The Four

Chapter 14

"What about Jace? He's hot and gay!" Melanie leaned back in her office chair tossing a ball to the man across from her.

Emmet caught the ball with a pissed off expression and exclaimed, "One, not my type, two, stop trying to set me up with people from the company!" He threw the ball back which she easily caught.

"Fine." Melanie sighed dramatically. "What about one of your fans, I saw some cute guys and girls?" She offered as she threw the ball back.

Emmet rolled his eyes as he tossed the ball back at her.

"No Mels," he hesitated for a moment wondering if he had enough confidence to say the next sentence, "Besides I'm already interested in someone."

Melanie shot up in her seat, tossing the ball behind her disregarding the game that they were playing completely, "Really? Who?!"

Although she had a look of interest in her face, on the inside she was feeling a swirl of jealousy and anger. Why him being interested in someone caused her to feel so many negative emotions confused her. Emmet was an adult and he could find someone attractive. That and she was in a very serious adult relationship of her own.

"Just a friend." Emmet dismissed the question hoping that she would move on to another subject. But knowing the girl as well as he did, he knew she would keep pushing.

"That's odd." Melanie leaned back in her chair again, "Considering you don't have many friends."

Emmet's face went from dismissive to annoyed in a matter of seconds as he heard her comment, "Hilarious, Melanie, honestly you're on fire today!"

"It's the truth." Melanie gave him a sarcastic smile, "Wait, is it Shay?"

"Maybe for a few months in college." He leaned on the desk with a small grin as he thought about the phase he had where he was in love with his roommate.

Melanie covered her mouth with her hands to try and hide her giggles, "That sounds familiar for Ads and I."

Emmet's jaw dropped as he heard what she had said. He held his hand up for a high five which she gladly returned.

A knock on the door made them both turn to look.

"Come in!" Melanie called trying to regain her composure over the secrets that they had just shared with each other.

Rose poked her head into the room, "Melanie, your dads ready to talk to you now."

"Okay." Melanie nodded as she stood up from her seat, "Just breathe, I got this." She assured the boy sitting across from her.

Melanie had come up with the idea to talk to her dad about the possibility of Emmet becoming one of his racers. The idea had sprung from their night at the park a few days ago. Melanie had heard her dad talk about wanting new racers and she knew her friend would be perfect for the job. After all, it was his dream.

"Thanks for doing this." Emmet gave her a small smile as she passed by him.

"Anything for a friend." Melanie genuinely smiled back at him before exiting her office.

Rose winced as she looked between the woman who was walking away and the man still in the office, "Yikes."

Emmet looked over his shoulder at Rose, an eyebrow raised.

"Friendzoned." Rose shook her head as she shut the door of the office walking over to the now vacant office chair, "Come on, you're going to sit there and act like being called her friend didn't suck?"

"It didn't." Emmet shook his head.

He was lying of course. Hearing the word friend coming from Melanie really did suck. His underlying feelings were only getting stronger for him despite how much he fought them. She was dating someone already and she seemed happy for the most part. He couldn't ruin that for her. All he wanted was for her to be happy and if being her friend made her happy, then he would be fine with that. No matter how much it killed him on the inside.