The Tribuo - 40. Part IV, chapter 12

- XII -

TARA

It's been an hour or so since I left Emma’s apartment, but it started raining again and I decided to go back. If her father was still there, I’d just smoke on the balcony until he left. Seth looked somewhat strange when he wished me a good night, but I just pushed it out of my head. Whatever it was, he’d tell me sooner or later.

I parked my car and climbed out. It was raining pretty badly by now. I locked the car and ran towards the apartment building.

“Tara!” I heard and when I saw him, I almost slipped in the puddle of water.

It was Emma’s father.

“Sorry,” he breathed when he got closer. “Do you have a minute?”

“Sure,” I frowned. He was going to start pestering me about the whole 'partners' thing, I was sure of that.

“Listen,” he said, and winced when the rain decided to get worse.

I tried pulling my head into my shoulders.

“Wanna go inside?” I asked and he shook his head. “Or we could get into my car?”

This time he nodded. We ran back to my car and got in. Great, I thought gloomily. Now my seats are going to be wet. I brushed my hair off my face and looked at him.

“What is it?” I knew I sounded tight. I was planning on it.

“Listen,” he said slowly. “The conversation between Emma and me didn’t go so well. I was planning on telling her something, but I never got the chance, and I don’t think I ever will.”

Okay, that wasn’t quite what I expected. He looked at his hands.

“I don’t think she’ll ever talk to me again…”

“Oh, I am sure she will,” I said slowly. “Just give her time…”

He grinned suddenly.

“I’d love to… Her mother and I…” he sighed. “I know I shouldn’t talk to you about this, but I am going to anyway. I just realized that Emma never knew anything about… Well…” he shrugged. “Anything. I never cheated on her mother… But that’s what she thinks. I filed for divorce because I couldn’t be around all the insanity anymore. I tried getting Emma away from her, but I couldn’t… The whole 'Child should stay with her mother' thing… And I just now realized that she never even received my letters…”

“Listen,” I interrupted him. “Give her time, come back, and talk to her again; I am sure…”

“I can’t,” he looked at me finally. “Tara, I have brain cancer. I have maybe a month left.”

I just stared at him. What do you say to something like that?

“I know,” he nodded. “I look fine now, but I am going to look like hell in a couple of weeks or so… I don’t want Emma to see me when I look like that. She seems to be happy with you, so…”

I blinked at that. He took a deep breath.

“If you ever get a chance, will you please tell her that I…”

“Yeah,” I said softly, and he smiled at me.

“Thanks. I’m gonna go now… Tara, thank you for…”

“Yeah,” I said again, and he briefly squeezed my fingers before getting out of my car and disappearing in the rain.

...I rang the doorbell and Emma opened the door almost immediately. She winced when she saw how soaked I was.

“God,” she said with a small smile. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I shook my head, trying to get rainwater out of my hair. “Your dad…”

“He left,” she interrupted me somewhat sharply. “I am sorry, but I really don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Okay,” I said and kicked off my shoes.

She went away and came back a minute later with a towel.

“Here,” she handed it to me. “Come on, I’ll make coffee.”

“Thanks,” I muttered and followed her into the kitchen.

EMMA

I filled the kettle with water and turned on the stove. Tara was standing by the table, trying to dry her hair with the towel. Water was dripping all over the floor, but I didn’t care. It’s just water, it’ll dry. Finally, she threw the towel on the chair and sighed.

“I better go change,” she said, and I grabbed the towel.

“You missed a spot,” I said and carefully dabbed her temple with the towel.

She laughed.

“A spot? I am dripping water everywhere… I am one big spot…”

I laughed weakly, and then suddenly, I remembered her kiss, and without even thinking, I leaned in and pressed my mouth against hers. Her lips were so warm and soft that I closed my eyes and shivered. She just stood there without even moving, and then I dared tracing her lip with my tongue. She immediately tensed up and pulled away.

“Emma…” she muttered. “God, I’m sorry… I know I gave you the wrong idea… Oh, Jesus, I am sorry! I was… God, Emma… I am…”

I wanted to tell her to stop talking, to stop humiliating me already, to shut the hell up… But I couldn’t move or speak. She became really quiet, and when I heard the front door closing, I didn’t even have to open my eyes. I knew that she left.

TARA

I went outside and couldn't care less about the rain. Good God, what the hell is wrong with me?! I am the stupidest person who ever lived. What was I thinking?! I stood on the front steps of the building, trying to figure out what to do, when someone hugged my shoulders. I jumped and turned around.

“Come on,” he sighed. “It’s raining.”

He didn’t have his sunglasses on this time.

“What are you doing here?” I asked gloomily.

“Waiting for you,” he said. “After you told me that you kissed her, I figured it was only a question of time before shit hit the fan.”

“What? Why… I… What?!”

He shrugged.

“You are a bad influence on straight people,” he said, and I followed him without saying anything else.

...An hour or so later, I was finally wearing dry clothes, and my hair stopped dripping water everywhere.

“I made everything worse, didn't I?” I asked dully.

“Probably,” he said. “But maybe not. Who knows.”

“God, Seth… What the hell was I thinking?! I mean, she told me plain and clear that she never even kissed anyone in her entire life, and there I was… Doing that shit for her father’s sake… And then he tells me that he is freaking dying… And then she… Oh, God…”

I buried my face in my palms.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked finally.

“What was the point?” he said. “I had no idea about her father, and how the hell was I supposed to know that you were going to kiss her? I figured, what’s done is done… I sort of hoped that maybe it would just resolve on its own without any drama… I should’ve known better,” he added with a smirk. “I mean, whenever you are around, there is always drama.”

“Ugh,” was all I said to that.

“Well,” he sighed. “You did change the chain of events. I really thought that you’ve succeeded until…”

“Ugh,” I said again. “When is the deadline again?”

“Sunday at six-forty-two,” he said. “But I don’t think it’ll happen. First of all, that guy never slept with her, which means he is not going to dump her…”

“And second of all?” I finally put my hands down and looked at him.

“Second of all,” he continued. “There is no reason for her to even see him on Sunday. To be honest, I don’t think she will ever see him again.”

“To be honest?” I snorted. “Aren’t you always?”

“Figure of speech,” he replied solemnly. “Are you going to go back there?”

“Not tonight,” I shook my head immediately.

“Tomorrow?”

“I don’t know… Seth, I am tired. I am going to bed, I’ll think about it later…”

“Good night,” he said absent-mindedly.

“Night,” I muttered and walked away.