CHAPTER THIRTEEN: SECOND-BEST

If there was a Devil, I would sell my soul to make it end.
-James Frey

There's a side of Emma Carter's family she rarely ever gets to see, not out of any dislike of them or because they didn't live enough enough; it's because her mom won't let Emmeline around them without getting her in trouble even when she gave her permission, or picking a fight with the other adults, or yelling at the children.

So eventually, she just stopped asking to go.

Though she'll never understand why, Emma couldn't be around the only family she had left that loved her was a problem—sure, her mom and her dad's family never really got along, but that didn't mean they ever treated her daughter with the same distaste.

Not everyone was an undiagnosed borderline personality that made others walk on eggshells, and the Carter side of her family understood that.

It wasn't fair.

On the Carter side, there was Grams and Papa Levi. To some, Grams was Nana Rose, or Auntie Rose, but to Emma she will always be Grams. Even if, in fact, she was her strangely young-looking, feels like she's an immortal, great-grandmother.

Their grandchildren are Stephen, Emma's dad, and Wyatt, her uncle.

Since his wife and only brother died in the span of three weeks, Wyatt Carter hasn't been the same. Through the grief, he still had to raise his two kids- -Cameron and Camille, who are only a year old than Emma- -and he's still done a really good job at it.

Besides her Grams, he's who Emma likes to be around the most. His silence is lovely, it says more than he ever will and Emma in fluent in his language of loneliness. Together, they've bonded over the grieve.

Cameron and Emmeline were close though, and were each other's favorite cousin. Camille was outside it all, and the two girls never got along. 

The way that Grams explained it to Emma when she complained about it was like this:

"The girl's grieving, she just lost her favorite uncle and mother, her mother, just as you lost a father and your favorite aunt." (That didn't process in Emma's twelve year old mind that at that moment, her and Camille were the same.) "And you're all any of us have left of your father. Her dad spends all his time comforting you instead of her. She's hurt and jealous, cut Millie some slack."

Grams had given the exact same speech to Camille. Not that either of them would ever know it. Disappointingly, the way the two interact wouldn't change for a very long time. Camille was too jealous that Emma still had a mother, and Emma was too jealous that Camille had a father.

Because of all this, Emma is surprised to see Cameron and Camille standing in her school's hallway, but once they see their cousin, Cami turns away. It instantly makes more sense than she was just dropping her twin off. 

He doesn't know how to drive anything other than an electric scooter. Emmeline loves Cameron, but he's kinda dumb.

As in 'willing to do obviously stupid things with Emma that are quite possibly life-threatening as long as he can get a good laugh from it' dumb. Cameron's always reminded her of a puppy who hasn't grown into it's paws yet.

Reminiscent of that is how Cam grins at her, going "Em!" and rushes towards his cousin, only to trip half way there and step on her feet—she nearly caves in under his weight. Overgrown puppy is right.

"Aw, Cam," Emma grumbles. "I'm all covered in slobber now."

"Em!" Cameron cheers again, his arms that once awkwardly extended at Emma's middle coming in to hug her tightly. "I found you!"

"You did, yeah." She agrees, rolling her pearl grey eyes as she's just squeezed harder, causing a wheeze to escape her lips. Any tighter and she might find it hard to breath.

"Come home with me?" Cameron asks hopefully. "Please? Or we could go to your house, I could see Aunt Grace, or we could chill with Jess—I didn't come here for nothing, Em."

"There's no way I'm taking you to go see my mom, fuck off." Emma puts a hand on his forehead and pushes him away. "If you want to go to Jess's house and dick around then you have to ask instead of being annoying about it."

"But I never have to ask."

"Yeah, and you're always annoying."

"I'm not a genius but that sounds like an attitude to me."

"Well at least you're right about something," She says, grinning. "You aren't a genius."

Sometimes Emma hates her mother even more just because she passed down her height, because she not only has to look up but is practically powerless against defending herself from being squished into the side of his frame. Cam is a good six-foot two and she thinks he could keep growing to be as tall as Xavier, which isn't quite a pleasant thought to have.

Turning best she can, she catches the amused look in Jessamine's brown eyes—as she had dodged Cameron when he tripped, and Calum instinctually pulled Xavier out of the way. How Cal was more protective over the Devil than Xavier was of him, Emma will never know.

Cal is smiling awkwardly, truly having a 'who the fuck are these people' expression on his face, and Xavier is simply glaring at Cam—who's still hanging off of her (squishing her). She knows that look, that's the why the fuck are you touching my things look. 

But this time, directed at her.

Oh great, the Wolf boy was being possessive.

Today wasn't a good day for Emma, and while Cam made it better, Xavier's reaction somehow canceled it out. The instant happiness she got at seeing her cousin trades out for a bit of anxiety, and an unreasonable amount of annoyance. 

Walking closer, Xavier Wolf practically stands over Emma but keeps both his hands deep inside of his leather jacket's pockets—intimidating Cam more than he's doing anything to her. "Who's he, Princess?"

If the way that her cousin steps back slightly and squeezes her tighter isn't enough of a show-case to say that he's scared, him squeaking out "You know him, Em?" certainly is.

"Cameron Carter—" Emma stresses. "—meet Xavier Wolf. Zay, meet Cam." She pauses, tilting her head back to meet his ultramarine blue eyes. "Be nice."

The devil shrugs. "No promises."

After introducing Calum to Cameron as well, and Cam pressing the issue about them spending time together for the first time in a while, the group decide that since Jessamine's parents knew everyone there, they'd go to her house. Jess, Emma and Cam—both the Carter's driving with her—got there first and quickly went to go the basement for a group night. 

Jessie nods as she passes her older brother, who blocks their path down the stairs. "Born survivor."

"Raised dead." Julian nods back, fist bumping Emma when he sees her. And with that, the two siblings continue on and the blonde leads her friends to the basement. 

They quickly set up the table tennis and foosball tables, turn on music, and start passing liquor bottles around—attempting to play pool while they were laughing hard enough to make Jessie sprint up the stairs so she doesn't piss herself.

Until Xavier and Calum got there, it felt like something that could happen a few months ago—and it was something that they've done before—and for a few moments that was okay with her. It was Friday, it was easy to say this would be an good day to get drunk, but actually doing all but a few moments later so felt like trying to drink liquid anxiety in a bottle for Emmeline Carter.

Before Xavier got here—because she needed it to be before he got there—Emma excused herself from the games, and the playing, and her loud best friend, and excitable cousin and hopes the liquor isn't to strong on her breath when she stumbles into to Thatch's living room.

"Emma?" Faye, her Aunt Faye, questions, eyebrow arched as those brown eyes she's oh-so used to seeing on Jessie's face digs into her side profile. "Are you okay?"

"Can we talk?" Emma asks—hopeful, and sad, and wishing she could do this with her own mother. Instead she settles for second-best.

"Of course." 

Faye stands to greet her, hands slipping easily onto her arms, guiding her onto the back porch as the teenager stumbles her steps until she's sat down on the lawn chair, staring out at the blooming apple tree.

"Tell me something." Instructing this gently, Faye motions to the hot drink now seated on the table, steam blowing gently towards Emma—she wonder when her aunt got up to make tea in the first place. 

"Okay." Emma says, slurring only a little. "I had to get away from your daughter, she's—she's so happy, right now. It's exhausting. I'm sorry. Don't tell her that."

Faye smiles a little bit. "I won't, I promise. Did you only come up for the quiet?"

Emma thinks—or rather attempts to think—for a moment before shaking her head, not quite knowing what she's saying but sure that she wants to say it. "I needed to talk?"

"About?"

"Oh... I don't know." She frowns, tilting her head at her aunt and sipping her tea when Faye motions for her to do so. "Do ya' remember my, my dad?"

This makes Faye's smile turn wide and genuine and before this moment, Emma didn't realize it hadn't been. "Of course I do," She says. "We were friends since before high school, I know everything about that man."

Emma's head reels back as if she was offended and she finds herself correcting Faye with "Knew." in place of any real response.

"Right, of course." The older woman accepts this with grace, blowing at her tea for a moment. "I knew everything about him. So yes, honey, I remember. Why?"

She just shrugs, resting her head on her left knee while staring up the swirling tea in her cup. "It just feels like, like nobody, y'know, remembers him anymore. It's like, like he never existed. I dunno what to do about that."

"Well, tell me some of the things he did when he was here." Faye suggests. "Might make it seem a little more real. That's what helped me when my parents died. Talking about it."

"Your dad's... he's dead too? We should like, make a dead dads club." Snorting a little, Emma laughs into her cup as she takes a drink. "You really want me to tell you 'bout him?"

Faye nods, "Tell me everything you can remember."

And so she does.

↞♡↠

She's mostly sober by the time she heads back down to the basement. 

There she finds Cameron and Julian (who seems like he just came down for a drink and got distracted) in a very serious sounding match of beer pong, Jessamine kissing Calum on the couch between drunken giggles and Xavier Wolf sitting in front of the TV, playing Mario Kart on a Switch.

"There you are Princess," The Devil calls, turning to glace at her slightly. "Thought you disappeared on us."

"Nah." She says, throwing herself on his back, sinking lazily against him with her arms hooked over his shoulders. "I was hanging with Jessie's mom."

He scoffs. "She's better company than us?"

"Oh, loads." Emma replies shaking her head to throw some of her unruly brown curls into his face. "I take it you've never met Faye."

"I just walk in and that's it, you can't expect anything else from me." With a feral grin, Xavier turns and practically drags her onto his lap, giving her the other side of the Switch controller. "Take this, tell me about that idiot over there and have fun."

"Sir, yes sir." She drawls sarcastically, leaning her back against his arm. "Well, we met when I was a baby, I don't remember a lot from back then, but let me tell you, he was just as annoying, if not more. Cried all the time. Well... I guess not a lot has changed."

Xavier chuckles and lets her get all her sarcasm out of the way as they begin to race, just basking in each other's presence, a little bit drunk and all together the weird epitome of teenager that they definitely don't want to be.

When Emma Carter was little, her mom used to smack the back of her head and remind her that she should never miss a good chance to shut up.

Right now, she's pretty content with the fact she's never been good at following directions.