Untethered

Part III: Valentine's Dance || I Know Who I Want to Take Me Home

~Part III~

"Girls! Get down here, the boys are all ready to go!" Edie's voice carried up the stairs, and into Emma's room, and she squirmed, trying to get Rosie to hurry up.

"Ro, come on! We're running late, it's good enough," Emma huffed, as Rosie wrestled her hair back into a sleek up-do, finishing it by pulling a few strands free and curling them.

"Hold still," Rosie grunted through the bobby pins she was holding between her lips. "I'm almost done. There!"

Emma broke free, heading right for the full-length mirror on her door. "Wow, I gotta give it to ya, my hair is amazing."

"I told you," Rosie hip-checked her out of the way, applying a neon pink shade of lipstick to her lips and then smacking them together. "That dress is amazing, by the way," she complimented her friend, appraising her through her reflection.

"Thanks." Emma smiled, admiring herself in the mirror around Rosie. Her dress was a calf-length, body-hugging, strapless number in deep purple, accentuating her ample curves, and setting off her olive-toned skin to perfection. Her make-up was much more muted than Rosie's and she looked at least a few years older than sixteen.

"Girls!" Her grandma's voice was louder and more impatient.

"We better get down there, before she has an aneurysm," she sighed.

"What do you think?" Rosie spun around, giving Emma a 360 degree view of her look. She reminded Emma of a throwback to a late-80's Madonna, all in neon pink, black lace, and her hot-pink streaked, white-blond hair. She was one hundred percent certain no one else could pull it off.

"You look great," she said truthfully. "Evan won't know what hit him."

Rosie smirked, "Damn right."

Exiting the room, they made their way down the stairs, chattering and laughing, oblivious to what awaited them at the bottom. A loud wolf-whistle pierced the air, and both girls froze a few steps from the bottom. Ryan Cameron stood casually inside the entry-way, hands in the pockets of a sharp, black suit with a dark purple tie, matching Emma's dress, and his forest-green eyes were trained on her.

While Rosie shook her head, chuckling, and making her way over to Evan, Emma remained on the steps, locked in a staring contest with the boy who had driven her insane her entire life. She couldn't figure out what in the world was happening to her. She'd always found him completely repulsive, but now, she couldn't take her eyes off him. His unruly waves were tamed, and styled back, his suit fit him to perfection, and the way he was staring holes through her, made her mouth go dry.

Abruptly, she was snapped out of her trance, when her Grandma came bustling into the room, with Greta hot on her heels.

"Oh, my Lord, look at you girls!" she gushed.

Emma suddenly came to herself, when a smirk tilted the corner of Ryan's lips, and he cleared his throat, indicating subtly that she might want to acknowledge her grandma. Breaking his gaze, she stumbled down the last couple of steps and was immediately engulfed in a bone-crushing hug. For a tiny woman, her grandma had the strength of a world-class body-builder.

"Gram, I can't breathe," she forced out. She was suddenly released, held at arm's length. "You are just beautiful, sweetheart."

"She sure is," her grandpa's voice came from behind her grandma, and she grinned, slipping out of her grandma's arms and over to her grandpa.