(Emily, I'm Sorry)
ACT ONE - CHAPTER NINETEEN
2021
Emily crossed her arms, putting as much space between her and Natalie as the small room would allow.
"I'm really sorry, I can'tâ that one's on me." Emily quickly shook her head, embarrassed, "I don't know what came over me."
She couldn't understand why she kept falling closer and closer to the point of no return. Natalie seemed to be in her own state of disbelief, not quite looking at Emily.
Emily felt bad, for seemingly leading the other woman on... once she finally came to her senses, she didn't think either of them was ready for something like that.
"Don't worry about it," Natalie muttered, "Maybeâmaybe you should go."
The air in the room was heavy, as Emily responded, or started to respond anyway, "Natalieâ"
"It's okay. I promise it's fine." Natalie spoke calmly, although it wasn't difficult for Emily to see through her facade. Natalie was clearly upset.
Emily nervously pressed her lips together, still avoiding Natalie's gaze, "I'm really sorry, Nat." she whispered.
"It's fine, Emily."
"Okay, yeah, I'm gonna go." Emily pulled her shirt back over her head, quickly grabbing her car keys, "I'll uhâsee you later."
Upon making it into her car, she slapped her hands firmly against the wheel, how could she have been so stupid?
Emily stared out her windshield trying to decide what to do, she knew logically there was nothing she could say to Natalie at the moment. The blonde woman had really screwed things up this time.
Her eyes swam with tears all of a sudden, Emily looked up at the roof of her car, trying not to let any of the tears fall. She could almost laugh at the ridiculousness of this all, there was truly nothing for her to cry over.
Emily went into a sort of auto-pilot, putting the car into gear, and driving away.
Away from Natalie, away from the scary thoughts that had gotten her into this position in the first place.
Emily's car pulled up in front of a nearby bar, she knew that it probably wasn't where she should've gone....but she couldn't bring herself to care. Despite the fact that it was barely three o'clock, she entered the bar and order herself a drink.
She swished the liquid around in the glass before taking a sip of it, the bartender must've noticed the empty look in her eyes, speaking up despite the fact that Emily would much rather be left alone.
"Let me guess, an issue with your boss?"
Emily sighed, "Are you talking to me?"
The man looked around the room, "Well given the fact that there isn't anyone else in here..."
She took another sip of her drink, letting the alcohol burn down her throat before responding, "Not my boss, no."
The man hummed, "Relationship problems?"
Emily scoffed, "I guess you could say that." she glanced around at the poorly lit bar, despite having gone there dozens of times she never quite noticed the actual state of the place. Taking one more sip, she finished off the drink.
From the surface of the bar, Emily's phone buzzed, and she sighed rubbing her forehead. Emily watched the contact scroll across the top of her screen while debating whether or not she wanted to answer it.
"I'm gonna need another one if I'm gonna answer this," she muttered, holding the phone up to her ear. Emily listened to the automated recording, accepting the charges for the call.
"I figured you weren't speaking to me," Emily answered the call, stepping away from the bar.
"Hello to you to, Em."
"Don't bullshit me, Ash. You need something." Emily spoke, "What is it?"
Emily listened as her sister cleared her throat from the other side of the line, "My hearing is tomorrow."
It didn't take long for her to catch on, "You want to stay with me, assuming you're a free woman after tomorrow?" Emily assumed, watching the clock on the back wall of the room.
"We both know Dad doesn't ever wanna look at me again." Ash spoke quietly, "Please, Em,"
Ash would only remain on the other end of the line for another minute or two, it certainly didn't give Emily enough time to think about the whole situation.
"Only if you're actually getting your act together this time. I can't keep doing this Ash, listening to your empty promises and picking up the pieces every time."
There was a brief silent pause on the other end of the line before her sister forced out an answer, "I promise, this time it's real."
She couldn't bring herself to fully believe in her sister's words, they hadn't ever been real in the past, why would it be any different this time? The line cut off before either of the Jensen sisters got any other words in.
Emily would always put her sister's well-being before her own...she had always been like that. Even if it hurt her in some way nearly every time, she just wanted Ash to be okay.
The blonde walked back to the bar, drinking back the shot, and throwing some cash on the surface of the bar. Emily knew it was best for her just to go home, there wasn't time for her to drown her feelings in any more liquor.
The darkness fell like a blanket over the sky, by the time Shauna, Taissa, Emily, and Natalie met up. She pulled her car into a parking spot, as Shauna and Taissa were getting out of their own vehicles.
Natalie stood with a cigarette between her fingers, eyeliner smeared on her eyes, and a hand on her hip, "What part of 'hurry up' did you guys not understand?"
"It takes you being black-mailed for you to finally care about being late?" Taissa asked, receiving a glare from Natalie.
Shauna interrupted the two, "I'm sorry but, we all have families and lives, okay? We can't just sneak out a window whenever."
Emily nodded along to Shauna's words but was careful not to meet Natalie's gaze. When Emily did look up, she found Natalie with a slightly hurt look in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Shauna apologized.
Emily's eyes flickered back away from Natalie as soon as the brunette showed any signs of looking at her.
"Okay, where's the money?" Taissa asked, breaking the very short-lived silence. Emily was glad no one appeared to be wandering around, the four of them probably looked very shady in the poorly lit parking lot.
Shauna dropped a duffle bag on the very damaged picnic table, as Natalie pulled out the money, "Right here," she dropped it into the duffle bag.
Shauna picked it up, "That's 50 grand?"
"Yeah," Natalie deadpanned, "In hundred dollar bills."
"It's a little bit disappointing by heist movie standards." Shauna quipped, and Emily laughed dryly in agreement, "Yeah, a little."
Taissa and Natalie just appeared annoyed, and Emily shrugged, "What? I'm just saying."
"You got the tracker?" Taissa questioned.
"Yes," Shauna nodded, "It's one of Amazon's top sellers. Apparently secretly tracking people is really huge right now."
Emily shrugged, "I can't see how the purchase would be reasonable for many people, but hey, I don't judge."
Taissa scoffed, "Em, you do judge."
She made a face, and looked to Shauna who seemed to be agreeing with Taissa, "I'm not judgey!" she claimed.
This time Natalie spoke up, "Yes you are."
Emily didn't want to argue with Natalie she was surprised the brunette was even talking to her.
"Alright we should put the tracker in the middle of the bills," Natalie stated, and Shauna shook her head.
"No, because when they count the money they'll just see it."
"Uh, they'll see it in that bag to," Taissa pointed out, "So your big idea was shit?" Natalie asked.
"It's not shit." Shauna claimed, "I just thought the money would be bigger."
Emily sighed, "Look, we need to come up with something fast. I have a lot of shit to deal with tomorrow."
"Well, we could just fill the bag with some other stuff," Shauna began looking around, "Like...oh!" she pointed to something, "The more stuff he has to go through, right. Get some towels..."
Taissa sat down at the table, and Emily followed her, Shauna brought the bag back over to the table, newly filled with junk.
"Where'd you get that Etsy reject of a bag anyway?" Natalie asked, and Shauna looked at her, "My daughter made it for Father's Day back when she was actually cute, I took it from Jeff's special keeps."
"You're not as sentimental as your hubby?" Natalie questioned, and Shauna rolled her eyes, "I'm trying to help you guys."
Shauna plucked the open back of Cheetos, and dropped the tracker into it, "Is that good?"
"It's like a needle in a goddamn haystack." Natalie zipped up the bag, "Can we go now? Can't wait to meet fuck face. Give me the keys."
"What? Why?" Taissa questioned, "I got the money, I'm gonna make the drop." Natalie stated, and Taissa sighed handing them over.
"Okay, meet me one block east of Carlile, and don't fuck around."
Taissa laughed dryly getting into the passenger seat of Shauna's car, Emily followed climbing into the backseat.
Natalie opened the door leaning out of the car, "Wait how do you fucking start this thing?"