Forever & Always

Three

Emma rolled into the Mickey & Friends® parking structure 25 minutes later. When she started working at her cousin's place, she purchased a premium annual pass that included parking, as it was such an easy drive over. Emma loved Disney and probably would her entire life. She made sure to use that pass and get her money's worth. Often, Emma went alone to escape her family. She needed to find her own place, and soon.

After stuffing valuable things out of sight in the car, which wasn't much, she exited the vehicle and walked towards the escalators. She put on her sunglasses and plugged in her headphones as she went to their usual meet-up planter to wait. It looked like she had beaten Collin here as she descended from the fifth level, and she smiled gleefully. He was buying her a drink today. It was a bet they had going for the last few weeks. If he beat her, she paid for a round and vice versa. She didn't mind the exchange one bit. Emma was still smiling as she strolled over to the planter and set her Ewok backpack down to put away her headphones. She looked up to see if Colin was there yet.

Her smile widened as she saw him heading towards her, but his head was down, looking at something on his phone. His tall frame attracted the attention of a group of college-age girls as they blushed and tried to get his attention. Collin was 6 feet tall and had caramel-colored skin with thick dark hair. His Hispanic descent was apparent, but he was extremely handsome. His parents immigrated from Mexico and raised him there every summer between school years, making him well-cultured and bilingual. They had met in church classes as kids and reconnected funnily enough back at Church when she moved home. His green eyes were covered by Ray-Ban's, both of their preferred brand of shades.

Collin dragged his eyes off his phone, finally slipping the slim device into his pocket and running his now free hand through his hair. As he got to the back, his hand froze, and a sly smile crept over his lips as he lowered the shades to the tip of his nose. Winking once at Emma.

Emma's gut tightened at the gesture. Despite having no romantic feelings for him, the move was panty-dropping, drawing an answering simpering smirk from Emma.

"Earth to Emma, Dangerous Terrority," she muttered to herself. He smiled breathtakingly as his gaze met hers, and she lowered her glasses to look at him. Her rich brown eyes crinkled in delight as a girl leaned over and said something to him, but he shook his head, and her look of excitement turned to defeat as he said something else to her and pulled his phone back out for the ten more seconds they had left on the escalator.

The girl was beautiful, tall, blonde and thin. Her sun-kissed skin shimmered as the light hit it, and Emma rolled her eyes as the girl glared as she walked past. Body glitter was not her thing, but she was envious of the leggy blonde.

Emma was short, Five foot three inches tall, and had long brown hair. Her eyes were dark, and her creamy skin was not nearly as tan as she would like. At least she wasn't pale, but she wished she could tan like that blonde.

He got off the escalator and walked quickly towards her. She stood just as he swept her up into a hug and held her tight. Her eyes met the blonde, whose lip curled upwards, and she turned her back to Emma and Collin's display.

"Hello, beautiful." He said, and she blushed.

"Hi, Col. Why are you tormenting that girl? She was pretty, and I am pretty sure she will try to kill me, leaving my spirit trapped in Haunted Mansion Forever." Emma teased, pulling out of his embrace, but didn't miss the look of hurt that had flashed in his eyes.

"You know I am not interested in dating right now." He retorted, and she thought, no, you want me to change my mind. Her heart clenched painfully as she looked away, slapping his arm gently.

"Enough, let's go."

They made their way to the tram, and the blonde once more shot daggers at Emma, who only smiled apologetically.

Collin had confessed his feelings a few months ago, but she had immediately shut him down. He cried, and she did, too, when she apologized for not having those same feelings for him. It would never happen between them.

They didn't talk for two weeks until he reached out, saying he wouldn't mind still being close to her if he couldn't be with her. She hesitated at first, but he was as close to her as Ashlyn, who had been messing around with some guy and had been avoiding her to hang out with him. Some days, it felt like she was constantly giving Collin hope.

They spent the next few hours laughing and enjoying the park. Around 8 PM, Collin and Emma said good night, and Emma returned to her car. Her phone rang in her purse as she was five vehicles away, and she fished for it until she grabbed it and saw Ashlyn's name.

"Really? Now she calls?" Emma scoffs and slides to answer the call.

"Hey, Ash," Emma said, unlocking and sliding into her car.

"Hey," Ashlyn replied, upset, "I broke it off with Matt. He was getting needy." Emma chuckled. Ah, the end of another f**k toy.

"Really? Are you sure?" Emma asked in her supportive best friend tone, and Ashlyn sighed loudly over the phone.

"Ugh, I don't want to mess with that anymore." Emma started the car and pulled out of the parking spot.

"Where are you?" Ashlyn asked as the Bluetooth connected.

"Pulling out of the Disnëy® Lot," Emma said, and Ashlyn laughed.

"Let me guess, Mr. Tall, dark and handsome, supported your naughty habit while you talked and walked all over the park." Ashlyn crooned over the Bluetooth.

"Enough, Ashlyn, he knows how I feel. Yes, I had one drink," Emma said, and Ashlyn snorted.

"You ripped out the dude's heart, and he still paws at your feet. He will wait forever for you." She said, and Emma sighed.

"I know." Pain ripped through her at her admission.

"Enough about Collin. What are you up to now?" Ashlyn changed the subject, and Emma was grateful.

"Headed home now. Why?" She replied, merging onto the freeway.

"Let's go shopping tomorrow for your party." Emma sighed at Ashlyn's words. She hated shopping.

"Ash…" She said, and Ashlyn interrupted.

"Enough. I need to look hot and make Matt mad since you invited both of us." She said, irritated. How did Emma know Ashlyn would call it off after a few weeks? She doubted it would last long between them initially, though she never met this particular boy toy of Ash's. Ashlyn would go back if her talk about their s*x life were any indication of how much she enjoyed the dude's presence. Emma shuddered. Ashlyn was very open about her sexscapedes with Emma.

"His hot friends are tagging along with him, so we both need to be hot as hell," Emma grunted and only agreed to said "hot friends" because Ashlyn was eager to set Emma up on a date with this guy friend or whatever. Though she knew it would hurt Collin, she needed to move far away from that mess of giving him hope.

"Alright, I'll be at your house around 1. Bye bïtch." Ashlyn disconnected the call, and Emma leaned against the headrest. Great.