𝙏𝙀𝙈𝙋𝙏𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 • 𝙇𝙍𝙃

25. i'll always love you

I'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

emma had been avoiding natalie like the plague ever since she found out her and luke slept together.

unsure of the girl's intentions, emma didn't want to step on any toes. especially if her superior had her eyes set on a certain blonde.

to be fair, she did, but natalie was never the type of girl to go after a man who is clearly unavailable — even though luke nor emma realizes this.

while natalie may have come across as nasty or problematic, she took a step back and realized that emma leaving caleb for luke could work in her favor.

after catching luke leaving the bathroom at the party, it was obvious something had gone down in there. realizing that emma's lipstick matched the shade that was smeared on luke's face, it didn't take long for her to put two and two together.

natalie took a leap of faith and assumed emma must still have feelings for her ex, not that she could blame her.

over time, she had turned bitter. natalie had always been at the top, the right-hand for caleb's parents — the owners of the company. until emma showed up, sprung a relationship with caleb, and practically swooped in and stole natalie's spotlight.

clearly caleb's parents would favor emma over natalie, she was practically their daughter after all.

but it didn't prevent natalie from becoming jealous as she grew a strong disliking for the girl over something that wasn't even emma's fault.

but if emma goes back to luke, she'd have to haul herself back to san francisco. thus, giving natalie the opportunity to steal her number one title back.

this explains why natalie was so eager to help luke out when he called her, practically begging her to aid him in his little plan.

it was simple, really. all she had to do was make sure the elevator was empty when luke and emma got on.

♛

after receiving her seventh missed call from caleb, emma decided to shut her phone off. she already knew the boy was mad at her when she left, and she didn't want to dwell on the long talk she was sure they would be having tonight.

instead, she wanted to enjoy the short car ride with luke. emma felt more content sitting in silence with luke than she had at the coffee shop with caleb.

the blonde pulled up towards the entrance, throwing the car into park and watching emma unbuckle her seatbelt.

"thank you for this, i owe you one" emma leaned across the seat and gave luke a small kiss on the cheek.

as expected, his cheeks were a rosy pink within seconds as emma pulled away from him and opened the car door.

feeling valiant, luke quickly took hold of emma's wrist, preventing her from exiting the vehicle as she sat back down again, looking at luke with furrowed brows.

as he grabbed and stared at her hand, he couldn't help but think something was different, though he waved the thought off.

he mirrored her action, giving her cheek a simple kiss before grinning. "have a great day at work, i'll see you later — did you need a ride home?"

the brunette anxiously toyed with her fingers, now feeling shy and distracted as her cheek was tingling from luke's lips.

"i'll just get an uber" she responded with a forced smile, not wanting to make luke drive the distance to pick her up.