Chapter Thirty-Six: Will and Emma

If I've ever said I had a favorite chapter before this- which I have, multiple times- I lied. I honestly don't think anything will top this in cuteness and it's my all-time favorite Kidnap My Heart chapter. I enjoyed writing it so much. Hope you guys will enjoy reading it. :')

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Kidnap My Heart

Chapter 36: Will and Emma

Will

My dad spent the next two days carefully observing Emma and me whenever we were within his line of sight. Needless to say, we spent a lot of our time upstairs, away from his scrutinizing eyes. He probably got the wrong idea about what we were doing up there. I knew it was my fault he saw me as some mindless sex-machine who wasn’t capable of having an actual relationship, but eventually he’d have to understand that things were different with Rage.

Being stuck upstairs for two days gave us a chance to talk endlessly. We made out and watched some movies, too, but talking overpowered both of those things, surprisingly. I learned more about Rage than I’d ever learned about any other girl in my life. The only people I knew better than her were my brother and my dad.

Her favorite movie was Titanic; that one I already knew. Her favorite foods were lasagna and cheesecake; again, two things I already knew. Her favorite book was The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. (I didn’t think I even wanted to know.) The Notebook was the one movie that never failed to make her cry. (Something I was forced to witness. The movie wasn’t terrible, I guess, but her sniffling freaked me out. I mean, she was Rage, not Sniffles.) Her favorite band was The Script, and her favorite song was any “cute love song, basically.” Everything she told me fit the image I had of her so perfectly. The new image, not the old one. I hadn’t known her at all before. The old image I had of her was purely stereotypical, and it wasn’t her.

I glanced over at Emma from my spot on the floor. We’d decided to play some board games to pass the time and had for some reason camped out on the floor instead of the bed.

I could tell she was getting kind of tired of the board games, but I just needed to kill a little more time. My dad was leaving for the night, and I had a big night planned for Emma and me. We hadn’t talked about the fact that I’d said I loved her in front of her yet, and I had a feeling it was because she didn’t believe me. I wanted to do something to show her how involved I was and how much I wanted to make this work. I wanted to show her what I felt, and I had just the thing in mind. I just didn’t want my dad breathing down my neck when I did it.

“What’s your favorite sport?” I asked. I distractedly formed the word penis on the board we’d placed on the floor.

She snorted. Whether it was at my word or my question, I didn’t know. “I don’t do sports. Trust me; it’s not a pretty sight. But I do have a thing for soccer players.”

Yes. One more point in my favor. “I’ve been playing soccer for fifteen years.”

She narrowed her eyes. What the fuck? Why didn’t she believe me? Why would I lie about something like this? “What position?”

“Center forward,” I said smoothly.

“College soccer?” she asked, glancing down at her letter choices.

I nodded. “I’m not going pro or anything, but I decided to keep playing once I reached college. I just finished my last season last semester.”

“So you’re a senior. Did you have to drop out to do this whole kidnapping thing?”

I shook my head. “No, I took a leave of absence. So did Eric. Once all of this is over, we’ll go back and finish. I mean, we’ll graduate with a shit-load of loans to pay off, but at least we’ll graduate.”

Even if my dad did get a ransom from Emma’s dad, I wasn’t going to use any of it. He could have it all if he wanted it so badly. This wasn’t about the money for me, and I wasn’t about to do anything that would make Emma believe it was. I had a feeling Eric was on the same boat and would also refuse. Sure, tuition costs were high, but at least we weren’t paying room and board. The apartment we shared under normal circumstances was the cheaper option and obviously the option we went for.

“So you’re not a total idiot.” When Emma saw the offended look on my face, she laughed and said, “I’m kidding. Kind of. You don’t give off smart-vibes.”

“I’ve been told I have potential but lack common sense.”

“No kidding. Major?”

“Business and economics.”

She nodded in approval. “A double major. Surprisingly impressive.”

I shrugged. “They kind of go hand-in-hand.”

She picked off a few letters from her letter stand and formed the word small using the s from penis.

“Hey, Vlad is not small,” I immediately exclaimed. That was a low blow. “There’s a reason I nicknamed it Vlad the Impaler.”

“There should never be a reason to nickname your penis Vlad the Impaler.”

“In my defense—” I hesitated. “Damn it. I have nothing.”

I ignored her laughter and spelled out the word not using the n.

She rolled her eyes. “Nice.”

The game continued similarly, with us sending not-so-subtle messages and jabs at each other. Around the end of the game, she said, “I was just messing with you earlier. I don’t doubt you play soccer. You look like a soccer player. No wonder you’ve got that body.” She let out a low whistle and shook her head.

Half of my mouth turned upwards in a smile. I knew she was attracted to me and liked my body, but it was a nice ego-boost nonetheless. “What about you? How do you keep your body looking like that if you hate sports?”

“You’re going to laugh. And judge.”

“I do that anyways,” I pointed out. “Besides, so do you.”

“True. I do yoga and Pilates mostly, but lately I’ve gotten into Zumba and power-walking. If I’m feeling ambitious, I might even jog.”

I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped my lips. “No wonder you can barely do ten pushups. That’s no way to keep in shape.”

“I don’t see you complaining about the shape it keeps my body in,” she said, a sparkle in her eyes. “In fact, I’d say you’ve been doing quite the opposite.”

That was true. That was extremely true, actually. However girly her ways of keeping in shape may have been, they worked. They definitely worked. “Touché. Forget I said anything.”

The door to my room opened and my dad awkwardly stood in the doorway. He looked down at the Scrabble board and raised both eyebrows at the words we’d spent the past half hour forming.

“You don’t want to know,” I said. “What do you need?”

“I’m just letting you know I’m leaving for tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah, I know. You already told me.”

I wasn’t sure where he was going or what he was going to do, but I didn’t really want to know. After the shit he’d been pulling lately, I didn’t want any part of it.

“Don’t let her out of your sight.” He pointedly looked at Emma as he spoke. “I don’t want a repeat, Will.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Emma said with an irritated sigh. “I’m not an idiot. I’ve learned my lesson. Will and I are just gonna hang out.”

He nodded tightly. “Don’t leave the house. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

We both mumbled agreements and he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. We quickly finished our game of Scrabble, and after forcing Emma to endure a long victory chant on my part, I decided it was time to set things up. It was almost show time.

“I’m gonna go downstairs for a bit,” I said, jerking my head towards the door after I stood up. “Taylor will be up any minute to keep you company while I’m down there.”

“How long are you planning on being down there?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. “What are you up to?”

I shrugged innocently. “Oh, you know. Stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“I can’t tell you. Where would be the fun in that?”

Realization made its way onto her features. “So this is a surprise.”

“You already know too much.” I heard footsteps on the stairs and backed up a few steps. “Sniffles is on her way up. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Hours? What on earth are you planning?” When I didn’t say anything, she tried again. “Can you at least tell me whether or not I’ll like this surprise?”

“Well, I hope so.” I had a good feeling about it, but I didn’t know for sure. I would never be able to give her the kind of costly surprise she would normally expect from a guy, but she knew by now that that wasn’t what she was going to get with me. I hoped she would like what I could give her, though.

“You’re not planning a surprise birthday party for yourself, are you?”

I chuckled. “No, but if you want to, I won’t stop you.” My birthday was on Sunday, so it was in… four days. It was a little early for a surprise party.

She just smiled. “We’ll see.”

***

Emma

I was dying to know what Will was planning, but I knew he wouldn’t tell me. Besides, I wanted it to be an actual surprise. I had a feeling it would be a good one. The excited, nervous look on his face had said as much. With his dad out of the house, we wouldn’t have to camp out upstairs all afternoon. We were free to do whatever we wanted—as long as we didn’t leave the house—at least for one day.

“Do you have any fives?” Taylor asked, glancing down at her cards.

Her words distracted me from my thoughts and I shuffled through my cards. I shook my head when I found basically every card but a five. “Go fish.”

She paused. “I grab a card now, right?”

I just nodded.

She reached over, picking a card from the top of the deck. “Now what?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“I don’t either. Why are we even playing?”

“I don’t know. Why are we playing? We don’t even like card games.”

Taylor giggled and shrugged. “Will just told me to distract you.”

“And you’re doing a great job,” I remarked sarcastically. As soon as I said the words, a thought hit me as I looked down at the playing cards in my hand.

“What?” Taylor asked, noticing I’d gone quiet all of a sudden.

“I just had an idea. It’s Will’s birthday this Sunday and I have a gift in mind, but I don’t know. It’s cute, but it’s kind of cheesy. I don’t know if he’d like it.”

“I think you could give him a cardboard box and he’d like it, Emmy,” Taylor said with a laugh. “What do you have in mind?”

I held up the cards in my hand. “Remember that picture that went around Pinterest and Twitter around Valentine’s Day?”

Her eyes lit up in recognition after a few seconds. “Yes! Oh, my gosh, that’s precious! You should do it. That’s even better than the mariachi band idea!”

“Anything is better than the mariachi band idea.”

“Will came up with it, not me,” she said defensively.

“I’m not even surprised.” I shook my head in amusement. “Pass me your cards so I can see if there are 52.”

She did, and I distractedly counted them, the list already forming in my head. I’d seen this idea all over the internet around Valentine’s Day, and at the time I’d thought it was just cheesy, but now I saw the appeal. It was a sweet way to tell someone exactly what it was that you liked about them. It was the kind of sentimental present that meant more than an expensive one.

I had 52 cards to work with. 52 cards; 52 things I loved about Will. I felt like I could list a lot more than 52, but I didn’t want to write a novel.

“I’m going to need some paper— preferably thick paper— a hole-punch, scissors, binder rings, or maybe some ribbon or string, glue, and anything else that might be helpful,” I said, ticking every item off with my fingers. I wasn’t allowed to go downstairs, so it was up to Taylor.

“What? Where on earth am I going to find all of that stuff? They’re not exactly artsy-crafty guys, Emmy,” Taylor exclaimed.

“Just grab whatever you can find and beg Eric to go buy whatever you can’t find,” I said. “The hole-punch might be a reach.”

She started mumbling to herself, but she didn’t protest anymore, choosing to go downstairs instead. I stood up and looked through Will’s drawers for anything I could use to make this present. I found a thin sharpie, a pen, and a notebook.

Placing the notebook in my lap, I put the pen to paper and got to work.

1.  I love the way your smile lights up your entire face.

***

A few hours later, Taylor ran out the door and then back inside, shouting out random words that sounded like they were supposed to be a warning. Will was on his way back up. I had fifteen seconds at most to hide my gift from him.

I shoved everything under the bed and used the bedspread to cover the opening at the bottom. I wasn’t even close to done with my project. This was going to take me a lot longer than I’d thought, but not because I couldn’t think of things I loved about him. It was because I had trouble putting my feelings into words, and it didn’t help that I wasn’t the most creative person in the world.

When Will walked into the room, I was casually sitting on the edge of the bed and Taylor was gone. She’d managed to distract him for about oh, five seconds, maybe, before he’d made his way inside.

“Are you done with my surprise yet?” I asked, crossing my ankles.

“Almost,” he said, shutting the door behind him. “Eric is helping me out with the finishing touches while I change. I have something for you to wear.”

I watched him walk over to the closet and pull out a white piece of clothing. His back was covering what exactly the white piece of clothing was. When he turned around and I got a good look, my mouth fell open a little and I slowly stood up.

Will walked over to me and held the dress out. I took it from his outstretched hand and looked down at it in surprise. It was the dress I’d said was cute at Wal-Mart the day I escaped—the strapless white sundress with the caramel-colored belt wrapped around the waist. He’d bought it for me even though it wasn’t on sale, and I hadn’t even asked him for it. He’d done it all on his own. More importantly, he’d kept it even though I’d left him behind.

He rubbed the back of his neck and said, “I noticed you liked it when you walked by it the other day at Wal-Mart. I didn’t buy you a dress the day we went to the mall, so I figured I’d get you this one since you liked it. I know it’s not what you’re used to and it’s not a designer dress, but—”

I shook my head, cutting him off. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”

A relieved smile crossed his face. It was at that precise moment that I came to a startling realization. I wasn’t the one above Will. He wasn’t the one who didn’t deserve me. I was the one who didn’t deserve him. I didn’t deserve him at all. He was too good for me. I didn’t deserve the way he treated me.  I didn’t deserve him.

“Once you’re ready, we’ll go downstairs and I’ll blow your mind,” he said.

I imagined he’d assumed it would only take a few minutes for me to change, but he was sadly mistaken. When Taylor came back upstairs with a few hair and makeup products in tow—apparently Eric had expanded her small collection while I was gone—and told Will to go change in Eric’s room while she helped me get ready, I think we both realized this was going to take a little longer than he’d thought.

I managed to escape her grasp in record time—forty-five minutes—and made my way over to Eric’s room, looking for Will. Taylor had styled my long, wavy hair into a half-up, half-down hairdo, pinned up with a broach, and applied natural-looking makeup in golden tones. I made sure to warn her not to overdo it. Will liked the natural look better, probably because it was the only thing he’d really seen. The only time he’d seen me wearing makeup was the day he met me—well, kidnapped me.

Will was nowhere to be found, though, and my eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Where had he gone? Maybe he was already downstairs. I turned around, prepared to make my way downstairs when I ran right into Will’s hard body.

“I was just looking for you,” I said with a laugh, steadying myself as I took a step back. But he didn’t say anything; he just stared at me. After a few more seconds of this, I faltered. “Uh… Will?”

His mouth tilted upwards a little. “I’m staring. I know. I can’t stop staring.”

Heat crept up my neck, and I cursed internally. Why did he have to have this effect on me? I used to pride myself on my confidence, but he was breaking through that wall of confidence with such ease, it scared me.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, lightly placing his fingertips on my cheek. My heart started beating erratically in my chest. “So, so beautiful.”

My breath almost got caught in my throat. “You’re not too bad yourself.” That was a huge understatement, especially considering what he was wearing—a white button down shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. It was a nice change from his usual t-shirt and shorts, although frankly, I was convinced he could wear a burlap sack and still look like an underwear model.

“Ready to go downstairs?” he asked, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

I reached for his hand in response, and he grinned. “Lead the way,” I said.

He pulled me out of the room and down the stairs. I could practically feel the excitement radiating off of his body in a way that was surprisingly contagious. The closer we got, the more excited I got.

I stopped abruptly when I walked into the dining room and beheld the sight before me. “Oh, my God,” I said, my voice coming out quieter than I’d meant.

The lights had been completely dimmed out so that the only sources of light were the red tapered candles resting on the table and in strategic places around the room. A white tablecloth covered the dinner table, and a vase filled with red and white flowers sat in the middle of the table. There were two plates set up, one right in front of the other, and when I walked closer I saw my favorite—lasagna.

Will came up beside me. “I know it may seem kinda cheesy, but we’ve never actually had a real date. We pretty much skipped every step and went right to the living together part, so I thought we’d go back and do it right.”

“So we’re dating now?” I asked. I hadn’t been sure how to classify what was going on between us, but at least now there was a term for it. At least, I hoped there was.

“We are now,” he said, his mouth quirking up. “Consider this our first real date.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised,” I said as Will pulled my chair out for me so I could sit down. “I didn’t know you could be so romantic. You don’t really strike me as a romantic kind of guy.”

“I’m not,” he admitted, taking his seat in front of me. “But for you, I can be.”

That was when the music started. I was expecting quiet, romantic music. What I got instead was that overtly sultry music commercials liked to use as a joke.

There was an awkward pause before Will spoke. “That’s not the music that’s supposed to be playing.”

It was only after he spoke that I noticed that the song had some sexual noises going on in the background. I couldn’t help but arch my eyebrows at what I was hearing. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

“I’m trying to woo you,” he corrected. “There’s a difference. Fucking Eric…”

I snickered and covered my mouth with my hand to hide my laughter. Our date had literally just started and things were already going downhill. When I’d calmed down, I said, “Why don’t we just start eating while Eric fixes things?”

Will reluctantly agreed and, sure enough, Eric managed to stop the sultry music and replace it with a soft country ballad. We laughed and talked as we ate the mouth-watering lasagna, and when Will brought out his famous cheesecake and served me a slice, I thought I was going to pass out and die.

I did the embarrassing thing and moaned into the bite of cheesecake I’d just taken. “Oh, my God,” I groaned. “What did you put in this? This is like a foodgasm.”

“It’s my mom’s secret recipe and my secret weapon,” he said. “Seriously, I don’t think even I’ve made you moan like that. Yet.”

If I could’ve reached across the table to smack him, I would have, but I couldn’t. “Shut up and eat your cheesecake.”

He mockingly saluted me and dug in. We were more interested in the cheesecake than each other, amusingly enough, but once we’d finished eating, we diverted our attention back to the actual date. The music was turned up, and I actually recognized the song. It was “All of Me” by John Legend, one of my favorites. The others I’d heard before, but I hadn’t been able to put a name to them.

“Dance with me,” Will said. I hadn’t even noticed he’d gotten up until he was standing right beside me with a hand held out.

“For a guy who claims to be unromantic, you know a thing or two about what girls like,” I remarked, accepting his hand and his invitation.

“I had some help from my minions,” he said, jerking his head towards the kitchen. I saw two dark figures quickly move out of sight and I laughed. “I take full credit for the idea, though. I wanted to do this.”

He pulled me closer to him and placed his hands on the small of my back as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Okay, fine, I placed my hands on his shoulders. My arms couldn’t reach his neck. Since I was wearing sandals with my dress—there were no heels around, understandably—I had no boost to get me closer to his stature.

“If we were to have a song, this would be it,” he said all of a sudden. “No doubt.”

I went quiet and listened closely, watching out for the lyrics. I couldn’t focus at first with him standing so close to me, but once I did, I didn’t feel butterflies in my stomach. No, I felt the entire freaking zoo.

“Give your all to me; I’ll give my all to you. You’re my end and my beginning. Even when I lose, I’m winning. ‘Cause I give you all of me, and you give me all of you, oh.”

“Why do I feel like you’re trying to subtly send me a message?”

“Because I am,” he said, pulling me even closer, if that was physically possible. I hadn’t thought it was, but I was wrong. All he had to do was hoist me up onto his shoes, and boom. No barrier between us. “I guess it’s not as subtle as I thought.”

“Subtle is overrated anyways,” I said. My breath hitched when he slowly leaned down and lightly pressed his lips against mine. I had to have been dreaming. This perfect moment couldn’t actually be real, could it? This wasn’t my life. Except it was. At that moment, it was my life, and I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to give Will my all; I wanted him to give me his all. I wanted to live the kind of life people sang about, even if it was just for a little.

He pulled back a little, and I fully acknowledged the fact that lying to myself hadn’t done me any good. I should’ve just accepted the truth from the beginning. I shouldn’t have even bothered lying to myself. There was no point in trying to tell myself that I didn’t feel anything when he held me, that I didn’t feel anything when he kissed me and looked at me like I was the only girl in the world. Even I knew it was a lie, because at that moment, he was looking at me like I was all he saw, and I’d never felt as wanted as I did at that precise moment.

I stared into those blue eyes that I loved so much and said the words I’d been trying to find the courage to say for the past few days. “I love you, Will.”

The smile that lit up his entire face was the best thing I’d ever seen in my life, and it set off a stampede in my stomach. “I love you, too.”

When he leaned down and pressed his forehead against mine, I closed my eyes. The thought that this might end if he found out the truth actually hurt—like, physically hurt. If he found out about my original plan, he would lose the trust he had for me and might even walk away. I couldn’t stand the thought and found myself speaking without realizing it. “Promise me that no matter what happens, you’ll fight for this. Promise me this won’t end when I go back home. I don’t want this to end.”

“I’ll fight for this and for you for as long as you want me to. I’m in this for the long run, Rage,” he said. I opened my eyes to look at him and the sincerity I saw written all over his face made me falter. The song overpowered our conversation. “Cards on the table, we’re both showing hearts. Risking it all, though it’s hard.”

“Promise?” I finally managed to say. I didn’t want to lose him. I couldn’t lose him. Maybe this was crazy. Maybe this was bordering on legal insanity. Falling in love with your kidnapper could easily have been considered insanity at its finest. I didn’t care.

“I promise. I love you, Rage. I love you so much that if we ever decided to go on a cruise ship and it started sinking like the Titanic, and there was only one door to lie on while we were floating in the ocean, waiting for someone to save us, I’d let you have it.”

“Are you saying you want to be the Jack to my Rose?”

He paused before answering. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Fingers crossed I don’t tragically die anytime soon.”

“I’d say it’s in our best interest to avoid cruise liners, then,” I said.

“Yeah, dying an iceburgy death isn’t in my plans for the future.”

“I would hope not.”

He laughed. “Do you want to know what is in my plans for the future?”

“What?”

“You. Whenever I think about my future, you’re always in it. You and my brother are the only ones I always see. For the first time in my life, I can imagine getting married without having a heart attack, but only if you’re walking down the aisle dressed in white. I can imagine having those ridiculously attractive babies I told you about, and I can imagine us growing old and wrinkly together, still pulling shit even when we’re eighty years old. I want it all with you, Rage.”

If I’d thought my heart had been behaving erratically before, I had no words for how it started to behave after Will said those words. I didn’t deserve him, but I could still make up for it. I could still redeem myself and become someone who was worthy of being chosen by the cat onesie.

“And I want it all with you. We just have to remember to avoid cruise liners to make sure we make it eighty years old.”

He chuckled. “Deal.” And then he kissed me again, and I forgot there ever was a time when I’d said I could never choose the cat onesie.

***

The song at the side is "All of Me" by John Legend. It's genuinely one of the sweetest songs I've ever heard. I love it!

Also, the next update might be a little late, depending on how much time I have to write this weekend. I'm seriously behind in my online Government class and need to stop procrastinating so that comes first. If I manage to squeeze some time in on Saturday or Sunday, it'll be up. Otherwise, I dunno. Just letting you know ahead of time so you won't bite my head off!

On the bright side, this chapter is full of Squillage moments for all you Squillage shippers out there (haha that name just kills me) and it's a little longer than usual so it might just hold you over if the next chapter is late. c: