himself.
About an hour later, they were sitting on Ember's floor together drawing up a plan on how to make their experiment work.
"So basically, we'll just get a film canister and mix baking soda and vinegar together to cause a chemical reaction to launch the rocket. Here's the equation for it," Ember explained and wrote it down for him in his notebook.
Corey looked at her as she concentrated on writing the equation down and he couldn't help but be in awe of this girl. She was sassy, confident, beautiful, a ninja, AND smart?! How in the world was she still single?
"I think we've figured it out! Now we just have to build our small rocket. Want to meet again tomorrow?" Ember asked as she handed him his notebook.
Corey hesitated for a minute and finally just came out with it. "Ember... I think you're beautiful."
Ember was shocked, her blue eyes widened with surprise. She also blushed slightly as she avoided his gaze shyly. "Thank you... you're really sweet to say so."
"I was wondering if you'd want to go out sometime?" Corey asked her.
Ember smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "I'd love that!"
"Great! What about Friday night?"
"Sounds perfect," Ember answered as she smiled at him. They both stood up off the floor and Corey walked over to his backpack to start packing up his items.
Ember walked over to the bedroom door and opened it, waiting for Corey to join her. Once he was behind her, she walked him down the stairs and to the front door. Ember took notice that Lauren must have already left because she and Colt were no longer seated in the living room.
"So I'll see you tomorrow at school?" Corey asked her as they approached the front door.
"Absolutely. And tomorrow after school."
"And Friday night." Corey reminded her as he grinned.
"I can't wait," Ember smiled and stood on her tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek.
Corey smiled. "Goodnight Ember."
"Goodnight Corey," Ember said softly as she shut the door behind him. She smiled to herself, lost in her own thoughts.
"So what's going on Friday night?" Tum-Tum's voice rang out from behind her, startling her.
"Jesus Tum! I didn't know you were right there!" Ember shouted out while clutching her chest.
"I actually was able to sneak up behind you?" Tum-Tum asked and then his eyes widened at his realization. "I was able to sneak up on you because you were distracted by a boy!"
"What?! No way!" Ember argued back.
"Emmy's got a boyfriend! Emmy's got a boyfriend!" Tum-Tum sang out teasingly.
"I'm going to kill you!" Ember voiced as she charged at him.
Tum-Tum's eyes widened and then he took off running up the stairs with a Ding-Dong in one hand. "Emmy's got a boyfriend! Emmy's got a boyfriend!" Tum-Tum continued to sing as he ran up the stairs and into the bedroom he shared with his two older brothers. Tum-Tum tried shutting the door, but Ember was much too quick for him.
"Come here you little twerp!" Ember growled out.
Tum-Tum hid behind Colt and yelled dramatically, "Help! She's a crazy woman! She's threatened my life!"
Colt smirked, he had to admit it was pretty funny to see Tum scared of a girl.
Rocky sat up from his bed and had a smirk of his own. "What did you do now?"
"I saw her at the door with some boy. She said she was going to see him Friday night and I told her she had a boyfriend. That's all! And she went crazy! She's a crazy woman!" Tum-Tum yelled out dramatically again.
"What?" Colt asked.
Tum-Tum was about to repeat himself, but Colt reach behind him and smacked him in the head softly to keep him quiet. Everyone remained quiet.
Colt looked at Ember expectantly. "Are you going out with him?"
Ember crossed her arms. "And what if I am? What's it to you?"
Colt didn't know the right words to say. His face showed conflicted emotions, his mouth opened ready to say something, but the words never came out.
Rocky studied his brother and decided to jump in to his rescue. "His name was Corey, right? He asked you out?"
Ember nodded. "Yes, he did. And I accepted. He's nice to me."
"You just met him!" Colt argued.
"Yes, it's true I just met him. But he's been nicer to me in just one day than you've been to me your entire life," Ember barked back.
Rocky himself winced at that comeback. He had to hand it to Ember, she was tough. She didn't take anyone's bullshit, especially Colt's. Rocky had never seen anyone stand up to Colt like that except for their father.
Colt was once again at a loss for words. He looked down at his feet.
"Well, I'm sure you'll have a great time, E." Rocky told her sincerely. "He better be nice to you or else he's as good as dead."
Tum-Tum peeked at Ember from behind Colt and said "Yeah, we'll murderlize him."
Ember laughed at that. "You're forgiven, you little twerp. Goodnight guys."
Ember was about to step out the door when Jessica appeared in the doorway. "Oh great! You're all here so I can make one announcement." Ember and the boys looked at each other with confused faces before turning back to Jessica.
"Ember, they'll start working on your bathroom tomorrow so you won't be able to sleep in there after tonight. There will be a bunch of sawdust, tools, and it'll just be a complete mess. So you'll stay in here with the boys until it's finished, okay?" Jessica smiled sweetly like it was the easiest thing in the world.
"Sure, Jessica, it's no problem. Thank you again for doing this for me." Ember told her sweetly. Jessica smiled in return. "Goodnight you guys," she told them before shutting the door behind her.
Ember turned and looked at the boys. "So, I guess we'll be even closer roommates?" She joked lamely.
"That's fine. Just don't touch my jellybeans or my Ding-Dong's, okay? I'll know if you do!" Tum-Tum told her as sternly as he could manage.
Ember chuckled and ruffled his hair. "I think I can live without your jellybeans, Tum."
Ember looked over at Colt and noticed that he was already looking at her first. He didn't look away, but she also couldn't read his eyes. She looked down at her feet to avoid his gaze. "Goodnight guys, I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight," the boys chorused together.
When Ember left the room, Rocky turned to Colt, who was still looking at the door Ember had just walked out of.
"Man, why do you keep doing this to yourself?" Rocky asked.
"Doing what?" Colt asked defensively.
"Pretending like you don't care about Ember when it's so clear that you do. You like her. Why don't you just tell her that?" Rocked asked, trying to reason with his brother.
"Shut up, Rocky. I don't like her like that."
"Then why get so upset to learn that she has a date?" Tum-Tum asked his brother after he took a bite out of his Ding-Dong.
"I didn't get upset because I like her. She just met him. She doesn't know anything about him. She doesn't know if he's safe," Colt came up with excuse after excuse.
"Colt, the sooner you realize your jealousy, the sooner you can be happy. You have feelings for her. I know you do. And once you finally admit that to yourself, then everything else will fall into place." Rocky stated simply.
Colt rolled his eyes and hopped onto his bed from the trampoline. "Whatever. I don't have feelings for her."
Tum-Tum shut off the bedroom light and walked over to his bed that was below Colt. "Sure you don't, Colt."
Colt lay there with his hands behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling. He didn't have feelings for Ember, did he? No, absolutely not. He couldn't. Or... could he? Colt shut his eyes as if to shake the thoughts out of his mind, but it was no use. He wouldn't get any sleep that didn't include her in his dreams.