Reaching Emma

17.

I closed my locker and looked down the hall towards Emma's locker a few feet away. She had just put her phone down and was switching out some textbooks. I walked over to her, leaning against the locker next to hers. 

"Good morning , beautiful." I greeted her. 

She looked at me with wide-eyes and raised eyebrows, and for a minute, I panicked. Did she not remember our conversations about nicknames at the party? I had a pretty bad hangover the next day and Emma is much smaller than me, she could have easily not remembered. Oh man, why did I say that? I ran a hand through my hair, my mind was racing as I thought of how to fix this. 

"I- uh..." I stuttered, unsure of what to say to amend my previous statement, but thankfully, she cut me off before I could continue my rambling. 

"Good morning Luke," her shocked expression had disappeared and she turned back to her locker, but I could see that her cheeks were a shade darker.

I didn't mean to ask, but it just came out without much more thought, "Is that okay?"

She gently closed her locker and turned to lean on it, facing me, "Yeah, it is. You came up with some good ones" she said, a small smile playing on her lips and her cheeks still looking warm.

"But I have to warn you," Emma continued. I furrowed my eyebrows, warn me? She laughed a little as she continued, "Just don't let Noah hear you call me that." I knew she was joking. Well, as least partly, she had told me before about how protective he is of her.

"Why is he so protective anyways?" I asked, genuinely curious.

She bit her lip and looked away from me as she replied, "Well... We've just been through a lot together. It's a long story. I'll tell you more about it another time, is that okay?"

I nodded. I didn't want to push her to tell me if she didn't want to.

Emma has been on the phone for the last 20 minutes of lunch. I suggested we walk to lunch together but she said she'd meet me at our table in a few minutes, I think she went into an empty classroom for some privacy because I haven't seen her since. I bought her some French fries and a cookie so that she wouldn't have to wait in line and would actually have time to eat. I sat down with my two meals, joining the rest of my friends at our usual table. 

"That's sure nice of you, Luke." Samantha commented, a hint of teasing in her voice, "Remind me again, why you two aren't dating?"

"We're just friends, Samantha." I replied, looking down at my food.

"Riiiigghhhttt." Samantha replied and I could just about hear her smirking in her statement while David and Anna tried to hide their giggles.

"Whatever." I replied shortly, rolling my eyes at their childish behavior. 

Emma sat down a few minutes later.

"Hey. Is everything okay?" Anna asked, but Emma just nodded and brushed it off.

"I, uh, got you some food, so you won't have to wait in line," I said as I pushed the fries and cookie towards her. Even though Samantha's comment made me more me self-conscious of the gesture. 

Emma looked up from her phone, "Oh, my gosh! Thank you. I really appreciate it." She gave me a genuine smile and grabbed a few fries from the basket. I nodded and smiled down at my food.

"Are you guys coming to the game today?" Jack asked the three girls.

Emma looked confused as she asked, "I didn't know that there was a football game today?"