Reaching Emma

19.

"You were home late last night, Luke. Did you have fun at the game?" my mom asked as I walked into the kitchen on Saturday morning after the basketball game.

"Yeah, it was awesome. We had court-side seats and even met some of the players," I gushed, still in denial that was true.

"Wow! How did you get so lucky?" My mom asked while getting breakfast ready for my youngest sister before her play-date.

"My friend Emma, you met her at the game, she had some connections" I explained, grabbing some cereal out of the pantry.

"That sounds like a really fun night, sweetheart! I'm glad you had a nice birthday with your friends. We can celebrate with your sisters tonight if you want? I could make steak for dinner" she suggested.

"That sounds great, mom." I replied. She nodded and rushed off to get Charlotte dressed to see her friends. The rest of the weekend was uneventful. I celebrated my birthday with my family and hung out at home, watching TV and catching up on homework.

I almost missed my alarm on Monday, I wasn't looking forward to another day of boring classes. I groaned and rolled out of bed, trying to make up for my lost time.

I pulled into the school parking lot as the first bell rang. I had to jog to my first class so I wouldn't be late. I slid into my seat as the final bell rang, saying a quick hello to Emma, who was sitting to my left. Our teacher started class before I had time to say anything to Emma and I immediately zoned out. My grades were pretty good this semester, despite spending most of my time at football practice and hanging out with friends.

I glanced over at Emma who was paying attention and taking notes. As if she could feel my eyes on her, she turned towards me with an amused smile, as if to ask if I was paying attention. We had been getting closer lately and I couldn't help but wonder if Emma had changed her mind about her dating rule. I couldn't bring myself to ask her though, I didn't want to ruin our friendship or get rejected. I shook my head, I needed to stop thinking about her. I focused on the teacher, trying to tune back in to today's lecture. When the bell finally rang Emma looked over at my notebook.

"Take a lot of good notes?" she joked at my almost empty page.

"Uhh... Not really," I laughed, rubbing the back of my neck.

"That's alright, you can always borrow my notes if you need to or we could study together. And the exam isn't for a few weeks anyways." she reassured me.

I parted ways with Emma to go to my locker since I didn't have time this morning. Anna caught up with me instead, since we had second period together.

"Morning Luke! How are you?" She was chipper this morning.

I looked at her skeptically. It was still so early, how did she have so much energy? "I'm good... How are you?"

"I'm great! How are you and Emma?" She asked. I paused while reaching for my textbooks to give her a skeptical look. What was she up to?

"Uh.. what do you mean? We're good. Why?" I stuttered.

"No reason," she replied bouncing lightly on her feet, "You and Emma just looked pretty cute together last weekend."

I furrowed my eyebrows and Anna must have noticed my confused look because she pulled out her phone and turned her screen towards me. I saw a picture of Emma and I from the car ride home from the basketball game. We were holding hands and Emma's head was resting on my shoulder and my head was leaning against hers. It was actually a really cute picture. I ran a hand through my hair and looked back at Anna who had a smug look on her face.