Expectations achieved

Emma seemed to be in a really good mood as you walked and while you couldn’t talk to her about some of the topics that you wanted to while Sarah was here, you really wanted to know how both she and Sarah had gotten on throughout the day.

“You might not wanna talk about this after spending the entire day looking at tests but how do you both think you did?” you asked, curious to hear how their answers might differ.

“To be honest? Pretty good. We’d done a lot of practice tests and I didn’t feel like I got majorly stuck on any of the questions. I got pretty bored after the last one when I finished early and had nothing to do” Emma answered first.

Her answer seemed to parody yours to a lesser degree except Emma saw the time spent alone as more of a hindrance compared to your positive outlook on it.

“...I think I felt the same…” Sarah started to say, seeing that your and Emma’s attention was solely on her and getting slightly embarrassed before she continued.

“I didn’t feel as prepared as I could have been but when I started actually going through the questions, it felt like the studying I had done was really useful. I even felt a little guilty when the others were telling me how much they struggled so I just nodded along” Sarah explained, looking slightly downcast about how well she had done.

“I don’t think that’s anything you should feel ashamed for. Not at all. I know you’ve been studying so it’s just that you’ve actually put in the effort. I’m not saying they haven’t either but maybe just not as much as you” Emma replied, walking over from the side of you to be next to Sarah and wrapping an arm around her shoulder to pull her into a side hug.

That left Sarah in the middle between you and Emma, giving you the chance to hug her from the other side and join in with the encouragement.

“I agree. We studied together and we will definitely be doing more this week. We won't have the results but I think you should be proud of yourself if you think you’ve done well” you added, squeezing her a little tighter when you told her to be proud.

It was slightly awkward to walk while the three of you hugged side by side but you could tell it had cheered Sarah up and the absurdity of it made her giggle while you kept your arms around her. When you could tell that she was back to her normal self, you loosened the hug but kept holding her hand, having Emma mirror you on the other side.

Previously you would have been cautious about outwardly displaying affection for Sarah when you were out in public but if it was just to the level of hugging and holding hands, you realised there wasn’t much point in hiding that. Especially when Emma was doing the same, making it less about you and Sarah, and more about you three as a group getting along and enjoying each other's company.

Sarah definitely seemed to appreciate it and making time to enjoy the little things like this was something you needed to do more.

“So are we gonna be studying tonight?” Sarah asked, trying to figure out your plans for the evening.

You had promised Emma you were going to call but you felt like you had time to do both in between all the distractions that were bound to happen.

“Sure, we can do. I still have my shift at the gym with Grace but I’m sure there will be time after that.” you replied, trying to figure out your timeline for the night.

“That’s if he doesn’t end up messing around with my Mom for the entire night” Emma teased, seeing you look her way and sticking her tongue out from behind Sarah.

“I did some work… at first. Oh yeah, I ended up running into someone w-who…” you started to say as a reply, looking over to Sarah before realising you weren’t sure if this was an appropriate conversation.

“...Who?” Sarah asked, seeing you were hesitating and very clearly wanting you to answer.

You stopped to try and figure out if this was the right time to bring this up but even just pausing was enough for Sarah to ask again.

“Who Max?” Sarah repeated, sensing that you were trying to avoid telling her.

“It turns out Jessica works at Grace’s gym. I didn’t know she worked there until I ran into her last night and it was only when we were leaving that she was walking in the door” you answered, deciding it was best telling the truth before you got yourself in further trouble.

Sarah was eerily silent given the news you had just dropped on her but you remembered that you also weren’t being entirely truthful when you thought about one more fact.

“Grace did also say that the both of us would be on the same shift today. I’d honestly forgotten all about it until now… but…” You added, stopping yourself when you saw that Sarah was avoiding looking in your direction.

Without being able to see her face, you weren’t exactly sure what her reaction to the news was but you waited for a response.

“Do you have any plans to spend time with her?” Sarah asked, looking up at you with a neutral face you still couldn’t read.

“What? No, of course not. Well if I had to talk to her about work matters then I wasn’t going to let it get in the way of my job. And besides, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to talk with me anyway…” you replied, not having a reason to think of Jessica as anything other than an acquaintance.

“So you wont be getting involved with her? Like you have with Grace or Rebecca?” Sarah asked, the question coming out of left field from your perspective.

You saw Emma perk up at the prospect of you adding another subject to the list but you hadn’t had any intention of getting involved with Jessica. The problem you now had, was trying to figure out why Sarah had brought this up with Jessica in the first place.

“That hadn’t been on my mind but is there a reason why I should be thinking about her like that?” you asked, turning the question back onto Sarah.

“...Nevermind” Sarah replied after a longer pause, starting to walk forward without you and Emma before you reached out and grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop.

She gently tried to shrug you off but there was hardly any resistance in her movements, knowing that Sarah was clearly a lot more athletic than you and could have easily pushed you away if she really wanted to.

“I told you before about us all being open and honest with each other, right? What do you think should happen between me and Jessica?” you asked once again, not letting go of Sarah’s hand until she gave you an answer.

Author's note: Running a bit late so I'll delay updating the spoiler chapter until Thursday.