Emma was lying on her bed in the hotel room, still exhausted from the activities of the night before, when her cell phone vibrated. "New message from Ross." She read the screen aloud, then opened the message. "Wanna hang later? I thought maybe we could go out somewhere." Emma felt her face get warm. She couldn't help but smile. Ross had definitely just asked her out on a date, even if he hadn't worded it that way. 'That's fine with me, though.' Emma thought. 'If he would have asked me out on a legitimate date, that might have been weird. I mean...' Her thoughts started to wander. She would be leaving the day after next. Her smile started to fade as she thought about having to leave. 'I don't know... how I'm going to say goodbye to everyone. Especially Ross.' She looked back down at her phone, the message still on her screen. 'I guess... I should just try to spend as much time as possible with him. And try to enjoy every moment.'
Emma finally hit the reply button, and typed out, "Sure, text me when rehearsal's over." She sent the message and lied back down, still feeling exhausted. She felt like her "Tank was on Empty," like her mom often said. Emma hadn't thought much about her parents over the past few days, with everything that had been going on. She hadn't even called them yet. 'I should call them.' Emma thought. 'But first, I should eat something. That's probably why I'm so exhausted, actually...' Emma knew that the fact that she couldn't really remember the last time she had eaten some nutritional food was probably a bad thing. 'I guess I did have that elephant ear the other day when I was at the amusement park with everyone.' Emma recalled, knowing that had been a couple of days ago.
Emma had fun at the amusement park the other day, despite overhearing Ross talking to the guys. No, she hadn't forgotten what he said. She did tend to worry about what others thought about her, though she knew it was wrong. It just sucked to hear people say hurtful things about the way she looked, and it seemed to hurt even more when Ross was the one saying it. Emma finally just shook her head. "Whatever." she finally told herself about the situation. She didn't want to think about it. She wanted to eat.
Emma finally had the perfect idea. She searched through her contacts on her phone, and smiled when she spotted Laura's number, which she'd gotten the other day at the park. She quickly sent her a text, wondering if she wanted to go out to lunch since she couldn't come other day. Moments later, her phone vibrated. "Of course, I'd love to have lunch with you! I can invite Raini and Samantha too, and we can have a Girl's day!" Emma laughed at Laura's pure enthusiasm, then agreed to the idea. At first she wasn't so sure about Samantha being invited, but she knew there was nothing wrong with the girl. And it had been nice of her to let Emma borrow one of her shirts the other day. Another minute later, Laura texted back and told her she could pick her up shortly. She also promised that she knew a great place that they could all go to for lunch, which made Emma smile. She was beginning to feel really hungry.
Emma opened the door of her mini-fridge in her room, not sure she could wait for Laura to get there. She pulled out a tub of Ben&Jerry's ice cream, the ice cream that Ross had bought for her the other night before he left. She sighed, opening the container. 'Maybe I should just get over what he said about me. Obviously he's a good guy.' Emma dug a spoon into the container, and immediately scarfed down about half the container. It didn't take long for her stomach to start reacting to the amount of food she had just consumed. She started to feel funny. "Shoot." she said aloud before running to her bathroom and throwing up what she had just consumed.
Moments later, her stomach still feeling strange but better, Emma came back into her bedroom. She picked up her phone and realized that Laura had sent her a new message. "Be there in ten!" Emma read. She hadn't even realized that she hadn't gotten ready yet until then, and ran for her suit case. After quickly changing into leggings and a crew neck sweatshirt and throwing her hair into a ponytail, she grabbed her purse and ran for the door.
Laura was waiting in her car outside, and Emma wondered if she was one of those people that was never late to anything. "Sorry, girls." Emma said as she got into the backseat of the car, seeing Raini in the passenger seat and Samantha in the seat next to hers. "It was a bit of a crazy morning." "No problem!" Laura told her, a big smile on the girl's face. "We're just so glad you could come with! You guys are going to love this place we're going to, by the way. Ooh, I love this song!" Emma laughed as she slid into the seat next to Samantha, who didn't really look at Emma as she got in. Emma frowned, but didn't make a big deal about it, and just looked forward. Laura turned up her radio before pulling out of the parking lot, Want U Back by Cher Llyod playing. Raini started singing along, Laura joining in, and the two belted out the entire song as Laura drove. Emma thought it was incredibly entertaining, and couldn't believe how good the two sounded.
Moments later, the four were driving past shops perched incredibly close to the beach, and Emma saw the ocean for the first time on that trip. She thought it was breathtaking. The fact that it was a gorgeous day only made it look even prettier. "Wow." Emma said aloud, getting Raini and Laura to laugh. "It is really pretty around here. This is my favorite area to go shopping in." Raini told the girls. "Ooh, that boutique has the cutest clothes. We should go there after lunch." She told Laura, who agreed enthusiastically. Laura found a parking spot along the shoulder of the road and pulled in. Emma got out of the car to see a very cute cafe, the outside of the restaurant painted pink and green. "This place has great food. Smoothies, salads. It's basically a girl's only joint." Laura laughed at her own joke, which made Emma smile. Emma noticed that Laura looked completely adorable in her colorful sundress and jean jacket. Raini also looked very fashionable in her dark wash jeans and button up top. Samantha seemed to pull off anything she wore, today wearing a bright tee and jean shorts. Emma finally decided to try and be friendly as the girls walked towards the restaurant. "You look cute today, Samantha." she told the girl, trying to smile. Samantha looked at her for a second, then half smiled back. "Thank you." 'See? Not all that bad.' Emma thought to herself.
The girls had a very tasty lunch. Emma decided to just get a salad, hoping that she'd be able to keep it down if she ate slower. She knew that she hadn't eaten any vegetables since she'd come to Cali, which was unusual for her. 'I guess my eating habits have just been a little off this week, what with everything going on.' Emma thought, picking through her salad. "You okay, Emma?" Laura asked the girl, taking a sip of her smoothie. "Oh, yeah, I'm great." Emma told her. "Just a pretty crazy week, you know?" "Oh, tell me about it." Laura agreed. "Keeping up with school and the show has really kept me on my toes. What's been crazy for you this week?" she asked. Emma was at first unsure if she should tell the girls about everything, but she thought she could trust them. "Just guy-stuff. I kinda got dumped via text message the other day, so that was rough. He actually texted me last night saying he was sorry and he wanted me back. But no worries, I turned him down." She smiled when she was finished, but all three of the girls, including Samantha, looked shocked. "He dumped you over a text message? What a jerk." Raini said. "I'm so sorry, Emma." Laura told the girl. "I didn't even notice. You seemed perfectly fine every time I saw you this week. You're so strong." Emma smiled. She realized then that she was finally getting that "girl-talk" that she'd wanted to have with her friends all week. She was already beginning to feel much better. "Thank you." Emma said. "I've just been trying my best to keep my mind off all of it. I've been spending time with Ross, so-" she immediately wished she hadn't said that last part. Raini and Laura's eyes grew wide. "You WHAT?!" They said, almost simultaneously. "Oh my gosh, do you like him?" Raini asked her. "I knew you two were going to go out." Laura declared, grinning. Emma laughed nervously. "Oh, I don't think we're going to date. It'd just be too complicated, you know? But, um... he kind of asked if I want to go somewhere later, so that kind of sounded like he was asking me out. But, I mean, it's just one date." "You're going on a date together?" Laura asked. She turned to Raini, and the two got really excited. "He asked you on a date? That's so, so cute." Raini said. "You should let us do your hair and make-up before you go! It'd be so fun." Emma laughed and thanked her. "I actually think I'm going to try to just look normal. I, um... don't really want to give him the wrong idea. Like I said, I don't think we're going to start dating." Laura nodded. "I can see how that might get complicated. Gosh, I just wish it could work out. You two would be adorable together." 'Adorable, huh?' Emma thought. She had hardly thought about her and Ross as a couple yet. She was kind of afraid to, actually. She already had her mind made up, though. She wasn't going to date Ross.
She glanced down at her cell phone. "Ooh, gosh, I didn't even realize the time. I probably better get back to my hotel pretty soon. Would you still be okay with driving me back?" she asked Laura. "Sure! How about we head over to Raini's favorite store, and then we can drive you back!" She suggested enthusiastically. The girls agreed and left the cafe and made their way down the street. "Hey, Emma?" Emma turned to see Samantha talking to her. "Look, I just wanted to say sorry for the way I've been acting this week. If I had known you and your boyfriend had just broken up-" "It's fine." Emma told her. Then smiled. "Thanks for apologizing." Suprisingly enough, Samantha returned the smile. "So, I don't have a dress yet for tomorrow night's party. Do you think you could help me pick out something to wear?" Emma smiled back. "Sure, I'd love to."