Reaching Emma

6.

I raised my eyebrows as Emma stole a French fry off my tray. Her eyes widened at being caught in the act, but she shrugged it off and grabbed another for good measure. After I dropped Emma off on Friday night, I didn't see Anna or Emma the rest of the weekend. Their soccer tryouts were today and I wanted to watch, but had practice of my own. 

"Oh Anna, here's my jersey for Wednesday's game." David said as he handed her his away jersey.

Emma looked up from her phone, "Why are you giving Anna your jersey? Aren't you playing this week?" I smiled at how little she knew about our football traditions.

Anna explained, "They have a home game this week, so the team will wear their blue jerseys. They usually give their away jerseys," she held up David's white jersey, "to fans to wear to the game. You know, team-spirit and all that." 

Emma nodded in understanding, the bell kept her from replying. I was curious as to what she thought of the tradition because I was thinking of asking her to wear my jersey, but I didn't want to overstep our friendship. I briefly wondered if any of my teammates had already asked her, but I guessed not by her lack of knowledge about the tradition. Word of her turning down Ryan must have spread fast. It didn't seem like any other guys had the courage to ask her out again, in fear of getting denied.

I got up to throw out the rest of my unfinished lunch only to feel David nudge my arm. 

"You should ask her," he said under his breath, just loud enough for me to hear. I sighed, I did want to and decided to ask her after school.

Emma was putting some textbooks in her backpack after our chemistry class when I walked up to her locker.

"How was your day?" She jumped a little; I hadn't meant to scare her. 

She put a hand over her heart and laughed a little, "It was good, pretty uneventful actually."

"That's good. I, uh, was actually wondering if you wanted to wear my jersey to the game this week?" As friends, I mean." I ran a hand through my wait waiting to hear her response. I could feel my face heating up at the last part, suddenly realizing that Anna explained the tradition as any fans wearing their jerseys, but most students knew that players usually gave them to their girlfriends or girls they liked.

Emma looked over at me from her locker. 

"Yeah," she replied smiling, "that sounds great." 

"Yeah? Okay, I'll bring it tomorrow." I replied. I couldn't help but smile back at her. 

David and Anna joined us at Emma's locker a minute later. I was glad they hadn't come over any earlier, but that might have been David's knowingly good timing. We all walked towards the locker rooms together. We wished Emma good luck at tryouts before we got changed for our own practice.

I wiped sweat off my forehead and jogged to grab my water bottle after practice was dismissed. I wonder how soccer tryouts went. David met up with me on the sidelines and we decided to walk over to the back soccer fields, only to see that soccer tryouts had just ended. We spotted Anna and Emma across the field and waved at them. Once the girls spotted us, they jogged towards us. 

"Guesssss what!!" Anna yelled while they were still a few feet away, "Emma made the team!!"

"YEAHH! That's awesome!" David gave Emma a high-five. 

She turned to me with a huge smile, which was probably identical to the one on my face, "Congrats! I knew you would make the team!" I said as I pulled her in for a hug. Anna recounted their entire practice for us.

"She was awesome! I'm so excited for this season! You guys have to come to our games this year!" Anna commented. 

"Should we go out to celebrate?" David suggested. 

"Shoot, I can't tonight." Emma replied as we all started walking towards the parking lot.

"Okay, maybe after the football game? Or this weekend? Or both?" Anna suggested instead, "Andrew is having a party this weekend, we should all go!" We all nodded and laughed in agreement as Anna started planning our weekend when it was only Monday. 

The parking lot was nearby empty; there were only a few cars left from stragglers like us leaving the football and soccer fields.

"Oh, my ride's here. I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Emma said, waving goodbye to us. 

She jogged ahead of us towards an unfamiliar guy standing beside his car. He was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. He didn't look like a student or old enough to be a parent. I watched as Emma ran up to him and jumped into his arms. I could hear her exclaim that she had made the team. She hugged him tightly as he spun her around before setting her back down. They were talking, but I couldn't hear what they were saying as they got into the car. I saw the guy kiss the top of Emma's head and shut the door behind her and walked over to the drivers side. 

"Who is that guy?" I wondered out loud. David and Anna had apparently been watching the scene too, as they both shook their heads looking confused. 

"I have no idea..." Anna muttered.