The memorial was a disaster. Instead of showing up to share memories about Bradley, beers were being passed around by the bottle while others were getting their fix from the keg someone brought. Emma had finally given up. She had tried her hardest to be a good person and mourn for Bradley, but it didn't help that she still hated her. Instead, she decided to drown her sorrows with a couple of beers. That left her carefully stumbling around the beach a little while later, shoes in hand, when she came across a couple of guys. One took something out of his bag and handed it to another guy. Recognition flew across her face and before she could stop it, she was calling out to him.
"Hey! Hey, cupcake boy!" She approached him as the other guys left. He let out a quick grin once he realized who she was. "Remember me? I remember you," she smiled, standing a tad bit closer than she normally would. He knew she was drunk from her stance and the slight smell of beer on her breath.
"Yeah, from the motel. What's up?" He didn't think he'd see her again. It'd been over four months since their last short encounter.
"You're selling weed," she said quietly, not accusingly but rather just stating a fact.
"Well, it's not a beach party without some sticky, am I right?" He hoped she didn't mind, because he wanted to be on her good side.
"It's not a beach party, it's a memorial for somebody who died," her voice was so melancholy he decided to change his tone as well.
"And people are sad and they wanna feel happy again," he tried to justify the party with only a slight amount of sarcasm.
Emma knew that was bullshit. "Oh, okay, whatever. Who cares? I don't care about that or this or… or whatever. Yeah, come here," she dragged him over to a log so they could sit down. They both chuckled as they got comfortable. Her face suddenly turned serious as she began to talk again. "Okay, we're not dead, okay? We're alive, so we should live. But… we're gonna die, you know?"
Gunner was on the verge of laughing but kept it in. If he didn't know she was drunk by now, that would've clued him in. The weed in his satchel suddenly felt heavier now, begging for him to get on her level of philosophy. "Okay, uh, like right now?"
"Yeah, let's do something crazy, let's just go, oh, let's just go completely crazy," Emma tripped over her words while seriously smiling at Gunner.
He had to laugh and look away for a second to compose himself. He knew he was on board the second the words left her mouth. "Alright, what do you have in mind?"
"Bad choices. Make bad choices with me." He slightly nodded before licking his bottom lip, enticed by the way the sun hit her eyes.
"Any specific ones come to mind?" he questioned. Though he still had more weed to sell, he'd much rather spend time with her.
"Ever been skinny dipping?" she said with a grin.
"Can't say I have. You wanna do it right here?" He glanced around. This area was slightly less populated than near the bonfire but he didn't know if she was comfortable with anyone around. Then he realized that he would be there and they'd both be naked. His smile tightened along with his pants when he thought about how skinny dipping with her would be.
"Hmm, maybe somewhere more private." She grabbed his arm with one hand and her oxygen tank with the other as she led him to a more secluded area. It was near the edge of the beach where rocks would block them from the view of others. "Okay, so we should turn around and take our clothes off then quickly dip in the water," she dictated.
"Oh that's no fun. We should at least have a swim, bad choices and all," he suggested while peeling off his jacket and shirt.
"Turn around!" she exclaimed, turning around herself before striping herself of her dress. "I don't know if you can tell, but I'm kinda drunk right now," Gunner made a fake surprised gasp that she ignored, "and I really don't want to drown. That's a bad decision that's not worth taking. Besides, it's called a skinny dip, not a skinny swim."
"Fair enough on the first point, but would that mean that fat people can't skinny dip then?" Emma turned around to hit him but was surprised to see that he was still facing her. He got a quick look at her underwear-clad body before she pushed him to face the opposite direction. "You know, this isn't so much of a bad choice than it is carefully constructed choice. All these rules are making you less of a badass and more of a rule follower."
"Oh shut up," she playfully sighed, taking off the rest of her clothes. Gunner didn't even have enough time to turn around before she jumped into the water, leaving her oxygen tank behind. He quickly took his pants and shoes off before following her. The water was shallow, up to their waist, so Emma crouched so she wasn't completely indecent. He smiled down at her as he stood up tall.
"Is this enough of a dip for you?" Emma nodded and shivered since the sun was starting to go down and the wind picked up. "Here, I'll get out first and turn around so you can get out." Emma let out a thankful noise as Gunner shuffled out of the water. He wished he had a towel because his clothes started sticking to him in awkward places. At least it was better than Emma, who had practically gotten her entire body wet so she wouldn't be exposed to him. Her dress had damp spots in certain places but it didn't seem to bother her as much. "Now what, oh bad choice leader?" he questioned her.
"Let's get more beer," she giggled before dragging him back to the party. She led him to a truck as the sun finally went below the horizon and the stars came out. "Stay here, I'll be right back," she mouthed near his ear so he could hear her. He nodded and leaned back, looking at the scene. He decided to have a quick smoke since he was still mostly sober, save from a beer he had hours before. If he was going to hang out with Emma for the rest of the night, he might as well be on her level.
A few minutes later, he saw her stumbling back to him, almost hitting people on the way. She finally made it to him and took a gulp of her beer. "You know, there's nothing like a memorial where there's drunk guys peeing in the bonfire. I hope I get a sendoff like that. Idiots." He smiled as he looked at the said idiots near the fire. Emma looked at him and suddenly reached out, curling her hand into his hair. He leaned his head down a bit and wondered what she was going to do. "You have the best hair," she declared as if it was the most important fact of the day.
"Is that right?" he asked, amused.
"Did you know that? It's like bushy and smooth," she said slowly with her eyes wide.
"Tell me about it," he chuckled.
Emma's expression suddenly changed. "I don't feel too good. How many of those drinks did I have? Do you know how many of those drinks that I had?" she asked almost incoherently.
"I have no idea," he smiled, shaking his head. Who knows how many she had before he got there.
"Well I don't- I don't drink so I need to keep count," she hiccupped, worried that maybe this was a bad decision better left undone.
"Come on, we'll get you home," he suggested, getting off the truck and offering her his arm.
"That sounds like a good idea," she agreed as she wrapped her arm around his.
"Do you wanna get a bite to eat?" He didn't want the night to end yet and maybe if she got some food in her stomach, she would feel better.
She nodded and they headed to his car. He grabbed a beer for himself as they passed the table. He wouldn't drive drunk but he wanted to have at least another bottle while they ate. He was way too sober for her right now.
They climbed into his car and Emma immediately began bumbling about random things. "What do you think happens when we die? Do you think we go to heaven or hell or do you think we just cease to exist?"
It took Gunner a second to realize that the silence was because she expected an answer. "Uh, I don't know. I think that whatever you believe in happens to you, I guess."
"But what do you believe in?" she pressed further.
"I haven't really thought about it before. I guess it'd be cool if there was a heaven, with a never-ending supply of weed or something," he laughed.
"I think there's a heaven too, and there I won't need an oxygen tank," she said somberly. He glanced at her to see if she was okay. One second she was rambling and the next she sounded sober. "I don't think there would be sick people there because that'd defeat the purpose, wouldn't it? I wonder if people like Bradley go there." He assumed that was the name of the person the memorial was for. "I wonder if people like me would go."
"Of course you will," he assured her. His hand found hers in her lap and he held it for the duration of the drive.
He pulled up to the diner and parked the car. "Let me finish this first," he told her as he opened the beer and quickly finished it off. He burped as he opened his door, causing Emma to giggle. He went around to the other side and helped Emma out. They walked into the restaurant together and were quickly seated. "So what do you want?" Gunner asked as he flicked through the menu.
"Hmm, steak and eggs sounds good. Oh but what about spaghetti? The chicken also-"
"You know what, why don't we have something light like some breadsticks or something," he suggested. He didn't want her to puke but he needed her to eat something. When the waiter came by again, he asked for breadsticks and water.
"So let me get this straight," she suddenly said. "Your name is… Gunner, right?"
"Or cupcake boy, whatever you want to call me," he smiled.
"Okay, because you wrote that on the note but I never saw you again after that. How did you know what my name was? I don't remember telling you."
"I asked Dylan," he confessed, just a slight bit embarrassed.
"Why?"
"I mean… I thought you were cute," he mumbled, looking down at his napkin.
Emma smiled. No one ever called her cute before. "I think you're cute too."
Gunner didn't feel as embarrassed anymore knowing that she liked him also. "Cute enough to get your number?"
"Well, if I'm going to make bad choices tonight…" He playfully shoved her arm and they both laughed. "Definitely."
Author's Note: I know next episode (2x04) is going to make all of this obsolete, but I just had to write this. I was imagining what would've happened if Emma hadn't thrown up, and since they were at the beach I imagined some skinny dipping would've been involved. In case you wanted more than the two scenes of Emma and Gunner together, I wrote this :)
Please review! If you give me a request, like a situation or story you want me to write revolving Emma and Gunner, I'll definitely do it! And if you're looking for something more raunchy, I have a multichapter Gunner/Emma story called Cupcake. And yes, I was happy that Emma called Gunner "cupcake boy" haha.