"What the fuck!" Emily shouted.
The deafening silence weighed on me so hard I felt like it was constricting my lungs. Words eluded me. I continued to sit there on my knees, mouth agape, with my hand caught in the cookie jar.
I never bothered to come up with a good excuse for why I was currently rummaging through their fridge; as if there was a good excuse for breaking into someone's apartment. So after sitting there like a deer in the headlights for long enough, I decided I needed to come clean.
"I'm sorry Emily. There was an extra key on the counter when we swung by earlier and I kept it because I wanted to try some alcohol." Goddamn, that was painful to admit.
Emily just stood there staring at me with those piercing eyes of hers. Almost as if she was a mother deciding what punishment she was going to cook up for her unruly child. Then, out of nowhere, here demeanor changed. Emily burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Her laugh was so loud and shrill it didn't even sound like it could come out of a person that small.
I had no idea if I should be laughing along with her or if I should still be scared for my life. With Emily, you never knew. Figuring her out was like trying to solve a puzzle you lost pieces to. Right when you think you've figured her out, you realize you never had the full picture to begin with.
Wasn't she just pissed a second ago? Her volatile mood shifted faster than I could even understand it sometimes. I was never able to get a read on her ever-changing demands even when we used to play together as children. She loved staying one step ahead of people.
"You're really trying to steal wine from our fridge," She said between spurts of wild screeches.
"You realize we would've just given you some right? Did you have to be a creep about it?"
I avoided her gaze as shame and stupidity made their way back to the forefront of my mind. I really should've just asked, but to be fair I never really been in a situation where an adult would give it to me. Especially with my mom around.
"Can I give it a try then?"
She noticed me getting up and slammed the door behind her. Her face is still bright red even though her laughter was finally starting to subside.
"Of course you can dumbass," She said while still chuckling slightly. Frantically trying to control her breath. "Look I didn't mean to laugh at you. Sit down and I'll pour you a glass."
"Alright. I honestly can't tell the difference between these anyways," I sighed.
Emily pushed past me and bent down to inspect the contents of the fridge like I just was a minute ago. I sat down on the edge of the bed. Which offered me a nice view of Emily on her knees.
Emily grabbed the bottle of wine I was looking at, inspected it, then gave a nod of approval.
"For a guy whose never drank, you did pick a good Merlot," she said in a way that sounded sarcastic and complimentary at the same time. She set the bottle on the counter and began to peel off the junk at the top. The way she effortlessly pulled it off gave me the impression she's done this hundreds of times before.
"Have you ever drank?" She asked, waking me from yet another daydream.
"No. My mom would never let me. Plus my friends at school have similar parents so we never really have a chance too."
"It must suck to have a mom who won't let you do anything. Mine was always encouraging me to try new things."
She let out another laugh. "You're lucky I'm here. I bet you wouldn't have a clue how to use this," she joked as she turned around and dangled a weird metal instrument in front of my face.
"Looks like a surgical instrument more than a bottle opener," I quipped. Emily chuckled as she turned back around and placed the instrument at the top of the bottle. At least I got her to laugh at something other than my embarrassment.
It is a shame we never got to see each other as much during high school. When we used to play together we had a very similar sense of humor. We would joke around about action figures, Pokémon cards, and whatever other nerdy interests we shared. Once she hit puberty, all that changed. Her interest in boys and parties superseded any interest she used to have in my action figures. Since I'm younger I know I wouldn't have been able to keep up with her. Maybe it was for the best.
"To the untrained eye I can see how it would look that way," the cork stuck inside the bottle was expertly released and she began pouring the blood-red liquid into some fancy glasses she found in the cabinet. I have no clue how much wine you're supposed to pour into a glass like that, but Emily seemed to be pouring quite liberally. Especially for a girl of her size. With her tolerance, I'm sure she could drink me under the table.
"Let me know how it tastes," She said as she handed me the catalyst of my undoing.
"I don't think I would've poured this much for myself," I mentioned hesitantly.
She rolled her eyes and took a large gulp from her glass. Peacocking like a frat boy at a tailgate.
"Promise me you'll use this time to cut loose a little alright. College is going to smack you right in the fucking face if you're not ready for it."
"What do you mean? I'm the valedictorian of my class! Of course I'll be ready!"
"Not like that idiot. Everyone knows you're going to do well in school. I'm talking about going to parties, making friends, maybe if you're lucky talking to some girls." She shot me an inquisitive look while saying the last part. Doing her best to examine my reactions like she was a scientist and I was her latest subject of interest.
"Well, I've never partied the way you've partied for sure. I've seen your snapchat stories."
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, back on the defensive.
I took a sip and let it dance around on my tongue for a second. I imagined that it would be sweeter, to be honest. It's going to be something that grows on me though.
"It's not bad. To be honest, I thought it would taste more like grape juice," I hoped this didn't make me sound stupid.
She let out another chuckle. "That's the alcohol. It's funny because this is supposed to be a sweeter Merlot than most."
"I'll just have to get used to it I suppose."
"If you get too used to it your mom will kick your ass."
I finally let out a chuckle. I can't tell if it was the wine or Emily's company or both, but I'm finally starting to relax.
"I'm not going to let you weasel your way out of telling me what you meant about my snap stories James." She said with a giggle. A specific giggle that I recognized from her snapchat stories.
Even though we haven't been close over the years, we followed each other on nearly every social media platform we had. Her Instagram was where she stored her collection of high-quality modeling pictures, her Facebook was mostly dormant now besides the occasional birthday post, but her snapchat was where she was at her most casual. Probably because she didn't let most of her family follow her on snapchat. Every weekend her snapchat would display her most recent party stories. All so unhinged and vulgar than even Lisa wouldn't be comfortable with their contents.
I have to say, they were always entertaining. She would regularly post videos of herself drunk at pool parties with her gaggle of sexy ASU cheerleader friends or of herself going to clubs all over the country. Always wearing outfits that might even make Aunt Lisa blush. In most of them, she would be giggling throughout the entire video. I'm not going to lie, it's really cute.
Every time I saw that she posted a story I would drop what I was doing and watch them religiously. Telling myself that I was just keeping in touch with a family member. But deep down I had always been pining for her. Envious of every guy that made an appearance in her stories just because I wished that it could be me traveling the world, living the high life, and probably spending the night in her bed. But of course, I couldn't wear desires like that too openly on my sleeve. They usually remained buried deep inside my psyche, but the wine seemed to be refreshing my memory of those unholy desires.
"Let's just say you always look like you're having a little too much fun," I said trying my best to be slick. Leaning forward to assert a little dominance of my own.
"Do you have a problem with that, or are you just jealous?"
"I'm absolutely jealous! There's no way I would be able to afford to go on trips like that all the time! I don't have the luxury of being as attractive as you! Most of us have to work for a living!"
Emily shrugged. "I know everyone doesn't have the same opportunities as me, but you can't knock me for making the best of it. Even if it doesn't pan out long term I'm still taking online classes, so it's not like I'm doing nothing."
"That's true. I admire that you're able to pull it off honestly."
We both sipped on our wine for a moment. Letting our conversation simmer like a hardy stew.
"You know what?" She asked
"What?" I answered with uncertainty
"You helped me with the sunscreen earlier. I wonder if you could help me with something else now."
