I Can Feel No Pain

Emily didn’t go to the gym often. She had dance to keep herself in shape and she was uncomfortable being around those huge gym-addicted guys. But lately, Barkis has been....more assertive....and Emily didn’t like being completely helpless. She didn’t really want to explain to anyone why she wanted self-defense classes, but she didn’t want to just let herself stay wimpy from the waist up.

So she had to take action. 

As she made her way into the gym, she stopped. Near the weights was this guy who was so...perfect?? Emily was speechless. She didn’t normally just ogle guys like this but he was stunning. She felt a little inferior for even going near him to do her own weight lifting. As she limped her way over, she tripped over her own feet, falling right next to the guy with an oomph. “Get it together Emily....” she mumbled.

It had been what felt like months ago, but Emily was still embarrassed. The last time she had spoken to Hayden, she was a drunken mess, and she might have said some things that she shouldn’t of. She wasn’t very sure, since she hardly remembered anything after bolting from his apartment with Donny the next day. She had been skillfully avoiding him ever since and she was getting so good at it that she was almost disappointed in herself. She knew how rude she looked and she figured she had spent enough time hiding.

She needed to apologize.

She wasn’t even sure if Donny was there too or if Hayden was busy when she approached the room they shared. She figured she could utter a quick and quiet apology and leave Hayden to his work or whatever it was he did. But as she started to knock she felt a lump in her throat. She was really so scared of Barkis that she avoided someone who was sweet to her. Emily didn’t deserve Hayden’s forgiveness. He was so kind and made sure Emily wasn’t hurt; she could remember that much. And as she waited for him to maybe answer the door, she felt herself get worked up as each second passed. She was probably going to be sobbing by the time he actually answered at this rate.

 Donny gave her a look. “Well, currently, you’re the only girl who can stand me all the time, so…I think I’m making the right choice asking you.” After all, if he went to ask Daisy, he would probably get smacked. Just in general. And so far, Emily hadn’t smacked him or yelled at him in Spanish, so she was winning. “Yep! I think they mostly just get around me off compound, so.”

“Thank you?” She thought that was a compliment. Donny had a weird way of doing that sometimes. “Well, if you really think I should wear it, I’ll give it a shot. As long as you promise to be my swing partner again.” She laughed lightly. “That stinks. But if you ever need to sneak away, let me know. I found this really cool hiding place around the compound.”

 “Well, if you don’t have any ideas, I’m going as a World War II Navy officer, I can hook you up with a dress from the time if you don’t mind matching,” he offered. After all, if he could find his grandpa’s uniform, he could find a decent looking dress of his grandma’s. “Mostly not deal with them as much, I still get them around.”

Emily turned away to hide her blush. He was just so sweet to her, she didn’t know how to feel about it most of the time! “You don’t have to do that! You should save it for someone you want to match with you.” She was sure that was a couple thing, for the most part. Well, she figured friends could do that too she just didn’t really see it as much. “Well, at least you get somewhat of a break. I don’t see them right now.”

 Donny chuckled quietly. The powers of perception he got thanks to the triplets was astounding. “Aw, well, nothing wrong with that! I’ve had my outfit planned out since basically last Halloween.” OF course, he wasn’t super big on making everything scary, but he believed in having a costume ready. “Good! And I’m alright. Not much has been happening.”

“Oh really? I don’t know if I’m going to dress up...I haven’t even thought of it this year...” How strange. She used to love Halloween. “Not much? That’s good, right? Since you were here to lie-low. Or to be away from the cameras...Or to not deal with them as much? Which one is it?”

 Donny grinned lazily at Emily, glad to find that it was a face that wasn’t annoying. “If I didn’t know better, I would think ‘hello’ meant you sneaking up on me,” he joked. “Are you already getting into the Halloween spirit?” Sure, he was teasing, but he really was glad to see her, especially after his run in with Barkis at the Faire. “Yeah, been a bit. You doing okay?”

She hid her face in her hands. She was so obvious and she couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. But he set her up so that she could play it off and so she moved her hands and nodded her head. “I guess I am. Even though I wasn’t going to go big this year.” She gave him a small smile. “Yeah, I’m doing great! Are you doing okay?”

Emily had waited a few days to say anything. It had been bugging her for a bit, but she wasn’t sure in which way. James brought a girl home and from the sounds of it they had....quite the time. Emily wasn’t one to purposefully be a downer or try to lay stupid ground rules, but she was a little unnerved by the whole thing. If anything, she wished James would have gave her a heads up. She would have went somewhere else instead of stayed awake through the whole thing. She was sitting on their couch, waiting for him to get inside. She tapped her fingers nervously against the couch arm and when he did walk in she sat up real fast. “J-James! How’s it going? How are you? How’s your lady fr-I mean, it’s been a while since we properly had a chat.”

The girl who approached her had a soft voice, as if she was doing her best not to startle her too much. Belle, however, had seen her coming up to her from over her book - with her glasses on her nose, Emily had been easy to spot. They hadn’t talked too much, but Belle had noticed her hanging around the weird Scottish man and Hayden a few times, so she’d deemed her good company. Plus, she’d put up with Belle’s strange and exhausted texts that one time, which definitely gave her some credit with the bookworm, even though she hadn’t seen her much in the library. “Oh, yes. It’s all just so… invigorating, you know? Have you read it?” As usual when she was excited about something, she didn’t wait for an answer. “I’m at the part where the handkerchief is placed in Cassio’s room.”

Emily nodded her head. She read it a few years ago, but she didn’t remember everything as fondly as she wished she did. Still, she liked seeing Belle’s enthusiasm, and would rather hear her talk about the book to her, then try to sound smarter than she was. She at least knew what part she was talking about enough to not look away completely embarrassed. “It only grows more interesting from there. How many times have you read it? Out of my sheer curiosity. It seems like you have the book memorized.”