026
emory's pov

     SAWYER HANDS ME HIS ICECREAM and throws his arm over my shoulders. i scoop some of my rocky road ice cream up and pop it in my mouth.

"soooo." he says as we walk down the main street.

"yessss?" i ask looking up at him.

"i know it hasn't been a long time since the whole thing with chris, but.." he starts.

please don't be anything about chris. my stomach still drops at the sound of his name or the thought of him. but it's getting better. it's been two months since we broke up and i'm still living with sawyer.

"i think we should start dating." he says taking a bite of his vanilla ice cream cone.

"you think?" i ask eating more ice cream.

"yup." he says plopping some ice cream in my nose.

"you have something on your face." he says lifting my head up with his fingers.

he leans down and kisses the tip of my nose causing me to smile.

i pull back as he opens the car door for me. i climb in and buckle up waiting for him to climb in the drivers side.

"so what do you say?" he says pulling out of the parking spot.

"i think we should." i say lacing my fingers with his.

a smile plasters across his face and squeezes my hand tighter.

i pull up my green dress and try to reach the zipper but can't.

"fuck." i say as i quit trying.

i head to sawyers room and knock on the door, "come in." he says.

i open the door handle and step in the room closing it behind me.

"i need help zipping my dress. i can't reach it." i say turning around pulling my hair to one side of my neck.

"i got it." he says with his breath right next to my neck.

his hands trail along my bare back and i hold my breath. he zips it up quickly and moves him hands away.

"are you ready to go?" he ask grabbing his phone.

i nod and grab my purse off his dresser. he wraps his hand in mine and head downstairs to the car. he opens the door for me and gets into the drivers side and drives away to the party.

i walk into the house with sawyers hand on mine. i don't trail to far behind him as i look around at everyone filling in the house.

sawyer hands me a bottle of water. we both agreed it be best if i stayed sober. it would help me a lot. me and sawyer sit down on a couch. i throw my legs over his and he places his hand on me knee.

"you look gorgeous by the way." he says whispering in my ear.

"thank you."

"whatever you do, don't look behind you." he says.

i turn around quickly and see chris, matt, nick, paytyn and this other girl. i've never seen her before. i turn back to sawyer and he grabs my face so i don't look over at them anymore.

"don't beat yourself up emory." he says.

when i don't reply he flashes me that million dollar smile causing me to smile and blush in return.

"there's my girl." he say pulling me into a hug.

"emory?" I hear nick ask.

"nick?" i say as i get up and wrap him in a hug.

"i've missed you like crazy." he says still not releasing me from the hug.

"god. i've missed you." i say hiding my face into his chest.

and for minutes he just sits there in the middle of the room and holds me in a hug. and sawyer doesn't intervene. i think he knows i need this.

sawyer knows that. he knows everything. every night i cried sawyer held me, he wiped my tears as they fell. he held me in his arms while chris held that bozzo.

oh my god. i pull away from nick. i need to start treating sawyer way better. he was the one there for me, not chris. i turn around and grab sawyers hand and pull him beside me.

"nick this is sawyer, sawyer this is nick." i say introducing them to each other.

"i've heard many, many good things about you." sawyer says sticking out his hand.

"oh yeah, me and this girl have done some crazy things together." he says.

i look at him like he's dumb.

"i highly doubt the emory i know does crazy things." sawyer says throwing his arm around my shoulders.

"you're right. it was a test. you definitely know her and her 'i don't do fun shit' ass." nick says punching my shoulders.

"well i'm going to get to the party. you should text us sometimes emory. or come around. we miss you." nick says with a fake smile.

"yeah.." i say but don't agree.

i don't think i'll ever hangout with them again. coming around doesn't sound like the best thing in the world. actually the worst thing.

"hey you okay?" sawyer ask turning me to him.

"duh, let's dance."

sawyer went to go get me more water. we're sitting back on the couch after dancing for hours. my feet hurt.

"so you're the em?" a girls voice ask.

i look up and it's the girl i saw with chris.

"yeah. but my names emory. only my friends call me em." i say looking back down at my hands.

fuck where is sawyer.

"you really aren't that pretty." she says again.

"yeah well, thanks." i say not looking up.

"you know.. chris was sleeping with me the whole time you guys were together."

i don't say anything. i don't know what chris did nor what he dose. i'm with sawyer, who treats me so amazing.

"it's kinda sad honestly. it's a great sob story though, 'i got cheated on, can i please come stay with you in your big house? and sleep in your bed with you?' like seriously how did you pull chris let alone sawyer? because damn he is sexy."

sawyer comes from behind me, "actually she is a way better person than you'll ever be. emory's not that girl but obviously you are. so please go on somewhere. i want emory and emory only." he says wrapping his arms around my waist.

"come on, let's get out of here." he grabs my hand and pulls me out the house.