A Double Date with Natalie and Emma

"Sorry about that," I said.

"So she's out all over town having...fun, with her...friends, and I just sit here," Emily hit both F words with such emphasis it was pretty obvious she'd figured out what was going on.

"I'm sure you have friends of your own," I said with a smirk of my own.

"Maybe, but maybe I could make friends with Natalie's friends, too," Emily said as her eyebrows raised a little.

I had to chuckle a little, "How old are you?"

Emily scoffed, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

It was my turn to scoff, "Actually, I think it's you who really wants me to know."

Emily stiffened up at this defensively, "18."

"So go do stuff," I shrugged.

"That's my point," Emily started. "I'm 18. I'm supposed to be the one driving around with boys getting felt up in backseats. Not her."

"Sorry, I don't know what to tell you,"

"You could give me your number," Emily said pointedly.

"Excuse me?" I was taken aback.

"Give me your number, we'll text."

I was chuckling to myself when Emily leaned in closer, "And plus, if you give it to me, then I won't have to ask Natalie for your number. In front of her boyfriend."

There it was. While I had been cruising around care-free all night, wrapped in masks with Natalie and Emma on my arm, the threat of the Lodge's secrecy came back to the forefront of my mind. Someone finds out about me, they start snooping around what Natalie's been doing, and who knows where it goes from there. I had a momentary panic that I swallowed down. If Emily was after what I thought she was after, maybe she wouldn't have to learn about the Lodge at all.

"Alright," I said. I quietly gave my phone number as Emily tapped it into her phone.

She darted her eyes back up expectantly, and then watched while I grabbed my phone to prove that I had received her text and that I wasn't lying about my number.

"Cool," Emily said as she put her phone back into the pocket of her shorts. "Maybe we'll talk sometime."

With that, Emily turned, and followed Natalie back into the house the same way. I sighed in frustration, not liking the idea of someone outside the Lodge knowing about my connections to anyone in it. But, nothing I could do now. I backed up and onto the street, letting the gate close behind me as my car cleared it, and set off back for home.

Was Emily bluffing about texting me? No.

Is that a story for another day? Yes.