"Hey McCarty." Rachel had finally tracked down the older boy later in the night; after the skylights had turned on because the sun ran away. Not that Emmett had been too difficult to find. He was tall and broad and loud as a freight train. If he had been trying to do so, he wasn't a good hider.

Emmett located her easily enough outside of his friend group, almost as if he had practice zeroing in on her. It was a little surprising how observant he was, given how boisterous he could be. "Hey, Rae Rae. Whatcha need, girl?"

"Don't tell me you forgot about our deal." She feigned surprise, but really, she hadn't been shocked at all. Nor had she actually expected him to follow through with it. She just wanted to give him some crap one last time before she and the girls went on their ferris wheel ride and then home for the night.

Em smirked at the guy next to him, Travis Danielson, a close friend of his, and took a step closer to Rachel, "'Course not! I was just waiting on you. You wanna go now?"

Rachel crossed her arms and squinted up at him, "Well, I'm not here for the view."

The guys behind Emmett laughed and he turned around to flip them off. When he looked back at Rachel, he shook his head, mock pain strewn across his face, "You wound me, Rae. You wound me. You know what always puts me in a good mood though? Bubble waffles. Let's go, baby." He held out his arm to her, an oddly olden gesture. She still took it though, trying to be nonchalant about the fact that she was touching his muscular bicep. Years working on his father's farm had not been bad to him, toning his entire body. Good genes helped too. From what Rachel had seen of McCarty men, they all had a little help from the Lord in their height and build.

As they walked, she chided herself mentally to stop being so weird about the whole thing. Difficult to do when she was focused overly on her grip. She didn't want to hold too hard and have him think that she was trying to feel him up or manhandle him. But she also didn't want her grip to be too loose and have him think she was uncomfortable or anything. Emmett dated a lot, but he wasn't sleezy or a jerk. He never pushed anyone to do anything they didn't want to. If he thought she was uncomfortable he would stop in a heartbeat.

"What's the best topping combo? Let us debate." He stroked his chin while they walked towards the stand. She was glad he was good at making conversation because she had been far too lost in her internal dilemma to think of something to say.

The smile on her lips was natural, instinctive as she giggled at how serious he seemed to take the bubble waffle toppings. Her steps became a bit more confident as she answered, "Well, Oreo is a must."

"Obviously."

"I always get raspberry sauce because I like raspberry."

"Incorrect but continue to see if you can redeem yourself."

Rachel narrowed her eyes playfully. "And then you have to get whipped cream."

"Unless you're a heathen." Emmett agreed. "Well, two outta three ain't bad there Rae. Not bad at all."

"What do you have against raspberry sauce? Have you ever even tried it?"

Emmett took a breath as they approached the line, far longer than Rachel had anticipated. Seemed everyone had been eager to get a last-minute treat. "Well, I can't stay I've had it on the bubble waffle…."

"So, you have no room to judge unless you've tried it." Rachel cut him off, shrugging innocently as though her declaration was a fact. In her mind, it very much was.

Emmett was less committal, typical for his personality it seemed, "Eh. I just can't imagine raspberry being too fantastic with the Oreo. Isn't chocolate sauce a better option because it's chocolate on chocolate? Who can argue with-…what is that face for?"

He was referring to Rachel's scrunched up nose and pulled together brows. She disliked too much chocolate and therefore, chocolate on chocolate sounded gross. "Chocolate on chocolate is too much chocolate."

A horrified gasp came from him then, and he dropped his arm from her grip to step back like she had told him she liked to kick puppies. He stared at her with his wide baby blues, hand replaced on his chest in shock. "Rachel Kenten. You take that back this instant."

Well, at least she knew that he hadn't mistaken her for the Rachel in his class. She pressed her lips together in amusement, shaking her head, "Sorry, McCarty. That's the truth and I stand by it."

"It's like I don't even know you."

"You don't even know me!" She exclaimed with a laugh, shoving his arm. It was their turn to order, and when Rachel finally noticed, she apologized profusely to the lady at the counter, "So sorry. He's distracting me by being wrong. Anyway, I'll have a bubble waffle with Oreo, raspberry sauce, and whipped cream please."

Rachel pulled her money out of her back pocket flipping through the bills to find a ten, but Emmett nudged her out of the way of the window so he could order for himself. He took his wallet out and grabbed a twenty, though not without protest from Rachel.

"Dude, I was joking. You're not buying mine. Here, take this." She tried to hand him her cash.

Emmett dodged her money, waving it off, "I promised you. I got this." He shot her another dimpled grin that did cause her to pause. Did he know what he was doing when he did that? Was that cheating?

She blinked, shrugging off his words and her feelings. Then she moved to try and fit the bill into his open wallet while he grabbed his waffle from the lady. When he realized what Rachel was doing, he softly cursed, "Damnit, woman." He lifted the wallet up before she could quite get the money in, causing the bill to flutter down to the ground. "You are stubborn as hell, you know that?"

"You're welcome." Rachel smiled, taking her own dessert from the lady. She snatched the cash off the counter, vowing to find a way to sneak it to Emmett before they departed for the night. Or she could find a way to get it back to him at a later day after he had forgotten too. She wasn't opposed to playing the long game.

He slipped the wallet back into his pocket, leading them towards a group of tables to an empty one on the outer edge. To Rachel's surprise, he sat down and gestured for her to join him. She figured he'd want to head back to his friends or something more interesting than sitting with a girl he barely knew. Thinking that he did actually want her to pay him back and that was the reason for extending the interaction, she held out the money and tried a more sincere approach, so he didn't feel so bad taking it. "Here, seriously. I was just joking with you earlier."

"That's nice of you, but I wasn't." Emmett still refused to take it, busying himself with smoothing the whipped cream across multiple future bites.

"Why?" She couldn't stop the word from flying out of her mouth. It was a valid question in her mind though. Emmett hadn't ever really spoken to her in school, aside from maybe a one-off remark here or there as he interjected into conversations while walking down the hall. Never had they sat down and had a real conversation before or done any outside or extracurricular activity together. Not to say Emmett was a stranger, but he and her weren't what Rachel would consider close. Friendly, half-acquaintances (if you could call someone you'd never formally met an acquaintance), sure. But certainly not close.

When it came to the girls, Emmett often stuck to the ones in his own grade, only dating a couple from Rachel's here and there. Part of her wondered if he'd made it through all the girls his own age and now naturally had to search other ponds to satiate his dating habits.

He didn't give her a very good response to her question when he did finally answer, and she figured that her final hunch had been correct after all. "I dunno. I've seen you around a lot, talked to you here and there, but figured we never really got to know each other."

"You're a player, aren't you? Looking to add to your list of hoes?" If her father heard her talking to Emmett McCarty that way, he'd wash her mouth out with soap. She wanted to know though. The whole situation was odd and smelled fishy. She wasn't about to get her heart broken for a stupid joke. That had already happened once in the sixth grade when Isaiah Monroe asked her out because he had been dared to. Rachel had a huge crush on him and was so excited, only for him to break up with her the next day and confess the whole thing…boys.

Thankfully, instead of getting mad, Emmett chuckled at her boldness, shaking his head at her. "You are straight up ruthless, you know that? I like that about you. And to set the record straight, there are no 'hoes' involved. I date a girl, find out we're not a match, and let her go. No sense in wasting either of our time, yeah?"

Rachel supposed she could respect that…if it were the truth. "I guess."

"You have a lot of rumors around you too, you know." Emmett pointed out. His face was neutral, not smirking or mischievous; he wasn't looking to hurt her or embarrass her, at least not intentionally. "I'm not the only one at this table with a reputation. I seem to recall you being quite…bold, as I am seeing firsthand. Weren't you the one who punched Aidan Meitcher in the face because he cheated on your friend, Madison?"

There had been no denying that. Madison had dated Aidan their sophomore year of high school. The summer before their junior year, Aidan went on vacation to Sevierville and pictures of him holding and kissing another girl had circulated. Madison and Rachel confronted him about it when he returned. He brushed it off, saying it wasn't cheating because it was a different zip code which resulted in a bloody nose for him and many tears for Madison.

Rachel gave a half-hearted raise of her shoulder, now the one to play with her food to avoid eye contact. "I suppose."

"And aren't you the one who threw down with the pitcher from Pigeon Forge after she deliberately threw all four pitches at you?"

Emmett's eyes did twinkle with mischief then, and Rachel took a slightly irritable breath. "Perhaps."

He chuckled then, his tongue darting out to quickly lick his lips. "Hmm…I thought so. See, I figured it makes sense; I like thrills, and you clearly do too with all the rumors and the rides-"

"That's not thrill-seeking. That's protecting myself and my friends." Rachel pointed out.

"Which I also admire." Emmett pointed his fork at her. "But you're right, not the same category. What I'm trying to say is, I think we're similar and this could work."

"Is this how you always ask girls out? Buy them dessert and list qualities you think are nice about them and hope they just swoon over you?" Rachel rose a brow at him, placing her fork in the cup the waffle came in so she could focus on Emmett properly. He still wore a patient smile, taking the last bite of his food. There was no anger or teasing or insincerity behind his eyes – at least not that she could tell. As far as she could see, he was being genuine, actually interested in potentially dating her. It made her feel weird.

"Not even kind of." He answered her question easily. "But I figured you'd prefer honesty over some flashy gestures."

That may have been partially true, but Rachel did still want a guy who was sweet and did nice things for her. "You realize I'm still a girl, right? We like nice gestures."

Emmett held up his empty waffle cup, a stupid smirk on his face. Rachel sighed, despite her smile. "You're an ass."

Those darn blue eyes winked at her, twinkling again as he became amused by her words. Coupled with the flashing lights of the different rides, it looked like some scene out of a movie. Exactly the kind of one where the girl and guy started to fall in love.

And hell, maybe at that moment, they did.