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Emerson winced as the needle pierced his skin, the nurse sending him a sympathetic look as he hissed in a breath, but not stopping with the stitches.
On his other side, his girlfriend Tia squeezed his hand gently. She was still angry with him - he could tell that from every tense line in her body, the frown still marring her face, and the fact she still hadn’t said a word to him other than to check he was conscious - but he was grateful she had come to ER with him. She was the only one who would actually offer any comfort; Sebastian would just be bitching at him, Remington would be too busy flirting with the nurses, and his mom would be freaking out. Unlike them, Tia was actually a supportive presence…even though she was utterly furious.
She has every right to be.
He had been being a dick with Remington - both Tia and Sebastian had warned them that it was going to end badly…and it had. Tia had been shouting at them for almost kicking her cat across the room, and while Emerson had turned to check on the cat, Remington had tackled him, knocking him to the floor. The force of his fall had knocked a picture frame off of the wall above him, and it had shattered on the floor, sending glass shards flying everywhere: meaning when Emerson tried to get up, he’d managed to drag his hand over one, causing a four-inch gash across the center of his palm.
The whole thing was a major fuck-up on his part.
Tia had been in an awful state by the time Remington had knocked Emerson over - she hated them fighting; it trigged terrible reactions from her, to the point she’d had panic attacks after seeing it. They hadn’t been dating long enough for her to feel comfortable telling him why, but he knew she still felt uncomfortable when they fought. She felt especially uncomfortable when their fighting got too close her cat: an animal that, even if she would never call it that, was basically an emotional support animal for her. And as if that hadn’t been enough, their fighting had resulting in breaking the frame of one of the two pictures of her and grandmother - and it just happened to be the picture that had rested on her grandmother’s bedside table until she’d died and it had made its way to Tia.
It had had incredible sentimental value to her.
And Emerson and Remington had broken it.
Then, as if all of that hadn’t been enough - even though it absolutely was - Sebastian has rolled his eyes at her when she’d asked him to take Emerson to get his hand looked at, and Remington had been totally unapologetic. His only reaction had been to ask Sebastian to take him home - which, after seeing the distraught look on Tia’s face, Sebastian had agreed to, leaving Tia to take Emerson to the ER to get his stitches.
It’s a wonder she can even look at me right now.
Looking over to see how she was doing, Emerson’s stomach turned when he saw that Tia wasn’t looking at him.
She didn’t seem as angry now, but the defeated air that had surrounded her while the nurses were giving him his stitches was so much worse than anger. Anger would mean a fight, and then Emerson would apologise - because he knew he was in the wrong, and no amount of Tia arguing with him would make him angry enough to not think he needed to apologise, even if he argued back with her first - but the fact she’d just…given in? Emerson had never seen Tia look defeated, no matter what circumstances she’d been in. Anger was easy, but defeat? Defeat Emerson had no idea how to deal with.
He opened his mouth to ask if she was okay, only for the nurse to look up with a cheery smile and announce that his stitches were all done and bandaged. She gave him a list of dos and don’ts to look after himself - and Emerson actually listened, because he had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that Tia wasn’t going to be hanging around to help him with it.
It was a feeling that only got worse as they walked out of the ER, while they got his bill and discharge papers, and even during the silent walk back to Tia’s care.
Tia remained completely silent, and wouldn’t so much as look at him, even as they drove away from the hospital. It was the worse car journey Emerson could remember being part of, made even more unbearable because he knew it was all his fault. Remington might have been there fighting him, but it was Emerson who was Tia’s boyfriend, Emerson who knew their fighting made her uncomfortable, and Emerson who had basically forced her to sit through him getting stitches when he’d already ruined her night.
“Tia - ”
“Don’t, Emerson.”
“We need - ”
“Just don’t.” she stopped the car outside of his house…but didn’t turn off the engine, or turn to look at him: “You’re home.”
Emerson couldn’t get out of the car without apologising; if he did, he really didn’t know if he was going to have a relationship with her in the morning: “Tia, I’m sorry.”
Tia just sighed: “I know you are, Emerson.”
“Tell me how I can make this better.”
“What do you want me to say?” Tia sighed again: “I’ve asked you not to fight with your brothers when I’m around, and you couldn’t manage that. I’ve asked you not to fight in my house, and none of you can manage that either. I asked you specifically to stop the fight earlier, and you and Remington couldn’t even do that. I don’t know what to tell you that will make this better, because every time I’ve told you how to make these things better, you don’t do them.”
Emerson opened his mouth to argue…but he couldn’t.
What she was saying was true. It was completely true, and Tia looked so tired of it. Worse than tired, she looked exhausted, and Emerson knew he had driven her to that point.
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah.” Tia breathed tiredly: “Just get out of the car, Emerson. I’m done.”
Emerson’s blood froze: “Done?”
Tia nodded: “We’ve had this fight half a dozen times, and all I’ve gotten out of it is the knowledge that you can’t be bothered to respect the only thing I’ve asked you, even in my own home. You broke my Nana’s picture frame, and I know it was an accident, but…we haven’t even been dating for six months, Emerson, and I’m already so tired. I’m just…done. We’re done.”
Emerson felt his hands start to shake: “Tia, you can’t - ”
“I’ll bring over anything you left at my house tomorrow. Please don’t fight me right now, Emerson; I’m exhausted.”
Emerson was didn’t know how to react. His hands were still shaking, but his head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton wool. He didn’t know what to do, or what to say, or how to convince Tia that he could be better: that she didn’t have to break up with him…and the more he tried, the more he just found himself unable to say anything at all.
“Go inside, Emerson. It’s late, and I want to get home.”
“Please…can we at least talk about this? Not tonight - tomorrow?”
“Okay.”
Emerson got out of the car, and watched Tia drive away into the darkness…and knew that no matter what he said tomorrow, it was going to end exactly the same way.
He was going to lose her.
And it’s entirely my own fault.