"JJ, I swear to God, I cannot do this – I'm freaking out," Emily bemoaned from the bathroom.
"Emily, you're doing this if I have to drag you there myself," JJ insisted from her spot on the bed, gesturing in Emily's direction with a high heel.
"No, you don't understand," she whined, "I haven't been on a first date in a really long time and I'm not good at, you know, human contact..." She stepped out of the bathroom gesturing at the zipper on her dress, signalling for help.
JJ rolled her eyes, zipping the dress. "Granted, you do suck at being a person, but he already likes you, so chill."
"Gee, thanks for the pep talk," she muttered.
"Don't get me wrong," JJ continued, "I love the idea of the two of you as a couple. I'm so glad you decided to break up with your so-called 'fiance' and date someone age appropriate."
At the words 'break up', Emily made a guilty little squeak.
"Wait..." JJ said slowly, intensely, turning Emily to meet her accusing stare. "You did break up with him, didn't you?"
"Yeah..." she said in a high-pitched voice.
"Are you lying to me?" JJ glared at her, until her facade cracked.
"I don't know what we are, okay? But I'm pretty sure we're not still engaged," she admitted.
"Pretty sure?" JJ repeated. "You're about to go on a date and you may or may not still have a fiance?"
"He hasn't spoken to me since the accident, all the while he's busy putting his hands all over Chloe fucking Donaghy, so I think I'm entitled to get dinner with another guy."
For a few moments, JJ just blinked at her in stunned silence. "Jesus, the two of you are so fucked up..."
Emily took that to mean permission – or at least acceptance. "I wish I didn't have to wear this stupid fucking brace. It makes my neck look fat..."
"You are so entirely fucked up all on your own,"JJ muttered under her breath.
"Shut up," Emily grumbled, but she did so teasingly.
JJ flipped her the middle finger before moving on to the more pressing issue. "So, did Derek and Savannah officially break up?" she asked. "That's what the rumour mill is saying, but Savannah didn't look upset last time I saw her, so..."
"They broke up," Emily confirmed.
"Really?" JJ asked, seeming more surprised than the news seemed to warrent – at least, in Emily's opinion.
She nodded. "Savannah said she suspected he had feelings for someone else, so she was fine with it."
"So..." JJ prompted, brow raised expectantly.
"So?" Emily repeated, not understanding where JJ was headed with the prompt.
"So, when are you going to return the favour and make your not-engagement official?" she expanded, staring pointedly at Emily until she squirmed uncomfortably.
But before she had the chance to launch into excuses and defenses and half-truths, her phone chimed, saving her from putting her foot in her mouth.
"Derek?" JJ guessed, looking both pleased by the chance to tease her and annoyed at the loss of further interrogation.
"It's a new Instagram post from Chloe," Emily muttered darkly.
"Why the fuck are you following her on Instagram?" JJ asked. "No, more importantly, why do you have her on notifications?"
"You know what they say...keep your friends close, your enemies under surveillance," she explained. If it was supposed to be a joke, JJ couldn't tell.
"Well, what did she post?"
"Oh, she's making things plenty clear for me," Emily said ambiguously, turning the screen so JJ could see the picture.
"Oh..." was all she could manage to say, seeing the selfie Chloe had posted: Ian with his arms wrapped around the girl in what surely couldn't be a professional manner. She'd even captioned it, 'Best Coach Ever'. "Em..." she started to apologize, knowing that even if things were nebulous between Emily and Ian, it couldn't be easy to see something like that.
Emily brushed off the apology before she could get the words out. "You know what, I don't care. She can have him. I'm not going to let anything ruin this night for me."
Emily technically wasn't supposed to be leaving the house. But Elizabeth wasn't home, so technically it didn't matter. (And, if Emily hadn't followed the rules at six, she certainly wasn't about to follow them at sixteen.)
When she answered the door, Derek brandished a bouquet of flowers at her like a magician who'd just pulled them from his sleeve. He grinned, entirely too proud of himself when she blushed as she took them, inhaling their sweet scent with a shy smile.
"You didn't have to do this," she said, even though it was obvious she was pleased by the gesture.
"It's our first date," he said as if that were the obvious excuse.
"I already like you, you don't have to try to impress me," she pointed out.
He shook his head, grinning fondly. "Just accept the flowers, you pain in the ass," he teased.
Doing as ordered, she headed into the kitchen in search of a vase. "So, where are you taking me on this date?" she called back to him.
"Somewhere fun," he answered vaguely, following her.
"I'm not allowed to do anything fun," she argued, gesturing to her neck brace.
He sighed dramatically. "Would you just trust me?"
"Would you just tell me?" she retorted, smirking at him, full of sass.
Approaching her, he rested his hands on her hips, backing her into the counter behind her. He leaned in until his lips were ghosting over hers. "You're lucky I like you so much," he whispered, then kissed her.
She wrapped both arms around his neck, bolder now than she had been, slipping her tongue into his mouth. He gave an appreciative little hum, enjoying her new-found confidence. Responding in kind, he let one hand wander down to cup her ass. She made a surprised little sound, but didn't complain or make any move to stop.
Finally, he reluctantly pulled away (not without a shit-eating little grin). "As much as I enjoy this, we're going to miss our tee time..."
"Tee time?" she repeated skeptically.
