Reaching Emma

23.

I woke up with a certain blonde girl cuddled against my chest, still asleep. I never noticed the faint freckles that ran along her cheeks and nose. Her eyelashes were long, even without makeup and her lips a perfect shade of pink.

She let out a small moan and squirmed in the sheets. Her eyes slowly opened, looking up at me, our faces mere inches apart.

"Good morning, beautiful" I said quietly, my voice coming out raspy.

She smiled, her eyes were still locked with mine, "Good morning."

I could have laid like that with her forever, but alas, our moment ended just as quickly as it came. I heard a knock on the bedroom door, and saw Anna slowly opened it, peeking inside hesitantly, "Good morning, love birds. Breakfast is ready." 

She closed the door before either of us had a chance to reply, leaving Emma and I alone in her room once again.

"We should get up, I guess" Emma said reluctantly. I watched her get out of bed and brush her hair. I took this opportunity to look around her room. I walked over to her bookshelf, which was filled with a mixture of classics and rom-coms and some of her school books piled high with papers. Her room was an organized disorder, she had clothes that weren't put away, but it was still relatively clean. Photos, makeup, and a variety of trinkets were scattered across the top of her dresser. I wish I could have looked at all her photos, but I didn't want to prod too much. She noticed me looking around, "See anything interesting?" she teased me.

I just laughed and we headed to the kitchen to see what Anna and David had been up to this morning. As soon as I left Emma's room I was hit by the smell of bacon and French toast. Emma and I sat down on the kitchen barstools, thanking Anna and David for making breakfast.

Since David and Anna made breakfast, it was only fair that Emma and I did the dishes. Anna and David seemed content with this trade and went to the living room to watch TV. 

"That was so nice of them to make breakfast," I commented.

"Yeah! I'm surprised that there was enough food here to make anything" she joked. "Do you cook a lot?"

I thought about her question as I scrubbed a pan, "Not really, although I do have a few signature dishes: pasta, tacos, cereal..."

She laughed, "Wow, those all sound so good. You'll have to make me some of your signature cereal someday."

"Is that sarcasm I hear?!" I joked, flicking some water at her.

"Of course not! I'm sure you're a wonderful chef, Luke!" she replied still laughing, her voice filled with sarcasm.

"In your dreams, sweetheart" I replied, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her flush against my chest. I reached around and wiped my soapy finger on the tip of her nose, catching her by surprise. She squealed as the soap ran down her face. She twisted in my arms trying to get away until she was facing me. My arms were still around her as she leaned against me. 

"Oh, you think that's funny?" I asked, starting to tickle her sides and she started laughing uncontrollably; I didn't realize she was so ticklish.

"Everything alright, in here?" I heard Anna ask from the kitchen entrance. I looked over to see her and David both sporting the same teasing smirk. I dropped my hands from Emma's waist and cleared my throat, "Yeah, just cleaning up."

David raised an eyebrow at my lame response, but they didn't say anything else as they went back to the living room. Emma looked at me like she was trying not to laugh and I just rolled my eyes at her response, trying not to smile as well, but hers was so infectious.