Reaching Emma

7. Emma

-Emma-

"I made the team!" I yelled as soon as I got closer to Noah.

"That's awesome!" he replied, burying me in a big huge. Noah gave me a quick kiss on the top of my head and we walked towards his car. I talked his ear off the entire way home about soccer tryouts. I was really excited and pretty sore.

I just about collapsed when we finally got back to my apartment. I quickly changed clothes and got comfortable on the couch, resting my backpack next to me. It was weird having homework to do, but I also didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. Well, except calculus. I hated calculus.

I pulled out my Chemistry book and started working on tonight's homework.

"Whatcha doing?" Noah asked, curiously peering at my notebook over my shoulder. I hadn't even noticed him come into the living room.

"Chemistry homework. It's pretty boring though" I replied, finishing the sentence I was on before giving Noah my complete attention.

"How was your day?" I asked him once I set my books on the coffee table.

"It was good. I had a few calls this afternoon. I'm thinking about renting office space nearby, I get too distracted working here and I'm going to New York this weekend to meet with Marc Jacobs. " Noah explained, talking about his work.

"That sounds great! And I saw a few ads for co-working spaces nearby where you can rent an office." I suggested.

"I'll have to look into that. Anyways, tell me all about your day. School, teachers, classes, friends, the whole shebang. Let's hear it." Noah got comfortable on the coach and settled in to listen. He had been so busy with work lately that I hadn't had much time to tell him much about school and everything, besides that it was going well.

"Hmm..." I said, trying to figure out where to start, "I really like my classes, well most of them. I like History, Chemistry, and Spanish. I don't like my math class, also unrelated, I am really bad at math. Everyone is really nice, I've already made some new friends!"

"New friends? Tell me more about them," Noah asked.

"Well at lunch, I've been sitting with a few people. There's Anna, she's super nice and we get along really well. She plays on the soccer team, she's the one that was helping me practice. Samantha is really friendly. She's on the volleyball team and is dating Jack. Jack, Luke, and David are on the football team. They're all really fun. I think David likes Anna, but I'm not completely sure yet."

"And the other guy? Does he have a girlfriend?" Noah asked, trying not to sound protective, but sounding protective.

"Luke? He's great... He's really nice and helped me find a lot of my classes on my first week. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a girlfriend." I replied, smiling as I thought about Luke. "But don't worry Noah, I told them all that I'm not dating right now." I explained before he could say anything else.

"You did? How did that come up? You didn't tell them about... about everything did you?" He asked, sounding more concerned now.

"Okay, don't freak out, but-" I paused when I saw his eyes double in size, "I said don't freak out! Plus I haven't even said anything yet!" Noah put his hands up in surrender, but shifted closer to me, waiting to hear what I had to say, "Anyways, a guy did ask me out at lunch, but I said no because I'm not dating right now after everything with Jeremy" I finished.

Noah nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Oh also, we might go to a party this weekend." I said casually, trying not to make it a big deal.

"We? " He asked simply.

"Yeah, Anna, David, Luke and I. I'm not sure if Samantha and Jack will come." I replied.

"Did you want me to come? I can change my flight." Noah offered.

I laughed at his protective nature, "No, that's alright. I'll probably stick with Anna most of the night." I said.

"Okay... but can you text me before and after? " Noah replied. I appreciated how protective he was, he had every right to be after the trauma we went through with my ex-boyfriend. It was nice to know that he cared about me so much, he was always there when I needed him.

I agreed to his simple request and wasn't surprised that he had a few more questions.

"Will you need a ride? I think Thomas should be here by this weekend," Noah offered. I didn't realize that our driver from LA was planning to come up, but shook my head in response.

"No, I should be alright. I was thinking of going to Anna's house after school on Friday to get ready, so I'll just ride with her." I also told him who was throwing the party, where it was, and again promised to text him throughout the night.

I was excited for the party, but wasn't quite sure what to expect. I imagined it would be more like the high school parties that I saw on TV rather than the LA party scene I was used to, which was fine by me.

After talking for a while longer, Noah cooked us dinner and we watched TV before I remembered that I had to finish my Chemistry homework. Noah had some work to do tonight too, so we both moved to the kitchen breakfast bar. It was nice to spend some time with Noah, he's been so busy at work, as well as I've been with school. I glanced over at him as he was typing away at some long email. I was so glad to have such an incredible friend. He must have felt my gaze on him, because his typing slowed and he dramatically whipped his head towards me.

"Can I help you?" he asked in a teasing voice. I shook my head, trying to hide my smile and turned back to my homework. The rest of the night went on like that, us just hanging out and joking around.

Jay called a while later when I was getting ready for bed, but I was used to his late calls. His schedule had been so crazy recently that I was excited to talk to him whenever I got the chance. He usually tried to text me during the day, which was hard for me with school now, so we've made a habit of talking at night. I was excited to share the news from soccer tryouts with him, I didn't think that Noah had told Jay the news yet.

It was hard being away from Jay, I had gotten so used to seeing him everyday that I missed my friend, at least I still had Noah with me. I probably wouldn't have had the courage to come out to Wisconsin without Noah by my side.

After talking on the phone with Jay for a while, I found myself dozing off to one of Jay's concert stories and had to tell him goodnight before I hung up, with a promise to talk soon.