Tree Hill, 2003.
Peyton and Brooke rushed into Emma's room after Peyton received a call from Haley. Peyton explained that Lucas and Ethan had been in a car accident. Peyton was going to take the girls to the hospital.
Emma hated hospitals, as did her sister Peyton. The girls still didn't know the extent of the boys' injuries and hoped that they were all right. Brooke got out of the car and was walking towards the hospital, Emma noticed that Peyton hadn't gotten out of the car.
"Aren't you coming, Peyton?" Emma asked her sister, who just shook her head.
"Emm's!" Emma heard Brooke call out, and went over to the girl.
Brooke was nervously fearing the worst, with tears rolling down her face, when the girls spotted Keith, Brooke ran over to the man who was talking to someone. Brooke was fumbling with words, explaining that Lucas would see her later while Karen looked on in confusion. When Emma came closer, Brooke quickly grabbed the girl's hand, seeking comfort.
"Hey, Mr. Scott." Emma spoke quietly, holding back tears without knowing how Ethan was doing.
"Oh, please, just Keith. Mr. Scott is what people call Dan." Keith said.
"How are you?" Emma asked, seeing that Keith had a cut on his eyebrow and looked like he needed a rest. The man must have been a nervous wreck.
"Ah, I was lucky. A concussion and a cut." Keith explained. "Ethan's finishing some tests, he seems to be awake. Lucas is the worst off." Keith told Emma, and before Karen could talk to the girls, a nurse called Ethan and Lucas' parents.
The girls moved apart to give each other some privacy, Emma hugging Brooke as she fussed with her friend's hair.
"They're going to be fine, Brooke." Emma said, hoping that her words were really true.
The girls stayed in reception, while Keith and Karen were released to see the boys.
Keith went to see Luke first, who had left the surgery, as Karen had gone to sort something out. When Karen returned, she looked at Keith and asked him if he'd been drinking before driving. Keith tried to explain that he wasn't drunk, but Karen didn't look at him the same way anymore. As soon as Keith left Lucas's room, he went to Ethan, who was arguing with at least two nurses, saying that he was fine.
"Ethan." Keith caught the boy's eye and he quickly stopped, the nurses leaving them alone.
"They need you to stay under observation, son. Please, it's only for one night." Ethan snorted.
"I'm fine, okay?" Ethan grumbled.
"No, it's not okay. Do you realize how lucky you were?" Keith asked the boy. "Your belt almost broke completely, and by some miracle you didn't break all of your bones, or need to have surgery." Ethan lowered his head. "Ethan, you had a muscle strain in your right arm, a concussion and minor cuts. It's a miracle nothing worse happened." Keith explained.
"Not to mention that a few minutes earlier you were unbelted in the car, like a small child. I could have lost you, Ethan." Keith was angry, but not exactly at Ethan, but at himself.
"Dad, I'm fine and I'm here." Ethan said, looking at his father. "I know you weren't drunk." Ethan spoke quietly and calmly to his father. They had certainly tried to question Ethan about what had happened and what he remembered.
Ethan asked how Lucas was, and Keith explained that he was out of surgery but hadn't woken up yet. Keith asked Ethan to rest and not try to escape from the hospital. Ethan agreed.
[....]
Peyton went to the hospital, where her sister had spent the night on a chair in reception, and went to Lucas's room to see him.
When Karen came down from Lucas's room to talk to Deb, she saw the girl sitting in reception wearing the same clothes as yesterday. As soon as she had finished talking to Deb, Karen went over to the teenager.
"Hey, you didn't leave." Karen said.
"No, I wanted to see Ethan first..." Emma muttered.
"I think he's awake by now, and probably trying to get out of here. I imagine he'll be released soon, when I went to see him he was resting." Karen explained with a smile as she spoke of Ethan, Karen called the girl to accompany her to the room where Lucas was to drop the basket, and then they would go to Ethan's room.
As soon as they got to where Luke was, they saw Peyton. Emma left them alone and went to Ethan's room, which Karen had explained. Before she entered, Keith was leaving.
"Hey, E." Emma caught the boy's eye, speaking a little quietly, when she saw that he was just picking up a coat.
"Pompoms." Ethan smiled and walked over to the girl. "Have you come to see if I'm in one piece?" Ethan tried to joke with the girl.
Emma wanted to hit Ethan, ever since she received the news that Ethan had been in an accident, the girl's mind went to the worst possible places. Emma had lost her mother in a car accident, and the woman had spent days in hospital only to not survive. Emma hadn't even left the reception wanting to see Ethan and know that he was okay with her own eyes.
Emma hugged Ethan and Ethan hugged her back.
Ethan felt pain all over his body from the accident, but he didn't mind that Emma was hugging him tightly, afraid that the boy would disappear and it would all be a dream. Ethan tried to joke about the situation, but the truth was that he was scared. Of waking up and no one explaining to him where his father and cousin were, afraid of having lost them.
When Emma looked up and stared into Ethan's eyes, her eyes were watering.
"I'm here, Emma. I'm not going anywhere." Ethan murmured, Ethan ran his thumb over Emma's cheek drying a few tears.
Ethan kept his gaze fixed on Emma's face, he had thought that the night before he would try to make a move, he would try to kiss Emma and maybe end the whole friendship they were building.
"Emm's, can I kiss you?" Ethan would have liked to just kiss the girl, but he didn't want to risk his friendship, but when the girl smiled at him and nodded, Ethan didn't wasted time.
Ethan tried to be as gentle as possible, and Emma tried not to press her body or squeeze Ethan too hard, for fear of making him feel more pain. Emma had never been kissed the way Ethan was kissing her, as if there were only the two of them at that moment, with a chill in her stomach taking over, and every hair on her body standing on end.
If it were possible to become addicted to a smell, Ethan would be addicted to Emma's scent. And the cherry taste that came from her lipgloss. Ethan thought it was silly to feel a chill in his stomach from a kiss, Ethan was wrong, and kissing Emma proved it. When Emma pulled her face away a little.
"Next time, you don't have to ask permission, E." Emma whispered.
'Next time?' Ethan swore that Emma was going to slap him across the face, not kissing him back or say anything like that.
"Yeah, well. I'm a gentleman, consent is sexy, Pompons." Ethan teased the girl, and took her hand. "I need to stop by Luke's room and talk to Karen before I go." Emma nodded.
Emma and Ethan stopped at the door to Luke's room, Ethan knocked on the door to get Karen's attention and Emma noticed that Peyton was no longer there, only Brooke. Brooke left Ethan and Karen with privacy to talk.
Emma was standing outside with Brooke, who looked at the girl.
"Emm's, don't think I didn't see you two holding hands. Tell me everything." Brooke said, nudging the girl.
"Brooke, we're in a hospital." Emma called out, and Brooke just let out an 'uh huh'. "He just kissed me." Emma whispered almost inaudibly.
"What?" Brooke put her hand to her mouth after almost screaming. And Emma went on to explain in as much detail as possible, since Brooke demanded it for two reasons: 1st, rights as best friends and 2nd, she needed the distraction.
Ethan sat down next to Karen, taking her hand.
"I'm glad you're okay, Ethan." Karen said.
"Yeah... me too. I'm sorry you had to come back like that." Ethan said, with Karen just sighing deeply. "Karen, I need to make something clear. My father wasn't drunk, he wouldn't put me, Luke or anyone else at risk." Karen listened to Ethan, but even if Keith wasn't totally under the influence of alcohol, he shouldn't have drunk before driving.
"Ethan...." Karen began, but Ethan only denied it with his head. He knew that all his expectations of his father's relationship with Karen had been shattered.
Ethan leaned on the bed where Luke was, mussing up his cousin's hair.
"Get better soon, Luke." Ethan whispered. Karen held Ethan's hand.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your girlfriend too?" Karen asked, smiling at the boy, whose cheeks began to turn red.
"Emma, she's not... She's not my girlfriend." Ethan explained, even though he was stuttering.
"No? You two were holding hands just now." Karen said.
"Ah." Ethan ran a hand through his hair. "I just kissed her." Ethan said with a laugh.
"Well, I talked to her a bit earlier. She seems like a nice girl, Ethan. She spent the night in reception waiting to see you." Karen recounted.
Ethan's eyes widened, hearing the information for the first time. And then it was as if something had hit him, Emma really cared about him, and Ethan couldn't have been more relieved to know that it wasn't something one-sided.
[....]
Emma was already at her house, lying on Peyton's bed while her sister sat up, checking on Peyton, and Brooke had entered the room, sitting between the sisters.
"I'm just worried he's not gonna wake up." Brooke explained.
The sisters tried to console Brooke and support the girl, who was afraid of losing Lucas. Brooke asked Peyton and Emma to get something to eat, but Peyton refused and Emma decided to stay with her sister. When Brooke mentioned the girls' mother, saying she knew how hard it was, the girls' mother had died in hospital and that's when Emma went to her room.
Brooke didn't know, she could imagine. Brooke didn't even seem to realize that the girls' mother had died in a car accident. Emma had moved away so that she wouldn't hear Brooke continue.
Peyton had told Emma that Haley couldn't go to the hospital to visit Lucas because of a fight the two had before Lucas' accident, and while Peyton was going to try to help Haley, Emma went the other way.
Emma found Nathan playing basketball in the backyard of his house.
"Hey, Nate." Emma caught the boy's eye, who turned his head towards her and went to hug her. "Aw, did you miss me?" Emma joked.
"A little, don't let it go to your head." Nate said smiling. "What are you doing here?" Nate asked.
"Haley." Emma said.
"Ah.... She said it's over." Nate said and Emma slapped the boy on the arm, telling him to explain.
Nathan told her that he had only come to Haley to upset Lucas. And Haley didn't know that Nathan had been lying to her all this time, doubting whether anything was real.
"Nathan, you're such an asshole, you know that?" Emma stared at him. "It's obvious that she's going to doubt your feelings, and just apologizing won't do any good. Show Haley that even with the horrible start, you really like her and care about her." Emma explained.
"Great, and how do I do that?" Nathan asked.
"Nathan, use your brain. You need to help Haley face Luke. And if she can't do it on her own, she needs you." Emma said.
"Okay, but I've already tried to take her there, she refuses." Nathan explained, feeling annoyed that he didn't know how to make things better.
"Then you go." Emma said.
"What?"
"Nate, visit Luke. If not for you, for Luke, then for Haley. They're best friends, you're going to have to learn to get along with the guy." Emma patted Nate on the arm and left.
"Emm's." Nate called her, Emma turned towards the boy. "Ethan?"
"What about him?" Emma asked.
"Is he all right?" Emma nodded.
"Yes, he's already home." Nathan nodded and was about to end the conversation, but he saw a smile on Emma's face and went to tease her.
"Have you kissed him yet?" Nathan asked.
"No." Emma said. "But he kissed me today." Emma was walking away, and Nathan came up behind her, pulling her along.
"No, wait a minute. You can't just say that and run off." Nathan said.
"Do you want the same details I had to tell Brooke?" Emma asked, crossing her arms.
"Ew, no. I just want...." Nathan didn't know how to explain.
"He wasn't a jerk to me, okay? And I promise not to hurt your cousin." Emma whispered as she hugged Nathan. "Go help Haley, Nate." Emma ordered.
[....]
At the end of the afternoon, Ethan had called Emma and asked her to take him somewhere. Ethan was still feeling a lot of pain in his body, and despite this, he could even drive and maybe it would get worse. But Ethan loved being in Emma's presence.
The girl had parked in front of Dan Scott's car dealership, and Ethan had asked her to go inside with him. The two teenagers walked hand in hand, and Ethan saw Dan in his office.
Emma let go of the boy's hand and let him go in alone.
Ethan knocked on the door and Dan looked up at the boy. Ethan leaned against the door and sat down in the chair facing Dan.
"Thanks." Ethan said and held out his hand to Dan, who just nodded.
Dan hadn't said anything, Ethan was opening the office door when Dan called him.
"Ethan." Ethan looked in Dan's direction.
"The arm?" Dan asked.
"Just a muscle strain, it won't get in the way of my game." Ethan explained and Dan nodded.
Ethan left the office and walked over to Emma. He took the girl's hand and they headed towards Peyton's car, which Emma had borrowed. Emma left the boy at home and went to her own.
[....]
Emma was playing with the guitar at night when she saw a silhouette at her bedroom door.
"Ethan?!" Emma was getting up, but Ethan was already lying down next to her.
"Hey, Pompoms." Ethan lay down on his side. "I couldn't sleep." Ethan explained.
"How did you get here?" Emma asked worriedly.
"Motorcycle." Ethan sighed and took the pills out of his jacket pocket.
Emma got Ethan a glass of water and one of the pills and helped him take off his jacket and shoes. Emma sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard, with Ethan's head in her lap as she smoothed the boy's hair until he fell asleep. As soon as Ethan fell asleep, Emma looked up Keith's number on the boy's cell phone and called to let him know that Ethan was with her.
Emma continued to cuddle Ethan until she herself fell asleep.