DISCLAIMER: This story is completed, however it is unedited. I wrote this story when I was very young, and it is reflected in the work. If you are looking for the edited version of Love, Emma as seen on my Instagram or Facebook, this is NOT it.
. . . . . . . . . .
"E-Emma? It's okay y-you know. I-I'm used to i-i-it."
"You shouldn't have to be, some people disgust me, the nerve of them."
"I can't blame t-t-th-them, I m-mean l-l-l-look at m-me." He sounds so defeated, even though I can tell he's trying to hide it, so hurt and broken and utterly defeated. And that, to me, is absolutely heartbreaking.
Whipping around, he bumps into me, clearly not expecting my abrupt stop.
"I am looking at you, and you're beautiful Nathan Walker, beautiful."
There's tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat the size of a basketball, and my eyes are burning, and my heart hurts but it's so fast, pounding a beat against my chest---because he should know. People like Nathan deserve to be told how unequivocally, unconditionally, completely beautiful they are.
. . . . . . . . . .
Emma Dawn is a sixteen year old girl in the big city of Toronto who befriends her school's social pariah, Nathan Walker. Outcast for his looks, Nathan's a very quiet, very gentle, giant, but everything's not that simple; the tough guy one might assume him to be is nothing like what he actually is, not with his stutter, continuous insecurities, and his social anxiety.
While their friendship develops, both at school and at his families Italian-style Cafe, Emma slowly starts to tear down his walls, finding herself deeply caring for the boy she finds behind them---a boy so caught up in his life's worth of ridicule, he has no idea of how beautiful he is.
Read on into the story of Emma and Nathan, where she helps him come to terms with his anxiety, breaks his insecurities, and every other social standard set to define something beautiful.
. . . . . . . . . .
As Emma entered the school, she saw Josh approaching her. He had a distressed and upset look on his face. "Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked.
"Sure?" Emma agreed. Her heart started beating faster as she wondered what was wrong.
"I thought we agreed to keep out relationship secret," Josh stated.
"We are," Emma told him. "I haven't told anyone..."
"Then how come the whole school knows about us?" Josh demanded, his blue eyes narrowed. He was visibly angry but trying to keep his cool.
"Are you serious?!" Emma cried, a shocked expression on her face. "I swear the only person who knew about us was Lizzie!" Then it hit Emma like a brick wall. Lizzie must have gone blabbering about her and Josh. Emma had clearly told Lizzie not to tell anyone, especially Kendra and her friends.
"Lizzie...." Josh mused. "You're friends with that weirdo?"
"Yeah...." Emma replied, ashamed. "I specifically told her not to tell anyone either! That bitch!" Anger started flaring up as Emma tried to sort it all out in her head.
"That's why I told you to keep our relationship a secret!" Josh cried. "You can't trust anyone around here!"
"I know, I messed up!" Emma sobbed, covering her face as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry Josh! This doesn't mean we have to break up, does it?" She gazed up at Josh with teary, sad blue eyes.
"Unfortunately, yes," Josh stated regretfully. "Now that Kendra and her friends know, we can't see each other anymore. I'm sorry, Emma."