Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

Chapter 69: Last Minute 

EMMA’s POV :

I regretted putting my phone on silent and missing lan’s calls.

He called me nine times and texted me three times, asking me if everything was okay.

I texted him back and I called him, but he didn’t pick up. Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

He was probably asleep already.

So in the morning when my phone rang, no matter how bad my head was hurting, I woke up and I picked up the video call.

"Hi, good morning,"I croaked.

My hand went to straighten my crazy hair and I pulled it into a messy bun.

"Hey,"he beamed, looking as gorgeous as ever.

"I'm sorry I missed your calls last night,"I sighed.

"Where were you?"he asked.

"Sophie wanted to go see the Rocky Horror Picture Show.I was gonna go for just an hour and I was But I went there and we did a drinking game, like take a shot every time the actors started to dance, and boy did they dance a lot! Long story short, I ended up staying until the end of the show.I puked into a trash can in front of the bar and then I went home,"

"Sounds like a night,"he stifled a laugh.

"But I’m just glad you're okay,"

"I'm really sorry I missed your call.I didn’t mean to.My phone was on silent.You’re not mad at me, are you?"I asked cautiously.

"No.It’s Halloween night, I assumed you went out,"he said understandingly.

"I wish I didn’t go and stayed home instead.All I did was drank some beer and I puked it all out in the next hour,"I said as my hand went to rub my aching head.

"How are you feeling now?"

"Horrible.But I'll make some coffee and take an Advil, I'm gonna be okay,"

"You can go back to sleep if you want, we can talk later,"he said sweetly.

"No, I wanna talk to you.I've missed you,"I whined.

I could barely keep my eyes open but I fought hard and put out my best smile.

"It's okay, baby girl, I'm still gonna be here when you wake up,"

Even though we were miles and miles away, he still could read me like a book.

He knew exactly when I was lying and pretending to be okay when I wasn’t.

My head was throbbing like crazy and secretly I was wishing I could go back to sleep.

"You are the best fiancée in the world,"I smiled sheepishly and said, "I love you and I miss you like crazy,"

"I love you too, baby girl.I can’t wait to see you in a couple of weeks,"

he flashed me his mega-watt smile, and my finger went to touch his lips on the screen.

"I can't wait to see you too.It's gonna be the best Thanksgiving ever,"I yawned.

"Go to sleep, baby, I'll still be right here,"he cooed.

And that was the last thing I remembered before my eyes fluttered shut and I fell asleep.

I woke up about two hours later and lan was still on the other line.

He was sketching on his sketchbook as I was sleeping.

"Hey there, sleeping beauty,"he said when he noticed I had my eyes open.

I was awake for a good minute, but I didn’t say anything.I just lay there and marveled at him, at my beautiful fiancée.

"What are you looking at?"he asked.

"You...you're so pretty,"I sounded delirious.

He let out a chuckle and said, "Well, you snore pretty too,"

"I don’t snore!"I gaped.

"Do I?"

"It was a cute snore, it’s okay.I liked it,"he smirked.

"No way! No one ever told me I snored before!"I protested

"Maybe because nobody's ever paid attention to you sleeping before,"

"Oh my god! I must be so disgusting..."

I groaned, pulling my blanket over my face to hide the embarrassment.

lan laughed for a good minute before saying, "Baby girl, you have the most beautiful snore in the world and I wish I could wake up every day to that,"

Every day leading up to Thanksgiving, I was getting more and more excited.

I hadn't seen lan since September, it was almost three months now.

This Thanksgiving would be special because we were spending it with my family.

Mom and dad insisted that lan joined us, they wanted to get to know him some more.

This year, we planned to spend Thanksgiving with my family and Christmas with lan’s family.

Long distance relationship was rough on the both of us, so the holidays would definitely help.

Spending time with him and our families would be amazing.I couldn't ask for anything better.

"What's going on here? The whole living room is covered in glitter,"Sophie said as soon as she walked into the living area.

"Sorry, I'll make sure I clean it up,"I said as I pushed the row of stickers and colored papers out of her way.

"What's this? An art project?"she sat next to me and admired my work on the coffee table.

"Homemade scrapbook.I’m gonna give it to lan when I see him on Thanksgiving,"

I compiled a bunch of photos and mementos from when we first started dating and I put it into this scrapbook.

I wrote cute messages and decorated it.It looked like a five year old made the thing, but hey, it’s the thought that counts.

"Aw, you're such a sweet girlfriend, Emmie.lan’s a lucky guy.Do you need any help?"

"No, I got this.Just make sure you don't step on that glue gun over there,"I pointed at the thing sitting on the floor.

"Gotcha,"she nodded and stood up, "I’m gonna go pack my stuff.I’m bringing all my laundry home for my mom,"

"I'm doing the same thing.Mine’s all packed up,"I laughed.

"What are moms for, right?"she giggled.

"So, what's the plan this Thanksgiving? You're gonna see lan’s family?"

"No, his mom lives in New Jersey.We spent Thanksgiving there last year, this year we're doing it at my house,"

"How’s he with your parents?"

"Like a champion.He's great,"

"Gotta love mature, older guys.They know exactly how to steal the parents’ hearts,"

"Well, my parents aren't exactly convinced yet, but they're getting there.When they get to know him, they'll love him,"

"Are you nervous about it?"I let out a long sigh and said,

"Yeah.I am.I really want my parents to like him, lan’s it for me.He’s my end game,"

Sophie cocked her head to the side and gave me a look I couldn't decipher.

"What?"I asked.

"Nothing...it’s just that...Emmie, you're only eighteen and yet you're so certain about this,"

"That's because I am,"I shrugged.

"We've been through so much together, I can't imagine my life without him,"

"I wish I'll find something like what you have someday,"she smiled.

"You will.What about Micah?"

"We're still talking, but things are moving so...slow,"

"What's wrong with slow?"I asked.

"It's just that...I see things on Instagram or Tik Tok and I see all these couples and they all looked so in love...I just wanna get there already.I want a whole whirlwind romance to happen.I want him to get down on one knee and sing Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ to me, or something like that,"

"Sophie, really?"I glared at her.

"What?"

"Girl, you need to stop watching Tik Toks because social media is an illusion, okay? Nothing great is ever built in one day.Love takes patience and time,"

"You sound like my grandma, are you gonna start quoting scriptures now?"she glared back.

"Listen, it's easy to get jealous at someone else’s story when you're only looking at the highlights.All these pictures here on the scrapbook, they're all the highlights.But behind all these, there were so many tears, fights, breakups, heartaches, and sacrifices.All those were needed to get to here, the last page,"I said as I held up my scrapbook, making my point.

"Don't give up just because you're not seeing a lot of action or that you think the progress is too slow.Don't confuse movement with progress,"I said again.

"Wow,"she paused for a moment before saying, "That is so true! Oh my goodness, you are officially my love guru, Emmie,"and she did a pretend bow.I stifled a laugh and shook my head at her.I had such an adorable roommate, I liked this girl.

"I’m gonna give Micah a call,"she grinned.

Sophie gleefully walked over to her phone and I noticed my phone next to me was buzzing.

I peered and saw lan’s name on the screen.

I was in the middle of cutting hearts on colored paper and I didn't wanna stop, so I answered the call but I put him on speakerphone.

"Hey you, I was just thinking about you” I started, but lan cut me off quickly.

"Emma, I have to tell you something,"he sounded serious and worried.

"What's going on?"I put everything down and got him off speakerphone.

Pressing the phone tightly to my ears, I waited for his response.

"My mom.Something’s happened.She’s in the hospital.Hailey thinks she had a heart attack,"

"Oh my god,"I gasped.

My mind went to poor Kirsten and I was praying to God she would be okay.

"I'm getting on the next flight out there.I’m sorry I can’t be there for Thanksgiving, baby.Please tell your parents I'm really sorry,"

"No, it’s okay.I totally understand.I hope your mom’s okay,"

"Yeah, me too.They're still running test, I'll find out more later,"It would suck not seeing lan this Thanksgiving, but this was an emergency.

His mom was everything to him, if anything bad happened, he would be crushed.

I wouldn't mind giving up seeing lan as long as his mom would be okay.

"Keep me updated, okay?"I said.

"Will do,"he said, pausing for a beat before saying, "I gotta go now.I'm pulling into the airport,"

"Oh okay," I said, and I heard the noises in the background.

It sounded like he just got out of the car and he was rushing through the airport.

"Text me when you land.I love you"I said, but he cut me off again.

"Love you too,"he sounded rushed and upset. And with that, the line went dead.

I put my phone down and I had this sinking feeling in my stomach, the feeling that Thanksgiving was about to take an ugly turn.

Looking down at the glittery page in my hand, my finger went to a photo of lan as he was smiling in that picture.

Dear God, please don't let anything bad happen to his mom.

Please God, keep my lan smiling like this.