After eating dinner, we went back to the apartment and took turns showering. We were all so tired and in such weird moods from the state our home was in, that going to bed at eleven didn't seem early. Grayson was passed out, all the lights in the house were out, and I couldn't resist creeping into Emma's room. She was awake, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes.
"Why aren't you asleep?" I whispered, crawling under the covers and throwing an arm over her bare stomach.
"Nervous," she replied.
"About LA?" I asked.
"About everything." Emma clarified. I didn't ask any more questions, just listened to her breathing.
"How could I have functioned in LA without you, Ethan?" Emma asked me. My eyes shot open. That was a question I wasn't equipped to answer.
"Jesus, Emma." is all I said.
"You should be sleeping with Grayson. In case he gets sick again." Emma insisted.
"Nah," I said dismissively, pressing a kiss on her shoulder. Immediately, she turned and curled into my torso. Hesitantly, she tilted her head up and kissed me. I closed my eyes, cradling the back of her neck and kissing back. Suddenly, she had risen, straddling me. She leaned down over my horizontal body, cupping my cheeks and pressing hot kisses against my lips.
My hands naturally rested against her bare thighs, and she sat back, ripping off her top. Something about seeing her cheeks flushed, and chest only covered by a thin Calvin Klein bra made me snap out of it. I grabbed her wrists, pushing her off of me and sitting up.
"I won't have sex with you in your old room with Grayson on one end of the hall and your mom on the other," I said firmly, convincing myself just as much as I was convincing her.
Emma smiled shyly. "Yeah, okay."
"Now, I'm going to go sleep in the guest room, with Grayson, who snores, because I'm respectful. Not because I don't want to be with you." I told her slowly, as I climbed out of bed, readjusting my boxers.
"Goodnight, Ethan," Emma said fondly, biting her lip at me.
"See you in the morning, babe," I replied over my shoulder.
Late the next morning, it was Emma who woke me up instead of Grayson. At first, I was confused, and Emma snickered at my wild eyes.
"Oh, hey," I said, realizing it was her. "Good morning."
"Good morning to you," she smiled back. "My mom made breakfast. Is Gray going to get up?"
I turned, surprised to see Grayson still asleep. "Maybe not," I said unsurely. "Are we just going to leave him here?"
"Well...yes?" Emma said hesitantly. "My mom left the car for me. And the Jeep is here. So he won't be stuck."
"He'll be fine," I assured her, involuntarily reaching out and tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Hurry up and get dressed. We're going to San Francisco," she informed me. When I made it to the kitchen, Emma was hurrying around, cutting fruit and making coffee. She offered me a piece of toast.
"Let me buy you breakfast." I insisted.
"No, you'll be buying me a lot of things today, let me do this one thing." Emma giggled, spreading avocado on my toast.
"Now, I know you don't like fruit because you're weird, so you're going to have to deal with this," she told me.
"Sounds good to me," I said with a full mouth. I texted Grayson and told him we were going to the city and left the keys on the nightstand.
"Ready?" Emma asked, a new light in her eyes. She opened the door for me, balancing a coffee, fruit, her and her keys in one hand.
"Where to first?" I asked her after she pulled out of the driveway.
"Philz, of course." she declared.
"Emma," I said disapprovingly. "You have a coffee right there."
"It's a ten-minute drive. I won't have one when we get there." she insisted, taking an obnoxious slurp.
"Oh, my gosh." I laughed, throwing my head back. She was right, though, when we got there the cup only had ice. We searched for parking before settling on a spot a ways away. As we walked in, I wanted to grab her hand. Just because we were in San Francisco didn't mean that there weren't eyes on us, all the time.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"I'll get it, you find us a spot," I told her. I ordered an iced almond milk latte for her and an espresso for me.
She was curled up in a booth near the back of the cafe. I joined her, handing her the coffee.
"I would come here literally every day to edit," Emma told me.
"Every day, huh?" I asked.
"Yep. My friends would do their homework and I would edit a video on my computer." Emma said.
"Did they ever think it was weird?"
"Not my real friends," Emma said shortly.
"Which are..?" I prompted.
"Another story for another day," Emma said, sipping her coffee.
"Okay. What do you want to tell me?" I asked.
"I've told you everything you need to know already, Ethan." she insisted.
"Yeah, but I want to know more." I insisted.
"About my old life?" Emma asked skeptically.
"It's not your 'old life'. You have to stop thinking about it that way." I told her. "It's just different chapters of life. Not old and new."
"Hmph." is all Emma replied. She was stubborn, that was for sure. The rest of the day we spent going to all of Emma's weird favorite places. Thrift stores, the emptiest mall I had ever seen, and lastly, Pressed.
"Oh, fuck. This was the only thing I ever ate when I lived here." Emma said excitedly, pulling into a spot. "Don't worry, I'll get you something.
And she ran in, coming back out quickly since it was 9 at night and no one was inside. She was holding two cups, a large bottle, and three other small bottles of orange liquid.
"A wellness drink and wellness shot for Grayson, one for each of us, and some vegan ice cream," she announced proudly, plopping them in my lap.
"Now we're going to go to my favorite sunset spot." she decided.
"You really did live a teen girl's dream life," I observed, reading the ingredients on the wellness shot. Cayenne? I shuddered in disgust.
"You know I didn't," Emma said lowly.
"I know," I said sullenly. "Let's take these."
"No until we get there," she warned me. It was only a fifteen-minute drive, but the ice cream was melting fast. We were parked on an overhang that overlooked the ocean, and it was beautiful.
"Cheers." Emma smiled, tapping her shot with mine. I tipped it into my mouth, immediately gagging at the taste.
"Unghhh." I groaned, wincing. Emma just laughed, no expression of displeasure.
"This is better." I decided, shoving a bite of ice cream in my mouth. It was her personal favorite, vanilla with chocolate sauce and almond butter. Emma sighed and leaned her head against my shoulder. She smelled like laundry detergent and birthday cake, probably from the Glossier chapstick she'd been applying all day.
"Thanks for taking me around today," I told her, taking another bite.
"Of course. I'm glad we did it together," she whispered back, and we watched the San Francisco sun fade away.
wow that was a long one
really spoiling you guys today ;) <3
vote/comment for next chapter
