reputation

The New Guy

May 30, 2018.

Fifteen - Emma

In the days between concerts, Emma usually found herself exploring whatever city they were in, sometimes with Taylor and sometimes on her own. It was a nice routine. She missed being at home and being able to paint and work whenever she wanted, but she had never really seen much of the United States outside New York and it was nice to experience it with Taylor.

In the aftermath of the hell-sent mail, life was incredibly boring. She had been buried in a room at the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago since last week's shows, sometimes with Taylor and most times on her own. The hotel itself wasn't terrible, it actually had a nice view of Lake Michigan and a fascinating history, but it wasn't a great place to not leave for a week straight. Taylor had been to many places in the past week: the stadium, a studio, or out for a public appearance with her friends. Emma had been stuck with some guy named Luke.

Luke was a few years older than her, a tall ex-marine with a doll-like face, and physically capable of protecting her if the need arose, but he was dreadfully boring. He had the confidence and personality of a frat guy, which was to say too much of one and far too little of the other. She hated him, hated the way he was within arms reach of her at almost all hours of the day and the way he droned on and on about a game-winning touchdown he scored in high school, but Freddy seemed certain it was best for her to have someone else there when he couldn't be. She trusted Freddy, and for whatever reason Freddy trusted Luke.

Taylor had been off doing god knows what since the early hours of the morning. It was now well past lunch, nearing dinner time. Emma understood, but that didn't mean she wasn't allowed to be pissed that Taylor got to go places while she was told to stay in the hotel until they got everything figured out. She was told people had been working on figuring out where the puzzles came from and if it was a viable threat or not, though she wasn't exactly sure who 'people' were.

Taylor walked into the room, breaking her out of her thoughts. She leaped out of a lounge chair positioned by the window and flung her arms around Taylor, relieved by the change in company. "Thank god you're back. I missed you so much."

Taylor laughed breathily and pulled her in tighter. "I missed you too. I'm all yours for the rest of the night, promise."

"Just you and I?"

"Just the two of us," Taylor promised.

"Alright, I'll be, um," Luke hesitated and pointed lazily at the conjoined door between the room he and Freddy were staying in and the room they were all currently in. "I'll be over there if you need anything."

"Finally. I missed you so much, Tay. You don't even know."

"Yeah?" Taylor lifted her eyebrows and wiggled them suggestively. "I missed you too, babe."

Emma smacked her arm playfully. "Not like that! I mean I missed your company. He's so boring. He makes me want to play music so loud I pop an eardrum. Do you know how hard it is to make someone want a popped eardrum?"

"Come on, it can't be that bad."

"It's that bad. Do you want to know how many times he's told me about that stupid football play he made his junior year of high school? Enough that I almost ran out of fingers to count on, that's how many!"

Taylor laughed and shook her head, possibly recalling when he told her the same story when Freddy had introduced him to everyone. "At least he's pretty, I guess."

"He is pretty, but he's so... I think he got hit in the head with a ball a few too many times. He was doing this online crossword thing and the clue was 'dried plum.' He said grape. The only redeeming thing about that is that it at least has the correct amount of letters.