"Sorry, working." Emma replied stoically. "Can't be helped, so I can't go. Buh-bye."
   She hung up the cell phone without waiting for an answer.
   "You know, you should never lie to your friends. Especially if they're supposed to be your best one."
   Emma ignored the advice and steered around a sharp turn. "I don't remember asking for personal advice, Ike." She muttered.
   Isaac shrugged, "I give it freely."
   "Then keep it to yourself." Emma returned, annoyed by his verbal carelessness. "Cause I could care less what you opinions are."
   A few moments of silence passed and Emma relaxed noticeably. "So when do you work?"
   Again she stiffened again. "Tonight, at nine." She turned and looked at him quickly before watching the road once more. "Happy now?"
   Isaac shook his head, "Now that you mentioned it. No."
   Emma laughed, "Good. I'm sick of happy people."
   Twisting in his seat to look at her, Isaac thought for a moment. "Have you ever been happy, Em?"
   She didn't answer right away. "Emma. I didn't invite you to call me Em." She ordered sharply, and then answered his question honestly. "I don't know if I ever was. If I had been happy, it was most likely short lived and so long ago that I've forgotten."
   Sliding into a dirt driveway, she switched off the engine and snapped her seatbelt off. Spreading her arms wide she announced, "Hollow Point. Home of childhood fantasies and freedom."
   She was already out of the car when he started snapping off his seatbelt as well. Looking around, Isaac smiled. She wasn't nearly as cold as she was trying so hard to make herself out to be.
   Stepping out the low rider, he took in her defensive stance and questioned it. "So why are you running from Grace today, Em?" He asked curiously, purposefully using her nickname.
   Spinning around and glaring at him, Emma gritted her teeth, then suddenly smiled. Making him nervous. "I think her and Taylor are trying to stop our game."
   Her statement surprised him. Here he thought she was finally opening up, and then she slammed the door in his face. Gritting his own teeth, he nodded. "Tay was trying pretty hard to make me quit it last night."
   Emma grinned, "He came by my place this morning." She sighed whimsically, but Isaac wasn't fooled, he saw her eyes snapping. "He was a bit nervous though."
   Isaac couldn't help it, he laughed loudly. "And I bet you just don't know why either?" He asked humorously.
   She raised all too innocent eyes. "How would I know?" Her smile was pure sugar. "It's not like I would do anything to make him nervous."
   Chuckling to himself, Isaac sat along with her on a fallen tree trunk. "He probably expected you to attack him or something."
   "Physically, verbally, or," Emma slanted him a sly look. "Sexually?"
   He laughed again and shook his head. "I … don't wanna know."
   They talked on, surprisingly, cordially and after an hour and a half Emma stood up and stretched. Allowing Isaac to view her completely relaxed and complacently. "We have to start back."
   Unwillingly, Isaac nodded and stood as well. "I know." He answered quietly.
   They watched each other for a moment, and before he realized what was happening himself. Isaac wrapped her in his arms and kissed her for the first time. And she shocked him by kissing him back.
   Pulling back, he smiled down at her. "You are good." He murmured against her temple, hugging her close again.
   Stiffening under that praise, Emma backed up, breaking the contact with him.
   Groaning to himself, he watched her replace her barriers once again and head for her car. Kicking at rock and launching it a few feet, Isaac stomped along behind her. Getting more and more frustrated by her unpredictable mood swings.
   "I'm sorry about what happened." He growled lowly, as he opened the door and slid inside.
   Emma shrugged, "It's over and it didn't mean anything."
   Glaring out the front window, he tried counting to ten but didn't make it past two. "You know, I wished I didn't take Taylor's place in this damn game."
   "Can't handle the heat?" She taunted; her hands gripping the steering wheel so tight her knuckles were a bloodless white.
   "Can't stand a woman being colder than a snowman." He returned sharply.
   Then he sneered at her, "Bet you can't feel a damn thing, can you? That's why you play the game. You can't be in a real relationship cause once they're around you so long they realize that you're so damn frigid that you can't turn them on!"
   She didn't respond, and Isaac nearly apologized. But refrained when he saw the look in her eyes. "It is such a shame that Taylor and I didn't get to play against each other."
   Isaac smirked, "and why is that?"
   She sighed softly, "Cause he is a much prettier boy."
   The comment gave her more points than what his little rant gave him and Emma relished in the reaction she got. The clenching and unclenching of his fists, she saw the muscle jerking in his jaw betraying the clenching and unclenching of his teeth as well.