ethan & emma: talking with you.

A Moment on the Beach

Emma tugged her hair back onto the top of her head just as her phone started to ring. She pulled a few strands out in front of her ears with one hand, the other swiping YES to answer the FaceTime call. Bryant appeared on her screen, hat pulled low over his forehead, his eyebrows raised. "Hey, Em. You ready to go?"

"I mean, I'm running late, but what else is new?" Emma said.

"Will you be ready in the next five minutes?" he asked.

"I just have to find my keys, and my..." she patted down her pockets, "...my chapstick. Of course I lost it. Why am I such a fucking mess?"

"I couldn't tell you," Bryant said, cracking a smile.

"Tell her she still has chapstick in here! She left some in the glove compartment." Ethan's voice drifted in front out of frame.

"Ethan says you still have chapstick in his car," Bryant relayed dutifully.

"I can hear him, you know. A phone is a two way street," Emma said.

"Hey, man, I'm just trying to help," he said.

"I'm kidding, Bryant. I could never be mad at you."

"Must be nice," Ethan said, loudly this time. Emma's mouth fell open, and she peered closer into the camera. "What? When have I ever been mad at you, Ethan?"

"Last week when I ate some of your tofu burrito and almost vomited!"

Bryant moved the camera until Ethan was visible, seated in the driver's seat, one side of his mouth quirked upward.

"Well, that was justified. You have terrible taste in food."

"Aw, thanks. I love when you compliment me."

"You're welcome," Emma smiled, overly-sweet, like sugared honey.

"What's your ETA?" Bryant interrupted, moving back into the center of the frame.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Emma shoved her keys and wallet into her pocket before checking herself in the mirror a final time. She was dressed in a black crop top and jeans, something simple to cover her bathing suit that she wouldn't mind getting sand on.

"You're parked in the back lot, right?"

Bryant moved back into view. "Yep. See you soon."

"See ya," Emma said, hanging up the call and locking her door before she hurried around her apartment complex to the parking lot.

There was Ethan's Jeep, bathed in sunlight, and she could see Ethan beckoning to her from inside. She shook her head at him in mock outrage, but still moved quickly around the hood and got into the backseat. Grayson was sitting in the front, sunglasses covering his eyes, and Bryant was seated to her left.

"It's about time!" Ethan said, but then he turned to look at her and he was smiling. "You have everything? You ready?"

"I'm so fucking ready! Let's go!" Emma said, buckling herself in.

"That's my kind of energy," Bryant said, grinning at her.

"Oh, I love this song," Grayson said, and started to turn the music up.

"Wait, is this J. Cole?" Ethan asked, holding up his hand in a bid for silence.

"Yep, it is. Shut up so we can hear it," Grayson said, and turned the music up until it was nearly deafening. Emma met Bryant's gaze. Despite his frown and the hands pressed over his ears, she could see the amusement in his eyes. Emma mirrored his posture, but a minute in and she couldn't help but devolve into fits of laughter as Ethan and Grayson started to shout the lyrics at the top of their lungs.