flashback log: strike a pose, or you know, pass the snacks
Who: Emily and Jen
When: 16 July 2018
Where: Emily Smulders’ house
What: I was in the neighborhood
Jen reached up, knocking on Emily’s front door. She’d gone for a run, ended up in Emily’s neighborhood and decided to stop by. She took a step back and waited for for Manuela to let her in.
Emily had been working out in her room when the door suddenly opened. Wondering why the person hadn’t knocked, she spun around and grinned when she saw that it was only Jen. “Hey, what’s up?” She asked before turning back around and bending her right leg backwards, stretching the already tightening muscles.
Jen kicked off her shoes and crossed the room to Emily’s bed. She slid under the covers, pulling them up and around her till she was satisfied in her blanket cocoon. Laying on her side facing Emily she replied, “It is freezing outside, but your gazillion thread count sheets feel wonderful. So, I thought I’d come over and enjoy them.”
Making a face, Emily turned to her. “So you decided to run over to my house and slip your gross, sweaty body onto my nice clean sheets? How thoughtful of you,” she said
Jen laughed, burrowing further into the sheets. “Fine” she said, drawing out the word as she sat up. She slid out of bed but paused to at least straighten the sheets she’d messed up. She tugged her shirt off as she walked across the room towards Emily’s en suite bathroom. Next off was Emily’s turtleneck, “This is yours by the way. Do you want me to take it back to my house and wash it? Or can can I continue to be an awful friend and just put it with the rest of the laundry?”
“Well as you pointed out, it is mine. So, you might as well just put it in my laundry.” Emily eyed her friends form critically before rolling her neck and stretching over her right side.
“What?” Jen asked, looking down her body then back up at Emily. “What?” She’d managed to stay out of the house for most of this week and when she did go home, her dad wasn’t around. There wasn’t any mark on her body that she needed to be covering up. “You’re doing that Cheerios head bitch thing. Cut it out.”
Emily smirked and turned back around. She was a bitch. She never pretended otherwise. She wouldn’t be where she was if she hadn’t perfected her “persona” and it was hard even with Jen to let her facade go. It was like a security blanket for her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you have no idea what I’m talking about?” Jen laughed, going into Emily’s closet. It only took her a few moments before she came back out, holding one of Emily’s Cheerio’s uniforms up to her front. She attempted to put on Emily’s HBIC glare. She tightened her ponytail then held the uniform up with one hand and slid her other hand to her hip, “You, freshman, did I say you could stop running? You’re going to keep running until you figure out how to...properly accessorize while wearing your uniform. Or until you pass out. You better not pass out first.” After a beat she tossed the uniform onto the bed and went back into Emily’s closet. She came back out wearing one of Emily’s comfy sweatshirts that the other girl sometimes wore while they were relaxing around the room. She crawled back onto Emily’s bed pulling a pillow into her lap. She tugged the hairband out of her hair and quickly combed her fingers through the dark strands.
“Now,” she said, looking to Emily. “Pay particular attention to this part of the...lesson.” She tried to keep a straight face but began to laugh she took a deep breath, straightening back up, turning her attention across the room to Emily’s closet. “Jen...will you please come out of there. I’m sure you look great in whatever you picked out. And if you don’t, I’ll help you figure it out.” Jen tossed the pillow in her lap at Emily, tugging the sweater of and laying it next to the uniform. “There’s HBIC Emily and best friend Emily. Can I request the best friend Emily?”
Emily pretended to glare, schooling her expression to be its most annoyed. “Was that supposed to be an impression of me? Because if so, I don’t see a career in acting in your future. I would never waste my time speaking directly to a freshman. I have minions for that,” she said before she cracked a smile and started to giggle. She moved over to her bed and plopped down, pulling Jen to her and kissing her cheek. “I suppose best friend Emily is here now, but you’d better speak quickly. You know she only likes to come out for like twenty seconds at a time.”
Jen smiled as she stood, gathering the clothes she’d taken out of Emily’s closet so that she could put them back. “You’re crushing my dreams, Em. I had my Oscar acceptance speech written out and everything. I was going to thank you.” She looked over her shoulder at Emily rolling her eyes. “Ugh, I sound like Josie. I take it back. I take it all back. Keep the Oscar, I’ll take my Olympic gold medal please and thank you.” She walked into Emily’s closet hanging her things back up and grabbing some of her own clothes from a top shelf. She kicked off her sweats, tossing them into the laundry, and exited the closet heading for the bathroom. She left the door open,speaking over the sound of running water. “Will best friend Emily still be here after I’m done with my shower?”
“Maybe. What’s in it for her?” Emily called back, flipping through the magazine she’d left on her bed.
Jen laughed stepping into the shower, “My undying love Em my undying love.”
“Best friend Emily would like something material, thanks.” Emily pulled her hair from the elastic and shook it out. She needed to wash it because she’d been sweating, but with Jen there, she wasn’t sure when she’d bet the chance.
Jen laughed, letting out a breath as the warm water washed over her. After enjoying a few minutes of the water running over her sore muscles she washed quickly and then hopped out. She wrung her hair out as much as she could then dressed, pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail as she exited the shower. “I can...replace your shampoo and conditioner. It’s not gone, but I use enough of it and I’m actually starting to feel bad.”
Emily rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about it. I can get more. Besides, I don’t think you could afford it.” She frowned as she looked down and saw a picture of Kendall and Kylie Jenner. That whole family was overrated and hideous.
Turning back into the bathroom Jen grabbed one of the smaller towels off the wrack and brought it back into the bedroom. She crawled onto the bed and up to the pillows laying the towel over one so that she wouldn’t drench it. She laid down for a few moments before shooting up wrapping her arms around Emily and pulling her down beside her, “Well then,” she said, tugging her friend a little closer. “What can I get best friend Emily? Some ridiculous poster of some boy crush that you won’t actually put up because it doesn’t match the color scheme of your room.” She laughed lightly, looking across the pillow they shared at Emily. “How are you?”
And there is was. She could hear it in Jen’s voice. It had been about a week since she’d broken up with Derrick, but it was like everyone expected her to fall apart. Emily shrugged. “I’m fine. Happy even.”
“Mhmm” Jen mumbled, “Siempre bien. Are you really?”
Emily shifted uncomfortably and shrugged. “Yep, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You just broke up with Derrick.” Jen wrapped her arms tighter around Emily as she felt her begin to shift away again. “I’m not saying you’re not okay. I just want to make sure that you are. Plus, I dunno...after your party...” she trailed, “I’m you friend Em, I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
Tensing at the mention of her party, Emily sighed. “I’m okay. I promise. I’m just stressing about Cheerios camp coming up. I’m out of shape and Bree Pierce is just...going to lose us out ranking. I can’t have that as my legacy.”
Jen snorted. “Stop it. You’re in great shape.” She snuggled into Emily. “I have a plan for the legacy thing. Just don’t graduate. Stay with me another year and you can teach Bree...whatever it is she’s struggling with. See? It’s a great plan, fixes everything.”
Emily giggled. “You could graduate early and come to England with me. I’m going to talk to my father about taking Manuela with me. She can make us food and make sure our flat stays clean. This is clearly the better plan.”
“I’ll just take your application out of the mail box and fix this whole situation. I will hide it and you will never find it until we can get out of here together. Then when we leave I’ll...play for some team in England and Manuela can make us snacks!” Jenna sighed. “I’m kidding. Go and be” she attempted to adopt a British accent, “bloody brilliant.”
Shaking her head, Emily kissed Jen’s cheek. “You playing for some time in England would be amazing. Though, you’d have to work on that accent.”
“That’ll be my new goal in life. Gold Medal? No way. If I can’t fix my accent so that we can run around England together a medal wouldn’t be worth much anyway.”
“Exactly,” Emily agreed. She laid her head on Jen’s shoulder. “Living with you in England would be amazing.”
“Where else are we going to go, Em?” Jen asked softly. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know. Where do you want to go? Anywhere in the world. You name it and we’ll go there. Well, except some third world country. I am no Angelina Jolie.” She could smell the faint scent of her body wash on Jen’s skin and it was oddly comforting.
“I want to go to Greece,” Jen said almost immediately. “I’ve seen pictures, from books in the library, and it’s gorgeous.” She smiled, trying her accent again, teasing gently, “Not as gorgeous as you.” She laughed, shifting some underneath Emily,speaking regularly, “We’ll go and find you some beautiful Greek god of a man. Another one of my brilliant plans.”
Thoughts of Puck fluttered through her mind before she shook her head. “Grecian men are kind of greasy, but they’re definitely nice to look at. All muscly and tan.”
“Okay. Moving on to another country in search of Emily’s perfect man.” Jen thought for a moment. “I want to go to Morocco, but...I don’t know if that breaks the ‘third world country’ rule. Even if it does, just come with me and stay in the ridiculously expensive hotel, that I’ll be paying for, and I’ll run the streets and bring you back pretty gifts.”
Emily grinned. “You’re like the perfect boyfriend. Too bad you don’t have a penis.” She giggled hard at that before wheezing to catch her breath. “This sounds like a great plan.”
Jen tugged playfully at the back of Emily’s shirt. “I’m going to tell Manuela you said penis. She will start ranting in Spanish and inspecting your room for boys. It’ll one of the greatest things I’ve ever done.”
“Please, she would never believe you. She still thinks I never had sex with Derrick.” Which was true, but Emily let people think what they wanted at school. It was better than them thinking she couldn’t keep Derrick happy.
You didn’t.” Jen said with a laugh. “Or...” she paused a slight frown tugging at the edge of her mouth. “You didn’t tell me.” She shook her head smoothing down Emily’s shirt. “Which means you didn’t.”
“Maybe I don’t tell you everything,” Emily said cryptically. “I have secrets sometimes, you know?”
“Well...” Jen paused, poking Emily, “Did you?”
“What do you think?” Emily asked, shifting slightly. She would not, under any circumstances tell Jen about what had happened with Puck at her party.
“I think - I hope you would’ve told me.” She smirked, “Then I would’ve gone and had a nice long talk with Derrick about how I would, in fact, kill him if I was made an aunt too soon. Because I have not had that conversation I’m gonna say you didn’t sleep with him.”
“Well...there you go,” Emily said with a grin.
“Aww” Jen smiled. She rolled her eyes, “I think Tyler was more upset about you two breaking up than you are. He was complaining that we couldn’t go on double dates or something, I don’t know...I wasn’t really listening.”
Emily’s expression hardened at the mention of Jen’s boyfriend,Tyler. “Yes, I’m so heartbroken I can’t go on double dates with those two acting like complete asses anymore.”
Jen let out a breath, “He...can be an ass. But...sometimes...he can be sweet really sweet. We thought...I thought...” Jen shook her head, “Well, I’m glad that you no longer have to be exposed to the two of them while they’re together.”
“You thought what?” She asked with a frown.
“Okay, before I tell you, you have to promise you wont be mad.” Jen quickly added. “I’m not saying unless you at least promise to not reply as head bitch Emily, but as best friend Emily.”
Emily sat up and clenched her jaw. “I promise to try not to. Now tell me.”
“And you ca-” Jen began but quieted at the look Emily shot her. “So...” she took a breath and finally just said it, “I was late and you know, I mean, you know what I thought. But it was just stress and everything but I told Tyler that I was late and he was kinda...really great about it. He was all ‘I’ll marry you’ and ‘I love you, we can work this out.’ I don’t want to marry him. I really don’t want to marry him. So....it’s a good think that everything worked out and I’m in fact not pr-...you said you wouldn’t be mad!”
“You know how I feel about stupidity, Jen. You’re...supposed to be using protection or at least be on the pill!” She folded her arms over her chest and shook her head. Sometimes Jen didn’t think.
“We do. I am.” Jen tried to protest. “I was just...running late” she mumbled, “then forgot to take it after school.”
Sighing, Emily ran her hand over her face. “Then you need to get on the shot because the last thing you need is a baby, especially Tyler’s baby.”
Jen leaned forward wrapping her arms around Emily, pushing forward until they’d shifted positions and Jen was resting her head on Emily’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, don’t stress about it. I was...” her voice lowered to a whisper, “really scared.” She took in a shaky breath, “I’ve learned the lesson I was supposed to learn and it isn’t going to happen again. I’m sorry.”
Emily sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m not mad. I just worry about you. You know if you’d been...I would be there. I love you.”
Jen nodded. “I know,” she said softly. “I love you too. I don’t know how I’d get through half the shit in my life if I couldn’t come to you about it.”
She pulled Jen to her and hugged her tightly. “I’ll always be here. I mean it. I know I can be a bitchface, but I love you more than anyone except Manuela.”
Jen laughed, turning her head into Emily’s shoulder, her words mumbled against the material of her shirt. “You only love her more because she gives you food. Which, I suppose, is as good a reason as any. But, if she ever let me in the kitchen, she’d have a serious run for her money. No one can cook popcorn like I can.”
Emily laughed. “That’s true. You do pop a mean bag of popcorn. So, what’s on the agenda for tonight? We can do whatever you want.”
“Well...” Jen thought for a moment. “You can let me into your closet and I can try on all your pretty clothes. We can watch some movies. Maybe try sneaking into the kitchen and making some sort of raid.”
“You can try on my clothes if you promise to hang them back up the way you found them. We can definitely watch some movies, but so Manuela doesn’t kill us both, how about I just ask her to make us some snacks?” Emily suggested.
“How about, snacks, mini fashion show and then a movie?” Jen suggested.
“Sounds good. What snacks do you want?” Emily asked, climbing off her bed and heading to the intercom.
Jen rolled onto her back then onto her stomach, pushing herself up onto her feet then walking off the bed and over to Emily. “You pick.” She reached out and pressed the button, “Just as long as Manuela knows her second favorite person loves her.”
“I heard that,” Manuela said clearly. “That never means anything good.”
Emily laughed at the look on Jen’s face and shook her head. “Manuela can we have some fruit tarts and homemade donuts, por favor?” Coach was going to kill her, but nothing else sounded good.
“And hot chocolate?” Jen added, knowing she could be pushing their luck. “Please. Te queremos.”
She heard Manuela sigh reluctantly but knew she would acquiesce. “You’re going to spoil your dinner, mi’jas.”
“We won’t. We promise,” Emily said quickly, looking over at Jen guiltily.
“We’ll have seconds,” Jen assured Manuela. “...of whatever delicious vegetable you make.”
“Mentirosa,” Emily heard Manuela mumble and she gigglesnorted. The older woman agreed and turned off the intercom.
“Jen, seriously, you have got to work on your acting skills,” Emily teased, moving to her couch.
“Whatever,” Jen smiled as she moved away from the intercom and towards the closet. “the point is we’re getting hot chocolate right?” She stepped into the walk-in, calling over her shoulder. “Music?”
Emily stretched across the cushions on her stomach and peered over the arm of the couch. “Sure. What do you want to hear?”
Carefully pushing through the clothes in Emily’s closet, Jen replied. “Doesn’t matter. Surprise me.”
Turning on her uListen, Emily picked her Lady Gaga playlist and hit play. “Good enough?”
Jen smiled as the first few beats of Bad Romance began to play. She tugged off the comfy clothes she’d slipped into and pulled a blue dress off a hanger. The dress was a dark blue almost purple that dipped into a v-neck. She spun around, bouncing around to the beat of the music, and grabbed a small belt, belting the dress at her waist. Finally, she grabbed some sunglasses and slipped them on, dancing out of the closet. “I want your love and I want your revenge. You and me can write a bad romance.”
Emily smiled, more to herself than to Jen. “Are you going to try on all of my new clothes? No offense, wait I kind of don’t care if you take offense. I don’t want them all to smell like you sweating to the 90’s over there.”
Jen stopped where she was, tugging the sunglasses she was wearing down some, so that she could look at Emily over the top of them. “I just showered with your body wash. Either way you ruin all my fun, bitch.” She playfully stomped back into the closet, carefully taking of Emily’s dress and hanging it back up. She pulled back on the clothes she’d changed out of, leaving on the sunglasses, and danced back out of the closet.
“You could’ve tried on the old stuff was my point,” Emily said, sitting up and turning on the uWatch.
Jen danced over tugging Emily up, spinning her around then pulling her back in. “I can never tell the old stuff from the new.”
Emily smirked. “Okay, I supposed that’s fair.” Just then, there was a knock at the door and she turned to Jen. “Snacks are here.” She jumped up from the couch and raced over to her door. Opening it, she smiled at Manuela. She took the tray and moved closer, kissing the older woman’s cheek. “Gracias, Manuela.”
“You’re welcome, mi’ja,” Manuela said, clicking in disapproval. “I should just not make dinner. You girls not gonna eat it.”
“We’ll eat it,” Emily promised. “But if you wanted to wait a few hours, we won’t be upset.”
Manuela smiled indulgently and nodded. “Enjoy chicas,” she said before walking back down the hall.
Emily shut the door and carried the tray over to the couch and set it on the coffee table. “Dig in and pick a movie!”
Jen danced over grabbing a still hot mini-donut and popping it into her mouth. “Ow, ow” she said, still unable to stop laughing, as she breathed through her mouth as she finally sat down on the couch, reaching for few more donuts. “Princess Bride?”
“You’re special,” Emily said, shaking her head and selecting the movie on the uWatch.
“Well of course,” Jen replied. “Who else but someone special could be your best friend?”
Emily glared over at Jen and grabbed a piece of banana. “Just watch the damn movie.”
When: 16 July 2018
Where: Emily Smulders’ house
What: I was in the neighborhood
Jen reached up, knocking on Emily’s front door. She’d gone for a run, ended up in Emily’s neighborhood and decided to stop by. She took a step back and waited for for Manuela to let her in.
Emily had been working out in her room when the door suddenly opened. Wondering why the person hadn’t knocked, she spun around and grinned when she saw that it was only Jen. “Hey, what’s up?” She asked before turning back around and bending her right leg backwards, stretching the already tightening muscles.
Jen kicked off her shoes and crossed the room to Emily’s bed. She slid under the covers, pulling them up and around her till she was satisfied in her blanket cocoon. Laying on her side facing Emily she replied, “It is freezing outside, but your gazillion thread count sheets feel wonderful. So, I thought I’d come over and enjoy them.”
Making a face, Emily turned to her. “So you decided to run over to my house and slip your gross, sweaty body onto my nice clean sheets? How thoughtful of you,” she said
Jen laughed, burrowing further into the sheets. “Fine” she said, drawing out the word as she sat up. She slid out of bed but paused to at least straighten the sheets she’d messed up. She tugged her shirt off as she walked across the room towards Emily’s en suite bathroom. Next off was Emily’s turtleneck, “This is yours by the way. Do you want me to take it back to my house and wash it? Or can can I continue to be an awful friend and just put it with the rest of the laundry?”
“Well as you pointed out, it is mine. So, you might as well just put it in my laundry.” Emily eyed her friends form critically before rolling her neck and stretching over her right side.
“What?” Jen asked, looking down her body then back up at Emily. “What?” She’d managed to stay out of the house for most of this week and when she did go home, her dad wasn’t around. There wasn’t any mark on her body that she needed to be covering up. “You’re doing that Cheerios head bitch thing. Cut it out.”
Emily smirked and turned back around. She was a bitch. She never pretended otherwise. She wouldn’t be where she was if she hadn’t perfected her “persona” and it was hard even with Jen to let her facade go. It was like a security blanket for her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you have no idea what I’m talking about?” Jen laughed, going into Emily’s closet. It only took her a few moments before she came back out, holding one of Emily’s Cheerio’s uniforms up to her front. She attempted to put on Emily’s HBIC glare. She tightened her ponytail then held the uniform up with one hand and slid her other hand to her hip, “You, freshman, did I say you could stop running? You’re going to keep running until you figure out how to...properly accessorize while wearing your uniform. Or until you pass out. You better not pass out first.” After a beat she tossed the uniform onto the bed and went back into Emily’s closet. She came back out wearing one of Emily’s comfy sweatshirts that the other girl sometimes wore while they were relaxing around the room. She crawled back onto Emily’s bed pulling a pillow into her lap. She tugged the hairband out of her hair and quickly combed her fingers through the dark strands.
“Now,” she said, looking to Emily. “Pay particular attention to this part of the...lesson.” She tried to keep a straight face but began to laugh she took a deep breath, straightening back up, turning her attention across the room to Emily’s closet. “Jen...will you please come out of there. I’m sure you look great in whatever you picked out. And if you don’t, I’ll help you figure it out.” Jen tossed the pillow in her lap at Emily, tugging the sweater of and laying it next to the uniform. “There’s HBIC Emily and best friend Emily. Can I request the best friend Emily?”
Emily pretended to glare, schooling her expression to be its most annoyed. “Was that supposed to be an impression of me? Because if so, I don’t see a career in acting in your future. I would never waste my time speaking directly to a freshman. I have minions for that,” she said before she cracked a smile and started to giggle. She moved over to her bed and plopped down, pulling Jen to her and kissing her cheek. “I suppose best friend Emily is here now, but you’d better speak quickly. You know she only likes to come out for like twenty seconds at a time.”
Jen smiled as she stood, gathering the clothes she’d taken out of Emily’s closet so that she could put them back. “You’re crushing my dreams, Em. I had my Oscar acceptance speech written out and everything. I was going to thank you.” She looked over her shoulder at Emily rolling her eyes. “Ugh, I sound like Josie. I take it back. I take it all back. Keep the Oscar, I’ll take my Olympic gold medal please and thank you.” She walked into Emily’s closet hanging her things back up and grabbing some of her own clothes from a top shelf. She kicked off her sweats, tossing them into the laundry, and exited the closet heading for the bathroom. She left the door open,speaking over the sound of running water. “Will best friend Emily still be here after I’m done with my shower?”
“Maybe. What’s in it for her?” Emily called back, flipping through the magazine she’d left on her bed.
Jen laughed stepping into the shower, “My undying love Em my undying love.”
“Best friend Emily would like something material, thanks.” Emily pulled her hair from the elastic and shook it out. She needed to wash it because she’d been sweating, but with Jen there, she wasn’t sure when she’d bet the chance.
Jen laughed, letting out a breath as the warm water washed over her. After enjoying a few minutes of the water running over her sore muscles she washed quickly and then hopped out. She wrung her hair out as much as she could then dressed, pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail as she exited the shower. “I can...replace your shampoo and conditioner. It’s not gone, but I use enough of it and I’m actually starting to feel bad.”
Emily rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about it. I can get more. Besides, I don’t think you could afford it.” She frowned as she looked down and saw a picture of Kendall and Kylie Jenner. That whole family was overrated and hideous.
Turning back into the bathroom Jen grabbed one of the smaller towels off the wrack and brought it back into the bedroom. She crawled onto the bed and up to the pillows laying the towel over one so that she wouldn’t drench it. She laid down for a few moments before shooting up wrapping her arms around Emily and pulling her down beside her, “Well then,” she said, tugging her friend a little closer. “What can I get best friend Emily? Some ridiculous poster of some boy crush that you won’t actually put up because it doesn’t match the color scheme of your room.” She laughed lightly, looking across the pillow they shared at Emily. “How are you?”
And there is was. She could hear it in Jen’s voice. It had been about a week since she’d broken up with Derrick, but it was like everyone expected her to fall apart. Emily shrugged. “I’m fine. Happy even.”
“Mhmm” Jen mumbled, “Siempre bien. Are you really?”
Emily shifted uncomfortably and shrugged. “Yep, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You just broke up with Derrick.” Jen wrapped her arms tighter around Emily as she felt her begin to shift away again. “I’m not saying you’re not okay. I just want to make sure that you are. Plus, I dunno...after your party...” she trailed, “I’m you friend Em, I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
Tensing at the mention of her party, Emily sighed. “I’m okay. I promise. I’m just stressing about Cheerios camp coming up. I’m out of shape and Bree Pierce is just...going to lose us out ranking. I can’t have that as my legacy.”
Jen snorted. “Stop it. You’re in great shape.” She snuggled into Emily. “I have a plan for the legacy thing. Just don’t graduate. Stay with me another year and you can teach Bree...whatever it is she’s struggling with. See? It’s a great plan, fixes everything.”
Emily giggled. “You could graduate early and come to England with me. I’m going to talk to my father about taking Manuela with me. She can make us food and make sure our flat stays clean. This is clearly the better plan.”
“I’ll just take your application out of the mail box and fix this whole situation. I will hide it and you will never find it until we can get out of here together. Then when we leave I’ll...play for some team in England and Manuela can make us snacks!” Jenna sighed. “I’m kidding. Go and be” she attempted to adopt a British accent, “bloody brilliant.”
Shaking her head, Emily kissed Jen’s cheek. “You playing for some time in England would be amazing. Though, you’d have to work on that accent.”
“That’ll be my new goal in life. Gold Medal? No way. If I can’t fix my accent so that we can run around England together a medal wouldn’t be worth much anyway.”
“Exactly,” Emily agreed. She laid her head on Jen’s shoulder. “Living with you in England would be amazing.”
“Where else are we going to go, Em?” Jen asked softly. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know. Where do you want to go? Anywhere in the world. You name it and we’ll go there. Well, except some third world country. I am no Angelina Jolie.” She could smell the faint scent of her body wash on Jen’s skin and it was oddly comforting.
“I want to go to Greece,” Jen said almost immediately. “I’ve seen pictures, from books in the library, and it’s gorgeous.” She smiled, trying her accent again, teasing gently, “Not as gorgeous as you.” She laughed, shifting some underneath Emily,speaking regularly, “We’ll go and find you some beautiful Greek god of a man. Another one of my brilliant plans.”
Thoughts of Puck fluttered through her mind before she shook her head. “Grecian men are kind of greasy, but they’re definitely nice to look at. All muscly and tan.”
“Okay. Moving on to another country in search of Emily’s perfect man.” Jen thought for a moment. “I want to go to Morocco, but...I don’t know if that breaks the ‘third world country’ rule. Even if it does, just come with me and stay in the ridiculously expensive hotel, that I’ll be paying for, and I’ll run the streets and bring you back pretty gifts.”
Emily grinned. “You’re like the perfect boyfriend. Too bad you don’t have a penis.” She giggled hard at that before wheezing to catch her breath. “This sounds like a great plan.”
Jen tugged playfully at the back of Emily’s shirt. “I’m going to tell Manuela you said penis. She will start ranting in Spanish and inspecting your room for boys. It’ll one of the greatest things I’ve ever done.”
“Please, she would never believe you. She still thinks I never had sex with Derrick.” Which was true, but Emily let people think what they wanted at school. It was better than them thinking she couldn’t keep Derrick happy.
You didn’t.” Jen said with a laugh. “Or...” she paused a slight frown tugging at the edge of her mouth. “You didn’t tell me.” She shook her head smoothing down Emily’s shirt. “Which means you didn’t.”
“Maybe I don’t tell you everything,” Emily said cryptically. “I have secrets sometimes, you know?”
“Well...” Jen paused, poking Emily, “Did you?”
“What do you think?” Emily asked, shifting slightly. She would not, under any circumstances tell Jen about what had happened with Puck at her party.
“I think - I hope you would’ve told me.” She smirked, “Then I would’ve gone and had a nice long talk with Derrick about how I would, in fact, kill him if I was made an aunt too soon. Because I have not had that conversation I’m gonna say you didn’t sleep with him.”
“Well...there you go,” Emily said with a grin.
“Aww” Jen smiled. She rolled her eyes, “I think Tyler was more upset about you two breaking up than you are. He was complaining that we couldn’t go on double dates or something, I don’t know...I wasn’t really listening.”
Emily’s expression hardened at the mention of Jen’s boyfriend,Tyler. “Yes, I’m so heartbroken I can’t go on double dates with those two acting like complete asses anymore.”
Jen let out a breath, “He...can be an ass. But...sometimes...he can be sweet really sweet. We thought...I thought...” Jen shook her head, “Well, I’m glad that you no longer have to be exposed to the two of them while they’re together.”
“You thought what?” She asked with a frown.
“Okay, before I tell you, you have to promise you wont be mad.” Jen quickly added. “I’m not saying unless you at least promise to not reply as head bitch Emily, but as best friend Emily.”
Emily sat up and clenched her jaw. “I promise to try not to. Now tell me.”
“And you ca-” Jen began but quieted at the look Emily shot her. “So...” she took a breath and finally just said it, “I was late and you know, I mean, you know what I thought. But it was just stress and everything but I told Tyler that I was late and he was kinda...really great about it. He was all ‘I’ll marry you’ and ‘I love you, we can work this out.’ I don’t want to marry him. I really don’t want to marry him. So....it’s a good think that everything worked out and I’m in fact not pr-...you said you wouldn’t be mad!”
“You know how I feel about stupidity, Jen. You’re...supposed to be using protection or at least be on the pill!” She folded her arms over her chest and shook her head. Sometimes Jen didn’t think.
“We do. I am.” Jen tried to protest. “I was just...running late” she mumbled, “then forgot to take it after school.”
Sighing, Emily ran her hand over her face. “Then you need to get on the shot because the last thing you need is a baby, especially Tyler’s baby.”
Jen leaned forward wrapping her arms around Emily, pushing forward until they’d shifted positions and Jen was resting her head on Emily’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, don’t stress about it. I was...” her voice lowered to a whisper, “really scared.” She took in a shaky breath, “I’ve learned the lesson I was supposed to learn and it isn’t going to happen again. I’m sorry.”
Emily sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m not mad. I just worry about you. You know if you’d been...I would be there. I love you.”
Jen nodded. “I know,” she said softly. “I love you too. I don’t know how I’d get through half the shit in my life if I couldn’t come to you about it.”
She pulled Jen to her and hugged her tightly. “I’ll always be here. I mean it. I know I can be a bitchface, but I love you more than anyone except Manuela.”
Jen laughed, turning her head into Emily’s shoulder, her words mumbled against the material of her shirt. “You only love her more because she gives you food. Which, I suppose, is as good a reason as any. But, if she ever let me in the kitchen, she’d have a serious run for her money. No one can cook popcorn like I can.”
Emily laughed. “That’s true. You do pop a mean bag of popcorn. So, what’s on the agenda for tonight? We can do whatever you want.”
“Well...” Jen thought for a moment. “You can let me into your closet and I can try on all your pretty clothes. We can watch some movies. Maybe try sneaking into the kitchen and making some sort of raid.”
“You can try on my clothes if you promise to hang them back up the way you found them. We can definitely watch some movies, but so Manuela doesn’t kill us both, how about I just ask her to make us some snacks?” Emily suggested.
“How about, snacks, mini fashion show and then a movie?” Jen suggested.
“Sounds good. What snacks do you want?” Emily asked, climbing off her bed and heading to the intercom.
Jen rolled onto her back then onto her stomach, pushing herself up onto her feet then walking off the bed and over to Emily. “You pick.” She reached out and pressed the button, “Just as long as Manuela knows her second favorite person loves her.”
“I heard that,” Manuela said clearly. “That never means anything good.”
Emily laughed at the look on Jen’s face and shook her head. “Manuela can we have some fruit tarts and homemade donuts, por favor?” Coach was going to kill her, but nothing else sounded good.
“And hot chocolate?” Jen added, knowing she could be pushing their luck. “Please. Te queremos.”
She heard Manuela sigh reluctantly but knew she would acquiesce. “You’re going to spoil your dinner, mi’jas.”
“We won’t. We promise,” Emily said quickly, looking over at Jen guiltily.
“We’ll have seconds,” Jen assured Manuela. “...of whatever delicious vegetable you make.”
“Mentirosa,” Emily heard Manuela mumble and she gigglesnorted. The older woman agreed and turned off the intercom.
“Jen, seriously, you have got to work on your acting skills,” Emily teased, moving to her couch.
“Whatever,” Jen smiled as she moved away from the intercom and towards the closet. “the point is we’re getting hot chocolate right?” She stepped into the walk-in, calling over her shoulder. “Music?”
Emily stretched across the cushions on her stomach and peered over the arm of the couch. “Sure. What do you want to hear?”
Carefully pushing through the clothes in Emily’s closet, Jen replied. “Doesn’t matter. Surprise me.”
Turning on her uListen, Emily picked her Lady Gaga playlist and hit play. “Good enough?”
Jen smiled as the first few beats of Bad Romance began to play. She tugged off the comfy clothes she’d slipped into and pulled a blue dress off a hanger. The dress was a dark blue almost purple that dipped into a v-neck. She spun around, bouncing around to the beat of the music, and grabbed a small belt, belting the dress at her waist. Finally, she grabbed some sunglasses and slipped them on, dancing out of the closet. “I want your love and I want your revenge. You and me can write a bad romance.”
Emily smiled, more to herself than to Jen. “Are you going to try on all of my new clothes? No offense, wait I kind of don’t care if you take offense. I don’t want them all to smell like you sweating to the 90’s over there.”
Jen stopped where she was, tugging the sunglasses she was wearing down some, so that she could look at Emily over the top of them. “I just showered with your body wash. Either way you ruin all my fun, bitch.” She playfully stomped back into the closet, carefully taking of Emily’s dress and hanging it back up. She pulled back on the clothes she’d changed out of, leaving on the sunglasses, and danced back out of the closet.
“You could’ve tried on the old stuff was my point,” Emily said, sitting up and turning on the uWatch.
Jen danced over tugging Emily up, spinning her around then pulling her back in. “I can never tell the old stuff from the new.”
Emily smirked. “Okay, I supposed that’s fair.” Just then, there was a knock at the door and she turned to Jen. “Snacks are here.” She jumped up from the couch and raced over to her door. Opening it, she smiled at Manuela. She took the tray and moved closer, kissing the older woman’s cheek. “Gracias, Manuela.”
“You’re welcome, mi’ja,” Manuela said, clicking in disapproval. “I should just not make dinner. You girls not gonna eat it.”
“We’ll eat it,” Emily promised. “But if you wanted to wait a few hours, we won’t be upset.”
Manuela smiled indulgently and nodded. “Enjoy chicas,” she said before walking back down the hall.
Emily shut the door and carried the tray over to the couch and set it on the coffee table. “Dig in and pick a movie!”
Jen danced over grabbing a still hot mini-donut and popping it into her mouth. “Ow, ow” she said, still unable to stop laughing, as she breathed through her mouth as she finally sat down on the couch, reaching for few more donuts. “Princess Bride?”
“You’re special,” Emily said, shaking her head and selecting the movie on the uWatch.
“Well of course,” Jen replied. “Who else but someone special could be your best friend?”
Emily glared over at Jen and grabbed a piece of banana. “Just watch the damn movie.”