Emma was in her room going over some of the research Liberty had given her on the Take Back The Night event, when Manny came crawling through the window after finally leaving the party.

"Hey, Em!"

Emma looked up from her papers. "Hey."

When Manny finally got herself into the room, she started to dust her clothes off. "I'm sorry you didn't have fun tonight. I really thought-"

Emma put her papers down and smiled from ear to ear, causing Manny to stop in mind sentence. "I had a wonderful time tonight," Emma revealed.

"Whoa." Manny rushed over to take a seat on the bed. When she was sufficiently comfortable, she said, "Okay, start at the beginning and don't leave anything out."

Emma told Manny the whole story of the night she just had. There were several, 'Oh my gosh!'s and 'No way!'s from Manny's end.

Emma finally came to the end of her story. "…and then I kissed him."

"Oh my gosh, Em! No way!" Manny cooed one last time. "So, you guys are like officially together now, right? Because, your mood since Peter was really starting to bum me out."

"Uh! Thanks a lot!" Emma said, sarcastically.

"Hey, it's the truth." She was in true Manny form. Blunt and spirited. "You have been really depressing to be around, lately."

"Can you really blame me, though?" Emma asked.

"No," Manny answered. "What Peter did to you was seriously disturbed…But, I'm just glad you stopped ignoring your feelings for Jay."

Emma nodded. "Yeah, Jay and I are really happy, too…But, hey. What about you?"

"What about me?" Manny shrugged.

"Well," Emma started, "Craig goes away for one weekend and you're already putting it all out there with some other guy?"

"We were just talking." Manny rolled her eyes. "Craig talks to other girls all the time."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "All you did was talk?"

"That's it," Manny replied as she drew an 'X' over her heart with her index finger.

"I guess that makes me two for two in misinterpreting conversations today." Emma really did feel badly that her judgment had been off for quite some time now. "…Sorry, sometimes I'm a little overprotective of Craig. He's just like an older brother to me."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Manny had heard the Emma and Craig growing up together stories a hundred times before. At times, they even made her a little jealous of how close the two were. But, like Emma said, it was purely a sibling type relationship and, deep down, Manny understood that.

"…So, what happens now with you and Jay?" Manny asked.

Emma laid down on her bed. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"But, are you guys really gonna take things slow?" Manny pried.

Emma smiled. "Goodnight, Manny."

The two best friends drifted off to dreamland.

Sorry it is so short, but more is coming soon! Thanks for reading and reviewing!