In a Flash

"What are you doing?"

Emiliana had spent the past hour staring at her phone. It wasn't the first time that she had received a text from Eric. They had met less than a week ago and he had texted her immediately after the girls had left the bowling alley.

But this was the day that they had made plans to spend time together. She knew she had told him that she wouldn't mind hanging out one on one with him, but now that her brain had begun to over-analyze and exaggerate

everything about him, she was beginning to have her doubts. Her eyes flickered towards Tori, whom had taken a seat beside her on the couch in the living room, only to find that the television was off and Emiliana was stuck in a

daze.

"I'm trying to think of an excuse," she answered quietly.

Tori furrowed her eyebrows. "An excuse for what?"

"An excuse to tell Eric so that I don't have to hangout with him," Emiliana admitted, biting her bottom lip as she said so. She knew Tori was going to flip.

As expected, her friend let out a sigh of frustration as she snatched Emiliana's phone from her and checked the text. "All he said was 'good morning'."

"There's also a smiley face," Emiliana said as she leaned over, pointing at the emoticon.

Tori rolled her eyes and handed Emiliana back her phone. "Answer him."

"What do I say?" Emiliana asked as she frowned.

"I don't know but 'good morning' sounds like a nice start," Tori replied sarcastically.

Emiliana glared at her friend before doing as she was told. She sighed as she placed her phone on her thigh. "I shouldn't have agreed to hangout with him," she muttered, more to herself than to Tori.

"Why? What is the worst that could happen, Em? He just wants to be your friend."

Emiliana rolled her eyes. "Boys never just want to be your friend."

Tori sighed. She knew why Emiliana didn't trust men, but she wanted her friend to get out there and experience what life had to offer, rather than dwell on the hardships of the past. Convincing her to come on the trip to LA was a

challenge in itself. She was still shocked that she had gotten her to agree to come. "Maybe he is interested in you. Maybe he's not. If you don't give him a chance, you're never going to know."

Emiliana nodded. She knew Tori was right but she was still terrified. She jumped slightly as her phone vibrated against her leg. She picked it up and read the text. "He wants to know if I'm cool with going mini-golfing, and then

catching dinner at a 50s themed dinner down the road from the mini-golf place." She rubbed her temple with her thumb and index finger. "He's so nice, Tori, but I can't bring myself to trust it."

Tori frowned. "I know. Just try. Please?"

"Ok." She stood up and stretched out her body, handing Tori her phone. "Can you text him back and tell him that's fine? I'm going to go shower."

"Sure!" Tori said, typing out a reply as soon as Emiliana was out of the room. She waited a couple of minutes until she heard the water begin to run. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed her own phone off of the table, dialing

Eric's number.

"Hello?"

"Hi! Eric? This is Tori!"

"Oh! Hi Tori. What can I do for you?"

"I need you to invite me to come along with you and Em today." Tori winced, realizing how weird that probably sounded.

"What?"

Tori sighed. "Look, Eric, I'm just going to be honest with you. Em is super nervous about spending time on her own with you, but she doesn't want to bail. I just think it'd be better if she wasn't, y'know, completely alone."

"What do you think I'm going to do to her?"

"Oh, nothing!" Tori bit her lip. She could tell by the tone in his voice that she had offended him. "Emiliana suffers from anxiety. I'm just worried about her."

"One second."

Tori rubbed her temple with her thumb as there was complete silence on the other end of the phone. Eric must've put her on hold.

"Anthony is going to join the three of us. I figured if there was more people, Emiliana might feel less stressed."

Tori grinned. "Good, that's great!"

"Awesome. We'll be there in an hour."

"Sweet! See you then!"

* * *

"How did he get your number?"

Tori shrugged as she pulled on her beige cardigan. "I have no idea. But he called while you were in the shower and asked if it was cool if Anthony tagged along, and then he invited me."

"To be completely honest, I'm kind of happy he did that," Emiliana said, throwing her hair into a quick ponytail. "I think I'll feel better with you there."

There was a honk outside and Tori smirked. "I know you will."

The two girls walked outside to see a blue Honda Civic waiting in the driveway. Anthony was in the driver seat and Eric was in the passenger seat. Eric waved at them when he noticed them approaching the car.

"Hello ladies," he said as they got inside.

"Hi," the girls replied back in unison.

"Are you guys ready to play some mini-golf?!" Anthony asked in an overly animated voice, making the girls laugh. He started up the engine and pulled out of the driveway.

"Yeah, but I should warn you, I am a mini-golf pro," Tori said. She looked at Emiliana and winked.

Eric scoffed. "Yeah, there's no way you can beat me."

"Ohhh, that sounds like a challenge!" Anthony said as he laughed.

"I'm down for a challenge! What do you say, Eric?" Tori questioned, giving the man a mischievous look.

Eric turned around in his seat to shake Tori's hand. "You're on! Loser pays for everyone's dinner."

"I like that idea!" Anthony added.

Emiliana smiled as Eric's eyes turned onto her. "Yeah, me too."

"I hope you brought enough money, Eric. You're going down," Tori teased.

"Whatever, Blondie," Eric said, smirking as he realized that this would be his new nickname for the petite girl.

"Hold on to the sass!" Anthony said just as Tori opened her mouth. "We're here!"

Emiliana looked out the window and noticed that they were parked outside of a mini-golfing area. She noticed a small building down the road with a large sign that read 'Biggemans'. She thought to herself that that must be the

50s themed diner Eric had been talking about.

"I'm totally going to kick your ass!" Tori exclaimed, punching Eric in the arm.

Eric rolled his eyes as he made his way to the entrance of the park. "Come on and prove it then, Blondie!"

"I think this is the beginning of a horrid friendship," Anthony said in a low voice to Emiliana.

She giggled and nodded slightly. "Or a beautiful rivalry."