James couldn't get his mind to stop racing as he parked the car in the restaurant's parking lot, hearing Haley hanging up her phone as they both got out. Walking into the restaurant, he fought Haley's hands that tried to steal his phone from him as he looked for his friend and the girl he had been falling for.
"Over there."
The light haired teen turned his head to see Aaron with his hand juts barely on a laughing Emily's back as they waited for the hostess to come back and tell them their table was ready. Almost charging over, James smacked his friend's hand away and put his in its place.
"Hey," Emily grinned, oblivious to the other football player she was with waving his hand to try and rid the pain. "What took you guys so long?"
Haley locked her arm with her boyfriend's. "I talked his ear off like usual," she laughed. "Do we have a table?"
The hostess came back to the group of four and led them to one of their biggest tables, knowing they were waiting for a fifth, and sat them down. "Can I get you anything to drink?"
Emily smiled to James when he pulled her chair out for her. "Just a coke, please." She waited until everyone else ordered and both James and Haley took the seats next to her before she took out her phone. "I'll tell Penelope where we are."
"She can sit right next to me," Haley said excitedly. Looking to her boyfriend, the cheerleader slapped lightly at his arm. "Sit next to James."
"What do you think you want?" James asked the dark haired girl. He watched as she put one of her curls behind her ear as she texted their friend, and he could feel himself starting to stare. Was it weird he just wanted to watch her?
Looking up, the ambassador's daughter smiled. "You said the penne vodka was good, right?"
The football player was quick to nod his head. "Or the steak," he agreed. "Those are probably my two favorite." Not even looking at the menu that he had been given, James smiled. "How about you get one, I get the other and we share?"
"That's perfect." Glancing over to her blond friend, Emily found herself making a face.
She was giving the football player one night to get her to decide whether she thought he liked her or not, and she was already leaning toward one side.
"While we wait, do you want to go over and play a game?" The restaurant they had chosen had an arcade attached to it for kids and teens to play. "They have that basketball game."
Haley watched the interaction, smiling behind her hand as the brunette agreed and stood from her seat. "I'll order for you two," she grinned.
Emily smiled, setting her phone down. "Thanks."
Following the younger girl back to the arcade, James checked through his pockets for a few quarters. "How about a bet?"
"About what?" the ambassador's daughter laughed.
"If you win you can take me to the movies tomorrow and force me to watch that horror movie you've been so excited to see," he smiled to her.
Emily's face immediately brightened. She had tried to get her friends to come with her to see it, but when no one had agreed to go with her she chose to write it off. She didn't want to see it alone. "Really?"
"But if I win," he countered, "I get to spend the night at your mansion." When Emily's brow shot up, the football player quickly nodded his head. "Yup. I'll be the ambassador's son and you can be my maid."
The brunette's jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"
"You can get me drinks, make my bed, all that stuff. And I will be sleeping in that king sized bed you have." She had invited him in one day so she could help with his homework and he immediately planted himself on the mattress.
"Where am I supposed to sleep?" Emily laughed, stealing the quarters from him.
"The floor."
Emily slapped his chest before putting the quarters into the machine. "So what? Whoever makes the most baskets?"
The football player nodded. "Ready?"
"You're going to lose," she laughed.
"Doubt it." James turned to wink at the younger girl before he picked up one of the basketballs.
Haley reached across the table and took her boyfriend's hand. "Come on, he's had to have told you something about liking Emily."
The dark haired teenager shook his head. "I've caught him staring at her," he laughed, drinking his water, "and we've talked about her, but it's all been pretty friendly. He hasn't come to me to confess anything."
"Why not?"
"Guys don't do that," Aaron denied.
Eyes lighting up, Haley stood and waved her friend over to their table. "Penelope!"
The blond almost ran through the restaurant to get to the table her friends had been seated at. "Sorry I'm late," she breathed, pressing a kiss to Aaron's head. "Spencer introduced me to his mom."
The football player frowned, reaching up to where the other teen had kissed his head.
Haley grinned. "That was cute." She pulled the chair out next to her for the other blond to sit. "James and Emily are back playing a game."
Penelope's eyes widened. "Like a sexual game?"
"I wish," the cheerleader groaned. "They're playing an arcade game."
"Did they kiss yet?"
"No, but I told James that Emily was giving him one day to decide whether he liked her or not."
"But he totally does," the technical genius pointed out.
"I know!"
Sitting back in his chair, Aaron ignored the bickering back and forth that was going on in front of him and took out his phone, going over one of the plays his coach had given him and the rest of his teammates before the food arrived.
Laughing, Emily elbowed James' arm out of the way as she shot another basket. "No cheating!"
"I'm not cheating," he argued, keeping an eye on both of their scores, "I'm winning."
The brunette bit down into her lip, focusing on the basket before her, and shooting in her sixth basketball. Now she was winning.
With the clock winding down on their game, the football player abandoned his own basketballs and wrapped his arms around Emily's waist.
Emily's basketball fell from her hands as the older boy picked her up and spun her around. "Cheater!" she laughed, her arms tight over his to keep herself from falling. "You're such a cheater!"
"I can't have you win," he called up to her, waiting until the timer ran out before he set her back down.
The ambassador's daughter almost stumbled when her feet hit the floor. "You're just jealous I was winning," she said, her tongue sticking out at her.
James shook his head, pointing up to the scoreboard. "We're tied," he corrected her.
Emily pouted. "So what, does no one win?"
"We both win."
The dark haired girl felt her face blossom back into a smile. "So you'll come with me to see the movie?" she asked hopefully.
James nodded his head. "And I get to sleep in your million dollar bed." His arm went around the younger teenager's shoulders before he led her back over to their table, his fingers tickling the nape of the teen's neck. "I'd like my pillows fluffed, maid."
Laughing, Emily shoved the older boy from her and sat herself back down at the table. "Hey Pen."
"Hey," the blond grinned back at her. "What are you getting to eat?"
"James and I are sharing the penne vodka and a steak," Emily smiled, taking a sip of the soda that had been brought to the table for her.
Penelope erupted into a smile. "Fun!"
The cheerleader subtly shook her head, telling the other blond to calm down.
"So what are you guys doing after this?" Haley asked, stealing a piece of bread from the middle of the table. "Do you all want to catch a movie?"
Emily's head immediately nodded. "James and I are going to the new thriller at the mall if you want to join."
Penelope grimaced at the thought. "With blood?"
"Maybe, but it's more of a psychological thriller than a slasher movie."
The cheerleader at the table sat up straighter when she saw their food coming to the table. "Why don't you guys go and tell us how it is?" Turning to the girl at her side, she elbowed her arm. "Do you want to go shopping?"
Penelope looked like she could faint. "Of course I want to go shopping."
Two hours later, after their dinner and the pair at the end of the table fighting over who got the last bites of both their dishes, Emily was pulling the football player by the hand into the mall's theater. "And you're buying me popcorn," the ambassador's daughter smiled up to him.
"Soda and popcorn?"
"You're lucky I didn't add in candy," she teased, pulling him to the clerk who'd hand them their tickets.
Making sure their hands stay interlocked, James clasped his tighter around the dark haired girl's and let her lead him to their theater. "Are you prepared to hold me when I get scared?"
Emily snorted, walking with the older boy into the darkness to find their seats. She loved that all of the movie theaters in their tri state area had been remodeled, the seats now recliners with only six to a row. "Of course I am." Walking down the center row, she and the football player sat down side by side. "Now hand over the popcorn."
It was only two minutes into the movie, Emily finally quieting down after talking her friend's ear off during the promos for upcoming movies, when she felt a touch to her arm.
An older man leaned over the arm of his seat and smiled. "You mind sharing, pretty girl?"
The ambassador's daughter moved toward the football player. "I do."
"I got an empty seat over here if you want."
James was quick to stand and help Emily from her seat. "We're good." His hand to her back, he led her up to the back row where there was only one seat open. "This is it in the entire theater." Watching as the beautiful teenager looked back down to the row they'd just left, he sat himself down and patted the material of the seat.
Emily smiled. "You think we can both sit?"
"Only if you put the popcorn on the ground," he joked. "Come on, sit down. We're missing the beginning of the movie you begged me to watch with you."
Blushing, the brunette set the bucket of popcorn down and settled beside the teenager in the just big enough seat. Moving her body to the side, she was able to settle in between the arm of the chair and James' warm body, her hand on his stomach.
"Don't fall asleep on me." Looking down to the younger girl he wrapped his arm around, he watched as her head settled on his shoulder.
"Keep me awake," she chuckled. Emily wanted to reach into her purse and call Haley and Penelope to tell them what was happening, but James took her free hand and intertwined their fingers again before she could.
James took a chance, settling his chin to the top of the beautiful girl's head. "Comfortable?"
Emily's lashes fluttered. She couldn't even pay attention to the movie, the older boy's warmth taking her mind off the screen and putting it on him. "Yeah," she smiled.