Let's Just Fall In Love Again (ch. 5)

CHAPTER 5: Seeing Each Other Again

Daniel had closed his eyes after a back-aching unpacking and started to buzz out when a sound snapped his attention back to his room.

Clunk!

He realized that the sound was coming from the door hiding the balcony of his room. The sliding door was almost glass so it was covered with dark brown curtains, the way he wanted it to. He stood and opened the door. He adjusted his eyes to the bright light and what he saw made him smile. He first saw Vanessa happily shouting his name and then Emma and then his smile widened. She blushed furiously.

Emma didn’t want to face him now. When they have received Rico’s text message a while ago, her heart started to beat rapidly that she was afraid that Vanessa might hear it. She quickly excused herself and went to the bathroom to hide. She stared at her reflection for a moment then turned away to face the door.

Why?

Why does my heart beat like this when I hear his name? Why does it beat this way when I knew that he is here? Why? I don’t love him. That was just a crush.

She was asking herself over and over again when Vanessa opened the suddenly and pulled her out of the bathroom and dragged her out to the balcony. She learned that by the time she went to the bathroom, Vanessa hade been picking pebbles downstairs. Now, her other hand, which was not filled with stones, was picking stone from the other hand and one by one threw at Daniel’s balcony door. Daniel opened the door after the third stone was thrown and suddenly her stomach flipped over at the sight of him.

She didn’t notice how Vanessa was shouting and had thrown all the stones to the floor. All she noticed was how his hair was in disarray, how his green eyes stared back at her and how his smile was lighting up when he saw her.

He’s here. He’s finally here.

She realized that she was staring at him and she quickly looked away. She’d known before that he was handsome. Now, he was more handsome and from the muscled arms and chest, she could tell that he has changed. She hoped that he changed his look not his attitude. She turned to look at him again and found that his look at her didn’t waver but when he realized that she was looking at him, he turned to look at Vanessa.

“Hey.”

She returned his greeting with a simple ‘hey’ but was drowned by Vanessa’s shouting.

“You  git! Why didn’t you tell us before?!....”

“Hey Ness, you’re screaming the whole house down. Stop it.” Emma laughingly told her. At last Vanessa stopped and grinned widely.

The three of them laughed. It was a habit of Vanessa to shout when  she was surprised. Don’t get her wrong, she love surprises but just prepare for her reaction because if you don’t, you’ll found you’re eardrums lying on the floor after her outburst. 

“You’ve changed.” Daniel commented. Emma thought he was talking to Vanessa but found his eyes were focused on her. She was wearing a dark blue dress that ended just below her knees because she, Nicole and Vanessa planned to go shopping after they finished packing. She wasn’t used to wearing dresses before and that was before Daniel left. She just wore a dress for a party and realized it felt comfortable than wearing jeans.  After that, it just started but she doesn’t wear it everyday. She only wore dresses whenever she felt like wearing it.

“Yeah. You’ve changed too”, she said, she tilted her head. They stared at each other then Vanessa suddenly interrupted by clearing her throat.

“You know, you’re making me feel out of place. I guess we better get going, Daniel. Emma and I promised Nicole to meet her at the mall. You know, go shopping for the vacation.” Vanessa babbled. “Oh, I forgot. Nicole invited us to spend the vacation in their resort. Did she already know that you’re here,” she asked Daniel.

“Yeah. Rico texted all of you a while ago. She called me a moment ago so that’s why I didn’t finish unpacking.”

“Oh well. We’re really happy to see you again. And I have one question to ask before we go.” Daniel smiled. I missed this girl. She is the most bubbly of all the girls. Nicole’s the spoiled but good brat of the group and Christine had a boyish personality that’s a complete opposite of her cousin, Hadey. Hadey is more of the shy type.

“Is it true that you’re really staying here for good?” Vanessa asked without waiting for his answer.

Emma was silent for the whole time that Vanessa was bubbling but after the last question was asked, her heart was kicking its way out of her rib cage.

“Yes.” Emma’s heart swelled with happiness with that simple answer. She didn’t even realize that her grin had widened and Vanessa was saying goodbye. The next thing she knew was that Vanessa was dragging her from the balcony to their room.  Vanessa got ready and after that they met Nicole in the mall. They shopped for new clothes and went to the salon to change their hairstyle. Nicole and Vanessa had their dark-brown hair curled at the ends. Emma had her light brown hair layered, ending just a little beyond her shoulders.

It was already 5 when they went home. Emma and Vanessa had early dinner with her parents and then helped her mother in doing the chores.

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Emma was walking towards the garbage can outside their house when she saw Daniel standing there too. Not noticing her steps, she tripped and fell forwards with a yelp. Her left knee caught all her weight when she fell and it was now aching. She tried to stand up but all her efforts were worthless. Her knee is really hurting.

Daniel had heard her yelp but didn’t know that it was Emma. When he turned to the direction of where the yelp came, he saw Emma sitting on the ground with her left knee in front of her face. She was blowing on it and red blood oozed out. He ran towards her and stood behind her. He admired her courage, holding back her tears so no one would think that she is weak. He realized that her knee must be hurting so he went to her side and kneeled in front of her bleeding knee.

Emma saw Daniel kneeled beside her and slide his hand under her knees and the other hand under her shoulders. Before she could protest, he had lifted her without a wince and carried her to a nearby bench. She had locked her arms around his neck for balance and hid her face between his neck and shoulder.

He put her down on the bench and received a smack on his shoulder.

“Hey, what was that for?”

“Don’t you ever do that again. I’m afraid of heights, if you’d care to remember.” That wasn’t a lie and Emma knew that. She was really afraid of heights but that was not the reason why she was trembling. Being in his arms was enough to shake her.

“What happened to your knee?” Daniel asked, concern written all over his face. He was standing in front of her.

“I tripped and my knee broke my fall so that, now, it’s bleeding.”

“You should have been more careful.”

“Oh, so you’re telling me that I’m careless?” She snapped.

“Why are you snapping?” He was frowning.

“I don’t know.” Of course she knew why. She was mad at herself for feeling that way. Daniel was her best friend not her boyfriend.

“If that’s the way you talk to your best friend who left you for just two years, then please remind me not to bother talking to you when I do it again.” The moment the words were out, he regretted saying it.

Emma was astounded when she heard what Daniel had said. She knew she was wrong at snapping at him when all he had done was help her when she can’t stand. But his words hit deep.

Silence. Suddenly the silence was too much but neither of them wanted to speak. Finally, he sighed and sat beside Emma. He was not sitting close to her. He gave her space, not touching her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” Daniel was not looking at her too.

“No. Don’t say sorry. It was not your fault, I started it. I snapped at you without any cause at all. I’m sorry.” Daniel faced her and found Emma’s gaze. They stared at each other for a while then were disturbed by a shout.

“DANIEL!!”

The voice was from a girl running followed by two other girls. It was Sabrina. She was Christine’s cousin and she was head over heels for Daniel. Emma seethed. She was fuming when Sabrina hugged Daniel. She didn’t want to see her. Sabrina had insulted her in front of a crowd at school a few days after Daniel left. She can’t forget it, not when it involves her relationship with Daniel. Sabrina acted that Emma stole Daniel from her as if they had a relationship. That caused Emma’s boyfriend to break up with her.

“Daniel, I’m so glad you’re here. We’ve missed you, right Emma?” Sabrina tilted her head to Emma and smiled at her. But her eyes were not smiling. It was blazing with fire. Sabrina had a straight dark brown hair, captivating blue eyes and enticing figure that made all the boys their age and above want to date her.

Emma nodded, not trusting her voice. Maybe if she would speak, she will shout.

Daniel smiled at her when she nodded so she looked away. Her gaze landed on the two girls behind Sabrina. Christine and Hadey. The two of them are part of their closest friends. Christine had straight blonde hair with brown highlights. She is tall for her age while Hadey had an average height and curly blonde hair. The two of them have blue eyes but Hadey’s eyes are most beautiful eyes to look at. It had hat innocent look of a child that made every boy stutter in front of her.

Emma gave them a blazing gaze that made Christine and Hadey shrugged and mouthed the word ‘sorry’. Emma smiled at them, she was giving them a hard time just because of their cousin.

“Thanks, I guess?” Daniel answered and gave them the smile that stopped her heart. To complete the image, he put his hand behind his neck in a sign of confusion.

“What happened to your knee?” Christine’s question cut all there was to say and she quickly walked towards Emma and sat between them.

“That’s just me. I was being careless and I tripped.” Seeing Christine’s concerned expression she quickly added, “It’s nothing really. When I get home, I’ll clean it and put bandage on it.”

“But it won’t stop bleeding.” Hadey said, suddenly bending over her.

“Here.” Daniel spoke and tied his handkerchief on her bleeding knee. “I’m sorry I didn’t think of it a while ago.

“No—“she tried to stop Daniel but Daniel just smiled and stopped her.

“Don’t worry about it. I have enough handkerchiefs that could help me for a lifetime.”

From the corner of her eyes, she saw Sabrina grit her teeth and spoke through it.

“I think I have to go.” She turned and started to walk. “Christine and Hadey, coming?”

“You go ahead.” Christine said. Sabrina was stomping her way back to her house while fuming.

“Bye Sabrina.”

“Hey Daniel, we’re really glad that you’re back but I have to tell you something, Don’t let Sabrina fool you.” Then they left, following the furious Sabrina.

“What did she mean?” Daniel asked.

“Nothing important. She just meant that Sabrina’s a spoiled brat.” She spat at the last words.  

 “Sabrina’s not exactly a brat.” Emma raised her eyebrow at that line. “I mean, yeah, she’s a bit brat.”

“A bit?!” Emma scoffed.

“And she’s really nice.” Daniel continued, ignoring Emma’s reaction.

The words sank into Emma’s head and her expression changed into a sad one.

“Nice, huh? If only you knew the reason.” She murmured so Daniel couldn’t hear.

“The reason for what?” He asked and the instant he saw the expression Emma’s wearing, he was frowning.

“Never mind that. Forget that I said that.” Emma stood and was caught off-balance by her aching knee. She yelped for the second time. Hands gripped her shoulders and for the second time, she stared at Daniel’s eyes which were so green you could drown in them.

Daniel was staring at her eyes and was instantly lost in them.

“You like him”, a voice inside Emma’s head said.

“No I don’t. He’s my best friend”, Emma answered the voice in her head.

“But you know you like him”, the voice said again.

“I don’t”, Emma insisted.

“Emma, you like him.”

“I don’t.”

“You like him.”

“I don’t.”

“Emma.”

“I don’t.” Not realizing she said aloud. She was still staring at Daniel’s eyes. They were standing so close Emma was afraid Daniel can hear her heart kicking against her ribs.

“Emma?” The voice calling her name was so soft.

“Yeah.” She answered and knew that it was an answer to both questions. She liked him. She had started to like him whenever he smiled at her and when he asked her how to admit to a girl that he’s in love with her. He looked so cute that night, he didn’t even look at her and she laughed silently watching him. But when she asked him that girl was and he didn’t tell her, she was hurt and she knew that she was in love with him not just a crush.

She avoided him the next day and the passing days thinking that if she will do that, she will forget her feelings for him. and she didn’t succeed in forgetting that feelings.

The night he said that he will move to America with his parents, her world crushed. She was guilty and sad at the same time that it bordered on sadness. Guilty for giving him the cold shoulders without reasons and sad because he will move away from her. She cried herself in Daniel’s arms in his couch and woke up in his bed the next morning with only a note telling her that he was sorry for not waking her up and goodbye.

She left his room and went home where Richard, her older brother for two years, was sitting in the swing in the backyard. She cried again and told Richard the reason. Only Richard knew that Emma was in love with Daniel and she had him to secrecy. The next year, Richard had to leave to study in Oxford.

“Emma.” Her name was again spoken for the third time and that had her end her thoughts. Realizing that she was still staring at Daniel, she quickly turned away and heat crept up her neck.

“Uh—I—It’s dark already, I think we should get back.” Emma quickly said and limped towards her house.

Daniel strode towards her with big strides and was instantly walking beside her. He put his hand under her elbow to help her.

Emma felt his hand under her elbow and tried to jerk it from his hold but instead she had made him put his other hand on her waist. Warm feeling spread through her and knew she couldn’t do anything for him to release her.

As Emma listened to Daniel whistling off-key, she started to stifle a laugh. Suddenly, it was too much for her to take so she burst out laughing and stopped walking. Daniel stopped too. He was smiling and she felt like smacking him and kissing him. He had done it in purpose just to make her laugh. She felt like smacking him again and kissing him but she done neither.

Suddenly, all was the same as what they had before. Laughing at a simple situation and they’re happy just to be together.