Thin line between hate and love

"Who's Emma?" Hannah asked as we walked to Luke's car. Oh right, she hasn’t met Emma yet. This would be a great opportunity for them. Maybe I can make them friends, right?

"Oh, she's my friend. She works with me at the shop." I said, getting into Luke's car as Dax, Leroy, and Eion got into his. I whispered to her when I was sure Luke was distracted while driving, "Dax has a crush on her that’s why he’s eager to get there."

Hannah gave me a look, before whispering back at me, "Are you sure it's not Leroy?" I shook my head in answer, “No, Leroy doesn’t like her, don’t worry,” And she sighed in relief. The fact made me smile, even more so when we heard an excited cat-call from Dax as they sped away.

"Well, someone's excited," Hannah mutters incredulously.

"Yup," I replied, popping the p, both of us giggling softly as Luke followed them too and we were behind them now.

*******

When we arrived at the shop, I was surprised Dax waited for us, but I'm pretty sure Emma was more excited so when she saw all of us enter, she sent me a questioning look and I mouthed an 'I'll explain later.’

As we walked towards her, she let it pass and greeted me instead. "Hey, Snow, I’m glad you recovered now.”

“Yes, thank you for helping me last time, Emma,” I replied. She just shrugged.

Then I remembered I have to introduce them, "Hey Emma, these are my friends, Hannah, Luke, and you know the rest." Luke and Hannah say 'hi' to her, with Hannah waving at her sheepishly.

“How’s the shop, Emma?” Asked Eion to her and she saluted, “Everything's under control, sir. Sales are a bit on the slower side but manageable.”

Eion nodded at that, “Good.”

"Hi, Emma." Dax smiled widely at her.

She smiled shyly at everyone, except looking at Dax, and dropped her smile at him. Dax’s mouth formed an ‘o’ at this and I laughed at his reaction. “Good job, Emma!” I high-fived her and everyone laughed at Dax, who was pouting. “I’m hurt, Emma. I just want you to smile at me.”

“Yeah, yeah, stop that, you look pathetic, Dax.” Leroy butted in, preventing him from embarrassing his friend further.

Emma then faced us, "What would you like to have, by the way?"

We gave our orders and I decided to help Emma with them as the others sat on Leroy, Dax, and Eion’s usual hanging l spot. Since we were six in total, excluding Emma, we moved the other table and chairs so that we could all sit in one table.

"So, Snow, care to tell me what's going on?" Emma asked her hands on her hips. I smiled sheepishly, gesturing at Hannah that I'd be with them in a while before I dragged her into the locker room. I told her everything that had happened in the past few weeks, feeling guilty that I'd not done so before.

"Oooh!" She exclaimed after I'd finished my speech, "So you're partnered with our boss?"

"Seriously?" I deadpanned, "I delivered an hour-long speech and that's all you have to say?"

She grinned, "Isn't it destiny?"

I gave her a disgusted look. "You believe in that?"

She just shrugged, "There’s nothing wrong if you believe in it. Anyways, I had always been itching to ask for this. Do you really hate our boss? He’s a bit nice when I talk to him though.” She said, especially yesterday to you. Or was he only giving you hard orders?”

I thought of it for a second, “Well, I don’t hate him that much since he has helped me a few times now but my problem is that he’s nice for a minute and the next thing I know, he spits some nonsense to me and irritates me.”

Emma nodded, “That’s understandable. But remember Snow, there is only a thin line between hate and love." She smirked, saying that. I looked at her in disbelief.

Then remembered her hatred for Dax too, “Then what about Dax?" I teased, diverting her attention.

She frowned at that, "Gosh, why did you even bring that up? My situation is different from yours, okay? That boy really doesn't know when to stop."Then she asked, “You've been quite close to them in these few days? I thought you hated them."

I smiled sheepishly, she had a point though. "Well, at first I did. But when I got to know them, I guess they aren't that bad after all. Maybe you should give them a chance..." I trailed off.

She shrugged, "Whatever, let's go before 'robot' starts searching for you," She smirked, emphasizing the word.

"I told you Emma-" I protested, but she left without paying me to heed.

I grumbled under my breath before getting back to where they were and sat beside Hannah and Luke, facing the other three boys. Emma joined us later when we insisted, as she goes back whenever there’s a customer.

"Emma, when are you going to say yes to me?" Dax asked, his eyes gleaming with hope and playfulness. We looked at Emma and she just spared him a glance, “What yes are you talking about? I don’t remember me telling you something like that,” She replied and we burst out in laughter again, looking at Dax’s pathetic face. The conversation went on until someone brought up the topic of girlfriends.

"So, Leroy, anyone who is special to you?" Luke asked with a mocking expression. I glanced at Hannah who's turned silent, looking at him blankly.

"That was a personal question, dude. But right now, no one," He answered with a laugh, we laughed along but not before I noticed him glancing at Hannah for a split second. I'm pretty sure I saw something in his expression.

Hmmm... Interesting. Maybe I could play matchmaker to these two. It's so obvious that they like each other... they just seem to need a little push...

"How about you, Eion?" Dax asked the robot.

"No one in particular," He answered absently before slipping back into silence. Maybe the others were used to his behavior, but it certainly didn't seem right to me.

Maybe because I was expecting him to give me a name?

Psh! I pity the girl he'd go after.