Emma returned to her hotel moments before 5:00. Emma decided she ought to pick up a few of the things in her room and try to make the room look nice for Samantha's visit. Emma hung up a few articles of clothing that she'd been looking through the day before when she had been searching frantically for something to wear to dinner. As Emma was picking up and organizing her clothes, she realized that the following morning she would be putting all of her things in her suitcase. And then she'd leave. She'd return home, return back to her normal life. Emma tried to remind herself of the things she had to look forward to when she returned. She'd get to see her parents for the first time in days. She could see Jen and all of her friends from school. And winter formal was coming up quickly, and Emmma already knew she'd have fun at that. 'I guess I don't have a date for that anymore...' Emma realized, thinking of the formal for the first time since she'd put on that gorgeous dress while shopping with Rydel two days before. 'I know I have nothing to worry about, though.' Emma thought. 'I mean, Jen will be more than happy to hang out with me, and I have other single friends that I can always meet up with. So... winter formal will be fun, no doubt about it.'
Emma's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock on her hotel room door. She answered to see a surprisingly happy-looking Samantha. "Hey." She said with a smile on her face. Emma wondered if she just really liked painting nails. "I brought some extra nail polish that I happened to pack for the trip." Emma returned her smile. "Sounds good." Emma quickly realized that Samantha's hair was already ready for the party. Samantha's long hair had been curled with a larger curling iron to give her these great-looking big curls. 'Wow, her hair looks great.' Emma thought as Samantha entered her hotel room. Emma felt a bit embarrassed then that her own hair was still in the pony tail she had put her hair in for her morning out in Los Angeles. "So how are you?" Emma asked, deciding she better not compliment Samantha's hair in case Samantha made a comment towards Emma's plain pony tail. Samantha took a seat on the bed. "I'm actually... really great." Samantha admitted to Emma with a smile on her face. "Really? That's great." Emma told her. "So... would this have anything to do with Rocky?" Emma retrieved the bag of things Stormie had given her for the night and retrieved the nail polish. "Oh, no." Samantha said. "It has... everything to do with him." Samantha giggled and her face began to turn pink. Emma couldn't help but smile and feel happy for the girl. "So tell me all about you two! Here, I'll paint your nails first, and you can just tell me everything." Emma knew the girl wouldn't have a problem spilling every detail about her perfect night. Samantha handed over a nail polish she brought that matched her dress for the evening and began telling the whole story. Rocky had taken her to a restaurant that sounded extraordinarily fancy. Emma wondered if Rocky had taken Samantha to such a place because he thought she had expensive tastes, or he just wanted to impress her. Either way, Samantha sounded like she was very pleased with the dinner. She said that, following the dinner, the two took a walk on the beach. "It was just so perfect out. I mean, the sun was setting, there was sand between my toes, and there was this great guy walking right beside me. And we just talked as we walked for a while. He told me about where his family lived prior to moving to LA and some of his favorite memories from there. And I told him a little more about myself, like how I'm from Ohio and how I've lived there my whole life." As Samantha told her story, Emma remembered the conversations she had had with Ross the night before, which were also all about themselves and where they were from. She had learned a lot about the boy that evening, but she still new there were several stories of his that she yet to hear. "So, anyway," Samantha continued. "When it started to get dark out, we stopped for a minute and looked out at the water. And then Rocky leaned in to kiss me, and, well... I decided to back away and not kiss him. It was our first date, and I think that kind of made me feel like we were going too quickly. Plus, he's a few years older than me. He's probably used to kissing on first dates. Gosh, I hope it wasn't a big deal to him that I didn't kiss him." Samantha mentioned with a worried look. Emma looked at the girl. "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll still be into you, whether you kiss him or not. Plus it's great that you didn't just kiss him because he wanted to, but instead did what you wanted to do." Samantha smiled. "My parents taught me that if I want something, I should go for it and not quit until I get it. And if I don't want something, I should refuse it. I guess that was kind of what I was thinking about last night." Samantha said. Emma smiled and nodded. "I think I'm finished. What do you think?" Emma asked. Samantha smiled brightly as soon as she saw her toes, which Emma thought was a good sign. She had decided to paint Samantha's nails gold, a match to the gold on her dress, with a few black lines or a triangle on each nail. "These look really good. You're great at nail art, Emma." Samantha told the girl. Emma smiled. "Thank you. I really enjoy art. I mean, it's nothing I'd ever pursue as a career, but it's a good hobby." Samantha smiled. "That's neat. Well, I'm not so sure if I can make your nails look as great as you've made mine, but I'll try." Samantha began painting Emma's nails until the finished product was black toes with gold french tips. "These look adorable, Samantha!" Emma told the girl. "Really? Thanks. I tried to make them look as straight and precise as possible. I'm glad you like them." Emma smiled at the girl. She could hardly believe this was the same girl who, just a few days before, she didn't care for much. Now, Emma had warmed up to Samantha quite a bit, and Emma thought Samantha was warming up to her, too.
"So, nails are done. Are you doing anything special with your hair?" Samantha asked Emma, now noticing the girl's pony tail. 'Shoot,' Emma thought. 'She noticed my hair.' Emma tried to smile as she admitted, "I'm really not too sure what I'm going to do with it yet..." Emma admitted honestly. "Your hair looks great, by the way." Emma said, admitting her admiration. "Thanks!" Samantha said. "Laura told me about this great place that she and Raini went to to get her hair done for tonight's party, so I decided to get my hair done there, too. I think they did a pretty good job!" Emma's heart began to sink; would this mean everyone would have a gorgeous-looking up-do at this party while she she remained plain, old Emma? "You know," Samantha began. "I think your hair looks great when it's down. It's naturally curly, right? You should show off those great curls." Samantha told Emma with a smile. Emma was surprised to hear that Samantha was, for one, giving her advice, and second, that she was suggesting Emma not go out and spend money on her hairstyle. "How about this? You go put your hair down and make it look like it does when it's normally down, and I could help you give it a few extra curls. That way there would be no imperfections. I bet it will look like you got it done at a salon." Samantha stated, looking pleased with herself for the skills that she claimed she had at curling hair. As Emma continued to be shocked with Samantha's kindness, she agreed to the idea.
It took a short time for Emma to soak her hair, thoroughly apply a mousse which would control the curls, toss her hair around a bit then blow dry it. Emma looked at her hair in the mirror and smiled. She truly did like her curly hair. Maybe this idea would work after all. Samantha came in the bathroom with the curling iron Emma had brought on the trip in case she'd need it, though she rarely used it. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing with his thing." Samantha claimed as she plugged in the tool. "By the way, your hair looks great naturally. I wish I had curls like that." Samantha admitted, having straight hair herself. Did Samantha just state that there was a physical quality about Emma that she wished she had? The thought made Emma smile, and she began to feel a little more confident in how she looked. Once the curling iron warmed up, Samantha searched through Emma's hair to find where a little extra curl could be added. After a short time, Samantha came up with the, "finished product." And Emma had to admit she loved how her hair looked. She still looked like herself, but with a little extra flair. Her hair now had a little more volume towards her roots, where her natural hair may have normally fell flat or been wavy. "Okay, I've got to be honest with you here." Samantha said with a chuckle. "If Ross doesn't think your hair makes you look totally hot, something's wrong with him." Emma laughed at the girl's ridiculous comment. "Well thanks!" Emma said through laughter. Then added, "Gosh, I just hope it's not too, you know... too hot?" Emma laughed at her own comment and how goofy it sounded. But it was true. She and Ross had decided that the two of them wouldn't date. So would she look like she was trying really hard to get Ross to like her more by overdoing the hair, the nails, the outfit? "There's no such thing as looking too good." Samantha told Emma with a smile. "Everyone deserves to look really good. Because if you look good, you'll feel better about yourself and be more confident. I know it sounds kind of bad, but when I get my hair and nails done like this, it just makes me feel like a million bucks. And nothing is more important than feeling good about yourself." Emma looked at this girl. Was this really the same girl that seemed so rude a few days before? She now seemed so down-to-earth.
Once Emma covered her hair in hairspray to keep all of the curls from becoming wavy, Samantha decided she better head back to her hotel room and get ready for the night. The two decided on a time that Emma could come by and pick up Samantha before heading to the party, and Samantha left. Emma checked the time on her cell phone and realized there was a mere hour before the party would begin. She wondered if it would be proper etiquette for such an event to show up a few minutes late, or if she ought to be there right at the beginning of the night. 'I guess I could just ask Ross. Hopefully he can text back, but I guess he may be busy getting ready for the party.' She sent a message to him, saying, "Not sure if you have a second to answer. Just wondered what time I should meet you there at?" Once finishing that task, she decided she ought to change clothes and look through all of the items Stormie had given her and decide what she would need.
Moments later, Emma had put on her new dress, which still looked great, as well as a beautiful necklace of Rydel's that really seemed to make a statement on her otherwise ordinary dress. Emma wore basic earrings that wouldn't draw attention away from the necklace. She decided she ought to skip wearing a bracelet and ring so that she wouldn't wear too much jewelry. Emma pulled the heels that Rydel was letting her borrow out of the shoe box they had been in. The shoes appeared to look as good as new, and Emma wondered if Rydel had just worn them for a photo shoot. She found the clutch she would be using that night and collected her keys and cell phone. Ross had sent her a response in the short time it had taken her to change clothes. "Sure I do. I think my family and I are showing up at 8:00, put it will probably take a good half an hour for us to get inside. My parents told me a lot of people from magazines will be there taking photos of the band and I. So do you want to come at 8:30?" He asked her. This meant Emma had a little more time, which sounded good to her. 'Maybe I can actually put on some make-up, then...' Emma thought, knowing she hadn't originally planned on wearing much of the stuff. "Sounds good, see you then!" Emma sent back before heading for the bathroom. Though she didn't know much about makeup, she figured she could just put on the basic stuff. Emma put on some mascara, cover-up and blush before figuring that was good enough for her. She felt like the California-tan she had been getting added a lot of color to her face, so make-up hardly felt necessary to her.
'Okay, I've got to agree with Samantha on this one.' Emma thought, looking in the mirror. 'I really do feel kind of like a movie star right now. I mean, I've never looked like this before. I wonder what everyone's going to think of it.' She wondered, imagining Laura, Raini, and Rydel's response to the look. "Gosh." Emma said aloud. "I hope he likes it."