Emma almost felt too nervous and excited to eat anything, but she knew she ought to eat something before the party. She decided to get a hot mocha and a sandwich from the cafe inside of her hotel, where she had gotten a coffee from a few days prior. Noticing she was becoming short on time, Emma decided she could just eat while driving to get Samantha. Emma checked to be sure that she had everything she needed for the evening and took one last look in the mirror. She smiled at her reflection. 'I actually feel... pretty.' Emma thought as she looked at her hair and outfit. 'I still look like me, though. Which is the way it should be.' Emma reminded herself.
At the cafe, the young girl working smiled at Emma as she approached the register. "Hello." the girl greeted her sweetly. "A special occasion tonight?" the girl asked. Emma smiled. "Yes, I'm going to a party for some friends of mine." Emma said, hoping it was okay that she referred to Ross and his family as friends. "How fun!" the girl said. "Boy, do I wish I could be out at a party instead of working." Emma laughed at the girl's honesty. Then the girl added, "By the way, you look awesome! I'm sure you'll be knockin' the boys dead tonight!" The girl told Emma encouragingly, and Emma laughed. "I don't know about that one, but thank you!" Emma said. Emma felt a bit more relaxed thanks to the conversation, and left the cafe feeling ready to have a fun night.
Emma tried to eat quickly as she drove to get Samantha. She savored the hot mocha, and hoped the espresso would help her stay awake for the late night. Emma knew once she got to the party she would be alert and ready to party. When Emma finished her sandwich she turned on her car radio and found a station playing "I Want Crazy" by Hunter Hayes. She sang along to the song with enthusiasm like she often did, and wondered if people who could see her singing would think she was crazy. "Oh well, know one knows me here anyway." Emma reminded herself as she pulled up to Samantha's hotel. Samantha came outside just a moment after Emma pulled up to the curb, and Emma had to admit the girl looked stunning. Samantha wore the dress Emma had seen Samantha try on at a shop the day before, when they had lunch with Laura and Raini. She had paired her black and gold dress with black heels and some jewelry. "No way, look at you!" Samantha said to Emma once she opened the door. "You look great in that dress!" Emma was flattered that Samantha, who was more trim than Emma, was saying she looked nice in dress. "Thank you. You look great, too!" Emma told Samantha, who smiled. "Thanks. Gosh, I'm so excited but so nervous." Samantha said, getting in Emma's car. "I don't even know what to expect at this party tonight. I just hope I don't make a fool of myself in front of Rocky or some paparazzi." Samantha admitted. "Same here." Emma said. "Well, except I hope I don't make a fool of myself in front of Ross instead of Rocky." The two laughed, then listened to music and chatted on the drive to the party.
The traffic getting into the venue of the party was pretty crazy, and it took Emma and Samantha about fifteen minutes to travel from a few blocks away to the parking lot. Upon entering the parking lot, there was a gate with someone standing inside. Emma was hesitant about what she would say to the man, and wondered if she and Samantha would be on the guest list. "Alright, head on in." the man working at the gate said once Emma stated her and Samantha's names, to Emma's delight. A security guard was directing parking, and motioned to where Emma should park. As Emma drove she glanced over at the venue for the party. The building was stunning. It was covered in windows, and a deck appeared to surround the entire building. Emma felt her heart beat a little faster when she spotted the red carpet which lied in front of the building. Ross had told Emma that the paparazzi would probably be taking pictures of himself and the band for a good half hour, and it appeared that there was still several people with cameras and microphones on the carpet. "I wonder if anyone's going to want to take a picture of us." Samantha mentioned, looking at the red carpet as well. "I don't know," Emma said. "I mean, this night's all about R5. They're probably going to be the ones in all of the pictures." Samantha nodded in agreement. "That's true. Alright, well we ought to take a photo together later tonight since we look so good." Emma laughed, then nodded. "Okay, sounds like a good plan."
Emma finally parked her car within a minute's walk from the building. She checked her makeup in the car's mirror and made sure she had everything she needed for the evening. Emma got out of the car and smoothed the wrinkles on her dress. "You think Ross will recognize me?" Emma asked Samantha with a small laugh. Samantha smiled. "I don't know, but I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees you." Emma smiled. "Thanks. I can't wait to see Rocky's face when he sees you." Samantha returned the smile. "Gosh, I'm so nervous." Samantha admitted. Emma looked at the girl. She had never been great at giving advice, but something just came to her in that moment. "Hey, don't worry. Tonight's about having fun! Plus, you're going to get to spend the whole night with Rocky, so you know you're going to have a blast!" Emma told Samantha encouragingly. Samantha seemed to like the advice, and nodded. "You're right. Rocky's a great guy, and there's no way I could not have fun hanging out with him tonight." Emma nodded. "So, shall we try and hunt down those boys? I guess we'll have to wait a few if they're still in the middle of pictures, but maybe we'll be able to sneak our way into a photo or two." Emma suggested, getting Samantha to laugh. "I like the way you think! Let's go!"
Emma and Samantha walked side by side onto the carpet. Emma reminded herself to stand up tall, and smile in case she was caught in a photo. She searched around for a minute for Ross, when Samantha spotted them. "Look, there's Ross! And Rocky, too!" Emma looked in the direction Samantha was pointing. The boys, along with the rest of R5, were getting their photo taken by a few photographers. Emma spotted Ross's perfect smile first, then noticed that his hair looked just as great as it always did. He wore a white suit coat with a pink V-neck T-shirt underneath along with and dark-wash jeans, maintaining his typical style while dressing up a little. Riker wore a short sleeve collared shirt with a tie and jeans, like he often did. Rocky had on a short sleeve T-shirt, muck like Ross's, with a black vest over it. Emma had seen this fifth boy, who was called Ratliff by the rest of the group, in pictures online, but not yet in person. Ratliff was wearing a black cardigan with a striped T-shirt underneath. Rydel, just as she said she would, wore one of her usual tutus; a pink one, to be exact. She wore a black dress over it along with a white frayed denim vest. As Emma was checking out Rydel's outfit, Rydel looked her way. She immediately waved, despite her photo probably being taken at the exact moment. She nudged Ross, who happened to be right next to her, and pointed in Emma's direction. Emma had been so nervous about how Ross would react to how she looked, so she was quite relieved when Ross spotted her and had this sweet smile on his face. Emma wasn't too sure what do, so she just smiled and gave a small wave. Ross smiled back, and Rydel told the boys something before coming towards Emma and Samantha.
"Oh my goodness, look at you two!" Rydel said enthusiastically. "You girls look so amazing! And Emma- oh! I'm so glad my mom gave you that necklace, it looks spectacular! And those shoes are great, too! See, I told you you were going to look sexy, didn't I?" Rydel told the girls.
"What do you think about Samantha?" Ross asked Rocky as the boys waited for Rydel's return. "She looks really hot, like she always does." Rocky told him. "More important question: Is that Emma?" Rocky asked his brother. "Yeah. I mean, I'm pretty sure it is." Ross said, though he still wasn't one hundred percent sure. Emma had never looked like that in front of him before. "Whoa. She looks really hot, dude. Like, oh my God." Rocky told his brother, getting Ross to roll his eyes. Rocky could tell his brother was starting to blush. "Hey, check out your own date." Ross told his brother, who put his hands up in forgiveness. "Alright, alright. I'm just saying, I wouldn't leave her side tonight if I were you. Or else another guy might just take her home." "Good thing I wasn't planning on going anywhere." Ross told his brother, though he knew there was some truth to what Rocky said. Ross knew he and Emma weren't going to date, but he definitely did not want another guy taking her away from him.
"You girls should come get in a few photos with us! Seriously, I'm surprised those photographers aren't sick of only taking our pictures yet." Rydel told Emma and Samantha. "Wait," Samantha said. "Are you serious? We can be in a picture?" Emma could hear the excitement in Samantha's voice. "I don't see why you can't be!" Rydel told her. "Come on over, this will be fun!" Though Emma was nervous about her photo being taken, she was excited about the experience. She put on her best camera-ready smile, and the girls approached the boys. "Hey." Ross said coolly to Emma. "Hey." Emma said back with a smile. The nerves Emma had felt seconds before faded when she looked into Ross's eyes. "The girls are going to join us for a few pictures." Rydel told the boys as she approached them. "Cool." Rocky said before Samantha came up to him and gave him a hug. "Sounds good to me." Ross said to Emma. "So are you guys gonna get a room or...?" Riker asked Rocky, who punched his brother in the shoulder. Riker said a profanity under his breath and laughed, showing that he was like most twenty year olds. "Hey, have you guys met Ratliff yet?" Ross asked Emma and Samantha, though Samantha still had her arms around Rocky. "No, I haven't." Emma replied, turning towards Ratliff. Ratliff, whos actual first name was Ellington, was the drummer of R5. He had always seemed very friendly in the photos Emma had seen of him, and he was now giving a friendly smile to Emma. "Nice to meet you. You can call me Ratliff." Ratliff said to Emma while shaking her hand. "I'm Emma. It's nice to meet you." Emma said to Ratliff. Samantha let go of Rocky long enough to shake Ratliff's hand also. "So, how about that picture?" Riker asked the group. Riker stood next to Rydel. "Can I stand next to you?" Emma asked Ross with a smile. "Umm... no." He joked with her. "Okay. I'll just stand next to Ratliff then." Emma teased, walking towards the drummer. "What? Wait, not happening, nope." Ross told her, taking Emma's hand and pulling her next to him. Emma laughed and put her arm around Ross. She felt her heart skip a beat when Ross put his arm around her waist. The band along with Emma and Samantha took a few photos together like that before one of the photographers asked for a photo of only Ross and "his date." Emma looked up at Ross, who looked back at her and shrugged his shoulders. "That okay with you?" Ross asked Emma quietly. Emma liked when Ross spoke quietly to her. It made the two of them sound like they had a secret that know one else could know about beside themselves. "Sure, yeah." Emma told Ross. He smiled at her and put his arm around her waist once again. Emma put her arm against Ross's back like she had done before. 'I like this.' Emma thought as her picture was being taken. 'I like this whole 'standing next to you and being in pictures with you' thing.'