Off Sides

reconnaissance.
    “Sure,” I tell her.
    “Do you really love this girl, Danny?” She says Danny’s name with a little bit of distaste but I also hear genuine curiosity. It’s like love is a foreign concept to her, and maybe it is. I have no clue if Emily has ever been in love or if she is even dating someone. It makes me realize that I don’t know much about her at all.
    “I love Danny very much.” I don’t offer more because, again, I have no clue why she is here and I have to assume it’s on Mother’s behalf.
    Emily looks down at her hands and she nervously twirls a dainty sapphire ring she is wearing. She looks back up at me. “Would you tell me why?”
    This time there is nothing in her tone other than a pleading to understand something that might be beyond her concept. Maybe Emily is here because she’s maturing past the elitist brat I’ve always assumed her to be.
    I take a deep breath and give her a wistful smile. “Okay. Let’s see. Do you want the list numerically or alphabetically?”
    Emily lets out a very unladylike snort and immediately slaps her hand over her mouth because she can’t believe she just did that. She giggles at herself which causes my eyebrows to rise. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Emily giggle before.
    Removing her hand from her mouth, she says with a grin, “In any order you want.”
    “Well, when I first met Danny it was her wit that got my attention. In fact, I actually heard her before I saw her...and I was captivated by her intelligence. But when I looked up, I was immediately attracted to her. I thought she was so beautiful.”
    “But her hair is purple and she has piercings in her face?”
    There is the judgmental tone again but I have patience with her. “Why does that matter, Emily? Really, in the grand scheme of things...so what?”
    Emily shrugs her shoulders. “Because it’s weird I guess. No one we know looks like that.”
    “Well, then I’d say maybe you need to expand your horizons a bit.”
    I can see the wheels turning in her head as she ponders that statement. “What else?” she demands.
    “She’s really smart and talented. She was a music major at Julliard but had to drop out when her mother got cancer. She plays the violin and she’s amazingly good. I’m trying to get her to go back.”
    “What else?” she whispers.
    “She’s kind and generous. She volunteers a few times a week at a homeless shelter. I’ve gone there to help her a few times and met some really interesting people.”
    Emily looks at me in horror over the prospect of working in a homeless shelter. Okay, so I probably will never get Emily to explore that side of her humanitarianism but it was worth a shot.
    She’s silent for a while, again twisting that ring of hers. She looks anxious. “Those are all really good reasons to love someone.”
    “Emily, they’re the best reasons to love someone. Not because of some silly notions we have about class or stations in life.”
    Emily stands up and comes to sit beside me on my bed. She turns to look at me and her face is awash with misery.
    "Danny didn’t breakup with you voluntarily," she whispers. "Mother threatened you to get her to do it."
    “Son of a bitch,” I exclaim loudly. I had suspected this was the case, but hearing it out loud pisses me off. Emily flinches from the anger in my voice, but it doesn’t scare her off for which I’m glad. She continues on.
    “Mother went to see her a few weeks ago and asked me to go along. I admit...I was curious to see this girl that was causing so much trouble in our household. And I’m sorry. I looked at her and I just didn’t understand what you saw in her. But I get it now.”
    I exhale heavily, vindicated to know the truth at last. But I need more details and my mother is not going to give them to me.
    Tears are swimming in Emily’s eyes and while I'm angry at her, I have to be thankful she brought this to me. I grab her in a quick hug. "Thanks, Em. That means the world that you told me the truth."
    She nods her head and squeezes me back. “What else can I do to help?”
    "Just tell me everything that Mother said to Danny so I can try to make this right with her and beg forgiveness of my family’s stupidity.”
    “That’s a whole lot of stupid,” Emily quips and I nod in agreement.

CHAPTER 18

    Danny

    It’s been two weeks since I’ve seen Ryan and I am miserable. I have to practically slap myself at least twenty times a day so I don’t call him.