There's Something That I'm Trying to Say

[Kelli-wa]

There's something that I'm trying to say but it won't come out.
I'm lost for words the moment's got my tongue.
What's in my mind, I can't describe my heart.
I wouldn't even know where to start.

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Malachi stood around in the hallway, pacing back and fourth a bit in front of Emma's locker. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous, they'd hung out before, why was this any different? Because now there's pressure and I already said stupid things to her. He licked his lips lightly and closed his eyes, trying to give himself a pep talk. He was finally going to do it. He had chickened out way too many times before and this was his chance to finally ask her out before school let out and he didn't see her for a while.

[Alisha]

Emma started gathering her things as soon as the last bell of the day rung. AP Calculus with Mr. Arnold had to be the most boring class of the day, and on a day that had been especially unkind to Emma, she just wanted to get the hell out of there. Once she had finally gotten her things packed up, she left the classroom and headed towards her locker, weaving through the mass of her peers in the hallway. It wasn't long before a boy in one of her classes began trailing her, soon catching up and striking up a conversation with her. Emma was normally a genuinely nice person, but today, she really wasn't in the mood. Why did her locker have to be on the other side of the school? She nodded and responded to the boy at the appropriate times, plastering a fake smile on her face, even though she'd rather be doing anything other than speaking to him. As they neared her locker, the boy cleared his throat. "So, Emma... I was wondering-"

Her eyes widened in response to what she was sure was going to be an offer that she surely didn't want to accept, not today. Emma wanted to sigh in relief when she spotted Malachi standing near her locker. Oh thank god. Someone who wont annoy me today. "Oh Crap." She exclaimed, her hand raising to cover her mouth, effectively cutting off the boy. "Cai? We weren't supposed to work on that science project today, were we?" She knew very well that their project wasn't due for another few weeks, but it offered her the perfect excuse to stop that question in it's tracks, at least for now.

[Kelli-wa]

Malachi spotted her walking down the hallway and took a deep breath, certain that he was going to do it. He saw the boy with her, though and he got nervous, seeing her smiling at him. He shook his head lightly. "Ah--" he said lightly before he glanced over at the boy and nodded when he looked back to Emma. "Yeah. Yeah we need to finish it soon too. I don't know how much time I'll have later. I've got a couple papers to write before the end of the year too." Damn it, he thought. This stupid guy just ruined my chances. He put his hands in his pockets, looking back over at the guy who was standing next to her before he looked at Emma once again.

[Alisha]

Emma was thankful that he had gone along with her change of subject. She was certain that they didn't need to work on the project for at least another week, even then, they only had a few loose ends to tie up on their lab report. But, because of him, she had once again avoided Jacob's big question. She had avoided being alone with him for a month because of it. She grinned at Malachi before turning to the other boy beside her and offering an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Jacob. But I've got things to do. I'll see you in class." She said, more of a dismissal than anything else. Once he was out of sight, she blew out a sigh and rolled her eyes. Emma walked past Cai and spun the wheel on the padlock, opening her locker. "He doesn't ever quit." She muttered, pulling her backpack off of her shoulder to retrieve the books she didn't need from it. "Sorry about that, I just needed to get him out of my hair. I'm not having the best of days. I'm having trouble with this new dance and I've got to master it by the end of the week." Once she had her locker closed, she turned back around to face him. "Sorry about that too, It's not like this is of any interest to you. What are you doing over here, anyway?" She asked, just now realizing that he had already been at her locker when she had arrived.

[Kelli-wa]

Malachi shrugged, "Not a problem, I don't mind saving you form date offers, I suppose," he said lightly, blushing a bit. He listened to what she was talking about and licked his lips, "Oh, well I'm not sure what I could do to help, but if you need help with the dance, I could do... Nothing because I suck at dancing..." He cleared his throat trying to save some face from that stupid offer. He blushed a deeper shade of red when she asked what he was doing there. Shit, she didn't want to go out with him, why the hell would she want to go out with me, I'm awkward and annoying. He licked his lips, "Oh, I was just--passing by and happened to get here around the same time you did." Wow, that's stupid. "I stopped for a minute. Must have been fate, unless I subconsciously knew you needed saving."

[Alisha]

A smile spread across her face when she turned and the unmistakable pink tinted his cheeks. It was barely noticeable, but Emma had spent enough time around to notice when it was there. She didn't comment on it, but once again why he always seemed so uncomfortable. Maybe it was just her, which could actually be a good thing, or maybe he was just socially awkward all around. Either way, she wasn't about to ask. She let out a small laugh with his empty offer of dance help, it was a nice gesture, even if he couldn't dance. "I bet you're good at watching though, right? That's always helpful." She shrugged, adjusting the hem on her tank top. Emma listened, nodding in response to his explanation. She looked at him dreamily, "My herooo." She said, unable to keep the straight face and breaking into a grin. She dropped the act and looked away from him, watching the quickly clearing hallway. "Either way, thanks. He's a nice guy, I just- I don't know." She did know. "I'm not keeping you, am I?" She asked, looking at Malachi again. "I'm sure you have better things to do."

[Kelli-wa]

Malachi shrugged but nodded, "I mean I can watch, however I'm not wonderful at being a critic. I usually think its awesome and then they point out all the mistakes and I'm just sitting there like, 'Well I liked it.'" He licked his lips and chuckled lightly, "No, no praise needed. I'm just doing my job, saving one damsel at a time." He mentally face palmed. What the hell? Saving one damsel at a time. Shut up! He shook his head though because he didn't have anything better to do. He never did. Not really. He worked, but he wouldn't call that doing something better. He would much rather hang out with Emma than go lift hay at the farm. Thinking about the farm made him think about Sara and how she didn't want him to be a farmer and how he was probably disappointing her, but he shook it from his mind. "Uh, we'll I don't have anything better to do, really." Leaning against the lockers he heard his head screaming at him, Do it! Just do it already! He took a breath and nodded, "Okay, look, the real reason I can over here was because I wanted to ask you something. I know you probably hear this enough in a day to make your hea spin and I understand if you say no, but I--I like you and, Uhm..." He ran a hand through his hair. "Wouldyougotodinnerwithme?" he said quickly as if he was getting it over with. In reality that was the only way he could make the words come out.

[Alisha]

Emma looked on silently as he explained to her that he really wouldn't be much help on the dancing critic front, which really was fine. He didn't have to be her critic, having him around would have probably just made her too nervous to do things properly. "Sounds like a pretty demanding job, if you'd ask me." If he'd be the one saving her, she'd probably get herself in more trouble just for that reason. She smiled though, silently pleased that he wouldn't be leaving just yet. She enjoyed having him around, no matter how flustered he could become at times. Emma raised a brow in question when he nodded, seemingly out of nowhere, and changed the subject. There was no way she could have predicted the words that came out of his mouth, they stunned her into momentary silence. Did I hear that right? Her mouth opened to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. Did he seriously just ask me out? After a moment, she just cleared her throat, a bit of a blush tinting her cheeks as she glanced at the floor. She smiled, "I'd love to," was her simple reply.

[Kelli-wa]

Her mouth opened but she didn't speak and he had already taken that as a failure. Of course she wouldn't want to go out with him. What had he been thinking? It was a dumb idea in the first place and it was especially dumb to still do it after she'd basically just turned down another guy right in front of him. He licked his lips, "Nevermind, forget I--" then her answer actually registered in his mind and a brilliant smile appeared on his face, "Wait, really?" he asked her, not really believing what he'd heard. "I mean, I'm really awkward and I can't control my words apparently..."

[Alisha]

She bit her lip when he started to back track, assuming that he had already changed his mind. It wouldn't have surprised her if he had. Who would want to go out with the nerdy girl with intimacy issues, who was surrounded yet so alone at the same time? It was actually quite laughable. Emma smiled sweetly though, when he dropped his statement, and responded with a quick nod. "Yeah, I think it'll be fun. " She rolled her eyes playfully. "Who cares of you're awkward with words sometimes? I sure as hell don't."

[Kelli-wa]

"Except, I'm awkward with words all the time..." he said. Shut up, doofus, you're going to make her regret her decision. He licked his lips. "Well awesome... So what do you like? Pizza? Italian? I'll take you to Coble's even, if you feel like getting dressed up." He felt so relieved that she'd said yes, but a new nervousness took it's place. He'd just taken their relationship to a different place and sure it was great, but if it didn't turn out the way they planned, it could get really awkward. He didn't want their friendship to fail as well. The pressure to make this work was on and he needed to lose the awkward and regain the cool that he'd had before.

[Alisha]

Emma only smiled. "Well, we'll just have to fix that now, wont we?" She didn't actually mind the shyness that seemed to follow him around. In fact, she actually found it a bit endearing. Emma didn't want to feel pressure with this new to their friendship-turned-relationship had taken. It would be new, and surely a bit awkward at times, but it would also be fun. She thought about his question for a moment, but it didn't take her long to make a decision. Messy food in a relatively stress free environment? That sounded perfect. "Pizza sounds lovely." She said with a small nod. "Greasy, horribly unhealthy, food always works." Emma wasn't exactly the type of girl who expected the nice in fancy, she was often happy with just having a good time, whether that entailed a fancy dinner or even just a movie rental. She didn't think it should be about the material, but rather the little moments most people took for granted.

[Kelli-wa]

He was rather confused by her question, wondering how she planned on fixing his being awkward around her, although, he supposed spending more time with her would probably be the ticket. Biting his lip, he did a mental happy dance when she said pizza. That was what he'd been hoping for, because he had the perfect place in mind. He hoped she didn't mind to drive a little bit out of the way, because there weren't any sit-down pizza places in town, but there was one in the next town over that was absolutely delicious. "Alright, so how does Monical's sound? I don't know if you've been there, but it's delicious and it's only about thirty minutes away, if that's alright by you, I mean." He was using a very excited voice, because, well, he was very excited. There was something about this girl that made him really happy to be around her, even before they were going on this date. He made her feel like everything was alright, even though in his life right now, almost nothing was alright.

[Alisha]

Emma thought about the name for a moment, trying to recall ever going there. She didn’t think she had, but if he thought it was a good place to eat, then she would trust his judgment. It didn’t really matter to her where they went, but she hoped that going to a place he enjoyed would put him more at ease. “I don’t believe I have, but you seem to like it, so I’m sure it will be great.” She replied, a smile playing on her lips. She was having a hard time containing her excitement; it was already threatening to explode out of her. Emma didn’t want to have a total girl moment in front of him though, and reined it in. She couldn’t keep the smile away though, she was too happy for that. “I don’t mind a little drive, either. Gives me time to showcase my horrible voice and taste in music without you running away.” She was only joking, for the most part. Her voice wasn’t bad at all... and her taste in music wasn't so bad either.