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A knock came at Emma’s door, followed by a muffled, “Are you ready?” The door opened to reveal her girlfriend, decked out in her Halloween costume; she was going as Buffy Summers, even had a homemade stake (curtesy of Noah) hanging on her hip. Emma’s costume lay beside her on the bed, waiting for her to put it on. The plan was for her to as Faith Lehane, but now Emma struggled to put the clothes on.
Emma shrugged, avoiding Brooke’s worried gaze. “I’m not going.” She mumbled, picking at her nails.
Brooke furrowed her brows and crossed her arms, leaning her hip against the doorframe. “What? Why not?” She questioned in confusion.
“Because…” Emma ran her hands through her hair, still avoiding Brooke’s eyes. She hated disappointing her, and more so, she hated ruining her Halloween. She knew how much Brooke was looking forward to the dance, mostly because she wanted to show off their matching costumes, but still, Emma felt bad. “Because you know what happened at the last Halloween dance.” She admitted quietly, tears stinging her eyes as images of that night flashed through her mind.
“Emma,” Brooke’s soft voice finally made the girl look at her. The blonde came to sit beside her, smiling slightly. “That was two years ago.”
She nodded, holding her head up so the tears wouldn’t fall. She didn’t want to cry; she’d cried over this so much already—she just wanted to put it behind her, and for the most part she had, but with certain things (like the dance), it was harder. “Still feels like it was yesterday.”
“I know,” Brooke put her arm around Emma’s waist and pulled her close. She kissed her neck gently, then rested her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder. “If you don’t want to go, then we won’t go.” She mumbled.
“Really?” Emma knew how much Brooke wanted to go, but she was sincere in her words.
The blonde pulled away and waved her hand in the air as she said, “I mean, I did spend most of my after school time helping to decorate and I did cater the damn thing.” Her voice was teasing rather than serious. She grabbed Emma against her again and continued, “I’m serious. If you don’t want to go then we can stay in and watch movies and hand out candy to children.”
They were both silent for a few minutes, Emma getting sucked deeper and deeper into the dark memories of that night two years ago. She hated thinking about it, but when the images took over, it was hard to push them away. “But…” Brooke’s sweet voice dragged Emma out of her bloody thoughts. She looked down at the blonde, who was twirling a piece of her brown hair in her fingers. “Emma, I know you have all these bad memories from the last dance. I know. But going to this one is an opportunity to replace those horrible memories with great ones. I’m not trying to make you do something you don’t want to do, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, but I’m just saying, this is a good opportunity for you to have fantastic memories of a previously awful event.”
Emma was quiet, rolling Brooke’s works around in her mind. Finally, she said slowly, “Maybe…maybe we should go.”
Brooke sat up, grabbing her girlfriend’s hand and giving it a light squeeze. “Are you sure?” She questioned, her brows furrowed in concern.
She nodded surely. “You’re right. I need good memories. I need the bad ones to get pushed out. So, we should go. We will go.” She answered confidently.
Brooke grinned and kissed her cheek before getting up and going to the door. “Get dressed. I’ll wait downstairs.” She winked and then descended the stairs, leaving Emma to get ready.
“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Brooke asked as they exited the school. It was well after twelve a.m., and the dance had finally ended. Exhausted teenagers flooded the parking lot, some shouting at each other the addresses of after parties. Brooke and Emma waved goodbye to their friends, then headed towards Brooke’s car.
Emma shook her head, smiling. “No, actually it was great.” Truthfully, she had an amazing time. Not once did she think about what happened two years ago; she was too busy dancing and laughing. What made the night even better was that she and Brooke had won the couples costume contest.
“Told you so.” Brooke sang, bumping her hip against Emma’s.
Emma chuckled then pulled them both to a stop. “Thank you.” She said gratefully, grabbing Brooke’s other hand and giving them both a light squeeze in appreciation.
She smiled but arched a brow. “For what?”
“For convincing me to come.” Emma replied, bending down and kissing Brooke’s cheek. “This was way better than staying home and handing out candy.”
Brooke beamed up at her girlfriend. “I’m just glad you had fun. Now, let’s go back to my place and watch Netflix.” She began pulling them both towards her car again.
“Netflix or Netflix?” Emma asked amusedly.
Brooke shrugged, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips. “We’ll see.”