8
Emma looked at AJ and wondered what it was that made him decide to be so nice to her. She’d been around Skinner for months, and although he’d done a lot for her while they’d known each other, he never would have bought her hot chocolate and wrapped her up in a blanket when she was freezing cold. He may have thrown a blanket into her lap, but that was about it.AJ on the other hand was polite. From helping her up off of the hallway floor to lighting her cigarette, he was just polite. Even when he was drilling her with questions and verging on going too far with his prying into her life, he was gentle about it. What shocked her the most about the whole evening was that for the first time in over a year, she was letting someone be nice to her. She was well aware that this man was being nice to her and maybe even flirting with her, and yet she was allowing AJ to be sweet and take care of her even though it was against everything she’d known since she’d decided to leave home. Something about AJ was soothing, but not fake. She’d had her fair share of fake empathy in the time before she’d left home and definitely didn’t want any more of that. What she did want though, was beginning to seem fuzzy all of a sudden.
"I can’t promise you everything…" she told AJ. Skinner barely knew anything about her and she’d lived with him for half a year. She couldn’t imagine opening up and telling AJ or anyone else for that matter "everything."
"I’ll settle for half…" AJ said with a smile.
"I don’t know if I can promise half either…" she said truthfully. There was a comfort in knowing that the people who were around her didn’t know anything about her past. They knew just enough about her to be friendly and have casual conversations, and that was plenty for her. She wasn’t sure if she’d let herself tell AJ things about herself even if she wanted to.
"Let’s start out easy… what’s your favorite color?"
Emma smiled, "Blue…"
"Cool… now, how about your favorite song?"
"Angel Eyes, by Jeff Healey…"
"Nice…" AJ said and smiled. "I love that song. See how easy this is? Now, how about your birthday?"
"What about it?"
"When is it?" AJ chuckled. "And stop trying to be so difficult…"
Emma smiled, "I’m not trying to be difficult, I am difficult."
"When is your birthday, woman?"
"October 23rd…"
"Cool… Mine is January… hold up, October 23rd?"
"Yup…"
AJ looked at his watch to check the date and then back to Emma, "Isn’t today October 23rd?"
"Yup…"
"It’s your birthday and you’re spending it here with me watching lame cartoons after having been drenched in the rain?"
"Yeah, but I got Godiva Hot Cocoa, and I’m not cold anymore. Plus, I like cartoons, even the lame ones."
"Me too… but come on, you should be partying… Celebrating you know?"
Emma shook her head, "I don’t celebrate birthdays anymore… It’s just another day, really."
"No it’s not. It’s a day to celebrate yourself, your life."
Emma kept quiet, she wanted to say that she didn’t want to celebrate her life, but she knew that would open a can of worms that she didn’t need to open. "Yeah…"
"Did you and Skinner have plans tonight?"
"Sort of… not really. I was supposed to go to that club with everyone tonight."
"But?"
"But… Skinner conveniently forgot about me. He was supposed to meet me on the bridge by the Wrigley Building, but he never showed up."
"And you ended up standing in the rain…" AJ said finishing for Emma.
"Exactly…"
"Why the hell didn’t he send the car over for you?"
Emma rolled her eyes and lit up another cigarette. "Well first of all he forgot about me. But then when I called him from the bridge he told me to find a cab."
"You’re kidding me… He knew you were out in the rain and he didn’t send a car?"
"This is Skinner we’re talking about, AJ. He’s not exactly the most chivalrous person in the world."
AJ shook his head and let out a sigh, "But it’s your birthday…"
"He doesn’t know that…" Emma said softly.
"Why not?"
"I told you, I don’t celebrate birthdays…" AJ watched Emma as she finished off her cigarette and he shook his head again before reaching for the phone. "What are you doing?" Emma asked him.
"I’m changing your tradition…" he said and then began talking into the phone, "Yeah, this is Room 1509, I need cake, and a candle, right away…"
