The Right Kind of Wrong

Glancing down at the watch on her arm, Emily frowned as she realized that she was later than she’d thought. She’d promised to drop Julia off at the gym after class, as they were scheduled to be out at around the same time, only Julia’s class had been held back so when she finally reached the gym to drop her off, she’d already been ten minutes late.

Needless to say, she was even later now when she crossed the courtyard and headed straight for the lunch restaurant located in the middle of campus. The previous evening she’d agreed to meet Taylor for lunch as they hadn’t really been hanging out since the awkward and slightly uncomfortable run-in at the library some days, weeks earlier.

She hadn’t wanted for their friendship to fall apart but he needed to understand where she came from, or it would never work out, she knew that. Jogging up the steps, she pulled the door open and walked inside, scanning the room in search for her friend.

Finding him in the far corner, his nose buried in a book, she smiled slightly and with a bounce in her step, she headed straight over to him.

“Hi,” she announced herself. “I'm sorry I'm late, but blame Julia, she needed a ride and she ran late and it was just a mess…” she rambled, only to find that Taylor wasn't fully paying attention. Frowning slightly, she removed her bag and dropped it on the ground before taking a seat across the table from him. “Tay!” she snapped, watching him slowly look up at her.

“You're late,” he commented dryly.

“Yeah, I needed to drop Julia off somewhere,” she shrugged. “I explained that, but you weren’t listening,” she pointed out frankly.

“Julia?” he raised his eyebrows. “No midday rendezvous with one of your hockey buddies?” he questioned, able to see how her face hardened and her eyes grew colder.

“Yeah, you're right, I was having mad sex with one of them in the broom cupboards just down the hall from the classroom,” she glared at him. There was one thing that he didn’t like the friends she had, she probably wouldn’t like all of his, but that didn’t mean he was allowed to make cheap shots like that.

“What?” he shrugged. “I wouldn’t know, considering how you’ve been spending most of your time with them.”

“You're being ridiculous,” she stated frankly. “I agreed to lunch with you because I thought it was sad we haven't been able to hang out the last couple of day, but I can see that it was a waste of time,” she retorted as she was about to stand up and leave.

“Don’t go,” his hand shot out and grabbed her arm.

Staring at where his hand was wrapped tightly around her wrist, she sent him a cold glare till he let go and she slowly sat back down, her eyes never leaving him. “One more low blow and this friendship is officially over,” she stated frankly. Ever since junior high, she’d been rather picky about what friends she kept, she’d been forced to learn that the hard way and she no longer tolerated certain things, especially things that took a shot at her person.

“You can’t claim that you haven't been spending time with those idiots,” he threw back at her.

“I’m not denying that, but don’t call my friends idiots,” she glared at him. “You wouldn’t like it if I called your friends’ names.”

“True,” he nodded. “But your new friends are a bunch of guys who walk around like they own this place,” he tried to make her understand.

“So what?” she shrugged. “As long as they treat me with respect, I can’t ask them for more,” she stated. “I've spent half my life around people like that; don’t expect me to jump onto some sort of bandwagon just because you don’t like them.”

“You're going to get hurt,” he stated.

“Then so be it,” she said simply. “I've been hurt more than I thought possible already, I really don’t think they could hurt me in any way that is going to top that,” she stated frankly, a heavy silence spreading between them. “You need to let me have the friends I want, especially if you want to continue being one of them.”

“I'm just trying to get you to understand what kind of mistake you're making by letting them monopolize your time like they’re doing.”

“The only one, who is making me think I'm making any mistake, is you,” she pointed out. “So maybe my mistake is spending time with you,” she suggested.

“That’s not…” he quickly protested.

“I have friends who are on the hockey team,” she interrupted him. “I have a few friends who are on the football team, I know people in the debate club and ones who are in the middle of pledging the freshmen,” she ticked off. “Don’t try to dictate who I spend my time with, do it and I'm not going to be spending any more with you,” she announced. “And that would be sad, because I like spending time with you,” she decided to try and end their argument, knowing that it wouldn’t solve anything.

He didn’t like the company she kept and she wasn't likely to stop hanging out with people just cause he – as the only one – didn’t like them.

“I don’t approve,” he told her frankly.

“I'm not looking for approval from you,” she retorted. “The only persons’ approval I want, is my parents and they are amazingly proud that I'm here,” she looked straight at him. “Don’t think that trying to get me to feel guilty is going to work. It didn’t work when I was ten, fourteen or a senior in high school, I'm pretty darn sure it’s not going to work now.”

“What’s so special about the hockey players anyway?” he questioned frowning.

“Nothing,” she smiled widely. “Not to me anyway, I've just always been surrounded by either soccer players or hockey players, and it’s an environment I'm comfortable in,” she shrugged. “That’s all there is to it.”

“I don’t like it, but I'm going to try and keep that opinion to myself,” he promised.

“Great, now we should get something to eat, cause I'm starving,” she announced smiling, standing up from her seat and placing her bag on it before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the front of the lunch restaurant so they could order something.

“What are you doing this weekend?” Chris asked as he looked across the table in the small deli they were at, having lunch before she had her first class of the day and he had a meeting with the team’s athletic trainer.

“You're going to ask me to do something, aren’t you?” she turned the question around, having heard similar ones before, more often than not ending up with her in pain somewhere after having moved a piano or something.

“What are you doing?” he pushed, not hinting what he was going to ask her.

“Nothing,” she shrugged. “I've got a few books that need to be read, ASAP, but you know.”

“Then you have no reason for not coming to the games,” he smirked satisfied.

“I think my own well-being is a very good reason,” she retorted pointedly.

“If you don’t tell me why that is, it’s not a valid reason,” he decided, noticing the look that passed over her features. “If you really don’t want to go, we’re not going to force you,” he said honestly. “We just want you there. I mean, everyone wants to go to the games nowadays,” he smiled.

“Yeah, cause they think they’re watching future NHL-stars,” she smirked.

“You don’t think we can cut it?” he raised his eyebrows at her.

“You seem a little weak on the sides at times,” she joked, not really having that much of a clue about how they as a team preformed. They had – after all – been a rival till just before the summer.

“Hush,” he smiled at her. “If you're going to come with accusations like that, the least you can do is come watch us and get a real opinion,” he reasoned.

“That might be true, but I honestly don’t know that much about you,” she pointed out. “So I'm not going to judge.”

“Just come to the games and you can judge as much as you want,” he decided simply. “Every single person on campus has an opinion anyway, so one more wouldn’t really change anything.”

“I’ll think about,” she agreed.

“It’s better than a no,” he shrugged, only somewhat satisfied, he wanted her to agree to come to the games, not that she would think about it.

“Why are you so hell-bent on me getting there anyway?” she questioned as she pushed the remnants of her food around the plate.

“I just want you to be there,” he replied evasively, picking up his glass of water and taking a sip from it as he watched her.

Observing him, she couldn’t help but wonder what it was that drew her to him. What it was that kept him nagging her to come to the games. What was happening between them? Was there even something between them? Besides friendship…?