Grind 2.6

Greg stared at the figure in front of him, trying desperately to find the words, any words, to say. His hands twitched at his side as he stood there in shock, the idea that he would see her at his house of all places was something he never thought would happen.

Pale skin shone as she stood there, the light bulb above the doorway acting like a miniature halo. Loose hair the color of fresh blood danced around her shoulders like a morbid waterfall while emerald eyes blinked at him, long eyelashes dancing like butterflies.

"E- Emma?" His voice came out far more high-pitched than he intended it to, nearly a squeak as he replied.

Her lips tilted upwards in a slight smile. "Hey, Greg."

The red-head took a step forward and Greg caught sight of what she was wearing, nearly stumbling back into his house as his mind processed it.

An open jacket with a pink low-cut t-shirt directly under it forced Greg to keep his gaze locked on her face, the shirt itself not as much of a hazard as the necklace that threatened to dip inside her shirt, continually drawing Greg's attention to the pale flesh there. "Emma, wh- what are you doing here?"

She tilted her head slightly, the smile at her lips growing slightly. "I know this is kind of sudden, but can I come in?"

Shaking his head, Greg opened his mouth to reject her only for Emma to cross her arms underneath her chest. "I just want to talk to you a bit and it's a little cold out here. I'm so stupid that I didn't wear a thick enough jacket." Her eyelashes fluttered slightly as she gave a little shiver.

It took Greg a good ten seconds to realize that he couldn't find the words.

[Distracted by The Sexy] Debuff applied

A hot girl is any straight man's Kryptonite.

-50% INT and WIS in a social situation

(Immediately resisted with over 20 WIS or 15 CHA)

"Greg?" The redhead bit her lip slightly, the sight forcing Greg to swallow nothing but air.

"...s-s-sure." The agreement fell from Greg's lips, less a word and more a collection of sounds. "Come on in. T-t-take a seat."

"Thanks, Greg." The side of Emma's mouth went up in a smile that Greg could only describe as dangerously distracting. "That's so nice of you."

Still blinking in confusion, Greg stepped aside and let the girl walk into his house. Unable to help himself, Greg found his head turning to stare at her back as she walked past him, the tight jeans she had on forcing him to blink in disbelief.

He followed right behind her, closing the door without even looking.

As if she had been there many times before, Emma lowered herself onto the couch in the living room with a level of grace that Greg would have attributed to some sort of dancer. Turning around to look at Greg, Emma shot him another dazzling smile that nearly made him stumble.

"Come on, Greg. What are you doing over there?"

Raising a finger to his chest as if to ask 'Me?', Greg nodded dumbly and walked over to the girl in his living room. I am so gonna brag to Sparky about this. All the times he had bragged on PHO about hanging out with models, no one had believed him. Now… Well, even if he wasn't temp banned, no one would believe him anyway.

Greg dropped himself at the far end of the couch to Emma, keeping a good distance between them as he did his best not to act weird. His action was made pointless moments later as Emma moved down the couch until the two of them were nearly touching each other. Greg kept his eyes locked onto his knees, doing his best not to ogle her.

We don't know each other! Why is she so close? How does she know where I live? I'm so confused! Greg felt a chill run down his spine as Emma shook off her jacket and backpack and placed them between her legs, the action causing her arm to slide against his chest.

His bare chest.

Greg found himself blinking rapidly, his heart beating even faster as he came to the realization that since he had opened the door for Emma, he had been entirely without a shirt the entire time. Oh my God, why is she so close? I can't breathe. I can't breathe!

Suppressing an internal freakout, Greg scooted slightly closer to the edge of the couch and turned to the side to face his guest.

"S-s-so, Emma," Greg cleared his throat. "…ummm… why are you here?"

His eyes widened the moment the sentence left his mouth. What are you doing? You can't just ask someone why they're somewhere? Why would you say that? What's wrong with you? Greg found himself spluttering out an apology for his previous sentence, his mouth working at hyper speed. "I-I-I didn't m-m-m… that w-wa…"

Emma waved off Greg's explanation, silencing Greg with a giggle as she held a well-manicured hand up to her face. His face turning almost as red as her hair, Greg shrunk into himself slightly. Ironically, he found himself more comfortable like this, entirely used to girls laughing at him than actually talking to him.

As her giggling died down somewhat, Emma ran a hand through her hair, tucking several strands behind her ear before turning back to face Greg. "It's okay, Greg. I get it. We don't know each other, we don't talk and almost never see each other outside of class. Why am I here?"

Greg shrugged, letting out a slow breath. "N-not that it's not nice to see you. It's super nice to see you," Emma's smile seemed to increase as he said this, the sight waking the butterflies in Greg's stomach, "but… umm… well, why?"

Emma giggled again, the sound sending the butterflies into a panic. "A couple of things, actually. I felt really bad for what happened yesterday with you… and Taylor. So," Emma's hand dipped into her backpack, pulling out a small stack of papers, "I decided to head to all your teachers and get your homework for you. Everything till Friday."

Greg held out his hands, picking up the sheaf of papers from Emma and laying them flat on the coffee table with only the slightest trembling of his fingers as they grazed Emma's palm. "Thanks, Emma. That's super nice of you," Greg replied, a rictus of a smile frozen on his face.

"That's not all, Greg," Emma continued, smile getting slightly wider, "I also got you an apology gift."

Greg blinked. "You got me a gift?" he echoed, surprised that anyone would go that far.

Emma nodded. "I really wanted to apologize. You know, for what Sophia did. So..." Emma's hand dove into her backpack again, rising a few moments later from the hot pink bag with a clear container in her grasp.

"A slice of cake?"

"What?" Emma's lips pursed slightly, her eyes falling as she pouted. "You don't like it?"

"No, I love it!" Greg's reply was as genuine as it was eager, his hands taking the container of cake from Emma's grasp with clear excitement. "Vanilla is my favorite! I just… didn't expect it."

Emma's pout turned back into a dazzling smile, her white teeth barely peeking out from underneath. "That's great. I just wanted to apologize. After what Sophia did…," Emma paused, emerald eyes narrowing at Greg's face before lowering to his chest, "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

Greg shrugged, an uneasy look on his face. "I'm fine."

Emma's smile gained a bit of an edge. "Oh, I can see that. I just wanted to make sure. Sophia… well, she can get a little aggressive and excessive sometimes and she's not… she's not really used to people standing up to her, especially people she thinks are all talk."

"I could tell." Greg found himself frowning as Emma's words reminded him of Monday, especially the way Emma had treated Taylor.

[Distracted by The Sexy] Debuff removed

"I don't really care about what Sophia did, Emma. To me, at least." A slight scowl on his face, Greg turned to Emma again. "I just wanna know… what was Monday about, anyway? Why were you and Sophia saying those things to Taylor?"

"Greg…" She sighed, tossing her hair behind her ears once more as she leaned back into the couch. "Taylor and I… we kinda have history and a lot of it is really personal. We stopped being friends before we started Winslow and honestly, a lot has happened since then."

"A lot has happened?" There was suddenly more space between the two of them as Greg moved over to the very edge of the couch. You guys called her a whore!"

"Greg, girls call each other whores all the time. The whole thing is a lot deeper than I really want to get into right now. Really personal stuff."

Greg shook his head, not willing to let this go just yet. "Wait, where you the ones you shoved Taylor in her locker? Was that you?"

Emma's eyes narrowed slightly. "Did you see what happened, Greg?"

Greg shook his head again, frowning. "No, but I heard about it. They had to call 911."

Emma grabbed his arm with one hand, manicured fingers coiling around growing muscle. "Greg, you have to understand, I didn't do anything. Madison came up with the idea and Sophia pulled it off. I get that it was mean, but I didn't actually do anything."

"It was more than mean, Emma." Greg scowled at what he remembered. "It was just plain terrible. I mean, she had to go to the hospital."

"Don't you think I know that, Greg? It was terrible, what happened to Taylor, and I'm sad about it but it wasn't me who did it."

"But you just sa-" Greg began to work himself up, only for Emma to interrupt.

"I said Madison came up with the idea and Sophia shoved her in the locker. All I did was not say anything because I didn't want my friends to get expelled."

"But Taylor got hurt!" Greg replied tersely.

"I know, Greg, and I feel bad about it but me and Taylor aren't friends anymore." Emma sighed again, placing her soft hand over Greg's and squeezing. "There's a lot there that you don't understand. I would love if Taylor and I were best friends again but I'm not counting on it."

"Why?" Greg found himself asking. "Why did they do it? Why did they even start? I don't know what Taylor could have done to Madison and Sophia to treat her like that."

"Greg, it's not that simple. It has to do with me but it's too… soon for me to talk about it." Emma shook her head, the action wafting the scent of jasmine into Greg's nose. The redhead leaned forward, her necklace dangling right above her chest and drawing Greg's attention."You understand, right?"

[Distracted By The Sexy] Debuff applied

"S-sure, I get it," Greg blinked. "Personal stuff."

"Oh, I knew you'd understand." Without warning, Emma rushed forward and Greg found himself in the best hug he'd ever gotten in his whole life as Emma's chest pressed against his. "Thanks for listening to me."

"...you're welcome." Greg wasn't sure if Emma actually heard his response, his voice jumping so high up in pitch that he himself barely heard it. "I mean, I mean… uhh… no problem."

Emma slowly pulled away, despite how much Greg would prefer she never moved, only to stare up into Greg's face, a small smile on her face. "You know, Greg, you're actually really cute."

Greg inhaled through his nose, an awkward smile frozen on his face.

Cute. Cute. Cute. The word bounced around inside his head like a bouncy ball hurled by a strongman, filling his brain until he only had one thing to say.

"You think I'm cute?"

Emma nodded. "Super cute." She fluttered her eyes at him again. "Has a girl ever told you that before?"

"I mean, uhh… my mom tells me that all the time but she's my mom, so...," Greg let out an awkward laugh, the sentence trailing off unfinished.

Emma giggled again, one of her hands falling on Greg's chest. "You can tell your Mom that I agree with her."

Greg shifted a bit awkwardly in the couch, the armrest pressing up against his back.

"Umm… Emma, when you say cute, do you mean…" Greg's fingers twitched against his leg, barely repressed excitement and nervousness warring against each other as Emma's hand remained on his chest. "Like a… Like a guy or… or like a puppy?"

Emma laughed out loud, raising a hand to her mouth again. "You're so funny, Greg," Her voice came out soft and breathy as she leaned into him again, one hand going up into his hair and caressing it softly as she whispered four words into his ear. "What's wrong with both?"

"...urk." Greg felt extremely thankful that he had decided to wear a tight pair of briefs over his basketball shorts this morning.

Her hand trailed up his torso, slender fingers dancing along his chest and making his head spin. "You're more than cute. You're nice and you listen to me." Emma began, her breath hot against his chest. "And that's not all, you also have blue eyes." Emma suddenly sat up, turning around and sitting right back down.

Onto Greg's lap.

"You know I really like blonde guys, Greg, especially with blue eyes." Emma's green eyes seemed to be staring into his soul, sending Greg's mind a hundred places, all of them centered on the pretty girl in his lap.

He gulped, doing his best not to move his legs too much. "R-really?"

Eyelashes lowered until Emma was staring up at Greg from half-lidded eyes. "Really."

Greg let out a low shuddering breath as he realized that the butterflies weren't just awake, they were having a party.

"Thing is, when it comes to guys at Winslow, you never know what blonde or blue-eyed guy is part of the Empire."

Greg shook his head furiously. "Not me. Not me."

"Of course, you're not Empire, Greg." Emma leaned into him as she sat on his lap, her palm flattening against his chest as she pushed him down onto the couch. "I know that someone like youcould never be a Nazi. Someone as cute, nice, and understanding as you would never think someone was bad or evil before you got to know them, right?" She swung her leg over Greg's, her other knee resting on the couch until she was almost straddling the blond boy. "Right?"

"Right." Greg nodded, swallowing more air as he found himself gulping again. Dipping her head back, Emma ran her hands through her hair, tying it back with a pink scrunchie that Greg didn't remember her pulling out.

Blue eyes stared into green.

Emma dove forward.

New Abilities gained!

Kissing Lv 5

Looks like practicing on a peach actually paid off.

Breath-Holding Lv 6

Asphyxiation is a terrible way to die.

Increases time spent without air to three minutes.

Lips pressed against Emma's, Greg was the closest he'd ever been to Nirvana. His own thoughts were lost against the feeling of her tongue probing against his, the scent of her hair filling his nostrils with jasmine. His hands went up, resting on Emma's shoulders and pulling her further in, Emma moving forward as well.

Greg never wanted this to end, this feeling somehow better than anything else.

Emma even seemed to be enjoying it almost as much as he was, the noises she made sounding vaguely happy.

This was perfect. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else needed to matter.

"Sweetie, I'm home!"

Both Emma and Greg opened their eyes, staring at each other in shock even as the door slammed shut.

Emma began to pull away, but it was already too late.

"Oh My God!" Susan Veder stood at the foyer, looking on into the living room, an unwitting bystander of her son's first kiss.

Both Greg and Emma jumped to their feet. The back of Emma's hand went to her lips, wiping her mouth of any remnants of their kiss.

After a moment's hesitation, Greg did the same, eyes on his mother. "Mom," Greg spoke up, his voice cracking spectacularly, "you're home early."

"It's… it's five-thirty. I'm home late." Greg winced. "I had to stop and buy the Gatorade you asked for. It's in the car."

Emma let out a musical laugh, the sound itself trying to mask the awkwardness of the situation. "Hi, Ms. Veder, I'm Emma." The redhead waved from her position at Greg's side, a perfectly natural smile on her face. "Emma Barnes."

Susan nodded, a very tight, near-invisible, smile on her own face. "Hello, Emma." She gave Greg a questioning glance, eyes narrowed to the point of being slits, the boy in question still with a dopey smile on his face. "Always good to meet my son's friends."

Greg said nothing.

"Well," Emma cut in as the awkward silence began to stretch, throwing her backpack and jacket over her shoulder, "I have to go catch a bus."

Susan raised an eyebrow. "I can give you a ride."

Emma laughed that same musical laugh again, eyes flitting between Greg and his mother rather quickly. "No, no, no, no, no. I don't live that far at all." Emma made a break for the door, moving rather briskly. "Bye, Greg. It was nice to meet you, Mrs Veder."

Susan flinched slightly at the Mrs title, the way she always did, but bore it with a forced smile. "Same to you, Emma."

The door slammed shut and Susan Veder turned to face her son, her smile still tight but her eyes promising hell.

"Mom…"

"Gregory."

"Mom, listen…" Greg began to plead, gulping nervously.

"Greg, who in the hell was that… that red-haired wh… wh...h," Susan's face seemed to be threatening to turn red as she did her best to push out whatever word was on her mind, "hussy and what was she doing in my house? On top of my son?"

"Mom," Greg raised his hands up to his face, palms facing his mother in the universal sign of surrender. "Mom, it's… it's… not what it looked like."

"Oh?" Susan's tight smile dropped into a frown as she brought both hands to the waist of her scrubs. "Oh, so I didn't just see a girl straddling my son while he's half naked? I didn't just see that girl's filthy mouth on yours? Is that what you're trying to tell me right now, Greg Veder?"

"Mom," Greg bit his lip, "she wasn't filthy."

"Greg!"

"Okay! Yes… that. What you said, yes." Greg groaned through gritted teeth. "Yeah, that looked bad."

"Looked?"

B-b-but there's context, Mom!" Greg took a step back as his mom advanced on him, a nervous look on his face even as he continued to smile. "There's a lot of context you weren't here for."

"Context? You want to talk to me about context, Greg?" Spreading her arms out, Susan let out a huff. "Fine, tell me. What's this magical context that will make this situation all better?"

"Well, she's a model, Mom," Greg chuckled nervously, unable to hide the wide smile on his face in front of his from his mother no matter how hard he tried to suppress it, "uhhh… she likes me. She really likes me and…. And… uhhh… she said that she wants you to know that… uhhh… she thinks I'm cute too."

"Mom, just… just... look at it this way," Greg lifted his hands, his shoulders rising in a half-hearted shrug, his mind trying to come up with something to say. "I just had my first kiss."

Susan's Veder's hands twitched at Greg's words and the unbridled happiness on his face. "I mean, really, Mom, you should be happy for me right now."

"Gregory. Lucas. Veder." The look on his mother's face was just short of livid, her hands balled into tight fists at her sides as she advanced on her son.

His smile tightening slightly on his face, Greg slowly picked up the container from the table and held it out to his mother, presenting it with both hands.

"...cake?"