Chapter 30: Grilled Zucchini

Emma's POV:
2 years ago

Everything was a mess at this party. There were plastic red cups everywhere, even in the pool. I was tired of picking them up and throwing it in the trash but the place didn't look any cleaner. This must what a typical high school party must look like people getting drunk and throwing red plastic cups everywhere, couples playing tonsil hockey in every corner and of course the dancing which was more of grinding into some random stranger. As a freshman in high school I wasn't used to this, at all, since this was my first high school party which was being hosted by my boyfriend.

Speaking of my boyfriend I just saw my boyfriend's cousin making out with some random guy. I approached her, to see if she is alright. Thank god by the time I got to her they broke apart, "Jules you okay?" I asked sounding concerned since she looked pretty drunk.

"Wait", she mouthed the guy and turning around to face me giving me a crooked smile. "Just peachy".

"Are you sure?" I said looking at the guy beside her who was too busy talking to his friend.

"Uh huh. He is a great kisser. Doesn't use too much tongue unlike Henry", she said pretending to gag, Henry is Jules's ex who broke up with her a few days ago. She was quite saddened by it but she didn't let it show.

"Just don't end up doing something you will regret. Your brother will worry", I said.

"Okay mom. By the way don't tell Andrew anything about this".

"Okay I won't".

She hugged me,"Thank you so much! Please marry my brother I can't wait to have you as my sister-in-law", she said excitedly. Okay the alcohol was getting to her.

We broke apart,"Haha I am just fifteen, I think we have a long way to go".

"Okay if it doesn't work out, you still get to my girl friend. To be honest you are the only friend I ever had", she said sadly. I felt bad for Jules, we studied at the same school, the same grade maybe she was popular and perfect at everything but she didn't have much friends. She can be way too much straightforward sometimes but inside I knew inside she was a good person.

"Of course I will. Besides I don't think I will leave your brother", I said giving her my love struck goofy smile. Even though we have been dating for a year, Andrew and I are going stronger than ever. I know its too early to say but I might just marry him if everything goes smoothly.

She laughed, "You guys are so cute together. Now leave me alone so I can take part in a lip locking ritual with this guy I don't even know even know name of".

I went to search for Andrew. Parties aren't my thing but the thing is Andrew is in a different school and we live three hours away from each other. With our never-ending pile of school work and his hockey practice we rarely get to see each other. So over the weekend when Andrew decided to invite the whole school over his place for celebrating their latest Hockey victory I decided to come over, at least I get to see him and also because they have an amazing pizza place close to their place which makes the best meat lovers pizza in town. Sadly they don't deliver at my place cause its too far.

Before I could look for Andrew, the door bell rang. It was odd for the door bell to ring since the door was practically open as people were going in and out of the house all the time. I went to the door to see the Pizza delivery guy standing on the front porch holding a box of pizza. "Delivery for Emerson Justice", he said looking at me.

"That would be me", I said giving him a warm smile. After paying him, I went inside with the pizza box in my hand careful not to trip on someone since the room was dimly lit.

"Hey is that pizza? Can I have a slice?" Someone said to me from the crowd.

Uh NO because I hate sharing and if I decide to give out one slice of pizza people will be hogging for more, and I will not have any pizzas for myself. But of course I didn't say that. I just settled for a simple no.

"Why?" He said. Why can't he just leave me alone by myself?

"This is for... uh... Andrew's Grandma. She is upstairs, not feeling all that great. She has ..uh... high levels of cholesterol. So whenever she feels bad we order pizza for her, eating that helps keep her cholesterol level down. Pizza is very healthy you know.... with all the tomato sauce, mushrooms and basil", I was definitely spewing loads of garbage. All my knowledge of science just went down the drain.

"Oh yes. I totally get you. Pizza is quite healthy. In fact I don't know why my trainer told me to quit it when I started working out at the gym. It's like 80 percent vegetarian since its contain bread, tomato sauce and cheese mostly", he reasoned. Right then I was thankful that guy had brains the size of a peanut.

"Uh huh. Grandma needs her pizza right now. So bye".

I went upstairs, got inside Andrew's parent's room who were out of town, locking the door behind me, I sat down and finished the whole pizza. Hey, in my defense I was doing cardio four hours a week and so I deserve some pizza. Andrew has always been a health freak so he didn't exactly approve of my obsession with pizzas. He advised me to opt for healthier options but in my opinion healthier options like cauliflower crusted pizzas are a disgrace to pizzas. So I settled for doing four hours of cardio every week which was horrible but at least it was helping me be in shape.

After finishing my pizza I decided to go outside to see where Jules was, okay I knew I was being overprotective but she recently went through a break up and that made her take rash decisions like burning all of Henry's belongings. Even though they were cousins, Andrew treated Jules like her own baby sister. He has been so worried about her these past days, I just don't want him to go through the same thing again.

I saw Jules passed out on the couch and the guy with whom she was with nowhere to be seen. "Jules.... Jules... wake up", I think she had too many drinks and the guy just decided to leave when she passed out.

She stirred,"Huh?"

"Let's get you upstairs", I said. She got up I held onto her, making sure she didn't fall and carried her to her room. Jules's parents weren't always around as they would always be abroad for work so she mostly stays at Andrew's place.

After putting her in bed and making sure to lock the door behind me so that no one interrupts her sleep, I went to check on Andrew finally.

His teammates were all inside his room. He told me to stay with them but I was kind of getting bored as all they were taking about was Hockey. I decided to get out to order pizza then. So now I am here, getting back in there after devouring that pizza like it was my last meal.

I entered the room, immediately being hit by the smell of weed which wasn't a surprise to me because it was a high school party so weed and alcohol were always going to be there. I was about to go to Andrew and take a seat beside him, but the sight in front of me stopped me in my tracks.

.............................

There will be a part 2 of Emma's flashback to two years ago. I am going to be very busy next week. But I will try my best to update :)