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.
People started approaching Emma to ask how she was. Some people even asked what happened to her, but Emma handled all the questions gracefully. She was friendly, even when I thought some of the questions were a bit rude. Emma seemed to know everyone. We met a ton of people in such a short time, from actors to musicians; there were way more A-listers here than I thought there would be. Anna must have been in heaven, but she did a good job of staying calm and collected. That is, until Zac Efron came over. Anna's mouth hung open as Zac snuck up behind Emma and wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her from behind and saying, "Hey Emma!"
"Zac! How are you?" Emma replied, leaning into his embrace. It was cool seeing Zac Efron in person, but I couldn't take my eyes off of his hands still wrapped around Emma's waist.
"I'm good, how about you? I haven't seen you in ages!" He said. He let go of her waist and introduced himself to us.
"Oh my god. You're Zac Efron. I can't believe that I'm meeting you!" Anna sputtered, causing David to jump in, "So, how do you two know each other?" he asked referring to Emma and Zac.
"Just through mutual friends" Emma replied casually. Zac gave her a smirk that implied a bit more and I raised my eyebrows at their exchange, but didn't ask about it.
"We miss you out in California, Emma." Zac added, his arm resting casually around her shoulders instead. Zac's name was called from the other side of the room and he said, "Well it was nice to see you Emma and meet you guys. I'll see you a little later", before stepping away to talk to whoever called him.
Anna turned to Emma the minute Zac left, "HOW DID YOU NOT TELL ME THAT YOU KNOW ZAC FREAKING EFRON!" she yelled at Emma.
Emma laughed at Anna's reaction, but her face turned a little red, "It's not that big a deal and now you've met him too!" Emma replied, biting her lip, sometimes Anna's questions feel more like an interrogation. Emma changed the subject, "So are you guys having fun?" We all nodded enthusiastically.
We hung out for a while longer, talking and drinking until Emma suggested we find Jay and we followed her upstairs. The upstairs part of the Lux was a more intimate atmosphere with smaller rooms and quieter music. There were about 50 people milling around, but Emma spotted Jay right away.
We followed her to where Jay was talking with some people. Emma greeted them and introduced us. Even though she seemed to know everyone, she was always considerate and introduced us. All her friends were really nice, most of them didn't seem to care that we weren't famous. I don't know why I thought everyone would be stuck up, but I guess knowing Emma, I couldn't imagine that she wouldn't hang out with anyone that was rude.
I noticed that Emma and my glasses were empty and decided to get us refills. "I'm going to get us some new drinks. Vodka soda, right?" I asked her, taking the glass from her hand.
"Yeah, thanks Luke!" she replied, smiling at me.
"I'll come! I need another drink too" Jay said when he heard that I was getting another drink. There was a small bar on the other side of the room which was nice because we didn't have to go all the way downstairs.
Waiting for the bartender, I glanced over at Emma talking with Anna, David and the guys from Jay's band that we met earlier. She looked so beautiful. Her dress left little to the imagination and it was making me crazy. I just wanted to hold her and kiss her. She must have felt my eyes on her, because she met my gaze across the room. She gave me a stunning smile, making me further doubt my sanity. I don't know how I got so lucky to be here tonight.
I snapped out of my daze when Jay spoke up, "She's great, isn't she?" he asked casually, noticing that I was looking at Emma.
"Uh, yeah" I replied lamely. I was embarrassed that I was caught staring.
"Emma is seriously one of the best people I've ever known. Oh, I heard that you brought her some food after her trial meeting? That was awesome man, you don't even know how happy that made her." he said.
"Oh yeah, I did. Did Noah tell you about that?" I asked trying to sound casual, but still pretty nervous around my music idol.
"No, Emma did. She talks about you, Anna, and David all the time" He replied. The bartender seemed busy, but Jay didn't seem too bothered to hang out and chat with me.
"So, how did you and Emma meet?" I asked, curious as to how they became so close.
"We met through mutual friends in LA. Noah and I are actually cousins. So when Emma got close with Noah, we started hanging out more too. We've been super close for a while now. I just wish I could see her more, but my tour just started. I wanted to change it after... everything, but Emma convinced me not to, otherwise I'd probably be visiting you guys more. Emma talks about you a lot, Luke. You seem like a good guy and I appreciate you making sure she's alright when I can't be there for her." He said. I didn't have time to ask anything else as our drinks arrived and we headed back to our friends.
Everyone we talked to was really cool. The guys in Jay's band were really funny and told us a bunch of stories from their tour. The drinks kept flowing, there was even a point when Emma ordered everyone shots, and by everyone, I mean everyone.
She yelled, "Shots for everyone, on me!"
I could hear Jay laugh beside me, "And by 'on me' she really means on me." he said, implying that he would be picking up her tab. The waiters passed around bright yellow shots after her request and was told that it was Emma's favorite shots to order when she was drunk.
A while later I bumped into Noah on my way back to the bathroom. I realized that I hadn't seen him in a while, "Hey man, how's it going? Having fun?" he asked me.
"Yeah, this party is awesome! So much fun," I replied, I could tell my words were a little slurred.
"I'm glad! Yeah these are always a blast, Jay throws a great party."
"Huh, I didn't realize that he threw this whole thing. Oh hey that reminds me, I have a question," I said and asked something that I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't drank so much, "Emma and Jay... Are they- uh, did they ever go out? Like date?" I finished.
Noah smirked at me.
"What?" I asked, "You know what, never mind. I was just curious, but..." I said, running a hand through my hair, feeling embarrassed.
Noah chuckled, "Don't worry Romeo, Jay and Emma are just friends. They are close, but they wouldn't work as a couple." I hummed in response. I wonder why he doesn't think they'd work, but I didn't want to ask in fears of being more embarrassed. Instead, I asked where the bathroom was and excused myself.
We stayed at the party a while longer, but before long we were all exhausted and drunk. We said goodbye to Noah, Jay, and a few of Emma's other friends and decided to head out. We stumbled outside to meet Thomas, who drove us to our hotel, which was way too nice of a hotel for me to be stumbling into. David was carrying Anna who had fallen asleep on the ride to the hotel, while Emma and I couldn't stop laughing. I couldn't even remember what we were laughing at though.
Jay had rented two rooms for the four of us, probably assuming that the girls would share one room, but David and Anna silently claimed one room for themselves. We said goodnight and Emma and I went to the other room. We stepped inside and Emma mumbled something incoherent before erupting into a fit of giggles. Her laugh was infectious and soon I was cracking up too.
"Oh no!" Emma cried, "My stuff is in the other room!"
"What? How did it get there?" I asked, my drunken mind was not able to remember bringing my bag to the room either.
"Thomas brought our bags up while we were at the party and he put mine in Anna and David's room," she explained while pouting her lips and taking her shoes off. It was just then that I noticed my bag sitting on the floor next to the TV.
"You can borrow some of my clothes tonight" I offered.
"Thanks! I do not want to interrupt David and Anna." she replied loudly, she always seemed to talk louder after she's been drinking. I took a t-shirt and athletic shorts out of my bag and turned to give it to Emma, but quickly turned back around when I saw her. She had unzipped her dress, leaving her entire back exposed.
"Emma, here's a shirt and shorts for tonight." I said, turning back around to face her. She gratefully took the clothes and I turned around, giving her some privacy, although I had no idea why she didn't change in the bathroom. I guess she was more drunk than I had originally thought.
"I think I just need the shirt Luke, thank you though" she said, placing my shorts on top of my bag. I turned back around and saw Emma wearing my shirt with no pants, granted my shirt was more like a dress on her, it stopped mid-thigh. I knew I was staring, but my drunken mind couldn't stop my wandering eyes before they scanned her body. I excused myself to the bathroom to change; I needed some space. Just thinking of sleeping next to Emma when she was just wearing my thin shirt and her underwear was getting me antsy. Emma was thankfully already in bed when I came out of the bathroom. I laid down next to her and could hear that she was already dozing off.
"G'night Luke..." she muttered sleepily.
"Goodnight Emma, "I replied as I turned off the lights, unsure if she even heard me.