"What do you guys think of this one?" Samantha asked the girls, walking out of the dressing room in a dress. The dress was about finger-tip length and was fairly tight, but Emma thought Samantha had the trim figure to pull it off. It was black with gold sequins that crowded the bottom of the dress, then faded towards the top of the dress. Emma thought it looked tasteful, and at the same time "ready to party." "That looks so cute!" Laura commented, sitting beside Raini on one of the chairs outside of the dressing room. "That's a pretty one." Raini told Samantha. Samantha tried to smile at the two girls, and Emma thought that Samantha was finally beginning to try to befriend her and the girls. Samantha turned to Emma. "What do you think?" She asked. Emma smiled. "I think it's really cute," she told Samantha, then added, "and I think Rocky will like it a lot." Samantha actually smiled and laughed for the first time Emma had seen since she'd met the girl. "Really? I really want to wear something he'll think is cute to the party." Samantha admitted. "Then you should definitely get this one, cause he'll love it." Emma told her. Samantha gave a wholehearted smile and said, "Okay, I think I will." before returning to the dressing room. "Would you look at that." Laura commented when Samantha left the room. "Samantha actually looks like she likes us now. I'm so glad, I thought we'd never break through to her." Raini nodded. "She seems a lot nicer today." Raini then made a face and said, "She didn't act anything like this at the amusement park the other day." Emma laughed at the face Raini made. "I think she's definitely starting to actually like us."
The three waited as Samantha purchased her dress. Emma couldn't help but overhear the cashier tell Samantha that the cost of her dress would be just over $50, and Samantha didn't seem to budge as she handed over the cash. Emma began to envy being able to buy things without worry, but then reminded herself to be grateful. "Phew, I was starting to think I wouldn't find a dress before the party. I guess I was cutting it a little close to the party to find something." Samantha told the girls as they all left the shop and headed towards Laura's car. "I got mine yesterday, so I think you're okay." Emma told the girl, recalling her shopping trip with Rydel. "I'm wearing a dress I already had, I wore it to a wedding a while ago and thought I'd be alright wearing it." Raini told everyone. "I thought I'd take the easy way out and just borrow one of my sister's dresses." Laura admitted, laughing at herself. "That's smart of you guys to just wear something you already had, you save a lot of money doing that." Emma told the two, knowing that she herself often would wear one dress to several occasions to save a few bucks. Emma was actually pretty glad to hear that even celebrities sometimes wear their clothes to several events or borrow from someone else.
Emma felt her phone vibrate as the girls reached Laura's car. "Hey, Riker and I are heading home. Want me to drive us for once?" Emma smiled as she replied, "Haa, as fun as that sounds, it's still illegal. I can drive us, I don't mind. But I'm not back yet, so how about I come get you in like, half an hour?" "Aww, and who is Emma texting?" Laura asked in her most enthusiastic tone. Emma laughed. "Just Ross, he just finished rehearsing with R5." Laura nodded. "So are you excited for your date tonight?" Raini turned around in her seat and asked Emma. "I'm not so sure if it's a legitimate date, but yeah, I think it'll be fun. To be honest, I'm a little nervous." Emma admitted. "Aw, don't be nervous!" Laura told her. "Ross likes a girl that can just be herself, so if you just be yourself, you'll have a lot of fun!" Emma smiled at Laura's comment, and was actually really glad that Laura had said that. It made her feel more relaxed. Emma's phone vibrated and she read the response, "Oh okay, sounds good to me. (:" Emma smiled, seeing the sideways smiley-face on her phone screen. "I'm just glad that I'm going to be hanging out with a guy that actually cares about me." Emma hated to think about it, but Jackson had probably been sneaking around with other girls the whole time he and Emma had been dating. Emma knew Ross would never do something like that to her, but it didn't matter; they were not going to start dating. Emma's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a phone vibrating, but it wasn't hers; it was Samantha's. She opened her phone and read a text message, then smiled a smile at least twice as big as she had earlier. "Rocky just asked me if I wanted to gout tonight." She told the girls. While Samantha tried to contain her emotions, it was obvious that she was really excited. The girls all "aww"-ed together and congratulated her. "Thanks, girls." she told the group, then turned to Emma. "I wasn't so sure if he felt the same way about me as I did about him, but now I'm starting to think he might like me." Samantha still smiled as she confessed. Emma smiled back. "Of course, he likes you, too. I hope you guys have a lot of fun tonight." Emma told her. Samantha's smile became warm. Emma knew she and Samantha were finally starting to become friend. "Thank you. I hope you have fun tonight, too."
After a few quick minutes, Laura's car pulled into the parking lot of Emma's hotel. "Thanks so much for having lunch with me today, girls." Emma told everyone. "I had a lot of fun, I hope we get to do something like again one of these days." Emma knew she'd the be leaving the day after next, and after than, who knew when the next time would be that she'd get to see these girls. She hoped it would be soon. "We're so glad we could do this today!" Laura told her enthusiastically, Raini nodding. "One of these days for sure, we'll hang out again." Raini told Emma. Emma saw Samantha smiling still in the backseat. She waved goodbye to the three girls, then headed to her hotel room to get ready to hang out with Ross.