Emma

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟖

Emma just got comfortable on the couch, settling in with a bottle of apple juice and some of her unhealthy snacks mixed into the pile of James' healthier choices when the big guy came back into the library. His features had relaxed from the idea of a quiet evening at home and looking up she was greeted with a warm, happy smile. He looked like a kid on Christmas as he unloaded the stack of cardboard boxes in his hands on the table in front of her.

“Are you ready for this?” James asked, acting like a giddy child as he looked from the colourful boxes and over at her. Whenever sleepovers allowed it she always had a game night at least once a month. Most of the time Hunter and Stephanie would join as well, but this time it was just the two of them.

Which, if she was being completely honest with herself, she didn’t really mind… Sure, volleyball was always a good sport and the angel in a trench coat’s multiple questions about the game of the night always made for an interesting evening. But having some alone time with James. Just Emma and the man she loved. Well that was something else completely.

Of course, the big guy was completely unaware of her feelings for him, but even spending an evening as his friend was enough to make her overjoyed. Just think… A whole evening of secret glances and laughter with the man she was  too much of a coward to verbalize she loved. It might have seemed like torture for some, but she loved spending time with him. Even from the, oh so torturous position of a friend.

So as James let himself drop down on the couch beside her, his blue eyes sparkling at the idea of an actual quiet evening, the smile she shot at him was real, and possibly a little goofy. Damn, God might not be around all that much anymore, but he did a hell of a good job with the man next to her.

Shaking her less than innocent thoughts away she drowned out her own heartbeat with her words. Emma's excitement not faked, as she was more than happy just being his friend and having fun together like this.

“Alright! What are we playing?” Emma asked, her eyes leaving him to look at the stack of board games in front of them to decide on one, completely missing the warm look James gave her as his eyes wandered from where her shoulders were touching, and up to her smiling face.

“Well, there's only two of us so poker’s out of the question,” Emma said, picking up the deck of cards on the top of the board games and placing it next to the stack. When it came to card games she only knew blackjack and poker, so the twelve members of the royal courts waiting within the deck would just have to sit this one out.

“Chess?” Emma asked pointing to the wooden box he’d snuck into the pile of colourful cardboard boxes. He’d barely spoken the words before he started chuckling at the thought himself. Maybe that, or maybe it was the grimace she threw him. She'd never been very good at chess. He’d tried to teach her before, and it didn’t go very well. Turning slightly in her seat so that she was facing him, fully realising how close he really was, she decided to remind him of his former attempts at teaching her chess.

“Do you really think that’s a good idea? Don’t you remember the last time you sat me down to teach me chess?” Emma asked, a happy smile still on her lips as she raised an eyebrow towards the by now laughing man. “I just don’t have it in me to learn it,” she added, sticking her tongue out at the man who was clearly remembering the last time he’d tried.

“If I remember right you got so bored you assigned them all roles in a story instead?” James chuckled as he hit his arm with a pillow. Dodging another hit and retaliating by letting his fingers play across her waist. Making it impossible for her to speak or seek revenge as her laughter filled the room until she finally had to say uncle.

“Y-Yeah...” Emma gasped when his hands finally fell from her sides. Leaving her with only the memory of his touch as her whole body felt warmer. “My queen was in love with your king and she sacrificed herself for him. Her knight stepped in to protect her last moment in what was the most epic love triangle chess has had since Chess the Musical,” Emma said, throwing the young man a blinding smile as his hand went up to mess up her hair.