Emmy allowed herself a small smile and finally turned to look at him. “Truth. Got it in one. Bad enough to find out your boyfriend is a racist shithead, or that he barely knows you after months of being together. To find out both at once? Huge sucker punch.”
“I’m so sorry, Emmy.”
She thunked her head against his chest. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms. The movement soothed her enough to wrap up the story.
“Suffice it to say, he didn’t see it as a big deal that he’d gotten two completely different nationalities mixed up with each other. He actually got this indulgent smile on his face, like he thought it wasso cutethat I would insist on making the distinction. And then he corrects himself with this tone like he’s humoring his pampered girlfriend. Hewas all, ‘Of course. I’m sorry. They would be uncomfortable to see me with aJapanesegirl. I’d rather ease them into it.’”
“Please tell me you punched him in the dick.”
“If I hadn’t been in shock, I would have. I probably would have wasted my breath on a lot more talk, too, so I guess I’m glad for the shock in retrospect. It’s not like I would have been able to convince himnotto be a racist shithead. As it was, I just told him to get out. He looked genuinely surprised, and he pulled a lot of stuff along the lines of ‘Don’t be like that’ and ‘Let’s talk about this.’ I opened the door for him and waited until he got the picture. I almost told him to go die.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I guess I’m a little superstitious. What if he got hit by a bus right after I said that? I didn’t want that on my conscience, so I told him—in Japanese—that… uh…” She frowned as she tried to translate. “I basically told him he better never come near me again.”
“Okay, saying it in Japanese was a good touch. Did he try to say anything back to you?”
Emmy turned so the side of her head pressed against his chest. “I slammed the door in his stupid face right after, so no.”
“He got off easy.”
“Yeah. I probably should’ve told him to go die and lived with the guilt if something bad happened to him.” She sighed. “Not that he deserves to die, but… less than a week after I’d gotten around to throwing out the last of the things he’d left behind in my apartment, I heard he’d found himself a nice white girl to shack up with.”
“I repeat: Motherfucker.”
She nodded. “A couple days before I woke up in your bed, I stalked him on social media. They were still going strong. I betshemet his parents. Anyway, it messed me up enough that I went to see the stupid sex psychic who sold me the book that we are now in.”
“I think I’m going to need to hear a little more about that.”
“Yeah. Do you have any chocolate?”
“I think there are some Oreos left.”
“Good enough.”
She grabbed the Oreos from the snacks and sweets cabinet and poured herself a glass of milk. It didn’t matter that she’d just eaten breakfast. Emotional upheaval called for chocolate, no matter the time of day. They sat at the kitchen table, and she told him all about May’s romantic journey and how that had led to her drunkenly insisting that Emmy go see the same psychic. When she finished the story, she shoved the empty cookie package to the side and drained the rest of the milk.
“I guess her plan worked. I definitely got my mind off of Andrew.” She grimaced. “Well… for a while anyway. Apparently there was still some stuff in there that needed to be exorcized.”
“For the first time since this whole thing started, I’m glad I’m stuck in a book,” Will told her.
“What? Why?”
“Because if I were in your world, I’d definitely track this guy down and punch his Hitlerjugend face in.”
Emmy snorted out a laugh. “I’m not sure I would have stopped you.”
“I wouldn’t have given you the chance to stop me, but I would have expected you to post bail for me after.”
She wrinkled her nose as she thought. “Still might be worth it.” She sighed, then smiled wanly at him. “Thank you. For listening to all that, and for asking me about who I am. And for being on board with introducing me to your parents as your girlfriend. Even though it’s a fake relationship, it matters to me.”
He smiled back at her, reached out to take her hand. “No problem.”
His eyes crinkled a little when he smiled. Emmy couldn’t get enough of those eyes. That smile. He was such a solid, reassuring presence. Talk about being a rock. He was going through an emotional tornado unlike anything any human being should have to endure, and yet he still found the time to sit with her while she ate Oreos and told him about all her problems.
The warmth she felt in her chest was quickly followed by a wave of dread.
No.No warm feelings. She could not feel anything even close to warm about this guy. This guy, who might never exist in her world no matter how much he wanted to.
