Emmalee (22 page)

           
Hannah shook her head and stood up.  “Let me get this
straight, you think Ethan Franklin—the San Juan County four
wheeling champion—and
me
would be good together?”

“Yep!”  

           
“Holy cow,” Hannah grumbled as she lowered herself back
down to my favorite overstuffed chair.  This is gonna be a long
weekend.”

           
I laughed.  “Smile Hannah, this is going to be an amazing
weekend!”

Chapter 21

Hello, I'm a thief, and I'm here to
steal your heart.

           
Okay, so more like an uneventful weekend.  Apart from going to
church —which was more fun than I thought it was, now that
Hannah and I were friends and we sat together—that was all we
did.  Went to church.  Ate dinner.  Played with my
puppy.  And then Hannah went home.  See?  Very
uneventful. 

           
By the time school started back up on Monday I had heard Ethan had
already headed back to college.  So much for matchmaking this
time, I guess we’ll have to wait until Christmas. 

           
Christmas!  It’s all anyone could think about.  That
word was everywhere.  There were so many plans being made and so
many parties and ideas and well, everyone was getting in the spirit. 
My house was just as Christmas tizzied as any—except more so,
because Mom had started her frenzied planning for her ball.  The
invites had gone out before Thanksgiving.  And now it was just
down to the caterers, decorators, musicians and Mom micromanaging the
whole thing with an iron fist.  Yep.  The perfectionist
Austenite had come out again. 

           
School was… well school.  About halfway through December
I realized I had a massive case of senioritis.  Not good. 
The only good thing about senior year was Hannah.  Thank
goodness I had her as my BFF.  Seriously, she kept me laughing
and plowing through the subjects.  Not too mention, her
wonderful study habits totally kept me from bombing classes. 
But, there were definitely days when I wished America enforced the
British school system. 
You know, they graduate at sixteen? 
And then they start college right after that.  Like how much
better would life be to already be graduated?
 

Sometimes I felt so old, surrounded
by all these younger, perky, happy, teenagers still excited to be in
high school. 
Ugh.  What would I give to be out of this
place and in college already?
 

           
“Hey, you!” Hannah chuckled as she tossed a chip in my
direction.  “What is up with you?  You’re
daydreaming again.”

           
“No.  I wish.” 
At least a daydream would
be something productive.  Anything’s better than moping.

           
“Come on!” She tugged the sleeve of my coat from across
the table.  “I thought for sure you’d be all about
getting a new dress for your mom’s ball.  Besides, my dad
and mom have been totally cool about it and are letting me get my
prom dress early so I can wear it there too.  So snap out of it
already!  We’ve got shopping to do!”

           
Snap out of it.
  “Okay, you’re right. 
I’m smiling.”  I smiled.

           
“Good!  Now finish your lunch and let’s go. 
This place is packed as it is, we’ll never be able to find
anything if we don’t hurry.”

           
I looked around the food court and then back down at my turkey and
Swiss sub sandwich.  Hannah had already finished hers and was
now eating the last of her chips. 
Yikes!
  “Gimme
a couple of secs, okay?”

           
“Fine.  But hurry.”

           
“Where do you wanna go first?” I asked around a mouthful.

           
“Duh!  Debs.  Where else?”

           
I nodded and swallowed. 
Debs, what was I thinking?  Of
course she’d wanna go there first. 
Their clothes
weren’t high end or anything, but way uber cute.  And
definitely affordable.  It was one of the places Hannah took me
to when we did the makeover day.  She got a load of stuff from
there.

“Hey, Em!  What are you
two doing here?”

           
Surprised to hear Chase’s voice behind me, I nearly choked on
another bite of my sub.  Hannah answered for me.

           
“We’re shopping for the ball.  What are you guys
doin?”

           
Guys?
  I quickly turned around and found Georgia
grinning happily down from her perch on Chase’s shoulders. 
I chewed a couple more bites and swallowed asGeorgia chattered,

           
“We’re goin’ Chris-miss shoppin’!  An’
Chase is gonna let me sit on Santa’s lap an’ ev’rything. 
It’s gonna be soo cool.”

           
   “Wow.”  I swallowed and stood up so I
could see her better.  “And what do you want for
Christmas?”

           
“That’s easy.  I want a Kit-tar.  I real one
with a mike-a-phone!”

           
“Uh, Kit-tar?” I looked to Chase for translation.

           
“Guitar.” He chuckled.  “Who knew?  We
all figured she’d want a doll or something.”

           
Hannah laughed. “Instead Georgia’s gonna be a rock star? 
That’s awesome!” She chuckled and stood picking up her
trash.

           
I quickly took another bite of my sandwich and swept up my leftovers
to toss in the trash too.  “Hey,Georgia, you want the rest
of my chips?” I asked with my mouth full as I wiggled the bag
in front of me.

           
“Yes! Yes! Yes!”  She giggled.  “Cheesy
kind is my favorite!”

           
“That’s it.” Chase chuckled as he swooped her off
his shoulders in one smooth motion.  “If you’re
gonna eat cheesy chips, you’re not doing it near my head.”

           
Hannah and I both laughed as I passed the bag over to her greedy
little hands.  “Come on Chase,” I teased, “Where’s
your sense of adventure?”

           
“Yeah, you never know, orange could be a good color for you,”
Hannah threw in.

           
Chase nodded his head grinning.  “True, true.  Why
didn’t I think of that before?”

           
“Hurry, Chase!” Georgia tugged on his hand.  “I’m
staw-ving!  We have to eat first so we can see Santa ‘member?”

           
“Oh, yep.  Santa.  If you’ll excuse me, I’ve
got a demanding date.”

           
“If we’re on a date, then I want choc’late!”
Greorgia beamed up at him.

           
“See what I mean?  Bye.” Chase chuckled again as he
was dragged off to stand in Chinese food line.

           
“Cheesy chips and Chinese food?  Hmm... that’s a
combo I think I’d rather pass on.”  Hannah made a
face.  “So are ya ready yet?”

           
“Yes.  Coming.”  I walked over and tossed my
trash in the bin.  “Sheez, you’re as bad as
Georgia!”

“I’ll be nice if you
give me chocolate too!” Hannah smirked.  

           
“Deal,” I muttered.

           
So, we were lucky, it only took three hours to make it out of the
mall.  I have to admit, two and a half of those hours were
wasted by me. 
Ugh!
  I wasn’t thrilled with
my dress, but all in all it wasn’t bad, just not as flattering
as I’d hoped.  I was almost tempted just to wear one of
the ones I already had, but—as always—the sparkle spoke
to me.  What girl doesn’t love a new sparkly holiday
gown?  And this one was especially pretty.  It was a
fabulous flamboyant red and worked perfectly with Hannah’s
sensational silver one.  Really, when it came down to it, the
two looked so cute together, that I couldn’t resist wearing it,
just so me and Hannah could make a statement as we entered the
ballroom together. 

           
And statement we did!  Two and a half weeks later as we walked
under my mom’s lit arch and into the canopied ballroom of the
Farmington Civic Center, we both burst into giggles at the reaction
we caused. –If the gasps of the crowd were anything to go by,
Hannah and Emma had seriously broken some major hearts. 
Eeeh! 
Tonight is gonna be awesome!
 

           
Everyone who was anyone was there.  And they all looked
amazing! 

           
Mom had one rule, and that was if you weren’t married you had
to come single.  She wanted everyone to dance like they did back
in Jane’s time and to mix and mingle.  So even though
Chloe and Taylor and Carson and Madison were items, they weren’t
tonight.  We were all on equal footing. 

           
“Hey!  You two look so good!” squealed Chloe as she
skidded up to us in her high heels and form fitting dress.

           
“So do you!  Check you out!” I exclaimed taking in
her complete outfit.

           
“You look so posh daw-ling with your hair up like that!”
Hannah laughing sprang one loose curl of Chloe’s.  “I
would give anything to have my hair do this.”

           
“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

           
“So when did you guys get back fromArizona?” I asked.

           
“Taylor and I drove up yesterday.  School doesn’t
start for me until the middle of January, Taylor’s starts a few
days after mine, so we’re here again for the rest of the
Holidays.”

           
“Cool!” Hannah and I both cheered together and then
laughed.

           
“Yeah, I’m pretty excited.” Chloe positively
glowed.  “I just love being around my family during
Christmas.  My sisters are so much fun!”

           
I decided to keep my opinion of her family to myself.  Instead,
I settled with sharing a glance with Hannah and then I asked, “So
any news about Ethan?  Is he coming tonight?”

           
“Ethan?  Yeah.” Chloe chuckled as Hannah rolled her
eyes behind her.  “He’s been over at my house today
helping my dad decorate every square inch of the roof with Christmas
lights.  He’s bringing Cassidy and Claire over later.”

           
“Claire’s coming too?” I tried to keep the surprise
out of my voice.

           
“Yeah.  Didn’t you know?  Your mom’s so
sweet she even invited Claire this year.  She’s wearing
one of Cass’s old dresses, but don’t tell her I told
you.  She’s been so excited all day; it’s all I’ve
heard about.”

I’ll bet. 

           
“Excuse me ladies, but I’m coming to steal Chloe away,”
Taylor’s smooth voice startled us all.  “They’re
getting ready to play our song.”

           
“Hey!” I laughed as he began to tug Chloe’s hand. 
“Just remember you’re single tonight.  I want a
dance too.”

           
“Yeah, yeah.  You can be next,” he half-heartedly
agreed, while his eyes remained focused on Chloe.

           
Maybe he doesn’t like Cassidy.

           
“Man, theAnderson guys are totally hot,” gasped Hannah.

           
“Aren’t they?” I grinned up at her flustered
countenance.  “There’s something to say about that
Anderson charm.  I know, believe me.  It’s been tough
living next door to them all these years.”

           
“Yeah, so tough.” She nudged me with her elbow.  “I
bet it was the hardest thing ever having to stare at those blue eyes
every day.”

           
“Whose blue eyes?”

           
Hannah and I both spun around to see a smug Chase grinning boyishly
at us. 

           
The punk.  He heard every word we’d said.
  I
was the first to recover.  “We were talking about your
little brother and sister, if you must know.”

           
“Yep.  Figures.”  He nodded his head and looked
down his tux to his flawless designer shoes.  “Georgia’s
got the looks and Taylor all the charm.  Doesn’t leave
much for me, does it?”  The look he gave as he impishly
peeked back up at me, nearly took my breath away. 
Oh my
gosh!  Chase Anderson is totally hot!
  I felt like
someone had just punched me in gut—full force.  I mean, my
jaw dropped and everything.  I don’t know what he saw in
my face, but whatever it was it made his gorgeous eyes glitter in
response.  Slowly, Chase raised his chin and walked toward me
until he was standing about two feet away. 

           
Twenty-four inches.
  I had never felt so close to
someone and so far from someone before in my life. 
What is
happening to me?  Breathe.
  I gulped in a huge chunk
of air and my lungs welcomed it.  Slowly my mouth began to pull
itself together to raise into a flirtatious grin.  Just when I
was about to make the biggest fool of myself, thankfully, Hannah
saved me.

           
“Well, I don’t know about Emma, but I’m thinking
that tuxedo suits you.”

           
“Really?” Chase asked, his eyes devouring mine.

           
“Yeah, you look good.  Really.” Hannah exclaimed.

           
Finally Chase wrenched his gaze away and released me.  “Thanks.”
He smiled vaguely at Hannah.

           
I took another huge breath and willed my hands to stop shaking. 
For crying out loud, why am I acting like such an idiot? 
It’s Chase for Pete’s sake.  What is wrong with me?

           
“So why aren’t you dancing?” asked Hannah archly.  

           
“Um?”  Chase glanced briefly at me and then scanned
the large crowd on the ballroom floor, before he sheepishly grinned
at Hannah again.  “Actually, I don’t dance. 
I’ve never been good at it.  Seriously.  I didn’t
even go to prom.  But hey, I can have Taylor ask you.  He
likes to dance.”

“Oh.”  She looked
disappointed and I could tell Chase felt a little guilty.

           
“Emma?”

           
Carson was at my elbow.  “Madison’s dancing with my
lil’ brother.  Are you dancing with anyone right now?”

           
“Me?  N-no.” I looked back over at Hannah and saw
her smile happily for me.  “Are you okay, Hannah?” 
I really didn’t want to leave her without a dance partner. 
And then it happened.  Like some horrible scene from a
nightmare.  Elton and his girlfriend Ashley, walked right behind
us in the middle of a group of people.  They were all laughing
and talking about something, none of us paid much attention until
Ashley squealed loud enough to be heard by us all,