Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

Chapter 83: Home Alone 

EMMA’s POV :

----- One Month Later - --- -

I woke up this morning to an alarming text from lan.

lan: Emergency.

Ally’s in the hospital.

Call me ASAP.

I jolted from the bed and quickly called his phone.It rang for a few times before he finally picked up.

"Hey? What’s going on?"I said to the phone.

"It's bad,"he sighed.

"I found her lying unconscious in her apartment last night.I had to bring her to the hospital to get her stomach pumped.She was mixing alcohol and prescription drugs,"

"Oh, no..."I breathed.

"How’s she doing now?"

"She's okay now that they've pumped her insides.But she’s not doing well at all.I'm worried about her,"

"Have you called her parents...or Richard?"

"She explicitly told me not to,"

"So, what can you do?"

"Nothing...I just have to stay with her and make sure she doesn't do anything else stupid,"he scoffed.

"Oh..."

"Yeah..."

Okay, I don’t wanna be a petty bitch, but come on! I know Ally’s going through some hard time, but does she really have to keep doing this to my fiancée? When is this gonna end? It keeps going on and on! Whoa, now.

Slow down there, Emma.

A girl was fighting for her life in the hospital and all I could think about was my relationship.

Those were some very selfish thoughts.

I ended up scolded myself internally for being such an immature brat.

"So, I guess...there’s gonna be a slight change of plans for Christmas?"

I said to him cautiously.

"Yeah, that's also what I wanna talk to you about..."his tone was cautious too.

lan and I had a special rendezvous all planned out for this Christmas.

There was this amazing Van Gogh exhibition at the Met, which was lan’s favorite artist of all time, so I got us tickets for it as his Christmas present.

This year for Christmas, we wanted to give each other the gift of ‘ experiences’ instead of material things.

The Van Gogh exhibition would have been an amazing one full day experience where we could be transported to Paris in the 1880s.

What could be more romantic than that? lan, on the other hand, had booked us the suite room at the Plaza Hotel.

He knew that I grew up watching Home Alone 2 for Christmas, so he wanted to give me the ' Kevin’ package.

We were gonna ride around in a limousine and eat pizza before spending a romantic night together at the hotel suite.

But with just one phone call, all those plans were swirling down the toilet.

"Well, I can always auction off the tickets,"

I sighed as I grabbed the tickets in my hand.

Such a sad reminder of how epic our Christmas would have been.

"Would you mind? I know I’ve done this so many times already..."

"If that’s what you wanna do, it's fine.I understand,"

I tried to sound as casual as possible, hiding away my bitter disappointment.

"But you should still come to New York.We can spend some time together? A night at the Plaza?"

"You think so?"

"Yeah, absolutely.I mean, you still wanna come see me, right?"

"Of course I do,"

"Great.I'll see you this weekend, then?"

"Yeah,"

"I love you, baby girl.Thank you for being so understanding,"

"Sure..."

As soon as I ended the call, I let out the biggest dramatic sigh ever.

I threw my phone angrily on the bed and walked outside.

Sophie and Tristan were in the living room, Sophie was eating cereal and watching TV, while Tristan was typing on his laptop.

Probably working on the school newspaper.

"Good morning, Emmie.Cereal?"

Sophie beamed cheerfully.

"Ugh, hmm,"

I groaned incoherently and staggered towards the kitchen.

"Uh-oh.That doesn’t look good,"

Sophie said to Tristan.

He looked up from his laptop screen and watched me intently.

"What's up with you? Is it that time of the month already?"

He tried to crack a joke, but I wasn't amused.

"So, I just talked to lan on the phone," I said with another dramatic sigh. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Sophie and Tristan exchanged a look.

Sophie then turned to me and asked, "Wait, let me guess, he bailed on you again?"

"We were supposed to go to a Van Gogh Exhibition.

He even got us a room at the Plaza because I said I wanted to be like Kevin from Home Alone,"

"Aw, that was sweet,"

Sophie pouted.

"So what happened? He has to work again?"

Tristan asked.

"No, he’s got this friend..."

"That girl Ally?"

Sophie narrowed her eyebrows.

"Yup,"

"Ugh, hate her! I don’t even like her name, Ally.Alley.Ew, no,"

Sophie pretended to gag, causing me to laugh a little.

I told them about Ally before.

She was always the thorn on my side.

For a time, I was convinced that she was out to ruin my relationship with lan.

Sophie had the same idea, but Tristan brought up an interesting point.

"What if she really is sick and Ian’s just trying to be a good friend for her? She did help him start the gallery, which is Ian’s dream.He might feel indebted to her in some way,"

Tristan was the more logical and mature out of all of us.

I decided I should listen to him.

Plus, being petty wasn't gonna get me anywhere.

"Whatever, enough is enough.I’m not gonna let this ruin my Christmas," I said, full of resolution as I sipped a gulp of strong coffee.

"What's your game plan?" Sophie asked.

"I'm just gonna go out there and be the supportive girlfriend that I am," I said simply.

If Ally’s important for lan, then she’s important to me too.

If lan's gonna have to spend Christmas taking care of her, I'll be right there with him.

"Good for you, Emmie.That's a very mature answer,"

Sophie rolled her eyes sarcastically.She knew I was trying too hard.Okay, confession time: lan and I were eight years apart, I was secretly always insecure about that.

Sometimes I wondered if he thought I was a kid.

So I tended to overcompensate and act mature, even though on the inside I was petty and jealous.

"Enough about me.What are you guys’ plans for Christmas?"

I slumped down on the couch next to them, eager to change the subject.The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I got.

"I'm bringing Micah to New Jersey to meet my parents," Sophie said and she did a little dance.

"That's a big step,"

"Yeah.Mom and dad are dying to meet him,"

"What about you?" I said to Tristan.

"I'm just staying here. I got some work to do for the newspaper,"

His eyes were glued to that laptop screen.

"Working through Christmas? Really?" I asked.

"I happen to be enjoying it,"

"I, you need to get yourself a girlfriend.Your life is so sad, I'm depressed just hearing it,"

Sophie commented.

"Shut up, my life’s not that bad," He shushed her.

He then looked up at me and said, "Plus, I already have a girl,"

"Not me, a real girlfriend,"

I rolled my eyes at him and he laughed.

"I'm off girls for now.Too much drama.I'd rather focus on school, actually make something of myself, you know what I mean?"he said.

"Or you can do both?"Sophie interjected.

"Nah, I'm good,"he shrugged.

"And you know what they say, more honey more problems.I like my life right now.It’s chill,"

I could agree with that.

I would be lying if I say I never thought about being single.

Don’t get me wrong, I love being in a relationship with lan.

But sometimes I did think that being single has its selling points.

Take Tiff for example, she could travel the world without having to worry about a boyfriend at home or long distance relationships.

And Tristan here could focus on school and his future career without any soap opera drama.

"Well, if you're happy, we're happy for you too, "I said to Tristan, "And hey, if you get bored, you can always take the train to the city?"

"And disturb your precious time with your boyfriend? No, but thanks for the offer though," he grinned.

Of course, what was I thinking? Tristan would definitely rather stay here than be a third-wheel with me and lan.

I felt like a third-wheel.I was the one that insisted to go with lan to the hospital.

Ian was there every day, so if I wanted more time with him, I had to be there with him.

But it was just so weird.

I felt like I was third-wheeling on Ian and Ally’s time.

He was so doting on her.

He would bring her lunch every day and feed her when she didn't feel like eating.

They always had these inside jokes that I didn’t know about, and they would laugh about things as I sat there, scratching my head.

Finally, after three days of that, I gave up.

I let Ian go to the hospital by himself and I stayed in his apartment, watching Home Alone, being ironically home alone.

It was the day before New Year's Eve and our suite reservation was for tomorrow.

It was supposed to be the most romantic thing ever, ringing in the New Year together in such a beautiful place...doing...beautiful things with each other.

But after what I’ve witnessed the past three days, the romance bone in me had disappeared.

I should be shaving my legs or picking out a sexy outfit for tomorrow, but I couldn't care less.

I spent the night watching TV and eating Cheetos and a tub of ice cream with a fork.

Yeah, you heard that right.A fork.

I didn’t even care for the right utensils any more.

I was in the middle of mindlessly watching my show when suddenly I heard the front door flew open.

I whipped my head around and saw lan standing there.

He shoved away the snowflakes that gathered on his shoulders and hair.

Smiling brightly at me, he said, "Hey,"

"Hey — You're here? I thought you're gonna be at the hospital,"

I scrambled to get the cheese flakes out of my hand.

My hair was a mess and my face was covered with ice cream stains.

Man, I must look so lady-like right now.

"Il came back early because I miss you,"

Putting his coat away, he strode over and bent down to my level, placing a soft kiss on my cheek.

I knew I looked a mess, but he still looked at me as if I was the most beautiful girl in the world.

I didn't know what was happening, but tears began to pool around my face.

"Baby girl, what’s going on?"

he said as he studied my face, "Why are you crying?"

Wiping the tears away, I looked up at him and asked, "lan, are we okay?"

"Of course, we are.What kind of a question is that?"he scoffed.

"I wanna be mature about things...but I can't..."

I said in between sobs.

Every time I wanted to appear strong, these stupid tears always got in the way.

"Mature...about what?"

he asked softly, he reached for my face and wiped the falling tears away.

"I feel like you're slipping away..."I admitted.

"What are you talking about?"

"Please don’t slip away from me,"

I buried my face into his chest and my arms linked around his body.

He was taken aback for a moment, but once he got his composure, he hugged me back and said, "Baby girl, I'm right here.I'm not going anywhere,"

I hugged him tighter as his hand began stroking my hair.

When I couldn't stop crying, he waited patiently and peppered the top of my head with kisses.

When my sobs finally died down, he peeled me away slightly and tilted my face up so I could see him.

His tired eyes were warm as he said, "I don’t know whatever it is that’s going on inside that pretty little head of yours, but you have nothing to worry about.I’m here and I’m not going anywhere, you hear me?"

I nodded meekly at his words.

His fingers were running circles around my cheek soothingly, his thumb slightly grazing my lips.

"I know it’s tough, doing long distance and I’m always busy with work and this thing with Ally is not helping either.But listen, this is just a season of our lives.This too will pass.We finally got a stable investor so the gallery's gonna open next year, for sure.Ally’s gonna recover and in time she’s gonna be the person she used to be.And as for us...we still have our whole lives ahead of us,"

His piercing gaze darted from my eyes to my lips, and then back to my eyes again.

"Once you're done with school, I'm gonna marry you, Emma Sinclair.I wanna go to sleep and wake up next to you every day of my life.I wanna build a family with you.I want you to be the mother of my kids...I want three kids, by the way,"he stifled a laugh.

"You've thought about kids?"I gasped.

The last time that almost happened… it didn’t go well.

We never talked about kids again after that, even as a joke.

I was convinced that he never wanted them at all.

"I never cared much about kids, but I cared about having your kids.If it's a boy I wanna name him William, Ella if it’s a girl,"he smiled proudly.

He even thought of names? An image of lan and I and future kids popped into my head and I couldn't stop the smile that was forming on my lips.

"lan...There’s nothing else I want more in this world,"I admitted.

"But?"he asked.

"But I just feel so hopeless sometimes.Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever get there..."

He let out a sigh and gripped the side of my face tighter, saying, "Be patient with me, okay baby girl? We'll get there, soon,"

Soon.

I really hoped that day would come very soon.

Because I didn’t know how much longer I could keep going like this.

I wanted that future so much, it hurt.

"I love you so damn much, lan,"

I breathed, leaning my face into his palm.

He pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me tight.

I hugged him right back, because who knows what would happen tomorrow? Tomorrow was _ not promised and tonight I just wanted to hold him close.

Life and everything in it was so fragile and uncertain.

I won't take this moment for granted.

That sounded like I was in denial, but I didn’t care.

I just wanted to enjoy this moment while I could.

"I love you so damn much too, baby girl, always,"he sighed into my ear, "Wait for me as I’m waiting for you...we'll get there..."