Author's note: I don't know where I'm headed with this, it isn't meant to be a one-shot, but a lack of interest may send it that way. This would never happen on the show, it was simply inspired by how hot Miriam and Shane are together. Unfortunately for all, we have to deal with Emma's disgusting crush on Peter this season. RIP Emma/Jay. No problems with Spinner and Darcy, Sparcy or Dinner, whatever the kids are calling it these days. Cute. Reviews appreciated, but this was a spur of the moment type writing so don't be expecting too much.
"You should go, they called him in today."
"Fuck," she whispered as she looked down at the counter.
"Do you want me to call you when I get out?"
"What does it matter, we never do anything anyway," she coldly replied.
"Em...come on, you know I want to," he said.
"And this is the part where you include a 'but'," she said interrupting him.
"But," he said turning his head and smiling. "He's been there for me. I can't just go behind his back like that. Especially since you two are the only people I have left."
"I've been there for you too, you always seem to forget that part," she said with a sigh.
"I don't forget that, I wouldn't forget that. You're the only person who gave me a chance at redemption."
"And you gave me that same shot. That's why this is supposed to happen."
"And maybe it will, but it can't now."
"I know," she whispered as she got up from the counter and started to walk to the door.
Walking in was the one face that she'd been trying to avoid the past months, that of Jay Hogart. Instead of the usual icy stare, she just looked at the ground, while he looked at her dumbfounded. He knew she had been avoiding him, and finding her at his place of employment just didn't add up. She had hated him once, months ago. The STD, the ravine, the humiliation, everything added up in a way that made her fume. And she did just that, fumed. For weeks, she shot him down each and every time he tried to apologize. But when the end of the year parent-teacher conferences rolled around, just before he was expelled, she saw him being led through the doors of Degrassi by his stumbling drunk mother, and realized it had all come from something else, that we're all just a bundle of really bad experiences. Now he just made her feel guilty.
"Meet me at the Dot," Spinner had once told her, and she hadn't looked back since.
He half-heartedly had tried to set her back up with Jay. When she showed no interest, he started to bring up other topics. They both admitted to the guilt they felt when it came to Rick and Jimmy. They talked for hours some days. Yes, it was between him dealing with other patrons, but it didn't matter, she knew deep down she had all of his attention. However the friendship was put on pause during the weekends, because that's when Jay worked.
After passing Jay on her way out, she walked home as she normally did after days of Diet Coke's behind the Dot's counter.
"On the house," he'd tell her, with a smile, as he served the other nameless customers. They all had stories, she knew that, but hers was the only one he cared about.
She dragged her book bag against the ground, as if the weight of a Marine Biology book was far too much for her to handle. Five-hundred and forty-six steps to her house when she wore her tennis shoes, slightly more on the days that called for heels.
She always left the basement window that led to her room open. She was waiting for the day that when they left The Dot together at the end of the night, instead of walking off in their separate directions, he would follow her home. He would walk the five hundred and forty-six steps with her (slightly more, if she had been wearing heels) until they reached her house. She wouldn't have to fumble around with keys, or distract her mother just enough to get him in, they could both just easily slide through the open basement window.
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"Nelson? I thought she had put this place on her blacklist a long time ago," Jay said, obviously puzzled.
"I guess even you can't come in between a girl and her love of strawberry milkshakes," Spinner replied uncomfortably.
Uncomfortable was the perfect word to describe his demeanor whenever Jay had been around. He hadn't done anything wrong. Emma wasn't Jay's girlfriend. Even if she was, he hadn't done anything that could have gotten him in trouble. Free sodas and good conversation wasn't crossing the line. Still he thought about crossing that line, and that was guilt enough for his already-full conscience.
He'd apologized more times this year than he could ever remember. Sorry, Ms. Hatzilakos, for fucking up your school. Sorry, Jimmy, for fucking up your life. Sorry, Manny, for being a fucking horrible boyfriend. Sorry, Mom and Dad, for getting kicked the fuck out of school. Sorry, Rick, you're fucking dead.
He knew Emma didn't ask for any apologies. In fact, she'd spent the last year dealing them out too.