shine - grayson dolan

0.24 «Emerson Samuels»

"Hey! What's the magic word?" Elliot taunts from his place in the driver's seat.

"Elliot Malcolm Samuels, I swear to freakin' God if you don't start this goddamn car right now, I will-"

"OK, ok, chill the fuck out. Jesus Christ," he shakes his head in annoyance.

"That's what I thought."

We arrived at our house about twenty minutes later, and I ran straight up to my room. Luckily enough, my parents were not home, or else my mum would definitely have started getting nosy.

I decided to call Addi right after I had changed.

She picked up on the fourth ring, "Hello?"

"Hey, Addi," I chirped, trying to pretend nothing was wrong.

"Hey, Emmy," she said, sounding depressed.

"Addi, look, I heard about what happened with Ethan and Gray. Do you wanna talk about it?" I offer sincerely.

"Uh....I don't really know. Are you just going to try to convince me to forgive Ethan and Grayson?" she questions, hesitation evident in her voice.

"No! No!" I say a little more forcefully than intended, "You're my friend too, Adds. If you wanna forgive them, that's your choice completely. I'm just telling you I'm always here if you need someone to vent out your thoughts to. I would hate if you left New Jersey upset."

I can almost hear her smile, "Thank you so much, Emmy. I can't tell you how nice it is to have a friend right now."

"Are you free right now? You could come over if you wanted to," I say.

"Ok. I'll be over in about ten minutes."

"See you then."

She hung up, and I hurried downstairs to tell my mum that I was having someone over. I met Elliot and Evan on the way, "Hey, you two!" I yell, getting their attention.

"Look, Addi is coming over right now, and she's really upset about something. Can you please be sensitive and not bother us?"

"We'll think about it," Elliot smirks.

"I'm serious," I say sternly, glaring at them.

"We get it, we get it," they put their hands up in mock surrender, "We'll be down in the basement anyways."

"Thank you."

The doorbell rings at that moment, and I quickly shove both of them into the kitchen before running to the front hall and opening the door, where a dejected-looking Addi stood.

I quickly wrap her in a hug, "How're you holding up?"

"Fine," she simply says, giving me a smile. I can tell it's forced though. 

"Let's go upstairs," I say, taking her hand and pulling her up to my bedroom.

She sits on the bed, and I sit across from her.

"You wanna explain to me what exactly happened?" I say, trying to give her a sympathetic smile.

"So, from the very beginning. Yesterday, I sent a picture of me and Ethan in New York to one of my friends back in Minnesota. I had been so excited to tell her about everything, right?"

She continues, "But I didn't exactly get the response I was expecting. She told me that she knew who that guy was, and that he was a really popular Viner and YouTuber, along with his twin brother."

She sniffles, and I can tell it's paining her to retell the story, "So she sent me the links to all their social medias, including a YouTube channel, which included a prank they pulled on me a few weeks ago."

"Aw, Addi. The twins never told me either," I tried to empathize with her, "I knew by myself."

"I know. They're so popular, I'm just really shocked I'd never heard of them, you know."

"Addi, so I just wanna know. What precisely is upsetting you?"

"I'm mad that they didn't tell me, Emmy. I miss the old days when we were so close. And they told me that they wanted everything everything to be like it used to, but if they truly wanted that, they would have told me as soon as we met," she tells me.

I nod my head, frowning. I run my hand down her back, attempting to comfort her, "Addi, what Ethan and Grayson did wasn't cool at all, and I totally understand where you're coming from, but you guys are best friends, and are you really going to go back to Minnesota when you're upset?"

"Emmy, I really don't want to, but I just need some time to think about everything, you know?"

"Yeah, definitely. Go wash your face and clean yourself up," I say, pointing her to the bathroom.

She comes back a minute later, looking better, but her face is still flushed and red.

"Thanks so much for listening to me, Emmy. I love you," she hugs me.

"You bet, Addi. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to call, alright?" I emphasize.

She laughs lightly, "Gotcha. Thanks again."

She leaves, and I sit down to think about the whole situation. I think I finally know what to do, but it's gonna have to be done just right, or else it could all fail. 

I pick up my phone to call the Dolan twins.

Let's hope this works.

~  ~  ~  ~

SONG OF THE CHAPTER: Shot Me Down

ARTIST: David Guetta ft. Skylar Grey