Behind the mask

Chapter 10

"Sure?" She tilted her head to the side a bit giving her a questioning look.

"Sure."

"Like very sure."

"Of course I won't tell him. What am I? A blabber mouth?" Emily looked away. Of course you are a blabber mouth. "I won't be here anyway."

"What?" Emily looked back at her.

"I won't be around."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm traveling."

"You have got to be kidding me." Emily was shocked.

"No I'm not."

"Rose you can't leave. You can't just leave me here alone with him." She sounded helpless.

"But that's exactly what I'm doing."

"But why?"

"I have somewhere to be and besides you are not going to be alone, I have a very good friend who is gonna stand in for me. She makes really good and tasty Italian meals and American meals too."

"How do you expect me to get along with her?"

"You got along with me, you can do so with her too."

"No it's different. You know Jack well."

"So it's about Jack right?"

"No. It's not just about Jack. It's..... I don't know." She buried her face in her palms. "Does he know about this?" She said with her face still in her palms.

"Yeah. He does."

"And he's cool with it?" She looked up.

"Yeah." She paused. "You know you can also talk to my friend Delores. She's good at giving advices and again it's better to tell your story to a stranger. You may never see her again after this break." Emily was speechless. "It's time you had breakfast."

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" She raised her voice.

"Yeah." She went silent for a few seconds. "He may be mad at you now but trust me he can't stay mad at you for too long."

Emily didn't say a word after that. Everything felt like a joke to her. It felt unreal. Rose was leaving and then she was gonna be living with an angry Jack and a woman who was good at cooking Italian meals or probably an Italian woman. Everything felt like a joke. She lost her appetite so she didn't eat much of the pancakes Rose made. After having breakfast, she spent some time with Rose before returning to her room.

She had known her for up to 24 hours but saying goodbye to her seemed hard. They were standing by the entrance that evening. Rose hugged her.

"He won't give you a heart attack. I promise." They smiled and pulled out of the hug. "I want you to know that he is a good boy and he is trying to be a better person so he won't give you a hard time. Just be free around him. I'm sure you wouldn't want to spend the rest of the break in your bedroom."

"When are you coming back?"

"I don't know yet but not anytime soon."

"I'm really going to miss you."

"Yeah and it's only because of him." They chuckled. She took her hands in hers and gave it a squeeze. "It'll be fine, I promise. Just don't let your guard down and..... oh.. give me a second." She dashed off and left Emily standing there. In a few minutes, she was back with a small bag in hand.

"Here." She gave to Emily. "It's yours."

"What's this." She opened the bag and brought out what was in it. "You got me a new phone?"

"No. He did."

"Oh. Thanks." She smiled.

"Don't thank me. You know who to thank." She winked at her. "So this is my business card. Call me when you need me." Rose handed her a small piece of paper with numbers written on it and Emily laughed.

"So this is your business card huh?"

"Don't laugh at it. That's my number anyway. Just incase he tries to behead you, hit me up baby."

Emily laughed again. "Aren't you guys gonna say goodbye to each other."

"Who? Jack? He's a d**k. We've done that actually. We have our own way of saying goodbye."

"I know you just wanted to say he's a d**k again." She smiled.

"Yeah. True." Rose nodded.

"How do you feel comfortable calling your boss's son a d**k?"

"He knows he's a d**k. Well, he can't hear me now and even if he does we get along too well for him to be mad. It's more like a bro-sis code thing or whatever." She winked.

"I can see you also have a problem." Emily laughed.

"I know." She nodded. Emily sighed and Rose placed her hand on Emily's shoulder. "You looked worried and confused."

"Like right now, everything happening in my life is so confusing."

"You'll be fine."

"I can't wait for you to come back."

"I haven't even gone yet. I know it's not because you'll miss me, it's cause of him." They smiled. "Don't worry, he won't kill you before I get back. There are no chainsaws within his reach, no guns and trust me he can't even cut his own birthday cake so he can stab you or chop you off."

"Thanks for the remainder." She smiled.

"You're welcome. I know what you need"

"What?"

""Swim. You really need to use that pool. I haven't used it before but I could feel how good it can be just by cleaning it. And when you're done, have your dinner. Relax and I trust you, you'll be fine. You will be just fine. You'll figure it out. Okay?"

After a little chitchat, they hugged for the last time and Rose left. Emily went back to her room. She stayed there for a while operating her phone. She logged into her iCloud account and downloaded some apps. The internet in the house was so fast. After checking her mails, she had dropped the phone on the bed and went out of her room. She was looking for Jack's room. She wanted to thank him for the gift. She went to the other hallway that led to his room but she didn't know which room was his. She knocked on every door but no one answered.

"Jack." She called.

No response.

She tried to open one of the doors but it was locked. The second one she tried opened. She peeped inside. No one was inside and she wasn't sure if it was his. She decided to leave. Just as she was about to close the door, she saw his phone on the bed side table. She thought he was probably taking a shower and decided to go back later. When she got back to her room, she decided to follow Rose's suggestion. Swim. She changed to her bikini and put on bathing robe and went to the pool.

It was almost dark outside. The moon was full and bright and there were also lights from the house shining through the glass walls. She took off her robe and placed it on a bench. She sat on the floor and put her legs into the water. It was a very nice feeling. It brought back memories. Memories of him. The mask guy. She remembered the last time they talked. She wondered what he was doing at that moment. If he was probably with some sort of gangsters. She wondered if the deal was still on; if she would get to school and see all her nudes flying about. She wondered if he told the truth. She couldn't recollect seeing him with a phone or a camera but she wondered what his aim could have been. She wondered why he was blackmailing her. It all seemed wired. Was it really friendship he wanted? What exactly did he want? But she didn't have an answer to that. She placed her hands on the floor and lowered herself into the water.

When she got into the water, she raised her head so she wouldn't swallow the water. The pool was deep. She swam to the other side. It was better there; it wasn't as deep as the other side. All of a sudden, she felt something grip her legs.

"Jesus." She screamed. The next second, her legs were free. "Oh my God." She moved away and Jack's head popped out of the water. "Oh my God." She was so shocked. He wiped his face with his hand. "How did......when did you..... why?" She couldn't close her mouth.

He laughed. "I still don't get your question."

"How did you get here?"

"I've been under the water the whole while."

"Oh."

His eyes moved to her cleavage and just as she noticed, she put one of her hands on it and the other one on her butt. He looked at her like she was crazy. "Why did you do that?"

She opened her mouth to talk and then closed it again. She swam away from him to the stairs.

"You don't have to leave. I'll leave." She suddenly felt bad. She turned around. "No. I'll stay."

"Yeah?"

"You don't have to leave too."

"Are you sure? I can just...."

"It's fine. You can stay."

"Okay."

She sighed. "I'm sorry for how I've been behaving."

"How?"

"I..."

"You don't have to apologize."

"I do."

"Wait. Don't you wanna put your hands down already?"

"Oh."

"It's a little distracting." She put her hands down. He put his hair into the water and looked up. He closed his eyes and Emily stayed there looking at him. His lips parted slightly. She kept staring at his lips. She wondered what it tasted like. She didn't notice her lips were parting.

"You like what you're seeing?"

She jerked and turned around. She felt so stupid. He caught her staring. She felt stupid for staring at his lips. She felt stupid for wondering what it tasted like. She didn't understand how his lips became something she wanted to taste.

All of a sudden, she felt his hand on her waist. She gasped.

"Emily?" He tilted his head to the side.

She turned her head to face him. "Yes." Her voice came out more like a whisper even though she didn't intend for it to be a whisper.

"Aren't you gonna swim?" He smirked and pulled away from her. She closed her eyes, bit on her lower lip and sighed. She turned back around.

"How long can you stay under water?" He asked.

"I don't know. For like 10 seconds."

"10 seconds?"

"Yeah." She paused. "How long can you stay underwater?"

"Like 7 minutes."

"Wow. I can't go that far."

"Yes. You can. Wanna try it?"

"No. I don't-"

"Let's try it. Cmon. We'll go together." He moved closer to her.

"Okay."

"Just calm down and take a deep breath." And she did that.

"You ready?"

"Yeah."

"On my count. 3,2,1. Go." They held their breaths and dipped their heads into the water, staring at each other. Emily was the first to raise her head out of the water and Jack followed. She wiped her face with her hand while panting.

"You stayed 11 seconds down there. Impressive."

"And you, 12."

"Let's go again." He said after she caught her breath.

"What? No."

"One more time. This last time."

She sighed. "Okay. Just this one time."

"Sure. You ready?"

"Yeah."

"3,2,1. Go." They put their head under the water again and this time they stayed for 15 seconds.

"See it gets better every time." He said when they raised their heads.

"It does." She paused. "Thank you for the phone."

"You're welcome. You know how to use it? You'll have to open an apple-"

"I've logged into my iCloud account." She cut in.

"Oh. Sorry."

After that, they went silent. They kept staring at each other.

"You were right about one thing." She broke the silence.

"About what?"

"That I just don't want to admit that I like you."

"Emily, I don't want you to feel pressured to-"

"No." She cut in. "I don't feel pressured to do anything. It's just true." There was another awkward silence. When he didn't say anything, she felt embarrassed and looked away. He placed his hands on her waists. She looked back him. He lowered his head till the tip of his nose touched hers. Her heart was beating fast.

"I love you." He said and she gulped. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, he kissed her. It took her by surprise but she returned his kiss and shut her eyes. He tilted his head to the side to deepen the kiss and she wrapped her hands around his neck. He moved his hands to her back, rubbing it in circle motions. After a while, they pulled away. Emily did not open her eyes for a few seconds.

"I love you too." She said shyly after she opened her eyes. After staring at him for a few seconds, she kissed him. This time, with more passion. She buried her her fingers in his hair, tugging at it lightly. A little moan escaped his throat. He kissed her faster and lowered their bodies into the water.

When they raised their heads, they were panting heavily. He wrapped his arms around her till they caught their breaths.

After swimming, they went back to their rooms to change. Emily changed into her pajamas and let her hair down. When she went back downstairs, she saw Jack in the kitchen. He was also in his pajamas.

"I ordered pizza." He said.

"Oh."

"Double cheese layer."

"Cool."

"I just wanna grab the plates."

"I'll grab the pizza." She took the box of pizza on the counter. "Coke."

"Oh sure."

"I'll be in the living room."

"Right."

She went to the living room and placed the pizza on the center table and sat on the couch. It was so big and comfy. Not long after, Jack joined her with two plates and two bottles of Coke in hand. He gave her a bottle and she whispered a 'thank you'.

"You wanna watch TV?" He asked. "Of course."

He grabbed the TV remote and turned on the TV. "What do you wanna watch?"

"I don't know. We could rent a movie. Maybe Holidate?"

He rented the movie and played it. He went ahead and opened the box of pizza and placed a slice on each plates. He joined her on the couch and handed her a plate and they watched the movie together in silence.

When the movie was over Emily was already asleep. Jack carried her to her room and placed her on the bed. He covered her with her blanket.

"Good night Emily." He said and placed a kiss on her head. When he pulled away, he remained in that position for a few seconds, staring at her.

"You like what you're seeing?" She whispered.

"Woah." He backed away and stood straight.

She chuckled with her eyes still closed. "Good night jerk." She turned to other side.

"Good night." He said scratching the back of his neck nervously and went to his room.