Reaching Emma

25.

Noah joined us in the limo as we headed to Lux, wherever that was. Emma was talking to Anna about which celebrities would be there, but she kept looking out the window anxiously. A few minutes later, we pulled up outside a tall building in the heart of downtown, but could barely see the building past the paparazzi. Emma let out a big sigh next to me.

"You okay Angel?" Noah asked her, sounding concerned. She nodded and smiled reassuringly. If I didn't know any better I would have believed that she wasn't nervous at all. She took a deep breath and nodded again, it looked like she was giving herself a mental pep talk.

"Should we go?" she asked and we all nodded in response.

Noah opened the car door and stepped out. Thomas stood outside the car and helped Emma and Anna out of the car. I followed them and was instantly stunned with flashing and yelling from the media. I glanced at Anna and David, who looked just as star-struck. Anna was gripping David's arm, taking in everything around us. Emma and Noah had walked a few feet ahead of us, posing for photos.

I took a few steps forward and was able to make out some of the questions that the media was yelling, including, "Emma, is it true you were in rehab?" Is it true that Jeremy Ryan attacked you?", "Emma, why have you been hiding?", and "Are you still dating Jeremy?" among other comments that I couldn't hear. I felt awful that those were the questions Emma faced, but she looked to be handling it well. She looked so perfect posing for photos, but she didn't say one word to the reporters. After a few more minutes of Noah and Emma posing for photos and the rest of us standing awkwardly behind them, they walked inside and Anna, David and I followed.

Inside the Lux wasn't any less exciting. We stepped into a huge nightclub with multiple bars, a grand staircase and at least a hundred people talking, laughing and drinking.

The room quieted down quickly until all I heard was hushed whispering. I looked around to find almost everyone looking at us. Was it because we weren't famous? I kept thinking about why everyone was looking at us, but suddenly realized it was Emma's presence. Everyone must be surprised to see her since she hadn't been in the public eye in months. I looked over at Emma, she must be feeling even more uncomfortable than I was, but she looked calm. I jumped a little when I heard a shriek, "OMG EMMA!"

I looked towards the sound of the screaming to see Ariana Grande running towards us. Well, running may have been generous. She was trying to run but was more of fast walking in her tall heels and her long hair swinging behind her.

Emma closed the distance between them and embraced Ariana, "ARI, HEY!"

"It's so nice to finally see you! It's been way too long!" Ariana exclaimed. The rest of the room went to go back to their normal conversations and the noise picked up considerably while Ariana and Emma were catching up.

Emma turned to us, "Guys, this is Ariana." Emma introduced us and I'm surprised that Anna was able to keep her cool; I know how much she liked Ariana Grande's newest album. We chatted with her briefly, she was really down-to-earth and cool, I could see why she and Emma were such close friends. Shortly after, Ariana and Noah excused themselves to say hi to some other people who arrived.

Emma suggested that we get drinks and we followed her across the room.

"What do you want to drink?" Emma asked, leaning against the bar. We all shrugged, I was used to just drinking whatever alcohol we could get our hands on or whatever was available at Andrew's parties. I didn't really know any fancy drinks.

"Hmm..." Emma said thoughtfully before turning back to the bartender, "Can I have a vodka soda, vodka lemonade, and two rum and cokes, please?" The bartender quickly put her order together and Emma handed us our drinks, keeping the vodka soda for herself. I took a sip of the rum and coke that she had ordered me, it was really good; I couldn't taste the alcohol at all.