*Crash Into You*

Chapter 7: Discovering Dumb Dates

"Hey Emma!" Craig said as he walked around the bench and took a seat beside her.

"Hey Craig." Emma replied, "I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Yeah, it's been a while." Craig said as he thought about what to say. "How are you?"

"Good, I guess. You?" Emma asked.

"Same, same." Craig said. There was a long pause, "So… you and Manny aren't friends anymore?" he said abruptly.

Emma gave him a dirty look, "No, we're not! What's it to you?"

Craig backed away from her, feeling a bit intimidated by her tone, "It's just that you guys were best friends, it seems a shame to throw that all away over a stupid fight."

Emma squinted at him, "How did you know we're not friends because of a fight?"

Craig felt himself getting flustered. Had he said too much? "Well, I sorta spoke to Manny."

"Oh, Manny told you? So what, now she just blabs our business all over the place?" Emma said defensively.

"Whatever, that's not the point!" Craig said getting as angry as she was, "I'm here cause I know Manny really is sorry for anything she said and I think it would be nice if you tried to patch things up."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Thanks, but I think I'll pass." she said as she got up and walked away.

"Fine, Emma!" Craig called after her as he, too, got up and stormed away.

~*~

"Hey Adam." Manny said as she saw Adam walking towards her.

"Hey Manny." Adam said as he looked down at his feet.

"Is something wrong." Manny asked.

"No, yeah, I mean no! Nothings wrong, I just wanted to ask you something." He said as he played with his hands.

"What is it?" Manny asked with a smile.

"Manny, um… I was hoping, that maybe, you might like to go on a date with me sometime, like say, this Saturday at 7:00?" Adam said in an unsteady voice.

Manny was taken aback, "Oh… um… uh…" she said stalling as she thought back to Craig. "Well…" she continued until she say Adams sad face, "Yes! I would love to!" she said impulsively, not wanting to hurt him.

Adam smiled widely. "Yes! I mean, thank you! I promise you won't regret this!" He said as he backed away cheerfully.

"Oh but I will…" Manny whispered to herself.

~*~

"Ok, so what do you wanna watch? Movie or TV?" Craig asked Manny as he passed her a bag of chips.

Manny shoved the chip nervously into her mouth as she pondered whether she should tell Craig about Adam or not. Somehow she felt guilty about it all. But we are just friends. Manny thought, Even though I'm insanely in love with him!

"Manny? Movie or TV?" Craig asked again while waving a hand in front of her.

"Huh? Oh, oh! Um, how about some TV today?" Manny said snapping out of her thoughts.

"Ok, cool." Craig said as he turned on the TV and sat down beside Manny.

Craig grabbed a handful of chips and began flipping through the channels.

"Oh, stop stop stop!" Manny yelled to Craig. "Smallville is on! Can we watch it?" Manny asked, looking up at Craig.

"Oh, I love Smallville!" Craig said as he flipped back to the channel.

"You do?" Manny said smiling softly.

"Yeah." Craig said, returning her smile.

"Me too." Manny said in a whisper as she laid her head on his shoulder.

~*~

Manny dashed down the street to The Dot to meet Adam.

"I'm so sorry I'm late." Manny said as she walked up to him, out of breath.

"It's ok, but I just don't see why you didn't let me pick you up." Adam said.

"Um, you know, parents." Manny said, trying to avoid the subject of her parents.

"So," Manny said just as their plates were being cleared away, "Tell me something about you, Adam."

"Well, um… I, uh, I have a mom and a dad, and an aunt and uncle," Adam paused as he thought of how to continue, "Oh! I have grandparents too!" He finished with a smile.

Manny looked at him intently, feeling a bit unsure of how to respond to this ridiculous answer. "Wow, that's great! Got the whole package huh?" Manny said nodding her head.

"Yeah!" Adam said.

"Um, what do you like to do?" Manny asked cautiously.

"Um, I like to, to, to… I like to eat. Eating is good." Adam said stupidly.

"Oh, yeah, me to." Manny said slowly.

Manny gave him a forced smile, and leaned back in her chair. This is gonna be a long, long night…

A/N: Sorry I took forever with this chapter, but stay tuned there are lots of surprises to come!