you've got a friend

Baring her teeth Scarlet chomped down on the candy with a flourish careful to miss Emma’s fingers. Slowly Scarlet chewed until she could swallow. Seeing Emma look all down wasn’t exactly her favorite thing to see in the world. There were hundreds of other scenarios she’d enjoy much more. Sighing Scarlet brushed some fallen hair back into her chignon. “It’s an illegal party in a cornfield, Emma.” Scarlet may as well have said duh, the cheeky smile on her lips lightening her tone. “Of course there is some alcohol around here. I saw some kegs-” Wrinkling her nose, “but I bet we can find hunch punch or something stronger if you’re needing to drown whatever woes you’re feeling in something other than chocolate and peanut butter.”

Emma girl knew she shouldn’t be drinking at this exact moment. In fact, Emma could pinpoint a lot of moments when she shouldn’t be drinking. She could see herself rapidly turning into her mother, who drank with every sentence, and was unable to stop it. “You’re underestimating my ability to drown my woes with beer.” She chortled, collecting candy wrappers into a pile. “If you’ve got a lead, I’ll wingman us into some Redds Apple Ales.”

☆ﾟ*·ﾟSTRUGGLING TO FIND someone she knew, Gabby was getting a little worried that coming to this party was a bad idea. She wasn’t exactly a fan of corn mazes, especially not after all the bizarre stories her grandmother told her, but here she was, hoping for the best. Upon seeing that familiar head of blonde hair, Gabby practically ran toward her best friend, almost ready to tackle her until she saw her standing over by the peanut butter cups. She knew better than to deny her any candy and laughed, one of those good hearty laughs. “I know better than to stand between you and your candy. I’m just happy you’re here. I was worried I’d have to make new friends and I’m really not sure I’m ready for that yet.”

Emma recognized her best friend’s laugh and immediately turned to the side, light returning to her eyes. Gabby was someone she could always count on. The fact that she and Gabby hadn’t coordinated whether or not the other was coming was an anomaly. Emma shoved the candy into her mouth and leaned forward to wrap her friend in a hug. “Thank God you’re here!” Emma gushed, mouth full of candy, “I didn’t wanna talk to anybody, frankly. That’s why I was by myself.” The blonde pulled away, reaching for the last peanut butter cup in the bowl. “Also, you aren’t and everybody else sucks.” 

Winnie had come at Emma’s call. It seemed urgent, though she wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but she knew where to find her which made sorting it all out all the easier. She could hear a sort of rushing and footsteps behind the door not long before it was thrown open and Emma had draped herself across her. “No problem. What are friends for if not for life saving?” Winnie answered, returning the hug. “What’s going on? Is it an ice cream occasion or wine occasion or both? Or neither, I guess.”

Immediately after Emma felt content with the hug, she let her right hand fall down and grab the girl’s left hand, dragging her indoors. She swung the door shut with her left hand and let it slam, her only priority getting the two to the kitchen. “Both.” Emma sighed, lower lip coming out in a pout. Sure, she was melodramatic but that didn’t mean that her feelings weren’t valid. Emma felt just like everyone else but wasn’t afraid to act like a primadonna when expressing it. “Keith and I broke up.” 

Not doing anything was a promise Vincent wasn’t about to make, as it was a promise he couldn’t keep. He’d let it go, for now, but one day he’d find Keith and he’d make him pay for the crimes that he committed. Emma didn’t have to know, he just couldn’t let this go, but for now he’d just be there for her and try his best to comfort her. He grumbled out a quick “Alright” before heading into the house to fulfill her request and on the way back out had grabbed a throw blanket that had been on the couch. 

 As he made his way back outside he tossed the blanket in her direction and set the wine glass on the table. “You can you know.” Vincent had started as he took a seat at the table, “Talk I mean.” He couldn’t promise that he’d be able to say anything helpful in return but he hoped just listening would be enough.

This was the most cooperative Vincent had ever been and Emma could only feel grateful. She wiped underneath her eyes with her sleeve and pulled her knees closer to her body. She wished that all of this would go away immediately instead of dragging on for days, maybe even weeks. Emma always had a problem with letting go. She also always had a problem with giving everybody and just anybody her love. “Thank you.” 

Blair couldn’t help but laugh a bit, coming upon Emma and a pile of wrappers. “Looks like you’ve found the best seat in the house,” he said reaching past her and grabbing something else from from the bowl, Skittles. He liked the blue ones. “Nah, go ahead. That’s fine with me. What’s Halloween without a stupid amount of candy?” To stay true to his word, he tore open the wrapper to the small bag and emptied it in his mouth in one go. “Having fun?”

Emma would be lying if she said she didn’t blush a little bit. Could there be anything more embarrassing? She looked up at the boy, his appearance making even more heat rise to her cheeks. “Yeah, I mean we still dress up. Why let all the old traditions die?” The girl looked down at her outfit. Clearly, Emma took Halloween as an excuse to wear as little clothing as possible. She didn’t have a problem with it but she knew others would stare. “Except now I’m dressed as “Slutty White Claw Can” and not Hannah Montana.” After a moment her fingers reached forward for the last peanut butter cup. "Uh-- I’m at the snack table so clearly, I’m havin’ a great time. What about you?” 

As Vincent watched his sister collapse in front of him, watching as the tears had fell, he felt himself snap. He felt it as the anger took hold wanting to find whoever had did this to his sister and let all his furious rage out until he had felt that they had paid the price. “Who?” He had demanded, “I need a name Emma.” He need to know who was responsible for this, the monster who would ever lay hands on her. “He can’t get away with this. I wont let him.” 

Maggie hadn’t really expected to end up at an over-crowded party after following a bunch of random kids in to a cornfield, yet here she was, desperately trying to avoid accidentally touching anybody. She hadn’t been much of a party person when living, but she supposed it was at least something to do to break up the monotony of her not-life, so she stuck around. She was currently on the lookout for something to occupy her hands, like an empty solo-cup or some finger food, so she didn’t look like a weirdo walking around doing nothing. Her eyes landed on one sad, lonely peanut butter cup in the middle of a bowl and she was ready to take when she heard the girl sitting beside the bowl speak, while stuffing another chocolate in her mouth.

“You can have it,” Maggie replied with a slight laugh, shrugging her shoulders. “You look like you’re really enjoying them.”

It was nice of the girl to offer her the last peanut butter cup. It was so nice that Emma gave a great sigh, free hand moving to clutch her heart as though she were a grandmother seeing their grandchild’s first recorder recital. 

“You’re so sweet,” She gushed,placing the candy in front of the other girl. "I insist you take it. I'm pretty sure I've had enough." 

Emma sprung up from her bed at the sound of the doorbell, throwing on a pair of sweatpants she had lying on the edge of her bed. Her feet nimbly slipped into the slides she kept by the door and she rushed down the stairs and to the front door, throwing it open. Upon sight of the girl in front of her she fell forward, arms draping over the other’s neck. “Thank you for coming on short notice,” She mumbled into the girl’s hair. “You’re saving my life.”

Hitting the ground with a resounding thud, she could feel every rough husk of corn pressing into her legs beneath her. Propping herself up, her eyes narrowed at the blonde girl before her, anything that she had been mulling over in her mind was gone, like a shadow that passes over the moon at night, there one second and not the next. “Just peachy.” With a roll of her eyes she dusted off her hands on the lower hem of her dress. Waving the other’s hands away she stood up of her own accord. “I don’t need your help.”

With the crunch of the corn beneath them, she was back on her feet, sighing with a mixture of exhaustion and annoyance. “Distracted much?” It wasn’t really a question aimed at her, more of a statement than anything, one that was mumbled beneath her breath.

Emma could clearly see the girl wasn’t as surprised as she was and instead, was quite upset. Honestly, even if Emma had been paying attention, she wasn’t sure she could have stopped the incident anyway. How was she supposed to see through a field of corn? If anything, the other girl’s reaction was over dramatic but Emma had her fair share of those experiences so she wasn’t gonna blame her. The girl helped herself to her feet and held her hands up in defense. 

“Sorry, yeah. I guess I was.” She muttered with a small smile, trying to ease the tension that had already built. “I think I’m a little lost too? Are you going to this shindig thing?”

A blonde slump of sadness hoarding a candy bowl seemed like a little fair entertainment, so Scarlett ambled gracefully to Emma’s side, watching her unwrap the last treat and place it close to her lips.“Emma-” Scarlet shook her head, “this is no way to spend this sacred day.”  Raising a brow, Scarlet opened her mouth as if to say share with her.

Emma looked up at the girl and then back down at the candy. Up at the girl, and then back at the candy. Truthfully, she did not want to give up her candy but she had eaten enough and with her luck lately, she’d probably get a stomach ache from what she’s already eaten. With a sigh, her arm rose to the other girl’s lips and she pouted. “I know, I know. I’ll get to dancin’ at some point. Is there alcohol here?”

When it came to comforting people Vincent didn’t have the slightest clue on how to handle it, after all he had never wanted to bring anyone comfort. Yet, here he was staring over at Emma feeling helpless on how to make her feel better. Even worse he had no idea what she was talking about, who the fuck was Keith? He was just about to voice those words when he had taken notice of the bruising around her eye. Suddenly, all that guilt had morphed into anger. “Emma. What the hell is that? Who did that to you?” 

“Do you really think I care about the mess in the kitchen?” He remarked, not really caring for an answer in return. As he continued to look over at his sister with his eyebrows furrowed, Vincent was never known to be the most caring person in the world but he could tell that Emma wasn’t in her normal state. “You okay?” He questioned, trying to figure out what was going on with her. It was obvious that something wasn’t right but whether or not she confided in him was on her. He wasn’t going to force her to talk. 

Emma nodded slowly only to take it back a moment later and shake her head. It was a relief that he could tell something was wrong because Emma desperately needed physical affection. She turned to face him, exposing her bruising eye, corners of her lips quivering downwards. “I broke up with Keith.” 

Hood clinging to the top of her head to give her some protection from the cling of the cold that seemed to blanket Coolsville, she had been in and out of a few of her frequent shops, collecting some herbs and an old leather-bound notebook, blank pages waiting to be filled. To anyone that saw her today, it would look like she was simply stocking up on supplies to cook a nice meal, perhaps a book to write some recipes in, but she knew that her plans were nothing so mundane or wholesome. She’d returned home to find a small envelope that wasn’t hers, delicately propped up against a stack of miscellaneous trinkets. In blood-red writing were the simple instructions for the location and time. 

Weaving her way through the rows of corn, head angled down as she watched where she was walking so as not to trip on a stalk, not paying attention to her surroundings she slammed into someone with a rather solid hit. Collapsing back into the corn, crushing some beneath her as she fell to the ground with a rather solid thud, a pile of black fabrics with her lost somewhere in the middle. “Oi, watch where you’re going!”

Emma needed a distraction. She had already baked through every spice in her cabinet and given them to neighbors so naturally the next step was to leave the house. It had been two days since she had broken it off with her boyfriend and she had been a hermit since then. Arguably, two days wasn’t that long of a time but for Emma, someone who was always on the move, it was. This invitation in the mail was interesting and well timed. This was the distraction she was looking for.Though she was out of the house, she wasn’t quite paying attention to things around her. Emma was dressed to impress but no amount of makeup could hide the sadness on her face. She could feel the burning feeling rise up in her throat and she worked hard to swallow it down. She needed to disappear. 

She looked to the left. She looked to the right. The corn seemed like the most obvious place to hide. The blonde let her feet guide her forward, eyes down, uncaring how far into the corn she was headed or whether or not she was headed at a straight angle. Thunk! Emma’s shoulder checked something hard. The forced knocked her back a bit. “Oh, my gosh!” Emma gasped, hands immediately rushing forward to help collect the girl. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry!”  

More often than not the house felt suffocating, like the walls were closing in on him, and he just needed to get out; to put as much distance as possible between himself and the place he’s supposed to call home. However, he could never stay away for long enough. As much as he hated feeling trapped the idea of leaving Emma by herself; left to worry about him despite never asking the girl to care, felt worse. So, begrudgingly, he found himself walking the familiar path back to the house only to find his sister sitting out front. “Lucky me.” Vincent grumbled as he climbed up the stairs only to sit down on the top step not quite ready to go in. “I thought you had plans?” He remarked looking over at Emma, it wasn’t that he was upset that she was around but more so that usually she was more social-able. 

The silence was something Emma was used to with Vincent. Even if there weren’t words, she knew he was listening most of the time. Though the two didn’t always get along, she didn’t know where she would be without Vincent. It’s not that most of her personality was wrapped up in how she took care of him, but she also found a lot of joy in making sure his needs were met. In return she’d accept his love, whatever that meant to him. She finished the rest of her glass, and placed it on the table with a small clack. “I did.” Emma responded quietly, her voice hoarse from crying. “There’s a mess in the kitchen but I’ll clean it up later.”