Reaching Emma

37.

- Luke -

The next week went by slowly and I didn't see much of Emma. We were both busy studying and I had basketball practice and Emma said she had a lot of work to do for her upcoming trial. We hadn't been texting that much either and I missed talking to her. Emma seemed to be getting closer to Steven, I only knew that because Anna and Chloe always brought him up at lunch. I think they even had a date scheduled for this weekend. I'll admit I was immensely jealous, but I knew that I screwed things up with Emma. I needed to accept that she was only interested in me as a friend. So instead of dwelling on what wasn't going to happen, aka Emma and I, which I had been brooding about for a while now, I gave in to Chloe's forwardness and had been hanging out with her more.

Chloe was nice, funny and pretty. We've gone out a few times and always have a good time. I guess we were technically dating now, even though I couldn't get Emma out of my head. As much as I liked Chloe, our connection just wasn't the same as mine with Emma, but we've been growing more and more distant since I started dating Chloe, and her Steven.

After school I went with David to go to this new boxing gym that opened at the mall. We didn't have basketball practice and thought it might be fun to try it out. The place wasn't too crowded, but that might have been because it was so big. There were multiple punching bags set up surrounding a big ring in the center. We chose some punching bags off to the side and started warming up.

"So how are you and Chloe?" David asked.

"Yeah, we're alright. We've been hanging out a lot recently," I replied as I finished stretching. "I just, I guess I just miss hanging out with Emma."

"Well dating Chloe isn't helping with your chances with Emma..." David reminded me.

"Yeah... I don't know, man. I think I blew my chance with Emma and I don't think she even likes me, mostly because she told me that she just wanted to be friends" I replied, putting on the boxing gloves. David looked like he had something else to add, but closed his mouth, not saying anything more on the subject. I started punching the bag and it felt great to blow off some steam.

We spent a few hours at the gym, by the end of our workout I was dripping in sweat and incredibly sore. We gathered our stuff and headed outside. I was so hot that I didn't put my coat on, the cold winter air felt nice after a long workout.

"That was a lot of fun, we should come here more often," I suggested.

"Definitely, that was awesome!" David agreed. "Oh hey, ten o'clock" he whispered, nudging my side. I glanced to my left, only to see Emma and Steven walking towards us.

"Hi" Emma said when she reached us. We both said hello to her and Steven, and Emma asked, "So what are you guys up to tonight?"

"We were just at the new boxing gym" I replied motioning towards the building we came from. I saw Emma's eyebrows raise a little and her eyes wandered from my wet hair and linger on my arms and chest. We made eye contact and I swear I saw her cheeks turn slightly darker. The four of us talked a little more, before we headed home. 

After seeing Emma and Steven together, I felt like doing another workout. I can't say it didn't help to pretend that the punching bag was Steven's face earlier at my workout earlier. I guess I really wasn't over Emma.

I got home just in time for dinner and was immediately met by my youngest sister running towards me. "Lukeie!" She screamed. 

"Hey kiddo, how's it going?" I asked, picking her up and walking to the kitchen.

"Great! Mom's making tacos for dinner!" she yelled in delight, squirming out of my arms.

"Hey mom, dad." I greeted my parents who were busy preparing dinner, "Can I help with anything?"

"No, that's alright Luke. Go have a shower and then dinner will be ready" My dad said. I nodded and headed upstairs. 

After my showered I joined my sisters and parents at the dining room table. I told them about my chemistry test and the new boxing gym and we spent the rest of dinner talking about my mom's new promotion at work and how my sister was doing in her classes.

After dinner I helped wash the dinner and headed upstairs to finish some homework. I was stuck on a question on our history homework and desperately wanted to ask Emma for help, and well... I just wanted to talk to her. I picked up my phone a handful of times, going back and forth on whether or not I should reach out under the pretense of history homework, which I actually did need help some with. I decided to do it and reread my text about a dozen times before finally pressing send and tossing my phone onto the bed. I tried to stay focused on the next question, but couldn't help but keep glancing over to my bed where my phone laid face down.

I heard my phone vibrate with a new message and jumped up from my desk to check it. Emma hadn't responded. Instead, I had a message from Chloe waiting for me. I felt a pang of disappointment, followed by guilt for feeling that way. I dialed Chloe's number, hoping to ease my misguided feelings. I asked her about the history homework, even though she had no idea what the answer was either. I should have known, she doesn't usually pay a lot of attention in class.

We ended up talking for a while, our conversation switching to random topics. While Chloe was telling me about her crazy family dinner, I felt my phone buzz in my hand with a new text. I put Chloe on speaker so I could check my messages. It was Emma. She hadn't been ignoring me after all. She told me what she put on the history homework and it was really helpful. I considered making small talk, but ultimately decided on a quick thank-you, trying to focus back on Chloe's story. I was glad that I had called Chloe; she was my girlfriend after all. We had fun talking the rest of the night and I didn't hear from Emma again.