This Summer

Mystery Boy

Emily's POV

After helping Monsieur Osborne clean up the library, I spent the next few hours reading in my favorite chair in the library beside the fireplace. There is literally no better feeling than this - being curled up under a blanket by the fireplace with a book in your lap, holding a cup of hot chocolate.

"Em, your mother called. She's asking where you are,"Monsieur Osborne said.

"Oh, okay. Uh what time is it please?" I asked absent-mindedly, flipping to the next page of my book.

"It's a quarter to seven."

I jumped up immediately, "Did you just say quarter to seven, Monsieur?"

He nods.

"Oh no, I'm so dead." I muttered quietly. "I need to go." I said to Monsieur Osborne as I quickly slipped my feet back into my shoes.

"Bien sur,(of course) And she says pick up some doughnuts and muffins from the bakery on your way back. Better hurry."

"Thank you so much." I thanked him as he handed me a bag full of books inside.

"You will come again, yes?"

"Of course, I will. You know I can't stay away from this place and you." I smiled, giving him a quick hug.

"Okay, see you soon, then."

"I have to go now." I looked at him apologetically, "See you soon."

"Au revoir." He waves as he watches me climb onto my bike.

I wave back as I pedal as fast as I can to reach the bakery in time. I feel my phone vibrate in my jacket and I carefully move my hand away from the bike handle to take it out. Swiping across the screen and answering without looking to see who it was, I was met by my boyfriend's voice.

"Em, where have you been?" Mark's voice was low, telling me how angry he was.

"I am really sorry. I just lost track of time."

"You were supposed to be here by four. It's already seven."

"I know. I'm sorry, alright? I was so absorbed in the book that I completely forgot." I said, knowing fully he just wouldn't understand what reading can do to someone.

"It's just that I've been worried," he says softly.

"Well, I'm fine but I've got to go right now. I'll see you in a bit."

"Okay, I'll hang up, but be careful."

"I will." I promise.

"Love you, Em."

He hangs up before I'm forced to say something in return, which I'm grateful for. I tossed the phone into my bag and turned the corner to see the sign for our bakery.

Getting off my bike, I make my way over towards the door, unlocking it with the spare key I always carry around with me. I quickly ran into the kitchen, grabbing the fresh tray of baked doughnuts, tarts and muffins.

Locking the door, I jump onto my bike and begin the journey back home.

*********************

Reaching the house, I grab my bag and the boxes of doughnuts, tarts and muffins. I quickly dashed up the stairs, pushing the door open. I walk to the kitchen, silently praying that my mother is with the guests and not in the kitchen. But as fate would have it, she was right there.

"Emily." Her back is facing me but sensing my presence, she turns to face me. "You are very late."

"Well, time is relative, so maybe they are just really early." I tried my luck with the worst excuse ever.

But as expected, it fails and instead she walks over to me, glaring holes in me. "We will have this talk later." She says in a very low voice.

"Okay, I'm really sorry mom."

I turned to place the boxes on the countertop and poured myself a glass of orange juice to help me breathe.

It's my life line.

"You promised, remember?" She tells me as she goes to the kettle to boil water to make tea.

"Please, mom." I wrapped my arms around her. "You know I really love books and I lose track of time whenever I begin reading."

"So you love books more than your mother?" Shea asks, moving her head to the side to look at me.

"F*ck, no. Your my beautiful mother."

She smacks my head softly and chuckles, "No cursing in my house, even though Maria's son has cursed a few times since he came here this afternoon."

"You despise it when people curse."

"With every part of me", she stresses.

I chuckle and open the cabinets, taking the teacups out.

"How many teacups do you need?" I ask my mom.

"Obviously Mark is taking, but three."

"Alright." I took out three teacups and placed them on the counter.

I help my mom with pouring the tea and placing the muffins, doughnuts and tarts on a tray. My mom begins to carry the tray but I stop her.

"Wait, we didn't design the tarts or doughnuts." I quickly opened the fridge and took out the whipped cream and limes.

"Can you please pass me the grater while I design the doughnuts." I instruct her.

Carefully designing the doughnuts, then the tarts, I grate the lime on the tarts, sprinkling each one with lime zest.

"They're going to love them." My mom reassures me when she sees me trying to make it perfect.

"I don't really care." I lie and move away from the tray. Knowing fully well that if it was up to me, I would spend hours making sure that each one mirrored each other to perfection.

"Sure." My mom rolls her eyes. "Now go and greet our guests."

"Okay." I smoothed out my dress to erase any wrinkles that might be on it. I threaded my fingers into my hair and exhaled deeply as I stepped out of the kitchen and into the fresh air.

I see Maria sitting opposite from Mark and another guy, who I assume is her son. I can't see his face but I can tell that he is taller than Mark.

"Emily!" Maria spotted me as she rose from her chair to greet me.

I walked up to her. Once I'm in front of her, she pulls me in for an unexpected hug, "It's really nice to see you again, Aunt Maria."

"You too. Congratulations by the way." She says as she pulls away to hold my hand.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"Look at you now. You've grown up so much since I last saw you."

I laughed, "Well, the last time you saw me was when I was nine years old. Pretty sure I had to grow up."

"Time really does fly, doesn't it? I can't believe it's been seven years."

"Ugh, for f*ck's sakes, mom. Stop acting like a ninety-year-old grandma."

Well, he certainly does curse.

I turned to look at him, expecting an obnoxious looking guy. But instead, I'm met with someone way better than the image my mind created.

He has rich dark chocolate hair, which is curly, thick and lustrous. Some of his curls fell on his forehead, and from under peaked beautiful dark blue eyes with flecks of grey that added more beauty and mystery to his eyes. He has thick, perfectly carved eyebrows and long eyelashes. His jaw is strong and his features well defined. He looks perfect. He carries a strange expression on his face that I can't quite read. He's wearing a loose grey hoodie that makes you compare the color of it with his beautiful sun-kissed skin. His skin looked like the sunlight even under the moonlight.

I bet his skin could compete with the sun.

He's seated, staring at me wide-eyed. He really has that face that makes you stop in your tracks. He must get hit on a lot of times because he is just breathtaking.

"Jake, please behave." Maria's voice drags me away from continuing to admire his looks.

"I am." He says. "I'm Jake, by the way." He stands up and stretches his hand for me to take it.

A smile graces his face as I extend my hand to his. His hands are firm, yet very smooth. As he holds my hand in his, his eyes stare deeply into mine. I feel heat begin to creep up onto my cheeks and I force myself to make a coherent sentence.

"I'm Emily." My voice comes out surprisingly steady and not the way I'm feeling.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Emily." His deep voice sends shivers down my spine and through my body, and I'm afraid he notices and his smile grows wider.

"You too." I pulled my hand away and dropped it by my side, immediately regretting the loss of contact.

What is wrong with me?

"Em, come have a seat." Mark says, his eyes hard, his lips in a thin line.

I nod and begin to walk to his side, but Maria stops me.

"Come sit beside me, It's been a very long time." She pushes my shoulder down onto the chair that is placed at the head of the table, between her and Jake.

"So, how have you been?" Maria ask as my mom placed down the tea and tray of tarts and doughnuts on the glass table.

"I'm alright. My mom said you started a new business. How is it going?" I ask her, turning slightly her way to avoid being distracted by her handsome son next to me.

Maria immediately started telling me about her business, how it started and why she started it. She owns a fashion company and as of right now she has about three branches, one in New York, California and Florida. She explained how she has always loved fashion designing since she was little. How she started her business by herself with no help at all. She was about t say something else, but Jake's phone chimes and vibrates on the table.

Immediately, he unlocks his phone and reads whatever is on his makes his eyebrows drawn and he frowns. I already hate seeing him frown. His grip on his phone becomes tighter and he clenches his jaw hard. Shutting his eyes, he exhales and inhales deeply and in succession.

"Jake, are you alright?" Maria asks him, reaching her hand over the table to hold his.

"Everything is fine. I just want to go to my room." He turns to face my mother, "Can I please take another one of these, And then please show me my room, if you don't mind.

My heart flutters at the thought that he likes my doughnuts and tarts.

"Emily." My mother says, "Prepare another one for Jake and then show him his room, please?" Her eyes move over to Maria, who is currently looking at her son with worry and fear in her eyes.

I nod, " Of course, follow me."

I started walking with him trailing behind me. I take out a tart and doughnut from the box and rest it on a plate. I repeat the design I did earlier as he stood by the door frame, his eyes concentrating on whatever the hell he's looking at on his phone.

"Do you want something to drink with it?" I ask him, maybe drinking something cold would help calm him down.

He shakes his head in answer and doesn't even lift his head to look at me.

Wow, disrespectful much? I thought to myself.

I take out a tray from the cabinet, placing the plate on it. I walk out of the kitchen, he pushes himself off the door frame to follow me. I can hear his breathing accelerate from behind me, making me wonder what he's staring at. I fight against the urge to turn around and look at him.

We climb a flight of stairs and turned around the corner and I open the door that leads to the side of his room.

"So this is it, I guess." I say and set the tray on the nightstand, "This is the bathroom we share." I pointed towards it.

"We're going to be sharing a room?" He asked surprised, very surprised.

"No." I shook my head. "Well, technically, this is my room, but we don't have anymore extra rooms, so you'll be staying with me.

"Why doesn't Mark share the room with you? He points out as he takes a seat at the edge of the bed.

The million dollar question.

"That's none of your business." I say, "This door." I walked to the door that will separate both of the rooms and close it. "Will stay this way, and you will have to knock before you enter."

"And--"

"What do you mean it will stay this way?" He clenches his jaw again, the same way he did before, even harder if possible.

"What?" I ask him in confusion.

"What did Mark tell you about me?" His chest is heaving up and down rapidly and he stands up.

"Mark doesn't even know you."

"Oh, really?" He scoffs. "Is that what he told you to say to me?"

"You know what I'm just going to leave." I turned on my heel to leave but he didn't stop.

"Or did my mother tell you because she doesn't believe me like everyone else? He screamed at me.

I whipped my head around to face him and yelled back at him, "What's your problem? Why are you yelling at me, I didn't even do anything." I glared hard at him, "I don't even f*cking know you, for crying out loud."

"Jake, stop." I felt Maria walking behind me. "I didn't tell them anything, okay? Emily doesn't know a thing."

Before he has the chance to respond, Mark walks in, yanking me out of his room.

"Mark." I hissed, trying to tug my hand out of his grip, but he just tightened it.

He ignores me and pushes me into my room, which is completely stupid, because the only thing separating us is a door and Maria and Jake can probably hear whatever he wants to say. Not to mention, we could have just walked through the door separating us instead of taking me on this journey of waking all the way around, just to end up right here.

"You are going to stay away from Jake," Mark warned me, and I searched his eyes to see if he was being serious or if he's just joking. But there is no sign of humour in them.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew him?"

"I didn't know that Maria was this Maria. And I didn't think your mom could allow a criminal into her house."

"Watch it Mark," I warned him, my voice rising slightly. "And what do you mean by criminal?"

"It doesn't matter, Emily. Just stay away from him."

"You can't tell me what to do without a good reason, Mark."

"He's a bad guy,Em."

"Why? What did he do?" I pushed him more for answers.

"It doesn't matte--"

"Just tell me for goodness sake!" I shouted, my patience completely gone.

"I AM NOT A RAPIST."

"He r***d someone."

I heard Jake scream at that exact moment. Mark gave me the answer I was looking for.

Well, this is going to be one hell of a summer.