Alone With You (Remma)

Party at Mine!

Cleo arrived at 7:08 p.m. and apologized profusely for not helping set up after she was the one begging for the party to be on. Emma answered the door again at 7:26 p.m. for the first round of guests that arrived. Of course it was the swim team girls, never late. The next group showed up at 7:36 p.m. and the last group of girls came at 7:51. In total, there were fourteen girls including Emma, Cleo, and Rikki.

Emma had settled in and said hello to each person individually, trying to avoid eye contact with Rikki for the time being, feeling awkward about the events that occurred in her bed less than an hour before. Emma didn't hear the doorbell ring for a fifth time over the chatting and music that was already playing, she only saw her mother open it for two people who were certainly not invited.

"What a delightful surprise!" Mrs. Gilbert exclaimed. "I haven't seen you two in ages!"

Emma hurriedly walked over to where Cleo and Rikki were talking, apologizing to Kelly for ending their conversation about one of the swim team boys she liked short.

"What is it?" Cleo asked, seeing the distraught look in Emma's eyes.

She pointed to the door where her mother, Zane Bennett, and Miriam Kent stood talking and exchanging pleasantries.

"That," she pointed.

"You didn't invite Miriam, did you?" Cleo asked.

"Of course not!"

"You want me to kick them out?" Rikki asked.

Emma made eye contact with her for the first time since earlier and she felt her stomach drop. Ignoring that, she said, "Forget it. I don't wanna make a scene in front of my mum."

The three girls approached the unwelcome guests plus Mrs. Gilbert with false, delighted smiles. Emma noticed that Zane had brought a tray of pastries along with him, what a suck up, she thought.

"Your mum has invited us to stay and eat with you guys," Zane said with a triumphant smirk.

Emma scowled and her two friends behind her crossed their arms in support.

"Look Em, he's even brought a contribution to the food," Mrs. Gilbert said, gesturing to the tray of pastries.

"Mum, can I talk to you?" Emma asked, dragging her mother into the kitchen by her arm.

They had a quiet argument about the crashers, Emma saying they weren't invited and her mother countering it by saying they're already here, they might as well let them stay. Mrs. Gilbert lectured Emma about how Zane was an old family friend and they should treat him as such no matter how he and Emma got along these days. She seemed to think Zane was still a perfectly refined young man which made Emma uneasy because of how entirely wrong her mother was. Still, she agreed that Zane and Miriam couldn't cause too much trouble in one night and bid her mother good night.

All of the girls switched into pajamas except for Miriam who clung to Zane's side like a puppy without a home, scowling at any girl who talked to him which was almost all of them.

Emma set up the DVD player and turned on 10 Things I Hate About You but it acted more as background noise because all of the girls were talking (mostly to Zane) and playing games. Rikki and Emma were sitting at the kitchen table behind the party, people watching.

"I can't believe Zane just shows up to my party and steals all of the attention," Emma remarked. "I guess I'm kind of over it now because there's nothing I can do except wait for him to get tired of bothering us and leave."

"I could still kick him out," Rikki offered.

Emma smiled at the girl, "That would make my year, but no, I'm being the bigger person this time."

"I just hate to see you so down at your own party when you were so nervous to have it before," Rikki said, leaning closer to Emma.

"That might just be the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Emma laughed softly.

"It can't be!"

Emma and Rikki were back to their giggly mood from earlier, but this time in a crowded room. Two swim team members walked up to the happy looking girls and sat down across from them.

"Hey Em, hey Rikki," one of the girls said, "So me, Jane, and Kelly have to be up at 5:00 a.m. for training and might need to go to bed a little early."

"No problem at all, I've set up a quiet room upstairs for anyone who has to crash early."

The girl smiled. "That's our Emma!"

"We so miss you on the swim team," the girl's friend declared.

Emma's eyes grew slightly sullen but she still wore her smile.

"I still swim occasionally," she told the girls, her expression becoming somewhat wistful.

Once the girls had walked over to join the group of girls surrounding Zane, Rikki broke the silence first. "I can't even imagine having to quit something I've done for years and that I truly love with all of my heart."

Emma sighed, "It was difficult but not completely terrible. I still get to swim, just in a way I never thought imaginable, and with people who I truly care for."

Like you, she thought.

"Do you wanna go outside for a bit?" Rikki asked. "It's getting loud in here."

"Of course."

Rikki grabbed Emma's hand and led the way to the sliding glass door which led to the patio. Now outside, Rikki let out a breath and dropped Emma's hand. She shuddered at the loss of contact, having enjoyed her fingers being laced with the shorter girl's.

"This is much better," Rikki announced.

Emma sighed, making eye contact with the bright moon. She felt eyes on her as she fiddled with the silver locket on her chest.

"That necklace really is beautiful on you," Rikki said.

Emma's hand dropped to her side and her eyes landed back on the girl with a flattered smile. She wondered if Rikki was mostly talking about the locket or if she meant that Emma looked beautiful wearing the locket. She hoped it was the second option, shivering at the boldness of her thoughts.

Rikki reached out to touch the locket, her fingers brushing the skin of Emma's chest and making her feel like her legs could lose balance at any moment.

"You know, I–"

Rikki was interrupted by loud shouts inside. Both girls swung their heads to see that the drinks in the kitchen had exploded all over Miriam. They cast each other a look, knowing Cleo's powers were likely the cause, and rushed to get back inside.

The unusual scene unfolded before them, Cleo wrapped in a sleeping bag, her face the only part of her body visible, and Miriam, angry as ever with green juice all over her hair, face, and clothes. Cleo was the only one that looked unfazed at the exploding of the beverages and Emma cast her a discouraging look for using her powers in front of so many people. Emma made up an unconvincing excuse about how the air pressure gets weird when the room is crowded and makes everything explode. She eventually got everyone away from Cleo and into another room, realizing she had a tail from the shape of the sleeping bag.

Miriam stormed out of the house as fast as she entered, dragging Zane behind her, who, Emma and Rikki learned after, was responsible for this entire mishap with Cleo getting a tail. He had "accidently" poured a cup of soda on her and she had to run into the closet where the sleeping bags were before she changed into a mermaid. Everyone had begun asking questions like, "Why are you in a sleeping bag, Cleo?" so she decided to blow up the drinks as a distraction. It worked but it was very difficult to clean up.

As you may or may not have known, Cleo's mermaid power was to control water (or make it explode in this case), Emma's was to freeze water, and luckily, Rikki's was to heat water. She was able to use this power on Cleo's tail to evaporate the moisture that covered her and get her legs back where her tail was.

Emma spent most of the night cleaning up Cleo's mess which some of the other girls helped with. She used this task to distract herself from thinking of the multiple moments she shared with Rikki throughout the course of the day and was completely, infuriatingly confused about.

Authors Note: Heyy thanks for reading this part! Please vote if you liked it and save my story to read the next chapter out soon!!