Emma arrived at the clinic shortly after doing the assignment with James.
Not bothering to freshen up, she entered the clinic, where her very own wing-woman was waiting for her to visit all day.
"Emma! You're here! Finally! We have so much to talk about!" Lily said as she reached out and gave Emma a hug.
Finally noticing the shade of her best friend's cheeks, she gasped.
"Girl, where did you come from?" She asked.
Emma knew that if she tried to lie, her best friend would catch her. She was a human lie detector, and Emma couldn't keep anything a secret from her without her finding out.
"James' dorm," Emma admitted.
Lily's eyes widened.
"You're visiting other boys' dorms now?" She asked, seeking validation.
Emma's eyes widened.
"No. No, I'm not. I swear, Lil, it was just for an assignment," Emma rambled.
Lily chuckled.
"Your mouth says something, but your face says something else," Lily observed.
Emma placed her hands behind her back as she shuffled her feet.
"Uh. Lily, don't overreact or anything, but we…"
Lily's jaw dropped.
Emma shook her head.
"NO! NOT THAT," she said.
Lily's face fell.
"Oh," Lily managed to say.
"What I meant to say was that we...kissed."
Lily's reaction was priceless. Of course, she had expected that the two had done something else, but she had never imagined her best friend would get her first kiss before her.
"OH MY GOD. EM, THAT'S YOUR FIRST KISS!" She cried.
Emma's mouth opened, needing to correct Lily's assumptions.
"Lil...about that," she started.
"That wasn't my first kiss, Lil," Emma said timidly, even more scared of her best friend's reaction.
"That wasn't your-
Lily took a deep breath.
"If that wasn't your first kiss, then what was?" Lily asked curiously, her eyes searching her best friends' for answers.
"About that, it happened yesterday. With James," Emma replied.
"With James? If that's the case, spill all the deets, Em. Even all the nasty bits," Lily said as she coaxed her best friend.
"Well, if that's what you want," Emma said as she told Lily everything elaborately.
Lily raised her hand.
"So, let me get this straight. Basically, you were depressed, so as an attempt to cheer you up, James brought you on a date in one of the private restaurants that can only be accessed by esteemed students, which led to the two of you kissing?" She asked, wanting to see if she had gotten her information straight.
Emma nodded, nearing the bed Lily was lolled across.
"Pretty much."
Lily took in this information quite well as she asked another question.
"Emma, I want you to tell me this," she said as she took Emma's hands in hers.
"If a man goes as far as to change his usual manner just to please a girl, then that man must be smitten and deeply in love with you. Now, my question is, do you feel the same way about him?"
Emma looked at her best friend/wing woman.
"Lily...I'd be lying if I said my emotions were crystal clear," she started.
Lily tilted her head in confusion.
"Why? Do you have second thoughts about it?" She asked, brows furrowed.
Emma shook her head.
"It's not second thoughts I have, Lil. It's a second man that I…" She trailed off, not knowing what else to say.
Lily nodded her head slowly, understanding the situation her bestie was in.
"So. You have someone else you possibly have feelings for? Who's this guy?" Lily continued on asking.
By the look on Emma's face, Lily's jaw dropped.
"No," she managed to say.
"It can't be," she said next.
"You don't have a thing for Prince Michael, do you?" She asked seriously.
At that, Emma sighed.
"I have no idea, Lil. I really don't," Emma admitted.
"I don't know how I feel about him, but we had a moment, Lil. In the royal gardens, and I can't seem to get him out of my head," Emma continued on saying.
Lily bit her lip. It seemed that Emma had fallen, and the last thing Lily wanted was for her best friend to get hurt.
"Listen, Em, it's okay to be feeling like this sometimes. But, you have to know that sometimes, feelings won't always get reciprocated," Lily said.
"What do you mean by that Lil?" Emma asked curiously.
Lily sighed.
"There's a difference in what those two men did for you. One of them brought you to somewhere private because he wanted to cheer you up. The other brought you to a public setting because he had bumped into you and caused you pain. Didn't he?" Lily reasoned.
Emma was flabbergasted. She had told Lily everything that had happened, but Lily had a great point with what she had just said.
"You're right," Emma admitted.
Lily, seeing her best friend's face, took Emma's hands in hers.
"Em. I'm not asking you to choose between them, it's just that it's very clear that one of them has feelings for you, while the other might not. Yes, they're both princes, but don't you think it'd be safer for everyone if you chose between the two men you still have feelings for?" She asked.
Emma squeezed Lily's hand gently.
"You're right, Lil," she said as she nodded.
"Well, never mind that. What are you planning on doing, Em?" Lily said as she tilted your head.
Emma bit her lip.
"Well, I don't have much of a choice, don't I? I'm going to have to let go of Michael," she said as she looked glum.
"He has many girls chasing after him, and sooner or later, he's going to have a kingdom to rule," she said as she silently wished whatever she said wasn't true.
Ironically, James was no exception to girls chasing him or having to rule a kingdom either. The only difference was that Emma had no idea about that, and wouldn't know what she was getting herself into in the long run.
Lily asked another question she had been meaning to ask.
"Em. What about James?"
"What about James?" Emma asked back.
"Emma, he clearly has feelings for you, and he's waiting for you to return them," Lily stated as-a-matter-of-factly.
Emma blushed, remembering the dream she had.
Lily narrowed her eyes.
"Why do I have a feeling there's something you're not telling me?" She asked.
Emma's eyes widened as she averted her best friend's gaze, trying to find ANYTHING else to talk about. The last thing she wanted was for her best friend to find out of her...fantasizing about a man she had met less than two days ago.
The Emma of one week ago never would've never imagined in a million years that she'd be dreaming about the opposite gender, and worrying about choosing between two guys. Well, too bad for her, there was no turning back this time.
After avoiding an awkward conversation that was brewing, Emma had shocked Lily with a small surprise.
"What? Really? I can return back to school and finally be free from this bed?" She asked in shock.
Emma nodded happily. She had successfully changed the topic without Lily noticing.
"Yeah. I've talked to the nurse, and she said that you've recovered enough to be discharged, though you still have to be careful and not engage in any too exerting activities," Emma said.
Lily grinned before her expression turned sour.
"Wait. What about Courtney and her lady-in-waiting Winnie?" She asked.
Emma sighed.
"Courtney's as annoying as ever. But you get used to her being a spoiled brat after quite a while," Emma said as she shrugged, trying to act as calm as possible.
Too bad for her, it didn't work, as Lily already had a feeling something was up.
Taking in how Emma seemed tense and fidgety, she asked curiously.
"Em. Something you want to tell me? It seems like you're hiding something from me," Lily said as she looked at her best friend for answers.
Even with the words stuck in her throat, Emma forced herself to speak and share her worries.
"Lily. As much as I tell myself not to worry, we can't simply place this aside that you were poisoned," Emma said nervously.
"You're going to have to be more careful. Lil, if I was the main target, and you took the hit for me this time, who knows what this perpetrator might do next. I can't let you get hurt because of me, or on my behalf. If you had never gone here, you wouldn't have had to be stuck in a bed, or require a ventilator to breathe either," Emma reasoned.
Lily sighed. So that was what Emma was thinking about. She was guilty.
"Emma. You know I don't blame you for ending up here. And if I could choose, I'd take the hit for you anytime. We're best friends, and that's what we best friends do. Point is, I'm fine now. I'm alive and kicking. So you don't have to be worried," she said as she tried to comfort her best friend. Emma pouted, but she read the room and gave in. Any more deprecation, and it'd be a weep fest.
Emma sighed but understood that she would get nowhere if she had argued with Lily, thanks to Lily's stubbornness.
"Fine. But remember to be careful and more cautious, okay?" Emma reminded her.
Lily rolled her eyes and laughed softly.
"Okay, mom."
Classes had ended that day, and since Lily was excused from school till she was fully recovered, and Emma had already finished her only task that was the assignment she had done with James, they decided to head back to their dorm.
"Why does it smell heavily like..."
Lily sniffed the air around her.
"Wine?" Lily asked as she and Emma walked through the frame of their dorm's door.
"Courtney," Emma responded, the one word she said answering all of Lily's questions.
Lily nodded.
"Ah."
"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Lily asked curiously.
"Want to head to the swimming pool?" She continued to ask.
Emma looked at her disapprovingly.
"Lily. You can't exert yourself too much. And anyway, you've missed out on much during your stay at the clinic, so you're going to have to catch up," Emma announced, as Lily let out a small groan.
"Do we really have to do that now?" She whined, even though she knew Emma was right.
Emma pursed her lips.
"Lil, I'll help you. It won't be for too long," Emma coaxed.
Lily sighed.
"Okay. Fine," she said as she took the untouched books from the nearby table it was originally placed on. She had a lot of the subjects she had to catch up on.
She walked to the study room, books in hand as she pouted in defeat.
Emma followed, helping carry some of Lily's books as she took a seat beside Lily.
That was when Lily's impromptu tutoring session began.
Even if Emma hadn't grown up with proper education, she knew what most educated students didn't. All her hard work that had gone to her studies during her free time had led her to be an adversary to the smartest of the smart. It also helped that James was an esteemed student too.
It was a given that she was an amazing teacher, and her best friend, who, like Emma, had mainly been taught by her parents on what they knew, wasn't too surprised at her best friend's knack for teaching.
Hours later, after Lily's tutoring session which seemed to have lasted for forever, the two girls were freshened up, and laying on their bedroom's humongous king-sized bed, exhausted from their previous activities.
"Emma, for what reason are you still attending ZALE if you already have enough knowledge to outsmart each teacher that works here? It seems like you've learnt more in a few days than most have in decades," Lily asked.
Emma turned to face her best friend with the last remaining energy she had.
"Lil, there's still so much I have to learn. About etiquette, about the views of the world, there's so much to learn, and I barely scratched the surface of it all," Emma said as she slowly and slowly fell victim to the soft cloud-like pillows luring her to sleep.
She tucked herself under the white comforter on one side of the bed before she exchanged good nights with Lily, who decided to stay awake and do some late-night show binging. While Emma loved studying and making up for all the lost time she could've used to gain more knowledge, Lily was quite the opposite. She was the type of girl who did rebellious things, be it staying up late to watch shows, or hanging out with friends, which she hadn't been able to do her whole life.
"Well, sweet dreams, Em. I'll be outside, binging shows to my heart's content," Lily greeted as she quietly made her way out of the bedroom and into the living room in her fluffy slippers.
"Night, Lil," Emma muttered in response as her eyes drooped to a close. And with that, she drifted off to sleep.
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