"Blue moon!" Emmett sang, twirling around the kitchen with the broom. "You know just what I was there for."

I couldn't help but laugh, shaking my head at him.

"You heard me saying a prayer for," Emmett belted, before holding the broom out to me.

"Someone I really could care for," I belted back, still laughing.

"I love this song," he confessed, with a smile.

"Why? It has no relevance to the movie."

"I don't like the movie," he said, making a face. "I just like this song."

I rolled my eyes as I finished wiping off the kitchen counter.

"And now all that's left to be done is for Parker to vacuum," Emmett announced, triumphantly. "Cleaning day is a success."

"Where is Parker?" I asked.

"He had to go down to Miami."

Miami? That's a three hour drive at best.

"What does he have to do in Miami?"

Emmett didn't answer, instead heading back to his bedroom. "I'm going on a run."

"Wait!" I called after him.

He turned to face me, cocking an eyebrow.

"We need to talk first."

With Parker not being here, this was the perfect time for me to tell Emmett about what happened this week.

And to give Emmett the appropriate amount of time to take in the information and kill me.

"Okay," he agreed, coming back out to the kitchen.

"Maybe you want to sit down for this?"

He stared at me for a couple of seconds before slowly taking a seat on one of the barstools. "Okay?"

"Just promise me you'll completely hear me out first."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Fucking hell Emily, what happened?"

"Promise me."

"I promise."

I nodded, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

"Okay, so remember when I went to the mall with Michelle last week?"

"Yeah," he agreed, with a nod.

"Well while I was there, I had a really hard time finding clothes that fit me right."

He stared at me, wordlessly.

"So I skipped dinner that night."

He didn't say a word.

"And then every other meal for the next week."

Silence.

"I asked mom and dad for the credit card so I could join Gold's Gym." I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, because the next part wasn't easy to say. "And to buy appetite suppressants."

Emmett pressed his lips together.

"I'm sorry," I said, quietly.

He stood up and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

The silence was worse than any possible thing he could've said to me.

~*~

"Is he still not talking to you?" Parker asked me, as Emmett came in from his morning run.

Emmett went straight back to his room without as much as a glance in my direction.

"Not unless it's necessary," I said, stabbing my toast with my knife.

"Okay," Parker said, reaching over me and taking my knife away.

"That wasn't necessary."

"I disagree."

I rolled my eyes, taking a bite of my toast as Emmett came back into the kitchen dressed for school.

Emmett poured himself a glass of water before turning to face me. "I'm picking mom and dad up from the airport tomorrow morning."

It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because they need a ride?"

"No, why are they here?"

"Why do you think?" he snapped, before grabbing his backpack and leaving the apartment.

"I'll talk to him," Parker promised. "He just... You know."

Hates me? Yeah, I know.

I finished off my toast before heading to school as well, taking my own car.

Emmett hasn't given me a ride since I told him everything.

"Why so glum chum?" Michelle asked me, as I joined her before school.

"Oh I don't know," I sighed, dropping in the seat next to her. "My brother hates me and my parents are coming to town."

"Your brother doesn't hate you," Michelle promised. "And just ignore your parents, you usually do anyways."

I looked over at Emmett, who was hanging with the jocks, his back to me.

He was always good playing peacemaker between my parents and me. But I highly doubted he cared about my well-being at this point.

"Don't dwell on it," Michelle said, nudging me. "He just needs some time, okay?"

I nodded in agreement, checking my phone and answering a text from Hannah.

"Smile," Michelle ordered.

I offered her a fake smile. But I honestly couldn't be more miserable.

~*~

"Do you have an umbrella?" Michelle asked me, as we both hovered under the school pavilion.

"If I had an umbrella would I still be here?"

"Right," she agreed.

I sighed, looking around me at the pouring rain. "I'm just going to go."

"Are you sure?"

"Well the rain isn't going to let up any time soon."

"I guess," Michelle agreed.

I pulled my backpack over my head before making a run for it.

I was soaked by the time I reached my car.

I apologized to my car as I pulled out of the parking lot, promising to dry off the seats once I got home.

My phone rang once I was out of the lot, Michelle's face popping up on the screen.

"Did you survive?" she asked, as I answered.

"Luckily," I answered, with a light laugh.

"Are you soaked?"

"To the bone," I agreed, running my fingers through my wet hair.

"Alright, well I'm going to make it a run for it I guess. Wish me luck."

"Luck!"

She laughed before the line clicked dead.

As I rounded the corner, my car made a clunking noise, and then slowed to a stop.

"What the hell?" I demanded, my eyes widening.

I know absolutely nothing about cars.

I turned off my car and tried restarting it, but it wouldn't start.

Any time I ever had car troubles, I would always just call Emmett. He knew everything and anything there was to know.

But he was avoiding me like the plague.

I pressed my forehead to my steering wheel, letting out a frustrated groan.

Why me?

And then I called the shop that Emmett worked at, hoping to get the owner.

"Mike's Auto Body Shop," Mike answered.

"It's Emily," I informed him.

"Hey Emily! What can I do for you?"

"My car just died on Ingraham."

"We'll get someone out there right away for ya."

"Thanks Mike."

"Sure thing."

I leaned back in my seat with a sigh, knowing it would take some time before they got someone here in this weather.

Two people drove the tow trucks, Kade and Emmett. And I was desperately hoping that Emmett was busy and they'd send Kade out for me.

I really didn't want the awkward ride to Mike's Shop with Emmett.

About half an hour later, a bright red tow truck came sloshing up in the rain.

I sighed, stepping out of my car to greet whoever it was, and stepping into the pouring rain in the process.

And then Emmett stepped out of the tow truck, and I thought my heart was going to drop to my feet.

For a moment we both stared at each other.

And then Emmett opened up his arms and I fell into them, accepting his hug wordlessly.

"I'm sorry," Emmett yelled over the rain. "I was an asshole."

"No I'm sorry!" I yelled back. "You trusted me and I broke it, again."

"You didn't deserve that," Emmett shouted, shaking his head. "I acted selfishly."

"So did I."

"Let's get your car onto the tow truck and then we can talk about this somewhere dry!"

I nodded in agreement and stepped back, letting him do his job.

Once my car was loaded up, we both climbed into the tow truck, soaking wet.

"It wasn't fair for me to treat you like that," Emmett said, returning to our conversation.

"Emmett, I under-"

"Hear me out," Emmett said, turning to face me. "Until the end, okay?"

Where had I heard those words before?

I nodded in agreement, my stomach churning nervously.

"Remember when I told you that my Jacksonville testing turned out fine?"

I nodded again.

"I lied."

And now I felt the anger that Emmett must've felt when I told him about my relapse.

"What do you mean you lied?" I growled.

"My lung function drastically decreased from the last round of tests," he recited, as though he was reading it off of a paper or repeating it from a doctor. "And I was prescribed a bunch of new medications, a new inhaler, and a fucking nebulizer."

I sat in silence, stunned to hear this.

"And I was told that I had to discontinue playing soccer."

And that's where the rumor came from, the one Leslie told me about.

"But I talked with my doctor, and we did some calculations and additional testing, and it was decided that I didn't have to discontinue playing all-together, I just had to restrict myself."

"And you didn't tell me."

"No," he agreed, shaking his head. "I didn't tell you any of it because I wanted to protect you."

"I don't need to be protected Emmett."

"I know," he agreed. "Well, kind of. We'll get back to that. Anyways, the point is that I didn't tell you that. And then I got mad at you for relapsing and keeping it a secret from me, which was hypocritical."

Silence filled the tow truck.

"So what are your restrictions?" I asked, looking over at him again.

"Shortened practices, more hits from my inhaler, and then use from the nebulizer."

"I didn't even know you had a nebulizer."

"I know," he agreed.

I shook my head, angry that he kept this from me. But I couldn't be too angry, because I'd kept something from him as well.

"So let's start with a clean slate," Emmett suggested, after a few more minutes of silence. "From here on out we only tell each other the truth."

"Agreed," I said, with a nod.

"Alright," he said, starting up the tow truck. "Let's go see what you did to your car this time."

*************************************************************************************************************

So what did you guys think about Emmett's reaction? Do you think he overreacted or reacted accordingly? What about Emmett's confession about his asthma? Were you surprised?

The picture up at the tip top was submitted by K_Horan_Hemmo. What do you guys think?

Send me covers & banners! [email protected]

So my mini-summer vacation is over guys. Sad news. My summer classes start today, which sucks. I have one 6-week class & one 12-week class.

Teaser: Emily's parents come back into town, and they have a few new rules for Emily.

Update: Thursday