I. Heart Of Gold (Uneditied) ✔️ ORIGINAL

Twenty-Eight - Secret is Out

Maddox's POV:

Before we could even try to explain our story, Wes told us dinner was done. We all grabbed bowls, served ourselves and went to go sit down at the dining table in Emmi's dining room. Once we all got situated and started eating, Jamie eyed Emmi and I. "So, you two are a thing now?" She asked.

Emmi nodded shyly with a smile. I chuckled at how she was acting. She was so nervous, and when I put my hand on her knee, she jumped. "Relax, Em." I whispered with a smile.

Cassie smiled, "Em, we aren't here to judge who you date. Besides, we can tell Maddox is a better person just from his actions towards you." She took a bite of her chili and hummed happily. "This is amazing, boys."

"Thanks!" I grinned.

"Can I say something?" Nikki asked. We all nodded and she repositioned herself in her seat, sitting up straight. "I knew it the whole time."

Gigi rolled her eyes, "The hell you did."

The girls laughed and Wes smirked at me. "So, how long has this been going on?" Lilly asked.

"Do you want the whole story? Or just when we started dating?" I asked.

They all looked at us in disbelief, "Everything, please!" Cassie shouted.

I looked down to Emmi and she nodded, letting me take the reigns at explaining it all. I started telling them the story, but Cassie stopped me. "I need popcorn for this. Hold on!"

She ran into the kitchen, grabbed a large bowl and put some of the bag of popcorn Wes had gotten in it. She came back over and put it in the middle of them all, as we all sat at the table. "Okay, continue." She grinned.

Emmi giggled and ate her chili, dipping her bread in it as I spoke. "So, where was I...oh! So, the night of the game I took Em and her brother home..." I continued and when I got to the part of where I said we were friends that kissed at first, Emmi blushed, looking down at her chili.

Lilly almost spit out her chili, "You were friends with benefits?"

"No!" Emmi quickly shouted.

Nikki chuckled, "Em, you were. Even if you didn't do anything but kiss, that's still FOB."

Emmi shook her head frantically, "No it's not!" She argued.

I felt my lips pull into a side smile and I wrapped my arm around her, "It...it was Em. I just didn't want to label it that way. I didn't want to scare you off with that label. I mean, we were still figuring out our feelings and you had just broken up with that asshole...I didn't wanna put pressure on you with that specific label."

Emmi bit her upper lip in thought and finally looked up at me, "Okay...thank you for doing it that way. You're right, it would have put a ton of pressure on me with that label." She smiled the bright one that made my heart skip a beat every time I saw it.

Gigi sighed obnoxiously, "Can we get back to the story?" I could tell she was eager to know what happened next, as was everyone.

I chuckled at how impatient she was being, "Yeah." I continued the story and as I got to the end, the girls squealed so loud, my ears burned and Wes flinched.

"So you really have only been actually dating for four days?" Jamie asked, excited.

Emmi nodded, batting her eyelashes, "Yeah...so Black Friday when he was smiling the whole time you guys were shopping...it was all me." She blushed.

"I thought it was weird that he wanted to talk to you with my phone that day." Nikki said.

I chuckled, scratching the back of my head, "Yeeeeaaaah...I wanted to make sure she was okay. And I didn't want to call her after she got off the phone with you, so it only made sense to do what I did."