Michael or Mac Ep. 01

"Which is Sin, right?" Emma asks.

"Yes, so grab your calculator. Divide the opposite figure into the hypotenuse and with that answer press the second function then sin." Emma did that and then gave me the answer.

"Correct." The smile came across her face. "So what's the 3, 4, 5 thing?"

"Oh." I drew another triangle. "Okay, now for the sides. The equation is a bit of a mouth full when you're calculating the sides. The square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. Now, if this side is 3, and this is 4, now square these two and add them together."

"That's 25."

"Okay, and the square root of 25?"

"Oh, that's easy, 5."

"There you go, 3, 4, and 5. I use it as a double-check for my head."

It's like a light came on in Emma's head. We spend the next hour and a half going through different variations, and once she gets it, there's no stopping her.

We only stop when Kim knocks on the door. "Does anyone want a drink?"

Emma looks at me with a smile. "I think we both deserve a break." She then looks at her mum, "we'll come down, mum." With that, Kim disappears, and we stand to follow her.

I look at my watch as we make our way to the kitchen, "I will have to leave in an hour."

"Oh, okay," Emma says, looking a little disappointed.

"Sorry, I promised the guys last week." Emma didn't press any further. She is still treading a little carefully with me. "I will leave you with some examples for you to practice with Em, but you seem to have the hang of it now." I give her a proud look as I finish.

"Thanks, Mac, you are a good teacher." Emma has a satisfied smile on her face.

We spend a while drinking and chatting about the coming week.

Then Emma brings up her birthday. "Are you still coming, Mac?"

"Well, I've been thinking about it and am a little worried." I am trying to gauge her reaction. "Plus, I'm not sure if I'm comfortable being used as a pawn."

Kim backs me up, realizing what I am saying. "Yes, honey." She says. "I don't think it's a good idea to use Mac like this. It could cause a bad situation."

"What do you mean bad situation, mum?"

"You know that Donna has the thing for Mac. However, you and Mac's friendship needs to be broken to her more gently."

"Ah Ma, Donna's been a bit of a bitch for a while, and now we're seniors; she has gotten worse."

"Even so, Emma, you are better than that." This conversation has gone in a different way from what I expected. I think Kim is now worried about any backlash that might happen.

I hadn't thought about this. "Kim's right Em, we don't need a lot of aggravation. We've just started seeing each other. The last thing we need is people coming between us." I now think that I should be at the party as Kim's guest. I look into Emma's eyes, and I can see she is upset with what is said. "Em, I'm trying to think what is best for you, but if you have a better idea, I am all ears."

Emma sits there thinking for a while. "So," she begins. "If Donna knows that we are friends before the party, then you will be there as my guest?"

"If Donna already knows, we will already know if she accepts you or not."

Kim seems to twig on to Emma's thinking. "Ahhh, she now sees her party as an opportunity to get people used to you two being together as friends. So it would be strange for you not to be there."

"Exactly," Emma says, pleased her mother is catching on.

"Okay, Emma, we can talk about this later. We have a week."

I look at my watch and gasp at the amount of time that's gone. "Come on, Em, let's photocopy the examples, and then I need to get going. I'm going to be late."

As we are copying the pages of examples from my book, Emma asks. "What are you doing this afternoon?"

"Oh, I play with a band once in a while. We have a gig the week after your birthday, and they want to practice this afternoon."

"Really? Wow, that's great. Are they any good?"

"Yeah, not bad, I suppose. The band is normally a four-piece, but I seem to be asking me along as a fifth more often." I finish the copying and load the book back into my bag.

"You'll have to let me come see you play sometime."

"Yeah, I can arrange that, but I got to go." Emma is trying to keep the conversation going. "Em, we can talk later. I have to go." I walk back downstairs and go and say bye to Kim. As I walk out the back door, Emma follows me out and follows me through the back gate. "Thanks again Mac, see you at school tomorrow?"

"Sure, but I'll message you when I get home later. Is that okay?" Emma nods and follows me to my car. I can see she wants to ask something. "Em, are you okay? You look like you're going to burst." I ask as I put the bag into the trunk.

"Oh, I don't know. This morning has gone too fast, and we didn't get much time just to hang out." She is looking a little sad. I am feeling a little uncomfortable, and time is ticking. I would have asked her along, but the other bandmates don't like people in on practice.

Then I decide to do something that makes my stomach jump summersaults the moment it enters my head. I opened my arms open for an embrace. Emma's eyes widened, and she freezes for a second. I feel like I'm going to chuck up but hold my nerve. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Emma moves into my arms, and I wrapped them around her. She pulls me in tight, and I feel myself relax into her. We stand there for a moment, and to my surprise, it feels so right. It is like I put my hoodie back on. As I gently pushed back, I see the most beautiful, satisfying smile coming from Emma. The warmth I feel flow through me is incredible. To feel so much satisfaction from making another happy overwhelms me. The problem is this also makes me want to escape and fast. So I looked at my watch and made my excuses.

I drive across town to an old school friend's house. Mitch was in the music room when I first looked in to see what was happening. He has always been able to read my mood and has always kept a respectful distance. I pull up to Mitch's house and pull my stuff out of the trunk.

The band contains four other members. First, we have the Braille brothers, Mitch and Matthew. Then there is Isaac Cross and Allen Found. Mitch is the driving force; he plays lead guitar, Matthew is on drums, then we have Isaac on Base, and last but not least, Allen does anything electrical like synth and beatbox.

Walking into Braille's house, I first bump into their sister Meredith. She's a couple of years younger than me. All the kid's names started with M, and I'm not sure if it was deliberate or just a coincidence.

Meredith gives me a big grin as she turns towards the stairs. "Hey Mac, your late."

"Hi Meredith, I was around Emma's helping with her school work."

Meredith stops and turns. "What 'The Emma'?"

"Yes, Meredith' The Emma'." She gives me a knowing look and disappears upstairs. So I head straight down to the basement. I can hear that they've already started without me.

As I walk through the door, the music suddenly stops, "You're late."

"Yes, so I hear. I was helping Emma with her school work."

"What 'The Emma'?" Mitch say's

"What is it with this 'The Emma'? Meredith said the same thing."

Everyone in the room is gawking at me. "What?"

"Are you shitting us? She's about the only girl we've ever heard you mention. I hope we're going to meet her again now you're talking to her." Isaac says as he re-tunes his base.

"I remember the two of you together in Junior High. Why don't you invite her to the gig?" Mitch adds.

"Not sure, I'll ask. Might be a bit soon, though."

"Soon? You've known her for over ten years. Your relationship was unnatural at that age."

"But you were a year above us, Mitch. I'm surprised you notice something like that."

"Well, back then, the rumors about you two were everywhere."

"What rumors?" I say with an awkward laugh.

"I don't know. It was ten years ago. Umm....Oh, that someone saw you kissing behind the bike sheds, and you had your hand up her skirt."

"I don't think so, and we didn't kiss ever." But then, I shake my head in disbelief, "we just hung out."

I must have had a worried look or something. "Come on; you can't take any of that seriously. It was just gossiping, kids. Shall we start now? We have loads to get through." Matthew says, changing the subject and getting impatient.

I plug my guitar in and do a little tuning. "Do you want me on the keyboard as well?" I ask.

"Not at the moment, but later." We play a lot of different styles of music and adapt to where ever we are playing. We have a gig in one of the local clubs. We play there every other month or so. We have a good following locally and fill the club up when we play. They have me along more to give a bigger sound. I come along for fun and don't even get paid most of the time when I can. The guys know that I'm not looking to be famous, although it doesn't stop them from dreaming.

This gig is an easy one for us to play a load of our favorite songs. Mainly hits from the past with a rock vibe.

"What do you want to play for a warm-up?" Mitch asks.

They all look at each other, and I just start playing the beginning of Song 2 by Blur. It's a great song to blast out. The others are into the Gorillas as well, so they join in the quick jam. It's not one of our usual tracks, but fun. I sing the lyrics. After that, we settled down to play our setlist. We know most of it, but we like to keep sharp.

It's about six when I leave. I've had a great afternoon, and the guys are buzzing about the gig. I get home, and Pap's is right where he always is sat on his chair.

"How'd it go?"

"Yeah, good as always. It should be a good night."

"Not the band, Emma."

"In what way, Paps? We got done what we needed to do."

"Nothing. Are you cooking tonight?"

"Yeah, what you want?" I ask.

"I am feeling like some of your pasta tonight."

"That's what I like, Paps, quick and simple." I put the water on to boil, adding the oil and salt before running upstairs to change.

I empty my pockets onto the bed, my phone slipping off and hitting the floor reminds me to message Emma.

"Hey Em, I'm home. How was your afternoon?" It isn't a great message, but a start. I put my phone back down as I reach to pull my t-shirt off my phone beeps.

"Hi Mac, lonely. xx" Was the message back.

"Why are you lonely, Em?" I reply.

"Mum and Dad are out, and I just got back from my run. xx"

"Okay, have you eaten?"

"Nah, thinking of getting Chinese. xx"

"Fancy some pasta?" As soon as I sent this, I wondered if I was pushing myself too hard.

"Mmmmm, my fav. Give me ten minutes, and I'll be over. xx"

"Okay, see you soon." I stare at the messages she sent, and everyone has kisses on the end. I shake my head back downstairs.

The water was just coming to a boil when I stepped back into the kitchen. "Emma's coming over for some pasta if that's okay, Paps."

"It's Sunday, haven't you two got school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but she's home alone, and if she's still the same Em, she doesn't like it."

"Fair enough, just make enough for all of us."

Pasta's boiling away, and I've made a sun-dried tomato sauce with meatballs to pour over the top. Everything is bubbling away when there's a tap on the front door. "Come in, Emma, the door's open."

"Hi, Mac, Hey Pap's." Emma stands by the foot of the stairs. I glance across from the stove and smile. She's dress casual in jogging bottoms and a t-shirt. From my first glance, I could swear she's not wearing a bra, but I don't want to get caught looking.

"Hello Emma, long time no see," Paps says as he gets a peck on the cheek.

"Yes, well, hopefully, I will see you much more now." Emma glances over to see if I react, but my head is now down, grating the cheese.

I glance over with a smile, "dinner should be ten minutes. Take a seat, Em." Both Emma and Paps are looking at me. "What are you two looking at?"

Emma quickly straightens up and moves to the other side of the table while Paps picks his paper that he's already read up and pretends to read, so I turn to drain the pasta.

I can't help but smile when I see Emma's face when I put the bowl of steaming meatballs in front of her. She's so cute when she does that. Finally, we settle down to eat, and I can always gauge how good a meal is by how much chatter there is at the table. Tonight all I can hear is the clink of spoons and forks.

We finish dinner, Emma and I clear the table and clean the kitchen. "Em, want to go upstairs and hang out?"

"Sure, can't stay long, though. I've got to prepare for school."

We make our way upstairs and into my rec room. Emma starts looking around as she takes in the decor. Her eyes scan a couple of pictures on my wall. There are a couple of my parents, some with Grammy in, and some with Emma and me. I see her eyes light up when she spots the ones of us.

She points to one where we are sat side by side at the top of the ladder in her treehouse. "Where did you get this one? I haven't even seen it before."

"Not sure; when I was doing out my room, I found it in a pile with my family photos." I move over next to her. "Your mother let me have this one," I say as I point to a photo of us at the beach on Hilton Head Island. "And this is one from the same set you have on your wall." The last image was of Emma and me just before we got on the horse together at the ranch. It had us both sitting on the top bar of the fence that surrounds the horse paddock. I have a cowboy hat on, and Emma is wearing her riding cap.

We sit down on the couch with the center seat between us. Emma looks like she wants to ask me something, nothing new there. I wait for a moment to see if she initiates the conversation.

"Em, you look like you have something on your mind."

She averts her eyes from mine and looks down at her hands. I don't want to push her, so I get up and get an acoustic guitar out of my closet. Sitting back down and cock my leg, so I am facing Emma. I place the guitar on my raised knee and pluck a couple of strings. I figure that if this relaxes me, then it might relax Emma.

I pause for a second, "you don't have to say anything if you don't want to." I pluck a couple more strings. "Just ask when you are ready."

I start to piece a couple of cords together. "Mac?" She begins tentatively. I stop playing and look at Emma's still averted eyes. They slowly come up to meet mine. "Mac, this afternoon when you hugged me." She pauses to see how I react. To my surprise, I don't feel the panic that I thought I might. Instead, the corners of my mouth turn up a little encouraging Emma to continue. "Well, I've been thinking about that all afternoon, and I was wondering.........." She trails off. I can see a moment of fear in her eyes. "What I want to ask is........oh shit." She takes a deep breath. "What I want to know is how real was it?"

"Really?" I sit there for a moment leaning against the guitar while I think. "Em, when I cuddled you earlier, it was because I felt your need for something more before I left." Now it's my turn to take a deep breath. "When we embarrassed, I felt a connection that I haven't felt for a long time."

I can feel myself becoming overwhelmed, and my throat begins to dry. Finally, I get up and walk over to my refrigerator in the corner. I open it and get a bottle of water, gesturing to Emma if she would like one. With a nod, I hand her a bottle and sit myself down again.

I take a long swig and steady my nerves. "This connection that I felt," as the words spill out, I don't believe I am getting this deep. "I only have ever felt with you." there I said it, but I go on. "I didn't know how much I truly missed that until today." Without realizing it, my eyes had dropped to her hands, squeezing the bottle of water. My eyes scan her body back up to her eyes, taking in her curves and the lack of a bra.

Our eyes lock, and hers are huge, and she is now breathing heavily. Without another word, she drops the bottle and launches herself towards me. I catch her in my arms and wrap them around her. She, as before, pulls me in tighter. I match her passion and close my eyes feeling that link once again connect. I feel the hairs on my body stand on end. Her body feels so soft against me, and this time the sensation of her breasts pressed against me doesn't go unnoticed by more than one part of me.

I hear Emma sniff and move back to look at her face. Tears are flowing down her cheeks. "Hey, what are the tears for?" Without thinking, I move in and kiss them away.

Emma can't contain herself and bursts into a giggle. Still, the tears are running down her cheek, so I repeat the cleaning of her tears. The last final kiss I gently place on her lips. Emma is surprised, and instantly the tears stop, and she lets out a small gasp. Pulling away, she brings her hand up to her lips, and our eyes lock. The joy and look of pure love makes my heart beat so hard that I'm sure she can feel it.

"Does that answer your question?" I say. All Emma can do is nod her head and give me a shy smile. I pull her back into a cuddle before I say, "this afternoon has been incredible, Em."

We hold each other for a while; I glance out of the window. "Em, it's getting a little dark. When you leave, would you like me to walk you home?"

She nods but doesn't want to move away from me. So I close my eyes and rest my chin on her shoulder. I'm not sure how much time has passed when Emma's phone starts to ring. She moves away from me a little and pulls it from her pocket.

She leans back in when she puts it up to her ear, "Hi Mum....... I'm at Mac's place........Yes, he was just about to walk me home........I had dinner here, so no need to do anything........yeah pasta with meatballs, covered in tomato sauce........Oh, mum, it was delicious.........mmmm yeah, Mac cooked....... Okay, Mum, I will see you in about fifteen minutes." She hangs up and brings her forehead against mine. "Best make a move. Today has been my best day in a very long time, Mac, thank you." She returns my kiss, and again it's tender and a little longer than mine.

Emma gets up and waits for me. I grab some trainers, and we make our way back downstairs. Paps has moved to the TV room downstairs. We go in, and I explain what's happening.

Once we are on the sidewalk heading towards Emma's house, we automatically hold hands. We talk about what we are doing tomorrow as we walk and Emma's newfound confidence in Calculus. There isn't a moment of silence until we stand on the bottom step of her house.

Then it is just a case of not wanting the day to finish quite yet. "Mac." Emma starts to say, "Today will be a day I will remember for the rest of my life." With that, she moves a step closer for one last hug, and just before we pull away, we kiss one another on the lips.

"That goes for me as well Em." Her smile radiates through her eyes into me. I take this moment to lean in and steal one last kiss before we part. The joy and excitement in her face when we part is captivating. Our kiss once again is a quick one to say goodnight, but it causes a small excited scream from Emma's mouth.

"See you tomorrow first thing, Mac." With that, she skips up the last couple of steps, opens the door, and slips inside.

Neither of us has noticed a car parked opposite with a loan figure inside.

To be continued...

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