Chapter 7, part 1: The Situation; part 1

She struggles finding self-respect
She'll wake up feeling regret
Her purity's been compromised
But she knows she wants to feel beautiful

Sean strolled in from work. He didn't mind working the night shift, probably because he didn't have a girlfriend. He headed straight for the shower. After he got out he went into his bedroom, opened his drawer, pulled out a pair of boxers and slipped them on. Sean looked up, ready to jump on his bed and fall fast asleep, but he couldn't. Someone's in my bed. He walked a little closer until he saw that it was Emma. He backed out of the room and went to Jay's.

"Why is Emma in my bed?" Sean asks, patiently awaiting a response, knowing Jay was sleeping.

"Fight, high, kissed me." Jay mumbles, rolling over onto his stomach, facing away from Sean.

"You kissed her!" Sean says, raising his voice a little higher.

"No, she kissed me." Jay says, rolling onto his back to defend himself. "Did you miss that the first time I said it?"

"I swear if--" Sean states, but Jay cuts him off.

"I didn't do anything. She kissed me, then she stopped and stammered on about cheating on her boyfriend." Jay tells Sean, looking him dead in the eye, proving to Sean that he in fact did not do anything to her.

"Okay, so why is she in my bed?" Sean asks, still confused as to why Emma isn't at her own place.

"The girls had a fight, Manny said you have to fix her." Jay replies. He looks up at Sean and smirks, "Oh yeah, she was high." Jay thinks back to the 'high Emma' and laughs quietly to himself.

"Emma was high, as in on drugs?" Sean asks, making sure he had heard him correctly.

"Yep, high as a kite, you now marijuana, pot, weed, or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays." Jay rambles on, just being a smart-ass.

Emma jolted up from her nightmare. She couldn't believe she just dreamt that. Is that what is really going to happen when I tell him? No... That can't happen... he's not like that... Emma's thoughts are interrupted by Sean coming into the room.

"You were high?!" He half exclaims, half asks. "What the hell were you thinking?" Sean looks at Emma intently, hoping she has some kind of logical answer to his question, but how the fuck is smoking weed logical?

"It was just a one time thing... I just wanted to try-" Emma couldn't muster out the rest of her sentence.

"It's that fucking boyfriend of yours, isn't it?" Sean asks, even though he already knows the answer.

"Tristan didn't force the joint into my mouth." Emma replies, keeping her voice as stern as she can.

"Tristan, he sounds like a pretty rich boy." Jay snides. Sean and Emma look at him, who is now standing in the doorway.

"Right, so all of a sudden you decided to do drugs." Sean says, turning his attention back onto Emma.

"I already got yelled at from Manny. You of all people shouldn't be judging me right now!" Emma shouts at him, pissed that he thinks he can yell at her for something like this after all the stunts he pulled growing up. She looks down at the bed covers, extremely ashamed of herself at this point in time.

"She's right." Jay starts, surprising both Sean and Emma by saying that. "She made a mistake, whether or not her pretty boy forced her to try it or not. If he didn't, then she made the mistake on her own, and must have had a reason for it; if he did put some pressure on her to try it, she let him, and in the end he is just going to treat her like shit, if he's not doing so already. Either which way, stop yelling because I want to get back to sleep." Jay turns around and heads back to his room, letting the door slam to let Sean and Emma know that they are not to yell anymore.

"I'm sorry." Emma says softly.

"Em, this isn't like you." Sean tells her, taking a seat next to her on the bed. "Promise me, no more drugs, and if you need to talk to someone, I'm here, okay?" He looks at her, but Emma doesn't look at her, she just nods her head in agreement, wondering if she should do something as childish as crossing her fingers or something. "Okay, let's get to bed." Sean says, kissing her on top of her head. The two lay down. Sean almost instantly falls asleep. Emma, however, can't seem to get back to sleep, not that she wants to have another dream like the one she had before. She rolls onto her side, facing away from Sean and the door. Tristan doesn't treat me like shit. Jay doesn't know what he's talking about... right? Since when did Jay get all philosophical anyway? He's never been like that, not from what I've known of him, so he must hot know what he's talking about. He doesn't know anything. Tristan and I are just fine... just... fine...

Chapter 7, part 1: The Situation; part 2

She's finding love in the back of a car
When is it too late
Have they gone too far
She's having trouble drawing the line
But she knows she wants to feel beautiful

Emma wakes up, not disturbing Sean, and heads back to her own apartment. She gently knocks on the door, not sure of what she's in for. Manny opens the door, looks at Emma, and turns around. Emma walks through the open door, closing it behind her, leaving her back against the door.

"I'm sorry." Emma states simply. "I know it was a mistake, and to prove it, I kissed Jay last night."

"Well, I'm glad you learned your lesson, and that you aren't going to do it anymore." Manny waits for Emma to tell her that she is not going to do drugs ever again.

"Nope, no more. I'm gonna call Tristan, and tell him what happened last night, and that I don't want to ever do that again." Emma says, looking Manny in the eyes. Manny nods in agreement.

"I would stay, but I have to get to the set. I'll be home around ten or so, unless it runs late. I'll text you if it does, bye." Manny grabs her stuff and hurries out the door. Emma watches as the door closes once again. She sighs as she pulls out her cell phone. It's now or never. She highlights Tristan's number and hits send.

"Hey babe, I was just about to call you, I have some news." Tristan says into the phone.

"Oh, yeah um me too." Emma says softly, a little nervous.

"Well I'm on my way over, meet me in the parking lot." Tristan says and hangs up. Bye. Emma changes out of her dress and into some pajama bottoms and a small t-shirt. She walks out of the apartment, making sure to grab her keys, and heads down the staircase. As she gets to the front doors, she can see Tristan's van in the side parking lot. Emma makes her way over, the van door opening as she steps closer.

"Get in." Tristan says, almost as if he is ordering her. Emma listens, climbing into the back, and closing the door.

"I have something to tell you, and I have to get it off my chest. I feel horrible. Last night, after Zack dropped me off, I still had a pretty good buzz. Manny found out, due to the fact that I couldn't control my laughter, and we got into a fight. She said she couldn't deal with me being high so she brought me to Sean's. Sean wasn't home, his friend Jay was though, Manny pushed me into Jay and left. I was still giggling, which pissed Manny off. Anyway, I kinda kissed Jay, but once I realized what I was doing I stopped. I swear it didn't go any farther then a kiss. I am so sorry." Emma rambles on, not looking at him until she hits the 'I'm sorry' part.

"You were high, babe, its fine, at least it was just a kiss, now if it was more, then we would have a problem." Tristan tries to laugh it off, even though inside it's bothering him that she kissed someone else. "I have to tell you that we are going on tour!" Tristan says, his voice brightening. "I'm so psyched, now we'll be gone for a couple months, but we can work long distance or whatever." Tristan looks at Emma, making her agree. "Now, during this 'time apart' your mouth better not be on anyone else's." Tristan half jokes, and Emma can hear it in his voice.

"Is this why we met in your van?" Emma asks, wondering why they couldn't have talked in her apartment.

"No, we met in the van because I didn't know if Manny was home, and I wanted to do this." Tristan leans forward, kissing her forcefully on the lips as he lays her down on the van seat. This is the reason why Tristan loves riding around in the band's van, and he couldn't wait until they hit it big and had their own tour bus. Emma kissed him back, not real keen on the idea of having sex in Tristan's van, in the parking lot of her apartment building, she would really prefer a bed, if she even wanted to really have sex in the first place. She let Tristan do as he pleased and quickly got dressed afterwards. "So we're leaving tonight, I'll call you." Tristan gave her one last kiss on the lips before letting Emma out of the van. Emma walked back to her apartment and immediately got in the shower. She couldn't think about what had just happened, she had to get to work in an hour. She took a quick shower, put her hair in a professional looking bun, held up with a clip, and slipped into a nice pair of black pants and a button down shirt. As she headed off to work, her mind was clouded by her relationship, but as soon as she entered the building, she put everything on the back burner, only caring about getting the violence march and campaign back on work.

-------------------------[Meanwhile-------------------------

Sean and Jay were taking turns with the shower and bathroom, and eating breakfast.

"Is that really all that happened last night... with you and Emma." Sean calls from the kitchen, forcing himself to rinse out his cereal bowl so there isn't a mess of dirty dishes like the past week.

"Yes, she kissed me, she stopped, she stammered, I put her in your room." Jay says after spitting the toothpaste out of his mouth. He rinses out his mouth, rinses off his toothbrush and puts it in the holder. "I'm done talking about it, I don't get what your deal is."

"My deal is that that's not like Emma, you remember her in high school, how much you made fun of her for being into the environment. She has always been against doing drugs. I don't think she tried pot on her own." Sean states, sighing deeply and shutting off the faucet.

"Look, it's done and over with. Greg is coming into town today so we have to get going." Jay grabs his hoodie and his keys, making Sean follow him out the door.

Chapter 7, part 1: The Situation; part 3

He'll trade her heart
For a trophy
Put it on the shelf
So his friends can see
He has what it takes to get what he wants
Tonight's the night
Suck it up and be a man

Tristan loves being on tour. The entire band, Operation: Jealousy, is extremely ecstatic that they have a chance to open for Yellowcard and Sum 41. There was one thing he didn't bother telling Emma: the girls, Sam, Jes, and Alison, were going with them. He felt that he shouldn't tell her, he didn't want to ruin any good time he could have by worrying about Emma. The band, Tristan, Zack, Nick, Matt, and Robby all took turns driving, allowing each to have a... good... time during the drive to their first show. The good time involved: smoking, drinking, and sexual activities, which was the point in having the girls come. You are not a rock band unless you have groupies. The guy who did most of the driving was Zack, the lead singer, he wasn't really into the whole groupie scene. He actually never had sex with any of the three girls, the only one in the band who hasn't. Zack is a wholesome guy, doesn't drink too much, doesn't do drugs, and has never cheated on any of his girlfriends. He knew that Nick, Matt, and Robby didn't have 'girlfriends', not committed ones anyway, but Tristan did, Tristan had Emma. Zack thinks Emma is amazing, the two [meaning Emma and Tristan never argue, she doesn't get mad at him for drinking or being high all the time. He didn't think Tristan should walk all over her when she has treated him so great.

"Dude, do you think you should be fooling around and shit?" Zack asks Tristan, looking at him through the rear view mirror.

"I haven't done anything yet." Tristan replies, making eye contact through the mirror.

"Are you saying you are?" Zack grips the steering wheel a little tighter.

"I don't know, depends on how well things go." Tristan says with a smirk on his face.

"Emma's a good catch, you think you should do that to her?" Zack looks at the road before looking back up in the mirror.

"Emma's great, but I'm not there, and a man has his needs." Tristan states, shrugging his shoulders.

"Damn right!" Robby shouts from the back of the van, removing his mouth from Alison's neck.

Zack dropped the subject, not sure how to move on from there. It didn't make any sense. Well, maybe it did, apparently Tristan just doesn't love, or care about Emma enough to not cheat on her.

-------------------------[Meanwhile, back in Toronto-------------------------

Emma has been trying to not look at her phone. Tristan said he would call, but he hasn't yet. It hasn't been that long though, only a day and a half, and Tristan didn't say when he would call.

"Are you just going to sit home all day, staring at your phone?" Manny asks as she comes out of the bathroom, towel drying her hair.

"I'm not staring at my phone. I am working." Emma states matter-of-factly, showing Manny the work she had laid out in front of her.

"Why don't you come to the party with me." Manny says as she picks through her closet, trying to find the perfect outfit.

"It's your movie premier, with your movie friends, and I have a ton of work to do." Emma replies, trying to make it seem like she is actually working on her campaign.

"Oh come on, come with me, that way I can show you off, and you can meet my movie friends, and you won't be here... alone... staring at your phone." Manny says, already handing Emma an outfit.

"I thought you were supposed to be getting dressed." Emma semi-asks Manny, looking at her, still in her towel.

"You're easier to dress, nothing looks right on me." Manny states, turning her attention back to the closet.

"Yeah, okay." Emma replies, rolling her eyes. She is much more beautiful then I am, which is why she's the actress, and I work behind a desk. Emma gets dressed, as well as Manny, after another half hour of deliberation. "Is it just us going?" Emma asks, smoothing out the dress Manny gave her to put on.

"No, Sean and Jay are coming. We're gonna ride with them. I figure it's always good to have a guy with you, you know just in case." Manny states, straightening her just-straightened hair again. Emma nods in agreement and waits on Manny. "Okay, let's go meet the guys." Manny grabs her small purse and heads out the door, Emma following behind. She knocks on Sean's door, which Sean opens. "You couldn't even change?" Manny asks him.

"I'm not getting dressed up, I like my jeans and a t-shirt." Sean replies. Jay shows up behind him, wearing his everyday clothes as well. Manny half-heartedly rolls her eyes. She enjoys picking on them, but doesn't mean anything by it. The four walk down to the car and drive to the party. Manny introduced them to a few people as she made the rounds. Then the four pretty much went separate ways, Jay and Sean talked with some of the guys, Manny started dancing with her co-star, and Emma was by the refreshments table, checking her cell phone, that didn't have any missed calls on it.

"Hey." Some guy says to Emma, looking her up and down, then leaving his eyes on her chest. Emma looked down, realizing what the dress Manny made her wear did to her boobs.

"Um, hi." Emma replies cautiously, folding her arms across her chest.

"Why don't we go somewhere." The guy states, motioning with his head that they should leave the party.

"Um, no thanks." Emma says, keeping her voice simple.

"Come on, we'll have fun." He says back to her.

"I'm pretty sure I heard her say no." Jay states, appearing behind the guy. The guy looks at Jay and walks away.