I was still parked in front of the frat house, hearing the droplets of rain hammer against my windshield as I watched the clouds darken.
I picked up my phone and contemplated calling Myra. I wanted to ask about Elijah and how he was doing, so I dialed her number and waited until the fourth ring when she picked up.
"Hey, where are you?" She asked as soon as she answered.
"I'm outside the frat house. I just dropped Aiden off."
I heard a sigh come from her end.
"Thank you, so much, Emma. You have no idea how grateful I am." Then she added, "I hope he didn't give you too much trouble..."
I thought back to the bar fight, the arguing, and then the kiss.
"None at all." I lie, my cheeks turning bright red in the rearview mirror. "How is Elijah doing?"
Myra waits a little before answering.
"He's doing better. He's all bruised up but he's asleep and thankfully, not in a hospital."
I grind my teeth on my lower lip. "Did you ever find out why they got into the fight?"
"Yes," She laughs. "And you won't believe it."
I looked up at the frat house, most specifically at the windows, wondering which could be connected to Aiden's room.
"Are you sure?" My tone came out accusative, as if she might be lying.
"That's what Lars told me, Emma. They were fighting, arguing really until your name appeared in the conversation. Then something happened and Aiden was on top of him in seconds." I tried my best to hear Myra through the rain that only appeared to get louder by the minute. "Look, I don't know what they were talking about or how your name came up, but Emma, Lars has never seen either of them so angry before. Sure, they've had their disputes between each other but this was different. You... really didn't know any of this?"
"No..." I trailed off, looking up at the frat house again. "I had no idea."
***
The weekend went by far too quickly for my liking. I didn't get to do half of the things I had planned since the professors had suddenly emailed us all new assessments that needed to be completed by the ends of Sunday to Monday. Which took out any chance of having the movie marathon I was so excited for.
Then, as soon as Monday had rolled in with its sunny and clear skies, I uploaded and handed in all tasks with very little sleep the previous night. I wasn't complaining too much, though. It was a new week and I was already ahead of all my classes, which left me with room to do all the things I had missed out on the weekend, to do in the upcoming days.
My feet traveled eagerly to meet with the campus grass again. I had just finished an hour and a half class about culture and now I could finally meet Will and have a proper conversation with him without the subject of studying coming up.
I walked through the one of the halls that led out to the part of campus I was meeting Will, and passed by the large windows on the far side of the building. They gave into the natural light outside and created checkered squares of light to hit the panneled floors. The pillars connecting to the roof hid away the busied college students behind their computers and the stairway leading to the upstairs of the hall was being taken over by backpacks and phone.
There must have been a class that finished in that moment because all those backpacks filled the hall. Their mouths moved all at once and the quiet people who sat on the floor appeared oblivious to the sudden traffic of people.
I continued to walk through, accidentally bumping into almost everyone that came my way. I apologised to someone behind me only to realise I had run into someone else in front of me the following moment.
"I'm so sorry I-" I looked to the person I had troubled but closed my mouth when I didn't see anyone.
I looked around and then a quiet little voice caught in my ears. Small hands tugged at the bottom of my sweater.
"Excuse me,"
I looked down to put a face to the voice and met with a little boy with frightened eyes that appeared to be no more than ten years old.
"I'm sorry, I didn't see you." I pulled us away from the large walking crowds, concerned that they would run him over any minute now. "What are you doing here? This place is running with people, you could get hurt." I leaned down to meet his height.
"I- I'm sorry..." His eyes began to brim with tears. "I- I didn't mean to... I don't know where I am... I'm sorry." His voice gradually muffled as his cheeks drowned with his heavy tears.
"No, no it's okay..." I wiped away at his cheeks with my thumbs.
I noticed that his way-too-large shirt had a large vehicle plastered on the front, then surrounded by blue and greens. His loose jeans and running shoes were adorable on his small body and his blue eyes burned along with his tears. His head of brown hair was neatly cut around his face and styled to the side.
"You know," I smile. "I haven't told anyone this before but can I tell you a little secret?" I asked him, thinking of something that would cheer him up.
The little boy raised his head and looked at me, nodding.
"I love monster trucks!" His face lit up slightly and his pink cheeks slowly returned to its usual colour. "The one you have on your shirt?" I pointed with raised brows, whispering. "That's my favourite!"
"Really?" He looked down at his shirt. "I love it too... it's my favourite shirt." A smile tugged at his large cheeks.
"No way!" I gasped with large eyes, trying my best to play along.
I saw the way his eyes widened with mine, the way his hands tugged at the bottom of his shirt in an excited fit, but his face fell when he realised something.
"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers..." He sniffled, no longer crying but just sad.
"Okay..." I thought. He was right not to talk to me when I didn't know him, but I couldn't just leave him here all alone with no adult to take care of him, so I came up with a solution. "This girl I know – I'm not sure of her name – wants to ask a little boy, who very much looks like you, if he knows where his parents are."
He instantly grinned, knowing what I was trying to do. "My dad is in one of these rooms... he's doing some business with important people, I think." He swallowed and played with his shirt, not looking at me. "He told me to wait here but I lost my toy car and then I got lost in between all of these people... I got really scared..."
I nodded with a smile of my own, making sure he knew that he wasn't in any trouble.
"The girl also wants to know, if the little boy would like her to wait with him until his dad comes back."
His shoulders slumped and he mumbled a yes. So that's what I did. We sat against one of the pillars talking about monster trucks until the amount of people slowly died down. He went on to tell me about his favourite books, shocking me when he pronounced the names of classic English literature like Moby Dick and Wuthering heights. He had told me his favourite pieces of poetry and cited them back to me, remembering every line as if it was engraved into the back of his head.
Eventually, I dropped the third person way of talking to him once he had seemed more comfortable with me. And I was glad when he didn't notice the change and just kept talking to me.
A few more minutes passed by until a large door unlocked and out came an older man with a head full of white hair and behind him, someone who I recognised particularly well.
"Gabriel?" My father approached us, staring between him and I. "Emma?"
The little boy's eyebrows frowned as his head turned to me.
"Who's Emma?" the little boy asked.
I stood up and so did he.
I met my father's eyes and that was when I realised their resemblance. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before. They had the same blue eyes, the ones all three of us shared. The hair colour was light brown while mine was a darker shade of it. Then when they stood side by side, my mouth dropped open in a small O.
This little boy, the one who I had bumped into and talked about monster trucks with, was my brother.
"Emma?" My father called out softly. "Are you alright?"
"I... yes." Was all I could say. I was overwhelmed, confused and I could feel my heart racing.
"Gabriel," He speaks once more. "This is Emmeline. You remember I told you about her, right?"
Gabriel nodded and then looked up at me. His thick brows rose high on his face and a smile spread through his widened lips. "Really?" He merely whispered.
"Where were you? I thought I told you to stay right where you were..." His brows dipped in a slight worry and Gabriel looked down at his feet.
"I was, I swear! But when my toy car rolled away from me and I got lost in the crowds of people and then I bumped into her. I was crying but then she calmed me down and started talking to me about books!" He glanced at me before meeting his father's eyes with confidence, zero fear lighted between.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" His worry thickened in his tone.
"Yes, dad, I'm okay."
Once they had sorted out themselves out, Sam asking Gabriel a few more questions before doing so, he turned to me.
"Thank you, Emma." He said. "This wasn't exactly how I wanted you to meet but I'm glad you did. I wish we could stay longer and talk about this, but should get going. Barb will kill me if we're not home in time for dinner." He smiled shyly at me, then as if he remembered something his eyes shot back at me. "Oh, something came up this week and dinner might have to get pushed until Sunday. I don't work Sundays, is that still okay for you because if it's not I can cancel plans I'll-"
"It's fine, Sam. I'll see you Sunday." I smile at him, and then watch as he sighed of relief.
"Okay, then, thank you again." He bent down to his son. "Come on Gabe, mommy's waiting at home. She's making casseroles!" He entwined his fingers between Gabriel's and began to lead themselves out of the building.
I couldn't help the pang of jealousy that rose to my chest as I watched them. Gabriel had what I never had, but I shook my head away from the thought and in the movement, I spotted a small toy car underneath a bench and paced towards it, picking it up.
"Wait, Gabriel!" I ran after them.
They turned around and when I reached them I leaned down and gave him his little toy truck. "There you go, bud. Can't have a missing vehicle, now can we?" He grinned as if he was almost gasping and before I knew it, he was hugging me.
"Thank you!" He pulled the toy to his chest once he let go of me and continued to walk outside, jumping next to his father excitedly.