Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday.

As I roamed the school halls on Thursday, that was the mantra, or a litany of sorts, my mind held on to, so much so that my head perpetually sounded like a Rebecca Black song.

And when Friday came - finally! - I swear it brought new meaning to the phrase "Thank God it's Friday".

Practically dashing out the school as soon as the last bell rang, my bag hung sloppily over my shoulder, I made my way to where Emer had messaged me the previous night to meet, at a park near my school.

And as I walked, my new mantra was: Holy shit holy shit holy shit.

Was it raining, or was I just that sweaty? I was so nervous.

I'd always thought "butterflies in your stomach" was a made-up phrase, because don't be silly, how could that be, but now I could feel them. Millions of tiny wings frenziedly fluttering within, striving to escape, and damn if my legs weren't shaking like jelly.

A nervous tic had begun to form, with me grabbing my phone out of my pocket every few seconds and my heart plummeting when the screen was not lit-up with a new message. But I needed to stop this, because I was acting like a giddy girl on her first date and -

Wait. Wasn't that essentially what was happening?

I felt almost faint.

Was it a date?

One part of me vehemently shook its head, insisting in its utterly annoying voice that of course it's not a date, you stupid girl!

But another part of me, a big part, clung on to what Emer had said: It's a date, then. It couldn't stop replaying that one sentence, those four words, four syllables, over and over again as if they were a message from NASA announcing that aliens had made contact with us, or that earth was about to get hit by a meteorite and would cease to exist, but don't worry, they had found that Mars was habitable and would be moving everyone to safety there.

Was that my heartbeat, or was that a stampede of elephants?

I'm going on a Fridate, I thought, then had to clasp my hand over my mouth to keep from bursting into laughter. What a ridiculous thought to be having when my heart was threatening to beat out of my chest, and my blood circulation had all redirected to my head, making me a - as I said - giddy girl.

It was a coping mechanism, to ease my nerves.

My steps grew more faltering the closer I got to the park. What if Emer had changed his mind, didn't show?

Stop it, Em. Don't you dare think such things.

Strangely, for some inexplicable reason, my mind returned to the matter of the man's murder just three days previously.

Or maybe it wasn't so strange, for that helped to sober me up, calm the churning in my gut. Guess the brain knows best.

One foot in front of the other. Walk, walk, walk. That's right, you're doing wonderfully. Now keep walking and -

My inner monologue cut off when I spotted Emer, sat down on a long communal stone bench and hunched over something, the sunlight glinting off his hair, the spray of the fountain behind him glistening, and it might sound sappy, but he clearly stood out from all the other parkgoers milling around the bench.

I nearly stumbled; my breath caught, held.

This isn't me. I'm never like this. I don't develop crushes. I don't get stupid around a boy. I don't stop breathing when I see a boy, dammit!

But I did. I did, I did, I did, and my world was ending, imploding, with the spectacular realization.

Just walk up to him and say "hi", like friends do. Because that's what you are. Friends. He's not reading too much into it; for god's sake, he's not even paying any attention, bent over that stupid... what's that, anyway? No matter. You go up to him, and you be yourself. He's Lez, okay? Now go.

And with that, a rough hand shoved me from behind, sending my legs pummeling forward, to Emer.

When I reached him, and I was proud to say I was still breathing somewhat normally, he finally lifted his head from - oh, it was a book.

His dark tresses were mussed, as if from him plunging his hands though them one too many times, and when I managed to get out a "Hi" without it sounding too wispy, a smile spread across his face. Closing his book, he tucked it under his arm and stood up.

"Hey."

Not exactly the exuberant response I had been expecting at his seeing me, but it would do.

See? Friends.

Smug little bastard, my mind was.

Emer's fingers tapped against his thigh as he looked at me, then his gaze darted away, then flicked back, and that must have gone on for a whole century before he said, "So, let's take a walk?"

I affected a casual shrug, like oh, no big deal, just walking in a park. Sure.

And so we walked, in awkward silence, his long strides eating up the distance between us and nowhere, everywhere.

Unable to stand the silence after a minute or two, I asked, not entirely without genuine curiosity, "What's that book?"

He seemed surprised by my question, but honestly, I was the one who was surprised. I had never considered that Emer might read. Goes to show how much we knew each other.

But hey, today was for remedying that, and so I guess we were off to a good start.

He held up the book, a slight blush colouring his cheeks. "It's, um, Greek mythology."

"Deity, the Covenant series, by Jennifer Armentrout," I noted.

He smiled. "It's a good book."

I wasn't exactly what you would call an avid reader, but I read enough, and it did catch my attention. "It looks good."

"Would you like to borrow it? It's the third in a series though," he added the last sentence with an apologetic tilt of his head.

I found my lips curving up. "It's okay, then. Next time."

Another silence lapsed between us, hung heavily in the air. By now, our aimless wandering had taken us to a grassy quad, with families dotting it, children shouting and playing and flying kites in the generous breeze, which was whipping my hair around my neck, against my face, further mussing Emer's hair as well.

There were various couples scattered around the quad as well, and a particularly affectionate one caught my eye: One of the boys had his head laid on the shoulder of the other, and the other held a grape pinched between two fingers, feeding it to the former boy.

They both had wide smiles on their faces, looked at each other as if they each hung the sun and the moon in the sky. Lifting his head up to catch the grape in his teeth, the boy bit down on it, then pressed his lips to the other, and they shared a long, languorous kiss.

A pang of envy struck me, and I had to look away, away from the couple radiating pure, unadulterated joy.

My life was pathetic.

Emer cleared his throat, making me jerk my head back to look at him. He gestured at the quad. "Would you like to...?"

A small smile. "Yeah, sure."

Emer led the way, trudging through the well-manicured grass, to find a spot for us to, what, sit and relax? Gaze at the stars which were still asleep in the cosmos? I wasn't sure that he had a plan exactly, but when I saw the spot he had chosen, I had to suppress a groan.

It was beside the couple.

Of course, if my life couldn't get any more miserable.

They had progressed from languid kissing to full-on making out, one on his back and the other running his hands up his shirt, and it was the epitome of uncomfortable public displays of affection. I had never been the biggest fan of PDA in the first place, and now there was a couple basically making love with their tongues barely five metres away from me.

Did they realize there were kids here? Toddlers? Also a sad teenager who had never had a love life to speak of?

I sat down, carefully making sure my back was to them - it wouldn't be very surprising if the cops had to be called soon for public nudity - and prayed that the sounds they were emitting would not progress beyond the occasional soft moan.

Emer sat beside me, looking just as uncomfortable as I was. With his book set on his crossed legs, he leaned backwards on his palms, staring ahead. Was that tree really very interesting? Oh, maybe that dust mote floating in the air.

I focused on that invisible speck as well, mimicking his position, not sure what to say to break the silence, not sure if I wanted to.

I had been equal parts nervous and excited about today, and now that I was actually living it - well, I didn't know how to feel.

It was Emer who finally, blessedly, spoke, his head twisted suddenly to face me, eyes intent on my face.

I was slightly unnerved.

He raised a hand. Hesitated. Let it hover for several still seconds where the rush of my blood was all I could hear. Then he reached out and brushed my hair back from my face, and I might have actually gasped. In my head or aloud, I wasn't too sure.

He leaned in infinitesimally closer, and my hand was itching to grab him by the shirtfront and yank him to me. His hand lingered on my hair.

"I want to know you better."

Soft, so soft, so fragile and pleading.

Gathering up my courage, I managed to eke out, "I bet you say that to all the girls." Was that flirting? Oh god, I wanted to bury my head in a desert and let the sun bake me into the ground.

A wry smile tipped up a corner of his mouth. His hand slipped from my hair to land on my shoulder. Those eyes were still intent on mine, making my head swim and oxygen running on short supply in my lungs. "Who, Em? Tell me, who else could I possibly say it to?" His next words were swift, cutting off the reply that I didn't have. "I've really missed you."

[A/N: I've been so invested in Always Be 18 lately that I've found myself using "you" instead of "he" in regards to Emer. Yikes. I'll catch myself, but in case I don't, now you know and can tell me 😊

If you somehow liked this chapter (my self-esteem is amazing, amirite?), feel free to leave a vote or a comment! I don't mind those ^_^ Or heck, you can PM me as well. But hopefully, you enjoyed this chapter/this story so far woohoo! See ya 💗💗]