When I'm With You

The water falling from my face is soaking my shirt, but I turn and look in the mirror to make sure I got all that damn makeup off, and frown at the clips still in my hair. I pull at them angrily, throwing them down onto the floor. When my hair is free, I pull it up in a knot on the top of my head and bring my attention back to Ember.

“Tell me what is going on, Em. What have I done?”

She’s silent but turns to look at me.

“What did I do to get this kind of reaction from you?” I continue.

Still nothing.

“Fucking tell me, Emberlyn! What made you look at me with hate in those beautiful eyes? I can’t stand it anymore.”

She jerks back with so much force that I know there is no way she didn’t feel the snap all the way down her spine.

“What did you do?” she weakly questions.

I nod. “Yeah, what did I do because, for the fucking life of me, I can’t figure it out.”

“What did you do?” she repeats, her tone getting harsh.

I don’t say a damn thing. Growing up with a sister, I know when a woman is on the edge of crazy.

“You really have no fucking clue, do you?”

I shake my head, but clearly, even that was the wrong move because she again jerks but this time with her whole body.

“You’re unbelievable, Nate.”

The silence continues after that, more because I’m afraid if I so much as breathe, she is going to stab me with my mom’s cuticle scissors.

Just when I think it’s safe, her eyes narrow and she leans up. Because I have a foot plus on her, that doesn’t do much, but still, I don’t move. Even pissed as hell, she’s still beautiful.

“What’s your name, babe?” she oddly asks, before walking around me and slamming the bathroom door in her wake.

I look around the large bathroom, trying to figure out what just happened before looking at my reflection. “What in the fuck just happened in here?” I ask my reflection, stupidly wishing it could throw me a bone here.

I hear another door slam, and I throw the door open and move to the window in my parents’ room just in time to see Ember running to her car and jumping in. It’s gotten darker out, but her dome light is illuminating her, and the second I see her swipe at her eyes, I kick my own ass.

If I could just get her to talk to me, without it turning into whatever just happened in the bathroom, I could fix this. We could go back to the way things were. With my mind made up, I rush out of the room and down the stairs, taking them two at a time. I open the front door just as she turns the engine over.

“Ember!” I yell and race down the driveway.

Before I can reach her car, she’s backing out so fast that her tires protest against the speed.

“Ember!” I bellow, running down the driveway trying to catch her. A feeling of pure helplessness starts to crawl up my throat when she looks over at me with tear-filled eyes before gunning the gas and taking off. “Em,” I whisper, pleading with her taillights for what, I have no idea.

“Figure it out yet?” I hear behind me but don’t look until the glow of her taillights is completely gone.

When I turn, Maddox is standing at the end of the driveway, arms crossed over his chest, stoic mask in place.

“Not even a little,” I tell him honestly, hoping that he’s going to be more of a voice of reason and not a pissed off father right now.

“You aren’t a stupid man, Nathaniel, so it really shouldn’t be this hard. I’ll help you out because I love my little girl and her happiness means more to me than kicking your fucking ass right now, but you best believe that moment is coming and I’ll be nice enough to give you time to prepare for it.”