Queer-ish

Queer-ish Part 3: Emma

The phone's loud ring wakes Emma up from yet another fitful sleep and she groggily reaches for it from her side table. Glancing at the caller ID she reads Nicole which prompts her to immediately answer it, remembering that she was having that huge party at her house- with all the wrong people. Fumbling with it, she finally slides the answer button over. "Nicole? What's going on? It's like," Emma checks the time at the top of her screen, "1 am." There's sobbing from the other side of the line as Emma puts Nicole on speaker and begins to get dressed into real clothing instead of her current tank top. "Nic I'm coming to get you. Where are you?" There's a buzzing sound as Emma gets a text of a blurry street sign that was in Portland which was a good hour away. Not wasting time to ask Nicole what's up, she writes a quick text to her mom letting her know where she is and another to Alex.

Emma: nic called me and she's in dt portland. idk what's going on but I'm going to get her. wanna come?

Alex: ok my mom says yes can u pick me up?

Emma: yes. b there in 10.

Emma backs out of her driveway, keeping the sobbing Nicole on speaker. "Nic what's happening?" There's no answer for a long time and Emma is almost to Alex's house before she replies. "They said we'd have fun but then they just left me here and I have no where to go and no car, nothing." Sobbing harder, she adds, "Cathy left me too she just left me for Allen and the others." Noticing Nicole was slurring her words, Emma's heart lurches in her chest and she pulls into Alex's driveway. "Nicole...are you drunk?" Emma would've never thought Nicole would be brought into that sort of thing, but her craving for popularity and lust for Cathy had gotten the best of her this time. Nicole sniffled from the other side of the line and Alex makes their way to the car. "Nic, Al and I are coming to get you, okay? Stay safe and keep me on the line, alright?" Nicole muttered a response that Emma could only hope was a yes, but didn't ask for the sake of her own sanity. Staring out the window, she is spaced out until the door opens with a burst of cool air and Alex climbs inside. Emma mutes the call so Nicole can't hear the two of them talking.

"She's drunk and alone. She went down there with Cathy and her crew and was ditched, she's really emotionally drained right now. You sure your mom is okay with this?" Alex smirked, "I'm sure she would've if I had asked." Emma rolled her eyes, she was surrounded by rebels, but that was fine. Sometimes she needed to get out of her comfort zone. She had asked Alex here because they were usually calm until the situation called for their feisty attitude, whereas Emma really needed someone to stable her due to her anxiety. Emma took a deep breath and turned out of Alex's neighborhood and onto the main road which was dark and foreboding with the occasional presence of lights. The car was silent besides Nicole's occasional sniff or check-in. Alex finally got tired of the music-less car and cranked up Washington-The Musical, to which they both sang along, Alex actually rather good and Emma completely and totally out of tune to the point where it was bad, but she laughed anyway.

Soon enough, Nicole warned them her phone was about to die so hung up on them, which was concerning but kind of good that way Alex and Nicole could take a bathroom break and grab a few snacks without being yelled at for not coming fast enough by drunk Nicole who swore up and down she'd only had one drink, which was probably true. Her slight frame and alcohol intolerance probably got the best of her. Pulling into a Chevron gas station, Alex filled up while Emma went in to grab snacks. She was inside checking out a few bags of chips when her phone rang and it was Cathy Carters. She'd exchanged numbers with her a while back for a group project where Emma was putting together an essay with information she had gathered. Hesitantly, she answered it. "Emma, is this you?" A shaken-up Cathy asked. "Yeah, Cathy," Emma said coldly, "what do you want?" There was a moment of silence and deep breaths from the other side of the line before Cathy answered. "We left Nicole. I know we shouldn't have and I feel really bad about it, but she's all alone in Portland." Emma walked out to the car and opened the door, waiting for Alex to finish filling up gas. "Yeah, Cathy. I know, she called me and I'm already almost there." There was a sigh of relief from Cathy and Alex climbed in and shut the door behind them. "Who's that?" They whispered, looking at the Caller ID they raised an eyebrow. "Cathy like Cathy Carters? She got Nicole into this mess, what's she doing calling you?"

"You know I can here you, right Alex?" Alex scoffed. "Yeah, I'm aware. I'm also aware of how you left our friend outside in Portland, a huge city, alone and drunk. You're despicable." Alex's fists curled and Emma could've sworn they were about to spit on her phone in a vain attempt to get at Cathy. The two had never gotten along, not even in Elementary school where once Cathy pulled Alex's hair until more than a few hairs were in her dainty hand. "I know, okay? You remind me of this every time I see you. I feel really bad about this and if I could drive I'd go get her myself," Emma rolled her eyes, not believing one word of Cathy's usual BS. "I know you probably don't believe me but please make sure she's okay." Before Alex could retort with overly hurtful words directed at Cathy, Emma hung up the phone, the music returning to the car.

"Hey, Al. Would you pull up that street sign and put it into maps? We're in portland so I want to try and not get lost because she's probably cold." Alex nodded and obliged, pulling up a map for Emma to follow throughout the confusingly laid out city until they saw a body laying at the base of the exact street sign Nicole had taken a photo of. Not bothering to find a parking spot, Emma jumps out of the car followed quickly by Alex. Emma bends down and shakes the body that they assume to be Nicole, which by the long hair and smeared makeup they could easily tell in the dark that they were right. In her hand lay her phone, dead and a bunch of smashed bottles near the road that they could only assume had been Cathy and her crew. "Nic, come on. Wake up. It's Emma and Alex." There's a groan and then movement from Nicole's lethargic person as she rolls over, almost onto glass until Alex pushes her back. "There's glass. Nicole we need you to get up, can you do that?" Nicole obliged as best she could and, with the help of Alex and Emma, was able to make it in a laying-down position in the back seat. Emma buckled seat belts around her so she'd be relatively safe (ish) as she drove into the night with her brights on, Washington-The Musical pumping in the car, Alex right next to her and a recovering drunken Nicole in the back, barely keeping her eyes open.