Distract and Sedate | Hemlock Grove |

Chapter 9 | Paper Doll |

The loud BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ wakes her up with a jump. The phone vibrates across the dresser and lights up the darkened room. Crawling out of the blankets and into the cold, Emma grabs it from its place and dashes back into covers. "Happy birthday!"

"Aren't you up a bit early?" She moans and tries to wake up more. Looking over she's glad to see Jules' is already gone. Emma's really not in the mood to take the call to the hallway.

"I'm a businessman, Emily," Roman tries to sound authoritative. "I do business. Early bird gets the worm, you know."

"I'm going to hang up," Emma threatens.

"You won't get your present with that attitude."

"We don't do presents, Roman," she reminds him.

"New tradition: we do present's now."

"I don't want to do presents," she protests.

"This one's a little selfish so..."

"Like all things you do?"

"Yes, like all things," he laughs.

"Fine. What's the present."

"It'll come later," he promises and laughs at her groan.

"Goddamn you," she huffs. "Are you coming up this weekend?"

"No." She pouts to herself. "Study for your finals."

Like he said, the present does come later. It's at the front desk of her dorm and she grabs it on her way back from class. It's very Roman in its minimalistic packaging. Just brown parchment paper and a name tag. It's not very heavy and she waits until she's back in her dorm to open it.

She unwraps it rather carelessly, expecting it to be something dumb like a scarf or a gift card. It's wrapped pretty tightly and she has to use her fingernails to pull at the tape on the box. When it's finally open she rolls her eyes and huffs. Her guess wasn't too far off and her hands are already on her phone. Two rings and he answers.

"Roman. Why'd you get me a bathing suit?" She asks unamused and already knowing the answer.

"Hot tub," he quips back.

"Mhmm," she replies.

"It's cold as fuck," he complains. "They say it's going to be the coldest winter since 1982," he babbles. "A lot of snow too."

"Cut to the chase," she groans.

"We're gonna go get some sun." She doesn't have to respond for him to know what face she's making. "Come on. It's mainly for me. I need a break. I need a tan. I need to drink vodka out of a coconut."

"I feel like coconut rum would be the better choice."

"There we go!" He smiles. "I knew you wouldn't fight me too much."

"That wasn't a yes," she protests knowing she will say yes. Even though she hates accepting things from Roman, always leaving any clothing he brings her at his hotel room, a vacation sounds very nice. She hasn't been on one since Olivia took them to Hawaii in middle school. And that wasn't exactly a fun time.

"Oh, I wasn't asking for a yes. I knew you'd say yes, I just wasn't sure how much of a pain in the ass you'd be about it."

"I'm going to continue being a pain in the ass about it," she assures him.

"Why are you so against fun?"

"Please tell me we're doing something normal."

"We're doing something normal."