The party had been fun. Emma wasn't going to deny that despite how shitty she had been feeling the entire day, it made her smile to be around new people, old acquaintances, and good music. Although she didn't have a sip of any alcohol, she didn't feel awkward or bored or uncomfortable. It was a nice change of scenery. It was what she had needed.
And Amanda had made her laugh the whole time, dragging her around from person to person to mingle. The alcohol had made Amanda bold and Emma was secretly grateful for this, given the fact that it made Amanda jumpstart every conversation and fill in any gaps of silence Emma left.
So overall she didn't feel bad that she went to it. Why the hell would she? She was eighteen now and she lived in Los Angeles and these were the types of things people like her were supposed to be doing.
Yeah, she'd never publicly drank or been seen smoking or Juuling or whatever because she was only 18 and she knew she had younger fans. But she also didn't think it would be the end of the world for people to speculate that she did all that stuff. Because pretty much everyone did at her age. It was basically normal.
The night had almost seemed too short, but she knew she had to leave because she had a video to film. She'd decided on an all-nighter and she knew she'd be able to do it with all the energy she'd had buzzing around inside her.
Before leaving the party she had made sure to say bye to everyone she'd seen there, stopping for a second to talk to Weston when he grabbed her arm lightly before she could move away.
"Hey. Before you go, I just wanted to say it was really good to see you. Text me sometime, yeah?" he'd whispered into her ear, leaning in close so that she could hear him over the loud music and rowdy people.
She'd glanced up at him and given him a smile, a genuine one, because it really had been nice to see him and catch up with an old friend. She'd forgotten how much he made her laugh.
"Of course, yeah. It was really nice to see you. Oh, shit, wait... I'm not sure if I still have your number though because I had to get a new phone a few months back..." she'd replied, moving her arm away from his so that she could dig around in her purse. She'd pulled out her phone and swiped to unlock it, trying not to notice how she had no new messages, and opened up a new contact page.
"Put your number in and I'll text you. Promise," she said with a grin, handing her phone over to him so he could type it in.
She didn't want to give him the wrong impression or anything— she wasn't blind, she could see the way he looked at her and the way he lingered around her all night. But she didn't want to just shut him out even if she didn't look at him in a romantic way. She was sure they could simply be friends like they had been before they'd drifted apart. Her heart wasn't in it for anything else at the moment.
So after her and Amanda had left the party, her night had been pretty uneventful. She'd dropped Amanda off and set out to making her video. She'd driven around to a few random places, walked along an empty Rodeo Drive, ate a pretty good donut and some coffee, and it actually felt pretty therapeutic. She wasn't alone often anymore and she was starting to realize just how much she'd missed it. It didn't have to mean you were lonely or didn't have friends. Sometimes it was just about taking time for yourself and being alone with your thoughts.
She'd gotten a few hours of pretty restless sleep before she was unpleasantly awoken to the sound and feeling of her phone vibrating near her cheek. She'd blinked her eyes open groggily and let out a soft puff of breath before reaching for it.
The sight of his name appearing on the screen almost made her heart fall out of her goddamn ass. Holy shit. She hadn't expected him to text her anytime soon, if not ever again.
