Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 79th cycle. Now cycle 80!

"Swap & Dress"
Nora (AU!Beth), Emily (OC; Nellie V.), Grace (OC)
Sunshine Girls 2 series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Friday came on them much faster than they thought it ever might. The week had been slow to go at first. Nora had told Emily about the upcoming date, realizing she'd notice something was different. Even if they were playing it cool at school, both Nora and Grace were having difficulty keeping from smiling whenever they saw each other. So on Monday afternoon, when Nora walked home with Emily, she revealed what had happened on Saturday.

Rather than wondering why neither of them had told her yet, Emily had declared herself at both of their service for Friday. This would require for her to run from one house to the other, but then it wasn't all that unfamiliar of a concept to Emily, after all these years of being in their lives.

So Friday came, and Emily departed with Grace, while Nora had to take another route so they wouldn't cross each other. You might have thought they were getting married instead of going on their first date; they wouldn't see each other again until Grace presented herself on Nora's doorstep.

"I have to say, I'm very pleased with this. I totally made the right call," Emily nodded as she and Grace walked along.

"The right..."

"I knew Ethan would be good for you, I just didn't know in what way," Emily elaborated and Grace gave her a look. "Well he was!"

When they made it to the Mackenna house, Grace was sent off to shower while Emily rummaged her closet; it was standard practice at this point. Before heading off, Grace had issued one single rule. Emily was not to throw the majority of her closet's contents on the ground in her attempt to help find the right thing. Emily nudged her out of the room so she could get to it. She could only do so much before she had to cross the street, and she wasn't going to miss out on this tradition of theirs, not when it was this date.

By the time Grace returned, wrapped in her robe, a towel around her head, Emily had a very respectable three options for outfits. There was some arguing, going from one to the other, until finally Grace was getting dressed, and Emily sat to her hair.

"Okay, hand that over," Emily pointed as Grace was reaching in her makeup bag.

"Why?"

"Look at your hand, if you try and put anything on people will think you were drunk or having a stroke." It took away from some of the time she might have with Nora, but when she was done, the nervous Grace was all good to go. Making her promise not to show up early, Emily left her there and dashed across the street to Nora's house.

When she got up to her room, she found her friend was already dressed, hair and makeup done.

"Sorry I didn't wait," Nora looked up, sitting on her bed. "I already knew what I was going to wear."

"No kidding," Emily stepped up. "Is it a good sign that even I'm a tiny bit turned on?" she asked, which made Nora smile. "What's that?" she frowned curiously, noticing the box in Nora's lap. The blonde quietly opened it and reached inside. "Finishing touch?" Emily smiled when she recognized Nora's old bracelet, the one Grace had made for her, the one she had always removed when on dates, the one she'd stopped wearing at all once she'd started dating Francesca.

"Maybe I should wait…"

"I think you've done enough of that," Emily shook her head, moving up to help tie it back on Nora's arm. "Want me to make that knot extra tight for you?" she asked, hoping to make her smile.

"What if it doesn't work out?" Nora slowly asked. "What if after all this time, everything we went through, we start going out and we realize it's not what we want?" Emily made a face of disbelief. "It could happen," Nora insisted.

"With you two? Not a chance, and I speak for having heard both of you out these past couple years," she nodded, taking the bracelet from Nora and tying it back on her arm. "Just go with it, don't try too hard… Enjoy this, Nora. It's been a long time coming, and I know that might make you react too fast. She's as nervous as you are back there, and it's a good kind of nervous, I guarantee. It'll probably be… awkward, and weird, but that's just in the beginning. You're getting a chance at something you've wanted for so long, and that doesn't happen to everyone."

"Sometimes I wonder if you have wings," Nora smirked, looking at her best friend as her hand went to feel the old familiar bracelet, back where it belonged.

"Wings?" Emily frowned.

"You're like my fairy godmother, you are," Nora replied, poking at her back and kissing her on the cheek. "Now, get out of here, your job is done. I will let you know how it went after," she promised before Emily could even say a word.

"Right… alright… fair enough," Emily started to go. "You tell Grace I'll be wanting words from her, too!"

Emily had known both those girls long enough, had seen them through all those steps that led them to this night, and she knew how nervous they were, because she was, too, for them. But she was by their side, and she believed everything she'd said. As terrifying as this first step could be, it would only be the first of many, she truly believed it. If she could send them off feeling closer to the hope and the excitement than to the anxiety and the fear, then she had done her job as their best friend. Now all she could do was go home and wait. She would have dinner with her family, spend time with her cousins, help get them bed, all the while sending every last good vibe she could muster over to her best friends, off on their first date.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!