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She turns away from us, looking at the floor. Clearly this room is usually for teaching, since there are chairs stacked up against the far wall. It’s empty otherwise, and Daniel’s the only one sitting down, probably because he’ll puke if he stays on his feet. Poor fucking guy tortures himself even more than I do.
“We want you,” I say, walking up to her. I put a hand on her shoulder and for a second, she tenses.
But she relaxes a second later, turning around to face me. “Why?” she asks, such a simple question.
And suddenly it makes sense. It all makes sense, all of it, all the confusion and the rejection. I can’t help but laugh at her question, which only makes her more upset.
“I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “It’s just, it’s so obvious. You think you don’t deserve us.”
She nods her head. “Of course I don’t.”
I laugh again and take her hands. “Listen Emily. You do, you really do.” I look around at the others. “Tell her.”
“He’s right,” Carter says. “I’ve never met someone like you before. There’s just this…”
“This hunger,” Aiden finishes for him. “I feel it too.”
“We all do,” Daniel manages to croak. “Although mostly I just feel like death right now. Don’t mind me, I was in Vegas trying to drink myself to death.”
She frowns at him, but I pull her attention back to me. “You deserve this more than you know. We want you for a reason.”
“Why?” she asks again.
“Because of how you make us feel.”
“He’s right,” James says. “You do something to us…”
“Something amazing.” Aiden steps up to her, and we’re all surrounding her. I lean forward and kiss her softly.
“Amazing,” Carter echoes. He pulls her chin toward him and kisses her.
Aiden kisses her next, followed by James. Finally, Daniel gets up, ambles over, and kisses her softly.
“I’m here because I want you,” he says simply, and sits back down.
She blinks and shakes her head. She steps away from our group, across the room, and looks out the window.
“I’ve been picturing this moment,” she says softly. “Ever since I walked out. I don’t think I should have walked away back then, but I can’t change it now. I mean, this is what I want.” She turns back to us.
“So take it,” I say.
“But all of the problems are still there. I mean, how can we make this work? We all live in different places.”
“Actually,” Aiden says quickly. “I think I can help with that.” He walks over to the computer that’s built into the podium next to the whiteboard and boots it up. After a minute, he pulls up a real estate listing, a gorgeous townhouse in Old City.
“I bought this,” he says, looking around. “It’s six or seven bedrooms, a bunch of bathrooms, all the shit we’d need to live together.”
Her eyes go wide. “You did what?”
“I bought this,” he says again. “Well, James helped a little. Actually, everyone helped. We split it, and we want you to live in it.”
“Me, live there?” She stares at the listing. The house is beautiful, absolutely gorgeous, and in a fantastic neighborhood. “I can’t.”
“Sure you can,” I say. “You live there, and whoever is in town will live with you.”
“I’ll be there full-time,” Aiden says.
“Me too,” James adds.
