#i rly asked the 401 chat where all the girls were just so i could slam a door on them huh

[venividavici]

He was acting like this was his first time asking someone to a dance, or even asking someone out. He was nervous, skittish, and his damn foot wouldn’t stop tapping. He didn’t like how nervous he looked or felt, it didn’t match the vibe and aesthetic that he tried to display to the public. When he was dating Maeve, there were those few times that he did get like this but the moments never lasted. He felt bad for that, as it made him question his feelings for her. Even in his previous relationships, it wasn’t like this. He was the cool and charming one, not some pre-teen who was asking out a girl for the first time, what the fuck. Clearing his throat, he knocked on the door, finally giving in. If he was going to do this then he needed to do this. The door open, expecting to be met with Vida but got Briar instead. The pair said nothing to each other, as she just opened the door wider and saying “It’s for you, Vida.” Emmett watched as the other walked over to him, eyes trained on the flowers in hand, eyebrow raised. Before she could say anything, he started talking. “Vida, the two of us and literally everyone hear knows that I hate beating around the bush. I like to get straight to the point of things, even if I look like a clown or a fool doing so. So, I’m going to say it.” He breathed in. “I like you, quoting Aylin, I like like you. A lot. You’ve always been someone I’ve cared about, there’s no doubt about that, I just didn’t realize the extent of it. Whenever things got rough or whenever something bad happened this semester, the first person I would always worry about was you. Every single time, I found myself wanting to know if you were safe, that I didn’t lose you…” His voice trailed off, mind going back to their disagreement weeks ago. Because what he said then was true. While he appreciated how hardworking she was as a spy, he didn’t like to think about losing her. Not now, not for a while honestly. “Which brings me to ask this—“ gently pushing the red roses in her direction, Emmett smiled down at her. “Vida Torres, would you do me the honor of dating me and be my date at the end of the year party?”

Vida had been a tad focused lately. What with the Brotherhood knocking down their walls, finals still going strong, and now she’d been asking Kass Sutton for advice to set someone up. It definitely wasn’t her strong suit, playing match-maker, but if she could just help Briar find a date, she’d get a promise out of the third year she very much wanted. All that to say, she’d hardly had time to really think about herself lately. Not even when lately she’d been having questions pop into her head every time she was around Emmett, or talked about him. Her roommates would not stop clowning her about it either, asking what exactly was going on between them, and she would swear up and down that it was simply friends with benefits. Of course, they were close friends, they always were. Vida didn’t deny caring for him deeply, but when prodded about how she cared about him, she didn’t have a good answer. She thought it might be good to face it head on and look for an answer, just as soon as she had time.

But now, there had been a knock on the door, and Briar turned to say it was for her. There was… something in the way Briar said it, or a glint in her eye, or an air among all the girls in the room. Except her. Maybe if she’d questioned it a bit more, she would have asked what she knew, or maybe put a little more effort in the way she looked. But it was her day off, so she showed up to answer the door in an over-sized T-shirt, covering most of her shorts but allowing bralette straps to peek on her shoulders, and her hair half up in messy waves to greet Emmett Blackthorne holding a bouquet of roses. Red roses, like she’d told Briar… She opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but Emmett had started talking and all she could do was listen as he started to speak. And when he said those words, Vida stood frozen in place. I like you. I like like you. A lot. A small laugh bubbled out of her at the mention of quoting Aylin, and the growing smile stayed as he continued on, because as he explained further, she understood every word. She understood them, because they were reflections of her own feelings. Except unlike her, Emmett had the guts to voice them. When he asked her out, she didn’t have to think anymore. It all clicked into place, and she moved past the flowers to grab hold of him, giving him answer in the form of a greedy, breath-taking kiss.

When she finally parted, allowing them to breathe again, all she said with a wicked grin on her face was, “Yeah. Yeah, I will.” And then, because she knew her roommates had to have had a hand in this, she used one hand to push Emmett out of the door with her, and the other to swiftly close it behind her. With her roommates inside and her standing barefoot in her pajamas in the hallway alone with the man she cared deeply for, she felt no inhibition or hesitation in grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him close, leaning her back against the door, and kissing him hard like she’d done a million times. But this time, it felt different. This time, she really fucking meant it.