For the following few slow songs that played, Ross and Emma talked as they danced. Emma couldn't believe how comfortable she felt there, dancing while being held in Ross's arms. She couldn't really get used to being three inches taller, thanks to her high heels, so it was unusual to her that she was a little bit closer to being as tall as Ross. Still, Ross was about five or six inches taller than her. Emma didn't mind that the two of them had a height difference; height wasn't a big deal to her.
"Have you ever been to a dance before?" Emma asked Ross as the two continued to dance. "A few times. Some of my friends have invited me to their school dances. And I was always home-schooled, so the only way I ever went to school dances was if someone invited me. You've probably been to a bunch of dances, right? Since you've always been in public school." Emma thought about the winter formal her school had each year in January. She had purchased two dresses to wear to the past three dances she'd been to, each not over $50. The winter formal was not nearly as formal as the school prom was, so few girls showed up in exquisite dresses or fancy up-dos. Emma had always gone to those dances with a group of friends, and she always had a blast. "I've been to some. I've only ever gone with groups of friends, though. There was never a chance I'd have a bad time that way." Emma confessed. Some of her friends who had gone to winter formal with dates and had awful experiences. Emma was always glad that wasn't her. "Really? So you think if you went with a date to dance, you'd have an awful time?" Ross asked with a smile. "No. I mean, I guess it would depend on the guy I went with." Emma said. Ross nodded. "Okay. So are you having an awful time with me?" Emma shook her head and laughed. "No, I'm not." Emma told Ross. "Trust me, I knew I'd have a good time here if I went with you." Ross smiled and told Emma, "Thanks. I knew I'd have a good time, too."
"Fancy seeing you two here." Ross and Emma turned their heads to see Laura and Noah slow-dancing with each other. "Hey, right back at you guys." Ross said. Emma smiled in delight when she saw the couple dancing with each other. "I thought you couldn't dance." Ross told Laura, who laughed sarcastically. "Very funny. That's only on the show. I'm actually a crazy-good dancer in reality." Laura told Ross, getting Noah to chuckle. "Yeah, I'd like to see that." Ross joked. Noah laughed at the two as they argued. "Whatever, I'm sorry I'm no Ross Lynch when it comes to dancing." Laura said, rolling her eyes. "Well, you know, I am one of a kind." Ross told her confidently. Emma smiled. She envied Ross's confidence. Laura just rolled her eyes once again. Noah laughed, and she smiled at Noah. Emma smiled in delight at how happy Noah and Laura looked together. She hoped Laura and Noah would start dating.
"Hey, guys." Laura nodded towards Riker, who was trying to get the attention of the four teens. He pointed towards the door, inferring that his family and Ratliff were about to go. "You ready to get out of here?" Ross asked Emma. "You're still coming back to my house, right?" Emma nodded. "Yeah, sound fun. You guys are coming too, right?" Emma asked Laura and Noah. "Yeah, We'll be there. We should hunt down Raini and Calum before we go, though. As for Samantha and Rocky, I'm not too sure where they went. I'm sure they're around here somewhere." Laura said. "I don't think I want to know where those two are." Ross said honestly, getting the other three to laugh. "Well, I guess we'll see you guys over there." Ross told Noah and Laura. "Okay. See you guys soon." Laura told the two. Emma removed her arms from being around Ross's neck, and Ross let go of her waist. Emma waved goodbye to Laura and Noah, and she and Ross headed off the dance floor. The dance floor was pretty crowded, so Emma took Ross by the hand and lead him through the crowd of people. She didn't think too hard about what she had done until Ross said something. "I like when you do stuff like that." Ross told Emma quietly. "Like what?" Emma asked as the two walked outside. "Lead me. And hold my hand first. I like when you take initiative. It's sexy." Emma looked at Ross, surprised. She couldn't believe he had just said that to her. Sure, she had heard him refer to things as "sexy" in interviews. He actually did it pretty often. Emma also had heard Ross change lyrics of the R5 songs to lyrics that were inappropriate as well. But she had preferred when he had called her beautiful earlier that evening. "Don't call me that." Emma said. "What?" Ross asked, clearly not even aware that being called sexy made Emma feel uncomfortable. "Sexy. I don't like it." Emma tried to keep a small smile on her face. She really didn't want to ruin her and Ross's great night. "I'm sorry." Ross apologized. "You know your physical appearance isn't the only thing I'm attracted to. It's your personality that I like more than anything." Emma smiled. Ross had a pretty good way of fixing his mistakes. "Thanks." Emma smiled. "I like your personality a lot, too."
Emma and Ross had only made it a few steps out of the building before several paparazzi from newspapers and magazines began taking photos of them. Ross looked at Emma. "We can pose for a few, if you want." Emma told Ross. "If you want to." Ross told Emma, and the two stood together again and smiled. "Give her a kiss!" One of the photographers finally said. Emma turned to Ross. "You can go for one on the cheek." She told him, pointing to her cheek. "I think that's not what they're hoping we'll do." Ross told her honestly. Emma felt nervous. "Oh." Emma said. "Sorry. I don't know. Even if it's just for the cameras." Emma told Ross. Ross could probably see that she was uncomfortable. "Sorry, guys. That's enough for tonight." Ross told the paparazzi before taking Emma by the hand and walking towards the parking lot. Fortunately, the paparazzi wasn't too persistent, and only took a few photos of Ross leading Emma by the hand as the two exited.
Once, they'd reached Emma's car, Ross gave Emma a hug. "Sorry. I wouldn't have agreed to let them take our photo if I knew they might ask that." Emma hugged Ross back. "That's okay. Thanks for not pressuring me." Ross let go. "Well sure. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. You ready to go?" Emma nodded and the two headed for Ross's house. They sang along to the radio for the majority of the ride, joking in between songs. Once Emma had parked in Ross's drive-way, she realized that she and Ross wouldn't get to sing along to the radio together for a long time. Sure, she knew she'd be back to California to visit the Lynch's and Ratliff, but when? She'd need to save a lot of money before she could afford to take a trip to California. Emma tried to shake off the thought as she followed Ross into his house. "Hey, Rocky's car is here. Looks like those two actually did come back." Ross told Emma, getting her to laugh. "There's a shocker. Maybe they'll be making out inside." Emma must have jinxed it. Ross and Emma walked inside and heard voiced coming from the kitchen. They walked past the living room, which was dark except for the light coming in from the windows. Sure enough, Ross and Emma could hear two people kissing. "I'm afraid to turn this light on, but..." Ross flipped the switch, revealing Samantha sitting on Rocky's lap and the two kissing each other. "Hey. Not cool, bro." Rocky told Ross throwing one of the pillows that was on the couch at Ross. "Sorry, just wondered if you were planning on joining the rest of your family soon." Ross told his brother. Rocky shrugged. "Yeah, we'll be in there soon." Then, Rocky smiled, and added, "Then we'll let you guys have this room to yourselves." Ross rolled his eyes and threw the pillow back at Rocky, who just laughed then started kissing Samantha again. "Come on, I think I might barf." Emma told Ross with a laugh. "Same here. Hey, I'm gonna change clothes first." Ross told Emma, motioning to the stairs that lead to his room. "Okay, I'll be in the kitchen." Emma told Ross. "No, come here." Ross told Emma, taking her hand and pulling her towards the stairs. "What? I don't want to see you change." Emma told Ross, who laughed. "Oh please, there are girls who would kill to watch me change clothes. You'd be so lucky. I'm going to let you borrow a sweatshirt." Ross explained. Emma rolled her eyes at Ross and followed him upstairs.
"Take your pick." Ross told Emma, motioning to his closet. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and headed for the bathroom that was right outside of his bedroom. Ross had a bedroom like most teenage boys. There were clothes lying on the floor and band posters from bands like Neon Trees and Walk The Moon on the walls. Emma was about to start looking through all of Ross's sweatshirt when she noticed several T-shirts without sleeves and denim jackets. It was all of the clothes that he'd worn for concerts. "You have so many clothes to rock out in!" Emma told Ross, guessing there had to be forty T-shirts that he'd worn to past concerts. "Yeah, my mom makes sure we're well-dressed for every concert." Ross walked up from behind Emma and put his hands on her waist. Emma turned around. "Ross! Put a shirt on!" Emma yelled, a little bit louder than she had meant to. Ross laughed. "Chill out, I need to grab a sweatshirt. Plus, I felt bad about what I said a minute ago and thought I should make up for it." Ross walked past Emma. Emma tried to look anywhere except at Ross. She could feel her face getting red. Emma could tell Ross worked out. He had a six-pack and strong shoulders. When Ross had his back to Emma, she noticed that his back was perfectly tan. "You have no tan lines. At all." Emma heard herself say, barely thinking before she said it. "Excuse me?" Ross asked with a laugh. "I mean... you know... I don't know." Emma said, her face bright red. Ross laughed. "That's okay. Thanks. I take my shirt off a lot, so I don't get tan lines." He told her with a goofy smile. Emma laughed and just rolled her eyes. "Which sweatshirt do you want?" Ross asked Emma as he pulled sweatshirts out of his closet. Emma walked over to Ross, who still didn't have a shirt on. He had just pulled a Hollister sweatshirt out of his closet. "Umm... this one." Emma said, taking the one that Ross had in his hands from him. Ross grabbed the sweatshirt back. "You'll have to come and get in then." Ross teased, and ran for the door of his bedroom. Emma laughed and started chasing Ross. She chased him down a long hallway, and into and back out of a couple of other bedrooms. Everyone else was downstairs, so no one else saw the two. "You're not going to catch me." Ross told Emma as he ran into one of the bathrooms. He started to shut the door, put she managed to push the door open. Ross jumped into the bathtub, which was also a shower. "I caught you!" Emma said, entering the bathtub and grabbing the sweatshirt from Ross. "Yeah, you got me." Ross turned on the shower and Emma felt cold water against her skin. She screamed. "I can't believe you did that!" She yelled, quickly climbing out of the bathtub. Even though she was cold and wet, Emma couldn't stop laughing. She stood with her back to the wall next to the bathtub as Ross laughed, turned off the shower and climbed out of the bathtub. Both of them continued to laugh. "So, you probably don't want that sweatshirt anymore, huh?" Ross asked, trying to take the sweatshirt back. "What? After all that chasing? Of course I still want it." Emma said with a laugh, keeping her grip on the sweatshirt as Ross tried to pull it from her. Ross eventually softened his grip and Emma pulled the sweatshirt from Ross. "Ha! It's mine." She told him with a proud smile. Ross put his hands on the wall that Emma had her back against, pretending to act exhausted. "Fine, you win. You put up a good fight." Emma laughed. "Thanks, right back at ya." The two were still chuckling when Ross leaned closer to Emma, his hands still against the wall, with Emma in between his arms. Emma felt Ross push his forehead against hers for a few seconds, and Emma shut her eyes.
Ross kissed Emma. His lips were soft and warm. They were comforting. Emma gently put her hands on Ross's chest and felt his warm skin. Ross kissed Emma for a few seconds before ending the kiss. There was a moment that Ross was quiet, and Emma kept her eyes shut. She felt like she was dreaming. Just like that, Emma had just gotten her first kiss. From Ross. Emma felt weightless. "I'm sorry, Emma." Emma heard Ross say, and she opened her eyes. Ross looked like he felt guilty about kissing her. Just the day before, Ross had tried to kiss Emma and she had gotten angry at him. He probably thought she was going to get angry again. But she wasn't going to. She couldn't. Emma just smiled at Ross, trying to get his guilty-look to go away. "That's okay, Ross." Emma spoke quietly while looking into Ross's brown eyes. Ross began to smile back. "Maybe we should head downstairs now." Ross finally told Emma. Emma looked at Ross for a few seconds before nodding. She thought he was going to kiss her again, but it turned out he wasn't going to. Emma couldn't deny what she felt in that moment. She was disappointed. She wanted to kiss Ross again.
When the two exited the bathroom, Riker was walking down the hallway. He looked really surprised to see Ross, who still didn't have a shirt on, and Emma both walking out of the bathroom. They're clothes were still wet from when Ross had turned on the shower. "Mom and dad wanted me to check on you guys." Riker said. "They went outside after we heard Emma scream because they 'didn't know what was going on up there.' I don't think they heard you guys turn the shower on. Honestly, I try to do those kinds of things when my parents aren't home and we don't have company." Riker told his brother. Emma felt her face get red with embarrassment. "Wait, it's really not what it looks like." Ross told his brother. Ross also looked like he was blushing. "See, our clothes are all wet because I was joking around and I turned on the shower and got the two of us wet." Riker looked confused. "Why were you guys both in the shower?" He asked. "I chased him in there." Emma told Riker. By the look on Riker's face, Emma wasn't sure if she would be able to get him to believe what she was saying. "Okay." Riker said. "Well can you guys come down soon? Rocky and Samantha finally joined the party, so you guys should, too." Emma nodded and walked to Ross's bedroom to get a dry sweatshirt. "Riker, you know it's not what it looks like, right?" Ross asked his brother once Emma was out of earshot. Riker just smiled at his brother. "You kiss her?" He asked Ross. Ross smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I don't think she's mad at me for it, either." Riker started to laugh. "That's good. I love when girls don't get mad at me for kissing them." Ross started to head for his room before Riker stopped him. "Look, Ross. I'll tell mom and dad something so you won't get in trouble. But first I have to ask you something." Riker got a little closer to Ross and looked him in the eyes. "Do you love her?" Riker asked. Ross looked at his brother. "Riker, I don't know what I'm going to do when she leaves tomorrow. Of course, I love her." Ross confessed. Riker had never heard his brother say that he loved a girl before. "You have to tell her." Riker said, but Ross shook his head. "It will just be harder for her to leave in the morning. I can't do that to Emma." Riker looked at his brother and sighed. "Come downstairs soon, okay?" Ross nodded. Riker put a hand on Ross's shoulder before going back downstairs. Ross went into his room, where Emma was sitting on the side of his bed. She looked up and smiled when Ross walked in. "Did you tell Riker what really happened?" Emma asked Ross as he sat down next to her. "Yeah, he's gonna come up with something to keep us out of trouble with my parents." Emma nodded. "He really loves you, you know?" Emma told Ross. "Your whole family. They really love you, too." Ross nodded. "Yeah. I know." Emma smiled at Ross. "Could I borrow some sweatpants, too? My dress is all wet." Emma said. Ross looked at Emma and started to smile. "Sure. Yeah. Here, these are clean." Ross went to his closet and took a pair of sweatpants out of a pile. They were the same sweatpants Ross had been wearing the day after Emma had met Ross, when she had gone to his house and met his family. Ross handed her the sweatpants. "Thanks" she said. "I picked out a new sweatshirt, too." She said, chuckling as she thought of herself chasing after Ross. Ross smiled and began to laugh as well. "Sounds good." He told her.
Emma went to the bathroom to change clothes. When she came back, Ross had a sweatshirt and different sweatpants on. He smiled at her when she walked in. "What?" She asked. "Keep those, okay?" Ross told her. "Oh, no, they're your clothes. I'll return them tomorrow morning." But Ross shook his head. "No, I want you to have something of mine. Plus, I like seeing you wear my clothes." Emma smiled. She felt tears come to her eyes, but she knew she couldn't cry. She and Ross were going to go downstairs and hang out with his family and friends, because it would be the last time they'd get to do something like that, at least for a while. "Hey." Ross said, coming closer to Emma. "You okay?" Emma looked at Ross and took a deep breath. She'd save the tears for later. For now, they were going to enjoy each other's company. Emma nodded. "Come on." Emma said. "Let's go downstairs."