Chapter 1

"Look at her…what do you think?"

"For real? I thought I could get better than that."

"Nah…you need to shave a little before you can upgrade."

"You silly."

Emma and Damian sat in a cozy booth at the edge of a wild club, trying to figure out which girl they would get Damian to score with. They were both currently watching a blonde girl dance in the middle of the dancefloor. Emma turned back to her best friend and eyed his face.

"Yeah, you need to shave- and I mean, like, today or something," she told him. Damian chuckled and rubbed his chin.

"It don't feel that bad, but fine, I will tomorrow," he agreed. "Anyway…you think I should go over there?"

"Definitely," Emma said. "You're better looking than any other guy in here."

Damian flashed his friend a bright smile then slid out of the booth to head over to the blonde girl. Emma watched him confidently stride over as she sipped her tequila. Damian effortlessly squeezed through the crowd and placed himself in front of the target. After a minute of talking, the girl followed him over to the bar. Emma finished her drink then left the booth to go dance. She danced with a couple of guys but never stayed long enough to start a real conversation. She also didn't agree to go to the bar with any of the dance partners, because she and Damian had to go to class the next morning. Speaking of Damian, Emma realized that she had lost sight of her friend. As she scanned the crowd, a random guy stopped in her line of vision.

"Hey, you wanna dance?" he asked. Emma agreed. Damian was a grown man, so she figured that she didn't have to worry about him. She danced with the guy for two songs then decided to look for Damian again.

"Okay I gotta go," she told the guy. Her dance partner frowned.

"Come on, it hasn't been long," he told her. "At least give me one more song."

"I can't," Emma said. "I have class tomorrow."

"Okay, let me take you home," the guy suggested. Emma shook her head.

"No thanks, I don't get in cars with strangers," she explained.

"And she's coming home with me." Damian seemed to appear out of nowhere and separate Emma from the other guy. The stranger looked at Damian then looked back to Emma.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?" he asked.

"I don't," Emma answered, looking pointedly at Damian. "Damian, I am grown, and I don't need you to come to the rescue all the time." Damian's sharp brown eyes were still on the other guy.

"I'm just here to take you home," he said.

"No big deal. Let's go." Damian grabbed Emma's hand and led her away. Emma looked back at the stranger and said, "Sorry about him. I had fun though."

*Outside*

Emma and Damian got into Damian's white car, and they headed back to their university.

"You're an idiot," Emma told him. "You totally tripped out for no reason. I thought you were supposed to be making out with that blondie from earlier."

"I got her phone number," Damian shrugged. "But he was a prick. You clearly told him you had to go, but he kept pressing."

"And?" Emma asked. "I was already handling it. You're so overdramatic."

…

Damian pulled into the university parking lot and parked.

"If it bothered you so much, I'm sorry for blocking your chance at a good time," Damian told his best friend. "I won't do it again."

"Liar," Emma accused. Damian smiled.

"I know." They both got out of the car and walked into the dorm building. "I'll see you tomorrow, Em," Damian said as he pulled his friend into a hug.

"You too," Emma said. With that, they went their separate ways.

*The Next Day*

"That boy is too much." "Tell me about it."

Emma walked to class with her friend, Brianna, and told her about what happened at the club last night.

"My thing is… I left him alone so he could do what he wanted to do-I even helped him- and he treats me like a kid," she explained, rolling her eyes. Damian and his friend, Kyle, met up with the girls at an intersection of the busy hallway.

"It seems you just can't stop talking about me," Damian said with a bright smile. "I suppose I have that effect on girls." Emma rolled her eyes.

"Actually I was wondering how I could find that guy from last night again," she replied smartly. "We were interrupted before things could really get started."

"Haha, Princess, very funny, but we both know you can do better than that," Damian retorted, then he rubbed his chin.

"Speaking of that, I shaved."

"Thank God," Emma breathed. "Now I can sit next to you in peace." The duo began to walk away and their friends followed.

"So what happened last night?" Kyle asked aloud. Brianna filled him in on what Emma told her.

"Oh, so you were jealous," Kyle pointed out to his friend. Damian replied without hesitation, claiming,

"Never. I know I'm the full package."

"So you were just being possessive?" Brianna pried.

"I'm not even going to acknowledge that with a response," Damian deadpanned.

"Ah, but you did, Damian. Just now," Emma told him.

They walked in class and immediately sat in their usual seats in the front of the room. At the beginning of the year, Brianna insisted that it was better to be closer to the board and the professor, so everyone had just made it their routine. From left to right, Damian, Emma, Brianna, and Kyle sat down, Kyle being at the right end of the row. A girl sat down next to Damian and flashed him a bright smile.

"Oh, Damian, I didn't see you there," she said nicely. "Can I sit right here?"

"Sure," he shrugged.

"Great," the girl said as she sat down. "You know, I really like this class…do you?"

"Yeah," Damian answered.

"What do you like about it?" she asked.

"Uh…I don't know…the subject…?" he told her unsurely.

"You're so funny," she gushed. "How can you come in here every week and not know if you like the class?" Damian just shrugged.

"I just come in to learn stuff and go," he said.

"Isn't that so like you," the girl said, laughing.

Damian couldn't really put his full attention into the conversation his classmate was trying to continue, because he was too busy wondering who she was. She obviously knew who he was, but he had no idea why she was so intent on asking him random questions. He took a quick glance at the door, but to no avail. The professor hadn't walked in yet. He then turned to his right and looked at Emma. She had already begun getting her notebook and pencil out to take notes. She noticed his gaze and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you staring at me for?" she asked. "Aren't you talking to her?"

"What's the matter?" Damian questioned with a smirk. "You jealous?"

"No, but I'm just wondering why I'm getting the death stare from her right now," Emma whispered.

Damian turned around, but the girl immediately looked back at her own blue book bag.

She then looked back up at Emma and said, "You don't need to whisper about me when I'm right here, rude." Emma's face scrunched up.

"You don't need to look at me stupid for no reason," she replied. "And I barely even know you, so what's your problem?"

"Well, I don't want to know you, and I don't need to obviously," the girl said. "And I wasn't even talking to you in the first place. I was talking to Damian."

"Who is she, Damian?" Emma asked the said male.

"…Huh?" he said slowly. He was still trying to figure out how and why the girls had started arguing.

"I said 'who is she'," Emma repeated. "Ya'know…what's her name? How'd you meet her?"

Damian estimated that he had five seconds to make a decision for how to best handle the situation without looking like a total douchebag. Of course, he didn't know the girl's name. He was pretty sure Emma knew that too, and that's why she pointed it out. She was so petty. On the other hand, if he just totally dissed the girl, he would look like a jerk, especially since she knew his name and everything.

"I know her from class, like…around campus," he answered with a forced smile. He heard Kyle snicker but when he turned to his friend, Kyle started flipping through his textbook nonchalantly. Emma opened her mouth to ask about the girl's name again, but the girl spoke first.

"And my name is Brenda," she said. Then, the professor walked into the room and began her lesson quickly. Damian breathed out a sigh of relief.

*After Class*

Emma and Damian sat in the grass under a tree in the field of their university, waiting for their next class to start in 30 minutes.

"I'm so bored," Damian groaned. He lied with his back on the fresh grass and his hands behind his dark hair. Emma sat next to him in silence while reading a book for her English class.

"Hey," Damian called out.

No response.

"Hey," he repeated.

Still no response. The young man then rolled over into his best friend's lap, effectively blocking the book from her view.

"You're so selfish, ya know?" he told Emma. "You hear me dying of boredom over here and you don't even look concerned."

"You're the selfish one," Emma responded, rolling her brown eyes. She shook her head and her black hair bounced back and forth.

"I was studying."

"Pfft, like you actually need to study," Damian replied with a smirk. "The only thing you're missing are your glasses, overalls, and a shirt with pen holders. Then you'd be a full nerd. Right now, you're undercover." Emma placed her book beside her in the grass and glanced at her best friend.

"So what do you want to do? Walk around?" she asked. Damian shook his head.

"I said I'm bored, not energetic," he said. "How about…21 questions?" Emma sighed.

"Really?" she asked exasperatedly. "What do you need to know that you don't already know?"

"What's your favorite color?" Damian questioned. "You already know what my favorite color is," Emma told him. "Why-"

"It's my turn to ask questions, not you," Damian interrupted. "Now answer the question." Emma rolled her eyes once again.

"Red," she answered. "What's yours?"

"Green," Damian replied confidently. "What is your dream job?"

"To be a veterinarian. Where would you visit for a vacation?"

"Palm Springs. You can basically do everything over there." Emma ran her fingers through his hair, and he closed his eyes in content as he continued to lay in her lap.

"Who is the most important person in your life besides your parents?" Damian asked her.

"You already know it's you," Emma said with a smile. Damian opened one eye to look up at her.

"I know, I just love hearing you say it," he replied.

"I need to get ready to go to class," Emma said, putting her book into her bag.

"No, not yet, I got comfortable," Damian said. He grabbed her hand and put it back in his hair. "Keep doing what you were doing."

"Who says I'm gonna listen to you?" Emma asked.

"Um, who's older?" Damian inquired. "…Oh yeah, me. Now get to work." Emma rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time but nonetheless continued running her fingers through his thick hair.

"I spoil you too much," she said aloud.

Five minutes later, Emma ended the massage.

"Okay, now I have to for real start going to class," she said to Damian. "It starts in five minutes."

"Fine," Damian groaned as he reluctantly sat up.

"I'll see you later," Emma said as she packed up her things and walked away.

The young man stood up and stretched. He too had to get to class in a few minutes, but he wasn't in the mood for a lecture. However, the cost of going to the university put a serious strain on his pockets, and he wasn't about to let his money go to waste.

*The Next Day*

Damian, Emma, Brianna, and Kyle all walked to their first class together, as usual. On the way there, they ran into Brenda. Well, Brenda walked up to Damian and started talking to him.

"Damian, how did you like the lecture yesterday?" she asked.

"It was good," he answered. "I understood most of it." "

Me too," she agreed. "I wrote some great notes. We should try to put them together or something and study."

"As cool as that sounds, I'm gonna have to say 'no thanks'," Damian told her. "I already have a system for studying." He glanced at Emma. "…But you can borrow my notes after class if you want."

Emma had her arms crossed while looking the other way. She didn't like Brenda already. She acted as if she just had a bad attitude naturally, and she didn't understand why Damian wouldn't just shrug her off already.

"Emma, did you take notes?" Brenda asked.

"Yeah," Emma replied shortly.

"Well, how do they look?" Brenda interrogated further.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked.

"Are they color coded? Are they neat? These are things you would care about if you took your education seriously," Brenda chided. Emma glared at her, irritated. Being that Damian was walking in between the two girls, he could feel then glaring daggers into each other and was determined to end it.

"Look, I'm sure both of you guys make amazing notes," he offered. "Besides, you guys are just trippin' off of irrelevant stuff anyway."

"I can't wait until Christmas vacation comes," Emma muttered as she rolled her eyes and walked away.

"Have fun with your new notes," she called out to Damian as she disappeared into the body of students.