From the Heart (A Valentine's Day Anthology) by M.B Feeney, et al L.J. Harris

always made his green eyes shine. And I was staring right at him.
    “Good … things are good,” Rebekah answered him, and I instantly felt relieved. She could have said a lot worse, but she didn’t. Thank heavens for small mercies. “I’m sorry to hear about you and Brooke, by the way. Sucks, huh?” Shoot me. Shoot me now.
    “Um … thanks,” Tyler answered, his expression more guarded than it had been when he’d first walked inside. He cocked his head to the side, looking around Rebekah until his gaze met with mine. “Emmy.” He nodded as he acknowledged me, and that small gesture made my stomach do that stupid cartwheel thing it always did whenever he spoke to me. I entwined my fingers in my lap and tried my best to smile.
    “Tyler.”
    When he turned away, I blew out a slow breath and rested the back of my head against the booth, feeling Rebekah’s eyes on me the whole time.
    “What in the world was that?” she asked, and I turned my head just enough to be able to witness the look of horror that was now clearly displaying over her face.
    “What was what?”
    “Emmy?”
    I shrugged and leaned forward, peeking around her to make sure that Tyler was no longer close enough to hear our conversation. Thankfully, it didn’t seem that he was paying any attention to what we were talking about. As he casually leaned up against the counter, I watched as he removed his baseball cap and began raking his hand through his dirty blonde hair a few times while waiting to place his order.
    Bringing my attention back to Rebekah, I shrugged, “It’s what he’s always called me.” I explained as I rested back in my seat.
    Her eyes narrowed at the same time her lips formed into a tighter than tight line, “Isn’t that what your mom, dad and brother all call you?” she questioned.
    I nodded, still confused by her reaction, “Yeah, why?”
    “And Tyler has always called you that?” I nodded again and she grimaced. “Okay, then this is going to be a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I think it’s time for us to skip right past plan A and work on getting you through plan B.”
    “Um … and what exactly is Plan B?”
     

 
     
    CHAPTER 2.
     
    “Emily! Wait up!” I heard my name being called and immediately spun around, feeling intrigued when I saw Rebekah rushing down the sidewalk, obvious urgency in each and every step she took as she made her way closer.
    “Hey, are you okay?” I asked, noticing that her cheeks were a brighter shade of pink than usual and she was panting for breath. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in volleyball practice?” 
    She nodded, “I’m headed there now but I needed to catch you before you left!” Whatever it was, she was definitely excited if the tone of her voice was anything to go by.
    “Well? What is it? Did you ask James? Is that it? Did he say yes?”
    “James?” she asked, appearing confused. “Oh! James! No, no. I didn’t ask him yet.” She waved her hand dismissively and went to reach inside her bag.
    “You didn’t ask him yet? If you didn’t ask him then what are you so excited about?”
    She grinned and hooked something from out of the side pocket before offering it over to me.
    “What’s this?” I questioned, and lifted my hand to accept the neatly folded piece of paper from her.
    “That right there is Plan B,” she stated proudly. “And there’s no need to thank me.”
    My shoulders immediately tensed just from hearing those words and I began to shake my head, refusing to accept the piece of paper that she was still trying to push inside my hand.
    I thought that she would have forgotten about Plan B by now and moved her attention onto something or somebody else. Or at least, I’d really hoped that she had.
    “Are we really still on this?” I whined.
    “Just open it up!”
    Deciding to humor her, I hesitantly unfolded the paper, my brow furrowing deeper when I saw what was written on the inside.
    “Wait.