Hey, people, guess what?

I got my first flame. You know what that means, right?

IT'S STAYING EMMA/JAY NO MATTER WHAT!!!

happy reviewers throw confetti and cheer. Small, insignificant, tiny little ANT of a flamer grumbles in a dark corner

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In a way, this was probably Jay's first real chance to do something about his feelings for Emma. He was incredibly, insanely, undeniably nervous. He'd never really felt this way about a girl before. Emma was just.... perfect, in a crazy kind of way. He wanted to be sure he didn't screw it up. He had to move carefully, proceed with caution.

And whatever you do, DO NOT bring up Cameron. I repeat: DO NOT bring up Cameron.

As he finished mentally drilling that one rule into his brain, he stepped through her front door. Her house seemed nicely coordinated, only really lacking in neatness. The stairs had bags of groceries on them, as well as baby toys. Looking into the living room, he spotted more toys, papers, and a stack of movies on top of a VHS/DVD player. He walked in a little further, slowly, and then turned to face Emma.

"Mess? What mess?" She smiled, becoming a lot less tense. Looking toward the stack of movies, Jay went through them idly. Most of them were pretty old, but there were some newer ones. As he perused the titles, he watched Emma out of the corner of his eye. She was moving things around, picking up baby toys and putting them beside the couch. Finally, she sat down and looked up at him cheerfully.

"Well? Pick one and let's get started." She said, picking up her notebook. Jay sighed and popped a movie into the VHS player.

As the movie started, Jay found it was getting increasingly harder to pay attention. Emma was taking notes avidly, and keeping her entire focus on the screen. He was certain she had forgotten he was even there.

"Would you like some popcorn? I can go make some." She asked, pausing the movie.

"Sure. Ok." He said. He stood to follow her into the kitchen.

"So, what do you think of the movie so far?" She asked nonchalantly, finding a box of Pop Secret.

"Huh?" Jay hadn't even been watching.

"I thought it was alright. I've seen it a million times, though." Jay was relieved. She didn't seem to notice his slightly less-than-intelligent response.

"Uh, yeah. Same here." he mumbled. She handed him a can of soda and sat down to wait for the popcorn to pop. He sat down next to her and opened his soda can.

As they waited, Jay was feeling more than a little uneasy. He liked this chick. No, really liked her. In other words, he REALLY didn't want to screw this up. Not that it wasn't screwed up already.

The thought of Emma being with that DJ sent his blood boiling. It was hard NOT to notice the looks he was giving the Aden chick. Why Emma didn't notice was beyond him. He knew exactly how smart she was. He wanted nothing more than to sucker-punch the asshole. Of course, that would definitely not be good for his and Emma's relationship.

And then there was Cameron. That was an entirely different deal.

He looked up at Emma and sighed.

"Well, blondie, I'm bored out of my damn mind. Tell me more about this stupid play, if you're so against it." Emma turned to him and rolled her eyes.

"It's this stupid musical thing. Starts off, there's this guy and his girlfriend lying in bed together. He's leaving for the army next morning and all that. He gets there, and he misses this girl terribly, but there's another woman who is very ill, or insane, or something like that. And she falls in love with him. He can't shake this girl no matter how hard he tries." She shrugged. "But in the end he ends up falling for her anyway, and they have sex, and she dies that night, and he has to be locked away in an asylum."

"... Charming." Came Jay's sarcastic reply.

"I know, right?" she answered, removing the popcorn from the microwave.

They moved back into the living room and Emma sat down. She scooted over for Jay, who sat close enough to touch her. They continued watching the movie in silence. Jay's mind strayed from the movie to the girl next to him. He couldn't help it, he had to say something about the DJ.

"Emma, listen. I know I'm a jackass for saying this, but I think your DJ-"

"Likes Hazel Aden?" She finished. "I know. I thought so too, at first." She moved closer to Jay and smiled. "But then I realized they're probably just good friends. I've seen the way he looks at her and that's how I know."

"What are you talkin' about? I saw it too, and that was no friendly look." Jay was shocked that Emma couldn't see that.

"Well, it's the same way you look at me... that's how I know." She said, smiling.

....No Comment.

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AN: Ok, you guys. Writer's block REALLY sucks. I'm hoping this trip that I'm going on will help me out. I'll update a.s.a.i.g.i. (As Soon As I Get Inspiration)