Chapter 3 Three

It's now been eleven boring days without Emm around. The house has been quite cold without her presence and I really miss her. We've been talking on the phone though. She's trying her level best to have that project work out.

She's hard working and that's what I love about her.

I just got home from work. Today we had a lot of clients and I've been busier than a bee. I'm so exhausted right now. I got myself some take out, since I knew that I'd be too tired to cook by the time I got home.

So I eat my food as I am watching a new episode of Peaky Blinders on Netflix.

Unknowingly, I stare at the empty spot where Emm usually sits. I sure do miss her. I can't wait to see her back home. Back in my arms.

When the episode is over, I walk straight to the kitchen and get myself a bottle of beer from the refrigerator and pop the lid open. In seconds, I glug down half the bottle of the cold beer.

Then, my phone rings loudly in the living room and I hurriedly walk back and spot Emily's name on the screen.

"Hey babe," I say once I press the phone to my ear.

"Hey. How are you doing?" she questions and I take a sip of my beer before answering her.

"To be honest, I'm completely lonely right now," I say. "But I'll be fine."

"Aw! How was your day?" she asks.

"It was okay but extremely exhausting. I feel like I've been weight lifting the entire day. My entire body feels stiff," I say as I sit on the couch. "What are you doing right now?"

"I'm just standing at the porch, staring at the night sky full of twinkling stars," she answers.

"And how's the project so far? Any progress since yesterday?"

"Yes, everything is going well. Uhm... I just need to sort out a couple of stuff and I'll be done with everything," she says and I grin.

"I'm proud of you. I knew you could do it. I can't wait to see you. Tell you what, I'll take you out for dinner when you come back. You deserve that and so much more for being such a hard working girlfriend," I say and there's an awkward pause.

I've thought alot for a while now and I am ready to take that step forward, to propose to her and right before she comes back, Dave can help me plan out the best proposal dinner ever! I just hope that she'll be done with the project completely.

Her silence brings me back from my thoughts.

"Emm, you there?" I ask.

"Yeah. I heard what you said. I'd love that very much. I was calling to check up on you. I hope you have an amazing night," she says.

"Meh! I doubt it'll be amazing at all without you here," I say and she chuckles a little.

"I love you, Luke Grahams," she says. There's just something special and exciting about how she says both of my names.

"I love you, Emily Michaelson. Goodnight," I coo.

"Goodnight," she whispers and I hang up and release a heavy sigh. Three more days to go and she'll be sitting here with me or walking around the house in only her lingerie.

I chuckle at the thought and I choose to watch a movie for about two hours and later I go to bed. It being a Friday, I see no need to set my alarm for tomorrow. I'm sure my rumbling stomach will wake me up.

****

I am woken up by the sharp and brighter than usual rays of the sun that are spewing into my room through the venetian blinds, which I forgot to pull closed. Emm always does that.

Lazily, I bat my droopy eyelids, scratch my back and yawn carelessly while seated on the bed.

I grab my phone from the nightstand and unfortunately, there's no notification, so I drag myself downstairs to the kitchen.

"What do I eat for breakfast?" I ask myself out loud and open the refrigerator. Instead of having plain coffee and buttered toast, today I'll make myself a nice and healthier breakfast. So I grab some eggs and a pack of bacon and head over to the cooking stove and begin preparing my meal.

The sweet aroma of the eggs makes me hungrier.

Emm taught me how to crack eggs carefully into a bowl and end up with no eggshells. She taught me so much about cooking ever since we moved in together. The first time she asked me to crack eggs into a bowl; tiny pieces of eggshells could be seen in the eggs.

A few moments later, my breakfast is ready and I add some toast and hot milk tea.

I choose to sit in the living room and have my breakfast there, but before anything else, I open the blinds and light fills the entire room.

"Netflix and chill," I say as I dump my body carelessly on the couch and I grab the remote. I should definitely watch a series or movie. I literally have nothing to do all day, why not entertain myself to pass time?

After watching three movies and one season of a series, pangs of hunger strike again. Thankfully, I still have enough pizza and two drumsticks left from last night's takeout. I should just warm them up in the microwave and continue being a couch potato for the rest of the day.

It's been quite a long time since I had the entire house all to myself and honestly, the sight of the house right now is proof that a guy lives here. A few days ago I took off my shirt and placed it on the couch and it's still there right now, my entire week's pairs of socks are in a heap in the bedroom.

I hadn't realized how much Emm does for me, she's always cleaning up after me and she never complains. I should try and put things in the right places.

When I'm done having my lunch, I finish up watching one last movie and I begin tidying up. I am not an untidy person, it's just that sometimes I get too lazy to do anything, not even putting my dirty socks in the laundry basket. But today, I am going to do the laundry myself, clean the house and dust off everything.

Emily loves a clean house.

After picking up clothes that have been lying around for days, I put them in the washing machine and leave them to wash as I clean the rest of the house.

When every part of the house is sparkling clean, and I have taken a cold shower, I check the time on the wall clock.

"Oh, come on! It's only 3PM? What am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?" I groan as I dump myself on the couch.

As I am pondering upon what to do for the next three or so hours, my phone rings and I fish it out of the pockets of my sweatpants.

"What's up, Dave?" I answer.

"Where are you?" he asks.

"At my house. Very idle actually," I confess and he chuckles.

"You deserve it, yesterday's work was intense. I was thinking of coming over, Gianna asked me to pass by the grocery store and grab her some stuff," he says.

"Why don't you go get the stuff she needs and then come over?" I suggest and he agrees.

"Cool, see you in a few," he says and I hang up.

****

After thirty minutes or so, the doorbell rings and I shoot up from the couch and head to the door and I yank it open.

"Luke, the mail man just told me to tell you that your mail box is full, maybe you should try emptying it on the weekends?" Dave says as he hands me a handful of letters that he took out of my mail box. Emm always empties it out.

"Thanks. I'll try and remember that, come on in," I say and he walks casually past me and dumps himself onto the couch.

"Need a drink?" I ask him and he nods. I then walk to the kitchen and I grab two bottles of beer for both of us and I head back to the living room and place them on the table.

"So, how does it feel to be all alone in this big house?" Dave teases and I roll my eyes at him.

"Devastating but I'm still alive, am I not?" I reply as I begin checking the letters one by one.

"Bills, bills, bills. We work so that nearly all of our money can go to bills. Tough life, huh?" I say.

"Tell me about it. Gianna actually wants us to move out to a bigger house. She says she wants one where our kids can run around freely," Dave says and I chuckle.

"Your house is already bigger than mine, how big does she want her new house to be?" I ask as I read another letter.

"Women," Dave snorts and sips his beer. "That's alot of mail, bro."

"I know. Plus even though I've got all the time in the world, if I don't check them today, I never will. Most of them are either bills or from Emm's book club..." my words trail off as I land on a rather well decorated letter, that has tiny pink flowers printed on it and my names in the middle in gold. I frown when I pick it up and open it.

I lean back on the couch and begin reading carefully.

"What's that?" Dave asks and I ignore him.

My hands begin to shake when my eyes land on a familiar name at the end of the letter.

It's a wedding invitation.

"What the fuck is this?" I say and Dave grabs the letter from my hand and when he reads it, his eyes nearly pop out of their sockets and stares back at me.

"Do you know about this?" he asks.

"The real question is, did you? Or is this a prank?" I ask and shake my head. This can't be true.

"This must be a joke," I say as I grab the letter again and scan it again from top to bottom.

"No fucking way!" I say and I throw the letter on the glass table and I get drowned in my thoughts as I rake my fingers through my hair.

What the hell did I just read?!