curiosity

Three

when emerson woke up the next morning juniper was no longer in her arms. while she was a little sad she figured june was just scared last night and need the extra comfort. she stretched and opened the bedroom door to find juniper making breakfast.

"good morning." juniper smiled, pulling a plate down from the cabinet.

"good morning." emerson cooed back. a plate with croissants, sausage and eggs was slid to her.

"i had croissants?" emerson asked, looking up at juniper.

"no, i made them from scratch." she laughed softly, taking one off the baking sheet and taking a bite. emerson was amazed at how perfect they look to be made from scratch.

"looks good." emerson cooed, taking a bite from the croissant. the hum that left emerson's lips made juniper smile contently.

"it's good?" she asked, leaning forwards onto the counter.

"it's really good." she confirmed, nodding softly while taking a bite from the eggs. usually she did scrambled eggs, sorta intimidated by the yolk of a sunny side up egg but junipers were perfect.

"you doing anything today?" emerson asked while drinking from the orange juice.

"there's a party tonight that archi and ollie were talking about a few minutes ago, but that's later."

"wait when was this?" juniper shrugged.

"literally like five minutes ago.. one of archis old friends is throwing a party, he invited us." emerson hummed, continuing to eat.

"that's sounds like fun." juniper nodded and turned to finish the sausage that were left in the pan.
~~~
later the group all met at emerson's house and she drove them to the party, which was thirty minutes away. she wasn't too fond of the length of the drive but she already agreed to be the shofer. and she was probably the safest option as she never really got drunk.

once they arrived everyone went to the kitchen to get a drink, emerson just following the group so they didn't get separated. though later in the night as everyone lost their control she'd gotten two drinks herself.

"hey emmie." juniper smiled while walking to the brunette. emerson could tell she wasn't thinking for herself at this point.

"hi june." she smiled back.

"come dance with me." juniper pouted, tugging emerson up from the couch.

"where's ollie?" emerson asked, dancing with the girl but knowing she'd rather dance with oliver.

"with zane.. i think." she hummed, feeling juniper rest her head against her chest. she smiled down at the girl and continued to sway with her, rubbing her back softly.

"emmie?" juniper slurred out, muffled by emerson's chest.

"yeah?" she asked, watching the dark haired girl sit back up.

"you're so pretty." june smiled and cupped the tallers cheeks.

"so beautiful." she muttered, smiling. then she leaned in. a dark red fell over emerson's cheeks as she pulled her face away from junes.

"woah, juniper." emerson pulled away from the girls body completely.

"what?" juniper asked as a frown fell over her face. emerson looked around for either archi or oliver, which were stood with a group of people she didn't know too well. she pulled oliver out of the group, gently pushing juniper to lean on him.

"she uh.. she tried to kiss me." ollie laughed softly, which made emerson sigh from relief. she thought oliver would've been upset. archi said it was obvious how much emerson liked juniper, even when she tried to make it not so obvious

"well.. we should get going then, shouldn't we?" he looked down at juniper and tucked her hair out of her face. juniper smiled up at ollie and hugged onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist as he picked her up.

"i'm not sure if archi is ready to leave, but i could order you guys an uber." ollie shook his head.

"no it's fine, i've got it." she hummed and went to join archi. she knew her cheeks were rosy before the redhead even got the chance to tease her about it.

"wh-"

"don't say anything." she grumbled. as much as she wanted to except the kiss, she had to respect that june is in a relationship and that she isn't in the right state of mind. and she was almost 90% sure juniper wasn't gay.

they stayed at the party for another hour or so before emerson had to practically drag archi out of the house. he wasn't wasted but definitely drunk, enough for him to stumble when walking.

" 'm hungry." the redhead grumbled, looking over to emerson.

"it's 12:00, the only thing that's open is taco bell or mcdonald's." he hummed, laying his seat back.

"tacos sound good." he closed his eyes and hummed to the music playing on the radio. emerson glanced over to archi and rerouted to taco bell. after ordering she put the bag of food on the floor in front of archi, who had fallen asleep, then began driving back home.

"cmon." she muttered, shaking the boy awake. archi grumbled something to himself and got out, holding onto emerson's shirt to keep himself balanced.

"you can stay in the guest room.. but if you throw up on anything you're cleaning it." archi flopped onto the bed.

"yeah i know i know." she placed the food and drinks down and got him a bottle of water.

"drink." she cooed, pushing the bottle of water to his lips in hopes of sobering him up a little bit.

"i got it!" he slapped her hand away with a groan. she chuckled and got her food from the bag.

"i'll be in my room if you need me." he gave a thumbs up while standing to get his food from the bag.