A Handsome Trap

The Next New Guy

"I'm James." He pronounced standing to his full height.

"And so it begins." Her subconscious mutters with disapproval.

***

"I'm Emmaline, as you heard, but i prefer Emmy." Emmy just stood there looking at each other until her mother clapped her hands bringing them back.

"I'm so glad you took a liking to each other." Emmy's mother said in a high pitched voice. To anyone else it might look as though her mother was being friendly and polite, but Emmy knew better. This was her mother's social persona, the one she used in order to seal business deals and lure them in to contracts, and incidentally the only side that isn't yelling at Emmy. Once Emmy takes her own seat next to James and watches as her mothers eyes flicker between the two of them evidently showing Emmy her mother has a plan that sadly she is a part of. Her mother looks one more between her and James before turning his father. Emmy fights to keep her eyes from tearing up.

"We have to go through this again." her subconscious muttered even her sarcasm now vanquished. This is plan Emmy knows all too well. Her mother wanted her wed and thought James was as good a candidate as any. This plan happened often but at her current age of 17 Emmy has not yet been wed much to her mother's disapproval. Emmy learned the hard way, it doesn't end very well for her if she disobeys her parents agenda. The bruises she is gotten before being proof enough. The voice of the James sitting next to her snaps her out of her reminiscing.

"So emmaline what do you like?" Emmy cringes once again it her given name and with no hesitation happily corrects him again. 

"Emmy please. And I'm not very interesting. Why don't we talk about you?" Emmy starts getting the conversation to a more comfortable place. James blushes, obviously believing Emmy's fake interest, but stays quiet.

"Seems like I have to completely control this conversation." Emmy's subconscious complains.

"So tell me about yourself. What do you like?" She flirts a little more, setting her elbow on the table and supporting her head in her hand. James was more than willing to oblige Emmy's fake curiosity.

***

For the next hour James continued to brag about his personality Hobbies business and "immense financial success" to quote James himself. Her mother was smiling approvingly at the ordeal and at Emmys success in gaining James' interest all through breakfast. Then, after much good buying an even more fake smiles and laughs on Emmy's part, they finally grabbed their jackets and walked out the door. While walking away from the house James waved excessively making a horrendously obvious he was absolutely smitten with Emmy. The door closed, not soon enough blocking James and his parents from you view.

"Good work." her mother praises as she turns around to pat Emmy tentatively on the shoulder. "

He left his number for you. A dashing young man, isn't he?" She questioned passing a neatly folded paper into Emmy's hands. 

"Yes. So dashing" Emmy cooed rolling her eyes dramatically. 

"I'm headed out for a run." She turns up the stairs before they even have a second to protest went upstairs and walks to her bathroom. She grabs a makeup wipe and gets to work scrubbing off every last trace of the version of Emmy her mother created .After all makeup is off she grabbed the hair tie and pulled her long light brown curls into a high ponytail she then changes into a a tank top, leggings and running shoes grabbing her iPod and starting her playlist on shuffle. She starts heading out of the house. Her mother attempts to say something probably to stop her, but Emmy walks past without batting an eye. She shuts the door unnecessarily hard behind her hopefully annoying her mother as she breaks into a jog heading down her street. She gladly allows music to tune out her catastrophe of a life. She continues to pick up speed as she ran around the corner until she couldn't see details on the trees as she passed anymore. They became nothing more than things behind her.