Only With You

Good investment

  “I want the turkey sandwich today :)” Emma texted me about ten minutes before the bell rang signaling the start of lunch hour. And now here I was, paying the woman from the cafeteria for Emma’s lunch and my own lunch as well. The day was hot and humid, which turned the cafeteria into one big semi-sauna with thousands of sweaty and hormonal teenagers confined in it. So this was the perfect occasion to avoid sitting in my usual table with my group of friends and go outside to enjoy the sunny day with Emma.
       
         Almost a week has passed since I met Emma, the morning I went for a run, and it was amazing how fast I got along with her. While being with her I could feel like I was talking to any other of my close friends. Maybe not as close as April, but still very close. She was a quite laid-back girl, really funny, but also very flirty, which wasn’t exactly a problem to me because I was confident enough to flirt back. For once, I was glad about all those crushes I had in the past, cause those where my first steps on learning how to be confident around girls. Especially with pretty girls like Emma. Or April.
       
         I sighed and started walking towards Emma’s locker, where she was waiting for me, like every day other day of this week. I was waiting to take my head off of things, like always, because honestly, I was sick of my own thoughts about April. I don't know what was wrong with me nowadays.

        More than a week has passed away since I stopped being on my period and despite me being mad with her, these stupid thoughts about how much I miss her or how pretty she is keep coming to my mind. Not to mention the mental picture I have of her standing in my porch with a sad face on Monday morning. Now I felt terrible about it, because I never thought that maybe April wasn't thinking about that or she didn't mean to say what I thought she did. I assumed the worst about her, just because I was mad.
        
        We had spent all of that week without talking, mostly because I would ignore her or walk away every time she walked my way with her cute sad puppy face. I know she wanted to say she was sorry, and at this point I knew that I would hug her and tell her everything is okay, but something was keeping me from doing it. Maybe it was the fact that every time she got close to me to talk, Zac was standing right beside her. I really was learning to hate that guy and something about him wasn't right, I've know it since the day I met him. 

        I knew it wouldn't be long until April and I have to talk, but when it happens, I will make sure Zac isn't there to interrupt our conversation. About our group of friends, they noticed April and I don’t talk to each other, but they didn’t question about it. Which make me question if April told them everything that happened, considering they are pretty curious whenever something like this happens between April and I.
        
        They also met Emma on Tuesday. I couldn't spend another lunch without them after spending it with Emma the previous day, practically ditching my friends for her, so I invited Emma along and I introduced her to them. Everyone seemed to get pretty well with her and she even made them laugh with her pretty good jokes.
        
        The only problem was April, who also spent lunch with us, but the look on her face made obvious the fact that she wasn't happy about Emma being there, or happy at all. Maybe it was the fact that she knew Emma was the one who gave me the jacket, or maybe –just maybe- she was just sad about the fact that I found a girl who I seemed to be very close to now. After all, April was always the kind of jealous best friend who wouldn't let another person get as close to me and she is. But now she couldn't make a thing about it, because I was pushing her away and bringing Emma in my life to fill the space she left behind after the fight.
        
        I know the fight won’t last forever and I have to talk with April to fix things, but this past few days with Emma really made me forget about my problems. The weekend was coming along soon and I couldn't avoid April any longer. I knew she would approach me while I’m home, and honestly, I was looking forwards to it, because I was missing my best friend since I started avoiding her due to my weird feelings around her.
       
        I bring my mind back to reality as I reached Emma’s locker, where she was leaning against it with her shoulder, looking the opposite direction of me and  where I was standing. Even with Emma showing me just her back I could see she was looking intently at a group of girls ahead of us. Does Emma has a crush on one of those girls? Nah, I doubt it.

         Instead of wasting my time standing there I decided to surprise Emma and wrap my arms around her waist from behind, resting my chin on the top of her head before talking to teasingly her.
         
        “Does little Emma has a crush on one of those girls?” Emma jumped slightly in my arms, but left out a little sigh when she realized it was just me. Considering I was always a touchy person and Emma was even touchier than me, we had gotten ourselves pretty comfortable around each other when it comes to show affection. 

        Emma shook her head and turned around, looking up at me while saying, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” I had to look down to make eye contact with her. Aw, she is so little.

        I raised my eyebrows at her. “Oh really? I saw you looking at that group of girls,” I said, making a little movement with my head, to point at the place the girls were.
       
         She shrugged slightly. “Can’t I look at some girls without having a crush on one of them?”
        
        “I guess, but considering the way you were look-”
        
        Emma cut me off, “How was I looking at them?”
        
        It was my turn to give her a little shrug. “Like you had a crush on one of them, I don’t know how to explain it though… I didn't even get to see which one of them you were looking,” I trailed off. 

        She smiled and tilted her head to the side before talking to me in the same teasing tone I used on her just a minute ago, “Are you jealous Izzy?”
        
        Out of instinct, I nervously unwrapped my arms around her waist as fast as I could, and took a step back while shaking my head. “Nope, I’m not. Not at all.” Was I? I tried to change the subject quickly and took the bag with the sandwiches from my bag. “C’mon, let’s go outside to eat. The cafeteria is like a sauna right now.” 

        Emma looked at me suspiciously for a few seconds before nodding. “Alright, let’s go Izzy.” I was glad she didn’t decide to keep teasing me. Instead, she hooked her arm with mine and we started to walk to the doors of the school.
        
        As soon as we reached our spot outside, under one big tree, we took a seat and I took out the rest of the food from my bag pack, which consisted in two apples and Emma’s orange juice, along with my Gatorade.
        
        After Emma swallowed her first bite of sandwich, she decided to talk, “I was thinking today…”
        
        I gave her a little smile and made a fake surprised face. “Wow, you actually used your brain today?” 
        
        Emma pushed my shoulder playfully and we laughed together. “Ha ha. Very funny, Izzy,” she shook her head a bit before she continued talking, “Anyway, I realized you bought me lunch every day this week. Which I’m very thankful for, but I feel like I owe you something, so-”
        
        I cut her off quickly, “But you don’t owe me anything. I do this because I want to.”
        
        Emma gave me a little nod. “I know, but still… So, I wanted to invite you tonight to a party as a thank you. My friend is going to throw this big ass party for all junior year and I thought it would be nice if you went with me.”
       
         I started to open my mouth to reply, but Emma quickly cut me off, “I mean, as friends.” I could feel the nervous hint on Emma’s voice and I wondered if she was nervous about this party or it was the fact that she didn't want me to think she was kinda asking me to be her date for this party. But maybe I was the one over-thinking things I shouldn't be over-thinking about. Maybe I should start thinking about what does matter, like Emma asking to go with her to this party. 

        It was Friday night, so today was a good day to go out. Also, the weather was perfect for a party, my parents didn't have a problem with me going out, Emma was a nice company, and this could be another chance to take my head off of April –which was something I have been trying to do a lot lately- so why not?
        
        I gave Emma a little smile and said to her, “I would love to go this party with you. Seems like buying you lunch was a good investment.”