Well, again… thank you all so much! I still can't believe all the support I've gotten so quickly on this fanfic and I am so happy to hear how many of you are enjoying it… despite me trolling all of you last chapter into thinking Noah and Emma were going to hook up. Not sorry! I embrace the full on perfection of awkwardness and miscommunications that is Noah and Emma's relationship. Lol. XD Anyway, this chapter begins minutes after the end of the previous chapter. Hope you all enjoy! :)

(Emma's POV)

I put my arms around my knees as Noah and I kept sitting on the floor next to each other while leaning against the couch, having no idea what to say… and I was the one that said I wanted to talk!

Not to mention I have probably never been in a more awkward situation in my entire life… and coming from me that's saying something, especially when talking about us.

All I could do was bite my lip, kind of wishing I left the TV on to fill the painfully awkward silence, while still trying to figure out where to even start after what just happened.

I slowly glanced over at Noah, who still was refusing to look at me with an almost painfully embarrassed yet lifeless look on his face, as he just kept staring at the floor in front of him. Last time I saw him anywhere near close to this state was during the race.

He was resting his elbows on his knees before tilting his head down and then gripped his hands into his hair, looking completely stressed out as he let out a painfully long sigh.

I pursed my lips as I kept looking at him and felt like I wanted someone to smack me when I got distracted by the fact that he still had his shirt off right now.

C'mon Emma, not the time! Get a hold of yourself!

Sure, everything about this situation was completely awkward, but… I don't know?

I guess… I just felt really bad for Noah right now if I'm being really honest.

Sure, was I flustered that what he just said completely ruined the best make out session I've ever had, despite me not having many to begin with?

Yes, no doubt I'm annoyed.

But at the same time, I don't think I helped the situation either by freezing up and looking at him like he was a freak.

In my defense though, I was caught off guard and wasn't expecting him to just say that completely out of nowhere. But then again, it also made me think about a lot that I haven't factored in before about us.

As much as we talked to each other or texted almost every day, we never really got too into talking about things that were personal so far in our relationship. Sure, Noah knew I had an ex-boyfriend that put me off from dating for 3 years, but… I never asked or knew if Noah ever dated anyone before me?

Not that it entirely matters, but after what he admitted just now, I couldn't help but not be kind of curious in some way about it. Particularly now... I feel like I have something I need to tell him right now too since this is just out there.

I was hesitant, almost even more now than when I broke him back when I told him we had to temporarily take a break during the race.

After trying to reach out several times, I bit my lip as I put a hand on his shoulder and started, "Noah?"

He still wasn't looking at me and I was about to try and coax him out of whatever self-deprecating box he's sealing himself in right now until he said, his voice sounding muffled, flat, and sulking, "Look, if you're going to laugh at or break up with me, then just do it."

I tilted my head at him and questioned, "And… why would you think I would do either of those things right now?"

He didn't respond and just stayed the way he was by still refusing to look at me and completely self-sulking in every possible way.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous.

I reached in and forced him to look at me as I said, getting annoyed and wanting to make a point, "The only way I'd break up with you right now is if you don't just look at me while we're talking, okay?"

I think that did it since he finally made eye contact with me, begrudgingly and still almost looking pained from total embarrassment, but hey it's progress!

"Noah, I just want to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me." I said, trying to make sure I was being completely sincere since all I wanted was to know, and also not keep him from just being upfront with me.

After a couple painstakingly quiet seconds he sat up a little more and let out a sigh before nodding at me.

I was trying to come up with the best way to word it without coming off insulting since that was by far the last thing I wanted to do right now, especially since I didn't even care how he even answered, "Just out of curiosity, have you dated anyone before me?"

I mean, I remembered when Owen mentioned that Noah never had a girlfriend before, but having a relationship and dating are two completely different things to me, so… I just wanted to know.

Slowly, I watched Noah reach back, rubbing the back of his neck before looking back at me and admitting, letting out a long and strained sigh again, "Honestly… no. Never dated, never had an actual crush, never had a girlfriend, or never kissed a girl except you. Go ahead, laugh."

I could tell he was getting idiotically defensive which was really annoying me even more, but… I had to remind myself that I had to look at this from his angle right now.

He's a 21 year old guy and he probably has this stupid idea that he probably thinks I'm not interested in him anymore or that I think he's a loser or something because he has pretty much no experience outside of me.

Which I can't completely fault him for that since I know there are girls who would probably laugh at him and think he was a loser because of something completely ridiculous like being a virgin still in your early 20's and… I hate that for many reasons and especially for something personal.

I turned more toward his direction after getting enough gumption to just say it as I said, trying not to sound pathetic, "I'm not laughing. And if its all the same to you, I've never… had sex either."

If he wasn't looking at me before, I had his undivided attention now since his eyes looked like they were going to fall out of his head as he stared right at me in a state of shock as I looked away on reflex.

My face literally felt like it was on fire, not believing this conversation was even happening right now.

Even though I don't know why he looked so surprised about it in my opinion?

Also to me, Noah couldn't be anymore wrong about how I feel about him now. The fact that I'm pretty much his first everything is actually really... sweet to me. And also only makes me like him that much more in some weird way.

Ugh, who am I kidding?! I'm still into him so bad it makes me want to smack myself.

Besides, I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a weird feeling for me too since I wasn't used to feeling like this in any situation. Mainly with me feeling like the one with more relationship experience, even though I will even admit I use that term extremely loosely when describing myself in this area considering by most definitions a lot of guys would look at almost 22 year old me as a cold fish.

Not to mention that I know deep down; and as much I hate admitting Kitty's right about this when it comes to me, but people can sometimes find my personality a little off putting.

But hey, I'm a strong, intelligent, and opinionated woman and I don't apologize for just saying the truth about what I'm thinking… even if sometimes it isn't exactly what people want to hear but that's not my problem.

Then again, that's partially why I didn't have a boyfriend until I was 19 and never got asked out or had guys interested in me that much in high school and ended up going to Prom with my little sister.

Not gonna lie that as a teenager in your formative years with not having anyone interested in dating you because you intimidate or put them off them until you're 19 and then only have that one relationship last for 4 months before getting dumped for being too intense is something that kind of takes a blow to your self esteem.

But then again, I was also so focused on maintaining my position as the top of my class in high school and focusing on my extracurriculars that it's not like I was focusing a lot of my time into boys anyway, mainly because there were very few guys at my high school I was interested in anyway.

I think that was why when I finally realized Noah liked me and then I started talking to him, it was like I couldn't comprehend it at first and was in total denial.

For once a guy who actually wasn't put off by me and was really into me. Actually I was almost so in denial that I couldn't stand it when Kitty kept teasing me over Noah and kept teasingly pointing out constantly how much he was into me. Then after getting to know him, Noah and I have very similar personalities that people usually misconstrue as us just being snarky, rude know-it-alls.

Which okay, we both kind of are, but it totally made sense to me why Noah and I didn't completely put each other off whenever we had a normal conversation together, emphasis on normal conversations.

We both just... clicked.

I have no idea how to describe it other than that, but it's true. And I was and still am completely mentally and physically attracted to him and that only made me crush on him even harder than I already was.

I was still deep in thought until I heard Noah start, his tone sounding completely confused, "Um… what?"

He was looking at me like I was growing a second head as I quirked up an eyebrow and countered just as confused, "What do you mean what?"

Immediately Noah just gave me a look like he thought I was lying as he responded, "There is no way I believe that." At that instant, I immediately took offense on reflex as I put my hands on my hips and questioned, "What's that supposed to mean?"

What? Was he implying he thought I was easy or desperate or something?

Although, I immediately realized I took it too far as I saw Noah backtrack as he put his hands up as he recovered, "No, I... it's just… ugh!" He stopped and looked like he was trying to get a grip before he said, "Look, I only said I don't believe that because well, you're… hot or uh, you know, you're really pretty and smart and… I'll stop talking."

I felt myself blush almost immediately as I bit my lip to keep myself under control even though I could see he thought he kept digging himself into a hole as he looked at the floor again, even though to me he couldn't be more wrong.

Especially since at this point all I wanted to do was just listen to him keep talking about me or completely throw myself at him again since I've never actually heard a guy say those things about me.

But, I tried to push it all back as I looked at him again.

Even though he still just looked like he just wanted to phase out of existence.

I scooted a little closer to him as I pulled my knees closer to me and sighed before saying, "Well, thanks for thinking that Noah, but… that's where you don't know me at all. Believe it or not, I wasn't necessarily getting guys lined up to date me back in high school… or ever. I mean, look at me. I couldn't even get anyone to go to prom with me and ended up taking my sister. Then I couldn't even get a guy to date me until I was 19 only to get dumped 4 months later. So, if that doesn't say loser to you, then I don't know what does?"

I let out a sharp breath before letting out a self-deprecating laugh at the end, not realizing how heavy what I just said was until I said it out loud.

I felt like I was getting sucked into a very weird place in my thoughts until I felt something and looked down and saw Noah's hand resting over mine on the floor.

Slowly, I looked back over at him and was kind of surprised to see his usual smirk-like smile on his face as he said, "Hey, to me, that's their loss. And I didn't even go to prom, or any school dance… ever. Sure I was already graduated from high school by the time I was 14; but whatever, not like I would've gone anyway."

At first, I smiled at him, until I processed everything he said as I tilted my head at him and gave him a surprised look at what he just mentioned and responded, knowing I sounded a little surprised and mildly shocked, "Wait, you graduated high school at 14?"

Yeah, I knew Noah is a really intelligent guy, which for me is honestly a huge turn on, but I didn't think he was that intelligent!

Noah shrugged and said, very matter of fact, "Technically with honors, not that I care or it even matters. I have an IQ of 180 and school came way too easy for me. Honestly, I've never had to study for a single test in my whole life and I was never that interested in school because to me it was all way too easy and bored me to death. All I wanted to do was just go home and read or be on the computer. Then a couple months later, I was hoping college would at least challenge me more... and also because my parents were on me about doing something with my life besides spending the entire day every day on the computer. Even though using computers all day is exactly what I wanted to do with my life. So I got a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science degree by the time I was 17, even though my parents thought I should've become a doctor or hilariously enough a lawyer because of how smart I was… and mostly because of my smart mouth according to my dad."

I smirked and commented, "I don't know? You have the right personality to be a lawyer. Maybe you should look into law too?"

Noah smirked back before responding, "Yeah, hard pass. Sure I've got the 'smart mouth' to be a lawyer, but I don't really do people too much on a daily basis and it's not really what I wanted to do. Besides, I don't think anyone could handle it if both of us were lawyers so… law can stay your thing."

He threw in a wink at me at the end that made me blush but I covered it up as I shoved his shoulder and rolled my eyes before responding, "Yeah, right? If you say so."

We both laughed until he continued, "But, anyway, once I got to university, that only confirmed what I already knew since I knew more about computers and coding than my professors in the program I was commuting to in Winnipeg did. It was pretty much like high school all over again since they pretty much got so tired of dealing with me in their classes that they pretty much had to get 'special permission' from the Dean so that I could take the remainder of my classes at my own pace online. Which pretty much meant I tested out of all my classes by default and I ended up finishing college early too. But, hey it's not my problem I knew most of those things by the time I was 6… what?"

He was giving me this confused look at the end since I was looking at him with my eyes about to fall out of my head and my mouth open like I was about to get hit by a car.

But… can you blame me?!

I had no idea how he was able to talk so nonchalantly about all that. I mean, I graduated top of my class in high school and undergrad, but compared to Noah... I seriously felt like an idiot.

By the time I was in university, he already had an undergraduate degree?! You've gotta be kidding me right now!

Then by the time I finished up my degree before law school several months ago, I was so stressed I literally wanted to throw my desk out a window and he was able to take in and regurgitate the material that easily?!

I don't think I've ever liked someone this much yet also simultaneously wanted to punch them as much as I wanted to right now.

Eventually I was able to finally say something as I said flat out, just letting out the only thing going through my head, "Okay, let me get this straight… You've had an undergraduate degree for the past 4 years?"

He just shrugged and said, "Yeah… why? What's the big deal?"

What's the big deal? Is he serious?! Does he have any idea how much I would've killed to be anywhere near as smart as him?!

As much as I really wanted to get into this right now with him over how he was able to be like this, but I was determined to stay on track.

I shook my head as I said, "Never mind, but going back here… you've seriously never even been to a school dance, like not even once?"

Noah didn't even hesitate to shrug before shaking his head and responding, "Nope. Considering the whole reason most guys go to dances at all anyway was to get girls, or that was at least definitely why all my brothers would go anyway, and I was never interested in any of that. At least back then, I really didn't. So, I didn't care and that was also part of the reason I just graduated from high school early. That and I'm not really much of a dancing kind of guy anyway."

I felt so wrapped up in a million different thoughts right now until I looked down and saw him intertwine his fingers with my hand that was still palm down on the floor.

"But... let's just say if we went to the same high school, it may have been a different story." He said, definitely implying that he would have asked me out.

Every muscle in my body froze up for a second as I felt a blush slowly creeping up again, but this time… I seriously couldn't care less.

I haven't felt like this since he inadvertently blurted out he thought I was pretty during the race.

Yeah, Kitty always teases me about that particular instance on an extremely regular basis, just like she did earlier, but again… I don't care. Because that was honestly one of the nicest things any guys has ever said and genuinely meant it, kind of like he did again earlier.

I slowly looked down at our hands and turned mine over to intertwine my fingers with his.

I didn't really know what else to do, until I noticed we were practically shoulder to shoulder at this point as I smiled and said, "Thanks Noah."

He just smiled a little back at me before we both just kept sitting there in silence, which was actually kind of nice.

But, after the silence kept going, the awkwardness slowly came back.

I bit my lip until Noah beat me to it as he said, "So, not complaining or anything, but… what now?"

Honestly… valid point.

I kept thinking until a thought hit me about something my sister, yet again, would be on me about all the time. Particularly when Noah and I tried to start a thing during the race. I let out a sigh before saying, "I think I know."

I looked over at his shirt on the floor that I didn't realize how far I threw it earlier until now as I got up to get it. Slowly I let go of his hand and I think he was confused as he said, "No rush, but… care to enlighten me?"

I picked up his shirt off the floor, looking at it for a few seconds before straightening up and starting, "Look Noah, like I told you before. I really like you, a lot… honestly I like you more than any guy I've had a crush on ever and it drives me crazy sometimes because of it. But, I know Kitty's right. I have a tendency to be impulsive and rush into things when it comes to relationships to the point that it can completely screw things up. And I really don't want to screw things up with us. So now that I know where you're coming from and you know that we're both in kind of similar territory together at this point, I really think we need to take a step back and take things slow. Nothing crazy, but maybe hold off a little more for a while... Because I'd really like to go out with you more on dates and for us to actually get to know each other more, really get to know each other. Even if we can't see each other, let's just video chat or something or something at least once a week, because… I really want this to work out."

I smiled a little at him as I handed him his shirt back. He just looked at me for a second until he gave me a slight smirk before following up, "And by take a step back… how far back are we talking?"

I gave him a look and scoffed as I shoved his shoulder before responding, "You're unbelievable."

Okay, I knew he was partially kidding, but at the same time it's like I was totally forgetting that I was talking to a guy who was really into me. Particularly since I could feel just how much he was at least physically into me when we were making out just now.

Ugh, but I'd be totally lying if I said I wasn't just as physically into him either.

He just shrugged and smirked, seeing I was messing with him back, as he said, "Just kidding."

I snorted out a laugh a little and gave him a slight look with a smirk back as I started putting his shirt back on over his head. I was almost fighting off a daze and had to shake my head for a second and look away to keep him from seeing I was checking him out.

Yeah, definitely a total lie.

I was able to even out when he got his shirt back on before saying, "But, that's fine and honestly… I get it. Let's just take it slow and see what happens."

I smiled a little at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Partially because I wanted to and partially due to the fact that I knew if I did anything more than kiss him on the cheek at this point I'd just put us right back at square negative 100.

He smiled a little bit back at me until he rubbed the back of his neck before he brought up, "So… I'm assuming this is the part where you kick me out of your apartment?"

I gave him a confused look before responding, "What? No."

He thought for a second before gesturing to the couch with his thumb as he asked, "Then I'm crashing on the couch?" I mean, that was probably the best idea for both of us at this point but... I had something else in mind.

I smirked a little and grabbed his hand as I led on, "I've got something."

I didn't even give him time to respond as I started leading him to my room. Once we got in I let go and started bringing the covers down until I heard Noah point out, "Okay, I know I'm new to this whole relationship thing, but… this doesn't really seem like taking it slow to me."

He motioned to my bed at the end with a slight smirk even though through the playful sarcasm, I could sense some nerves coming through in his voice.

As much as I wanted to mess with him, I didn't want to freak him out or give him the wrong impression.

I stood up and started, "Look, so far we've kind of let our first real date and everything kind of take things over, but… I just figured since you've had a lot of firsts but we agreed to take a step back, we can have a first for both of us right now that doesn't have to be anything too out there."

That wasn't a lie.

What I had in mind was actually something I've never done and… I am not going to lie that I really wanted to do this with him.

I got in my bed and pulled up the covers a little before patting the empty right side of my bed as I looked at him and gave him a smirk and a nod. He was still giving me a confused look before shrugging and walking over to the right side of the bed and hesitantly climbing under the covers while he kept giving me confused looks as I just kept smiling at him.

Not going to lie… I was really enjoying this in some very bizarre way.

Yes, its stupid that I'm enjoying this as much as I am since it really isn't that much of a big deal since all I wanted to do was just cuddle with him in my bed, but… I don't care.

Noah drove 22 hours to get here just to see me and I was going to take advantage of every second.

He climbed in and I slowly slid over and cuddled up to him as I rested my head and right hand on his chest. I could tell he was caught off guard since he froze up for a second until I felt him slowly wrap his arms around me a little bit.

I glanced up for a second, seeing if this was too much, but I smiled as soon as I saw him smiling back as I said, "So… any complaints?"

He gave me that smirk and eyebrow raise combination that never fails to drive me crazy.

"Well, if I have any, I'll be sure to take them up with my lawyer." He said, completely flirting with me, and winking at me at the end.

I smirked and rolled my eyes and said, trying to cover up what I was actually thinking, "You are such a dork."

He just let out a laugh as he wrapped his arms around me a little bit more.

Okay... that was actually really cute.

But, I kept trying to remind myself of the facts.

I didn't want myself to get completely wrapped up in things with Noah too quickly. Sure I remembered what Kitty said about 'living in the present', but that only got us into a completely awkward situation that could've been avoided if I would've just taken it slow with him to begin with.

Sure things started out pretty awkward, just like our relationship in general, but… I think we're finally on the right track.

Okay, I know this chapter was very dialogue heavy, but after 2 chapters of more fan service-ish content that this kind of chapter was due. Haha. But, I just really want to show a more slice of life side of Noah and Emma as characters and their relationship. Mainly I was so excited to give my take on how I see both Noah and Emma as characters. With Emma and everything we've seen of her in the show and read about her in the information Fresh TV gave us, I saw Emma as the kind of girl who is so overly driven with getting what she wants out of her future that it would get in the way of a lot of facets of her personal life. Especially after it was mentioned in the episode Last Tango in Buenos Aires, that Emma didn't have any boys interested in going to her high school prom with her so she ended up just going with Kitty. So I could totally see Emma as the kind of girl who intimidates a lot of guys to the point they avoid her and this would eventually spiral later on with her getting into a short relationship with her ex-boyfriend Jake where he ends up breaking up with her over her being a bit too much for him to handle and then her taking this very personally. Particularly, so personal to the point that she avoided boys and relationships for years to focus on her studies until she met Noah, much to Kitty's initial excitement that a boy was crushing on her sister and that her sister actually liked him back despite being in total denial about it at first. At least that's my head canon of how I see Emma's character. Then with Noah… again, he was always one of my favorite characters in TD. But it's like everyone always glazes over the fact that Noah is literally a GENIUS. He's one of the smartest characters in the total drama cast, but… Noah is also one of the most unmotivated and unimpressed characters I have ever seen, particularly when he premiered in TDI. He has an IQ of 180 and it's like he doesn't even care. His TDI and TDWT profile even say that all he really cares, or cared, about was playing video games before he met Emma. I could totally see a young Noah going through his classes and excelling far ahead of his peers effortlessly yet he probably was just sitting in a chair while they're telling him this and him being like, "Yeah that's great, but can I play video games now? I have a raid happening in 20 minutes." So, I could totally see Noah graduating high school at an early age and also getting a college degree ahead of schedule, mainly due to the request of his parents, and still feeling like he couldn't care less about it. So this is the groundwork I wanted to set down for why they are the way they are in their relationship when they interact with each other, particularly how now that they both addressed these things a little about each other to each other… I figured this would be as good of a spot as any to really get this story going! So, if you want to stay on this for more Nemma content when I have time to post between my shifts at work… all are welcome! Haha. Next chapter will get into more interactions and a little more entertaining content. Haha. Anyway, thanks to each and every one of you for taking the time to read and constructive feedback is always appreciated.

Stay classy and safe everyone!

Dexter1995