Disclaimer: I own nothing Degrassi...
Emma knew that she was being set up when Snake asked her if she would drive his car to Jay's shop. As she drove toward Jay's place of employment, slowly so as not to cause further problems with the constantly ailing car, she worried over the impending drive back to her house, in Jay's Civic. If only that car could talk. On second thought, thank God it can't!
FLASHBACK
"For a small car, it sure has a roomy enough back seat," Emma joked, trying to lighten the mood that had become thick with sexual tension.
Jay smiled, not his usual smirk, but a large, sincere smile, one of the first he had ever bestowed on Emma. It was such a wonderful gesture, and Jay didn't even realize the effect it had on the woman lying beneath him.
They'd been in plenty of 'almost' situations over the past few weeks, but nothing this close. Emma took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and parted her lips slightly. She waited for Jay's lips to meet with hers in a cataclysmic explosion; the effect they always had. But after what seemed like forever, Emma opened her eyes.
Jay was staring down at her, his face serious. She gave him a worried look, afraid that everything she'd been falling into was about to disappear.
"What's wrong?" she asked, breathless.
Jay leaned forward, placing his hands on Emma's cheeks, staring deep into her eyes. "This is wrong."
"This? Us?"
Jay watched her face and knew that panic was setting in. He smiled at her innocence. "Our first time together. It shouldn't be like this. It shouldn't be in the back seat of my crappy car. It should be...I don't know...special...or whatever."
END OF FLASHBACK
Emma shook her head as she parked Snake's car in the lot, where Jay had pointed. She gripped the steering wheel, forcing her memories away, telling herself that Jay had no hold on her anymore; that she could be oblivious to everything that had once appealed to her.
When she finally came back to Earth, she saw that Jay was staring at her and she realized that she was sitting in Snake's idle car, looking off into dead space.
He sauntered over to the car and knocked on the window. Emma unrolled it. "You okay?" he asked.
No, I'm not. I was just remembering the night you told me you wanted out first time together to be special. Do you remember that? But Emma couldn't reveal her true emotions to the man who had broken her heart. Instead, she replied, "I'm fine!"
Jay backed up, hands in the surrender position, stepping away from her as if she was holding a loaded weapon and aiming it right at him. "Sorry I asked," he muttered.
Emma got out of the car, shutting the door slowly behind her. She had timed the trip and it had taken almost twenty minutes! Twenty minutes in the car with Jay? Disaster was bound to occur.
When Jay got to his Civic, he turned to make sure Emma was following him. She tried to feign a bored look, but probably just ended up looking bitchy. Jay only seemed amused, adding to Emma's ire.
They got into the car and Emma was surprised, in a worried way, when Jay didn't put the car into its normal mode of speed – fast – but drove out of the parking lot at a slow, steady pace. Is he trying to prolong this?
"So, what's new?" he asked, keeping his eyes locked firmly onto the road ahead and far away from Emma's long, slender legs stretched out in front of her on the passenger side. Emma had the most amazing legs that Jay had ever seen; legs that seemed to go on forever, legs that Jay had once known intimately. God, he missed those legs.
"What's new?" she asked, sarcasm dripping from her words.
Jay finally peeled his eyes away from the road to look in Emma's general direction, still avoiding her eyes. "I was just trying to make conversation."
Emma suddenly felt bad. She was being such a bitch and she wasn't good at it. Some girls have the ability to let their bitchiness define them. Emma was just trying to use anger to get back at Jay, which clearly wasn't working.
"Are you trying to provoke me?" Jay questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Provoke you?"
He smirked and Emma cringed. "You have to admit that fighting has always been our best form of foreplay."
Emma rolled her eyes, making sure Jay noticed the gesture. She crossed her arms and looked out the passenger side window, praying the time would magically pass, and she could be away from him.
"It was just a joke, Greenpeace," he sighed. "Remember jokes? Laughing? Smiling? Anything?"
Emma shot him a deadly glare. "Don't call me Greenpeace!"
Jay shifted in his seat, adjusting his seatbelt several times before reminding, "You used to like it when I called you that."
"I used to like a lot of things."
Jay's smirk widened. "Oh, I know."
Emma tried hard not to react to his seductive voice, its deep huskiness the most alluring sound to Emma's ears. But she couldn't control the red tinge that suddenly appeared on her cheeks. She sneaked a glance at Jay out of the corner of her eye and, seeing his smile, knew he had seen her reaction and was revelling in it.
"Why do you have to do that?" she asked, pointedly.
Now this was the Emma Jay knew and loved. This Emma was to the point and direct. Most girls beat around the bush and play games. Emma Nelson was not that type of girl, and Jay appreciated the quality since he was usually pretty forward himself.
"Do what?" he asked, deciding to play coy.
Emma growled slightly, making Jay have to work hard to keep his smile under wraps. "Why do you always have to make me squirm? It's like you get some kind of perverse pleasure out of making me uncomfortable."
Jay shook his head. "Not like that. I just know things about you, Em. I like that I know things about you that no one else knows. I like that we have our own little secrets."
"Yeah, well forget about those little secrets. We're not together anymore. You don't get to be that way with me now."
"I can always be that way with you," Jay warned, meeting her eyes. They stared at each other for five, long, intimate moments. "As long as you let me."
Jay was pushing her buttons, but he was right. As long as Emma gave him the reactions he craved, he would continue to torture her. She needed to find a way to be oblivious to his charms.
They remained quiet for a few minutes, before Emma decided to open the conversation back up. "You see Manny often?"
Jay cringed, hearing the disdain in Emma's voice. "No."
"Aw, and I was really rooting for you two crazy kids."
Jay nodded his head, his concentration remaining focused on the road ahead and not on Emma. "Okay."
"Okay?" she asked incredulously.
"You were expecting something else?"
Jay knew that Emma wanted some kind of reaction from him and he wasn't willing to give her the one she wanted. He could wallow in his debt to her or he could move forward. After nine months of pining, Jay knew the road to getting Emma back, was not by begging for her forgiveness.
"No, I guess to expect anything more from you would just be a waste of time," Emma commented, hoping her words would bite into Jay's thick skin. But his face remained expressionless, giving nothing away. "Wow, you're getting better at accepting your fate, aren't you?"
"Whatever you say."
Now she was really annoyed. She didn't understand what was happening until she had hauled off and slugged Jay in the arm. He gave her a shocked look and pulled the car over to the side of the road.
"What the hell was that for?" he yelled, unbuckling his seatbelt.
She unbuckled hers, determined to explain away her insane act. "You deserved it!"
"For what?"
"For acting like what I think doesn't matter!"
Jay threw his hands up in the air and groaned loudly. Emma watched him with mild curiosity. She wanted him to react, but this was something else. She wondered just what he would say to her when he finally found his voice.
"I don't know what you want, Emma. If I say I'm sorry, I'm not being sincere. If I act like I don't care, I get slugged in the arm. What the hell do you want?" he said, a definite edge to his overly calm voice.
Emma shrugged. "I don't know," she confessed.
"Well at least that was an honest answer," Jay said quietly. He placed his hands on the steering wheel. "It's not that I don't care and you know that. I just don't wanna fight with you."
"It's what we do best," Emma responded, smiling.
Jay's smirk came back and he turned a seductive look onto Emma. "It's not the thing we do best."
Emma's cheeks coloured and suddenly the air in the small car seemed muggy, even though the air conditioning kept the interior at an optimally cool temperature. The tension hung in the air, making just the simple act of breathing difficult.
Jay leaned forward, reaching for Emma. She suddenly felt completely frozen, like someone had numbed her entire body. She knew that Jay was going to kiss her, but she was powerless to make it stop...
Hope you like. Stay tuned for Emma's reaction! Will they kiss? What will this mean for Jay and Emma?
