Emily raced inside her motel room as soon as the phone began ringing. Sighing with relief, the Winchester girl slammed her door shut, making sure to lock it. Making her way through the impossibly messy room, Emily ignored the papers, articles, and histories she had taken to pinning to the wall.

   Just as Emily rounded the bed, the girl suddenly stubbed her toe against the edge, the converse she wore not having much protection against the heavy wood. Roaring in pain, Emily hopped on her left foot, clutching her right while stumbling toward the still ringing phone.

   Reaching out with the hand that wasn't holding her foot, Emily grasped the phone, bringing it up to her ear. With her lips wobbling down into a frown, Emily groaned into the speaker of it.

   "Hello," She practically grunted, sounding like nothing less than a cavewoman.

   It was silent for a second before a voice who Emily swore she hadn't heard in what felt like forever drifted through.

  "Emily?" The voice was slightly high-pitched, but it was definitely the sound of a little boy.

   Speaking to his sister was the youngest Winchester; Sam. Emily smiled at the voice, rolling onto her bed with the phone still in her hand. She had only spoken to her dad during the time that she had been there. Not Dean or Sam, and she truly did miss her brothers.

   "Is that you?" Sam's voice once again came through.

   "Hell yeah, in the flesh," Emily announced while taking her shoe off in order to examine her big toe. "How are things without me? Probably horrible, right? It's okay, Sammy, I know Dean can't ever be as awesome as me." Emily said, biting her lip when another voice came through.

   "Actually, I'm way more awesome than you, you bitch." This was the voice of Emily's older brother; Dean.

   "Oh wow, both my brothers on the same call, what a treat," Emily spoke sarcastically.

   "Ignore him, I was just wondering when you're going to be back," Sam said, Emily, smiling at that statement.

   "Aw, do you miss me..." Emily teased, hearing a scoff from both of them.

   "Ew--" Sam said at the same time that Dean shouted. "Hell no."

   Despite the statements, Emily was easily able to tell that her brothers did miss her and just weren't willing to admit it.

   Rolling her eyes, Emily played with the phone line, biting her lip while trying to come up with an answer. "Uh... I'm not really sure. Whenever I kill the monster." Emily decided to answer, Dean scoffing in retaliation.

   "Emily, just suck up your pride already. You don't need to kill this thing by yourself to prove your worth or feminism or whatever. It'll be much easier and safer if you let us come back to Derry with you and help you, by the sounds of your voice, you still don't even know what this thing is, do you?" Dean said it matter of factly, but there was an undertone of worry in his voice.

   In his mind, if his sister was still hunting this thing and it had been over a month, then it was more dangerous than she was letting on. Dean had already lost her mother to the supernatural, he wouldn't lose his little sister too.

   "Or even if you don't want dad to come, fine, let me help you. It can be a Dean and Emily bonding experience." Dean tried, only for Sam to make a noise of disagreeing.

   "Hey, I want to help too!" The thirteen-year-old complained.

   "Maybe when you're older, kid." Dean gruffly stated.

    Puffing out her cheeks, Emily held up stubbornly. Yes, she was close to caving, but not quite yet. "No way, I can do this myself, I don't need your guy's help."

   "Stop being stupid, Emily--" Den's words were drowned out by the sound of the toilet flushing and a door opening from the other end of the phone.

   "Is that your sister on the phone?" She heard her dad's voice call from the background.

   "Yeah, Emily says she still doesn't want yours or Dean's help," Sam said.

   There was a small sound of frustration that came from John before his voice suddenly came through the call as well. "Damn it, Emily. If you were able to get this monster on your own, it would have already been killed." John exclaimed, Emily, rolling her eyes.

   "I'm fine, dad. You all need to stop worrying about me, in fact, I have a lead right now. If you'll excuse me, I need to go investigate it!" Emily said sourly before hanging up the phone, vaguely hearing her dad's voice yelling for her.

    But the truth was that other than the articles from Ben's house, Emily still had no new lead. Still, no clue on what it was that she was hunting. Crying in frustration, Emily laid down on her bed, running her fingers through her hair.

☐☐☐☐

   It was a few hours later when Emily woke on her bed from an apparent nap she had taken. She did not even remember falling asleep. Cracking her neck, the girl sat up. With a groan, Emily looked around her room seeing it was left untouched, still messy as ever.

   "And, still no answers." Emily grumbled rubbing her hand down her face.

   Holding out her arms, Emily fell back against the sheets with a quiet thud, her mind reeling. The teenager had a sudden inexplicable urge to act on her promise to the losers from earlier in the day and go to find them. And, go find Richie.

   Richie seemed to make things better in times of stress. Even if Emily had not told Richie of the supernatural world or how she was a hunter or even the real reason why she was in Derry, the boy still had some sort of aura about him that simply made Emily happy. For a second, Emily considered telling Richie along with the rest of her new friends the truth.

   However, she banished that thought as quickly as it had come thinking they would not believe her. Instead, they would probably call her crazy and run away screaming.

   Emily shivered at the thought, not wanting to lose her friends in a manner like that.

   Standing up from the bed, Emily opted to take a speedy shower. As she stood under the warm water, she could not help but find herself wondering if Richie was as good of a kisser as he had claimed. Or if he was serious about wanting to kiss her as bad as he was letting on.

   On the right of her was four unused soap bars, two bottles of shampoo, and three bottles of conditioner. All of these products were travel sized and a clear customary gift from the motel.

   A shiver of delight was sent down Emily's spine, her mind left spinning at the image of the shorter bespectacled leaning up to kiss her. It would be Emily and Richie's first kiss, and it would be innocent and unsure, but one of the best feelings they had ever felt.

   Her heart pounded at the thought, Emily nearly swooning at the thought of kissing Richard Tozier.

   She was not sure when and she was definitely not sure how, but somewhere in the past week of talking to Richie and the others, Emily had begun long downfall into a place that concerned only Richie Tozier. A place Emily had never ventured before and a place she had previously intended to stay away from.

   It was a place of crushes, kissing, and first loves. Oh, her father would have a heart attack if he knew what was happening.

   If he saw that his only daughter was falling for the one and only "Trashmouth Tozier". That in itself would be enough to have John racing back to Derry to collect his daughter and leave the shithole little town in the dust.

   Dean would be right alongside him, claiming Emily was not to be tainted by the grabby boys.

   Sam would only find it amusing, taking the younger brother approach and simply teasing her about the little crush. But alas, none of them realized that Emily was falling head over heels for Richie.

   With thoughts of Richie dancing across her mind, Emily scrubbed herself with the cheap vanilla smelling soap bar the motel provided. After she was through with making sure every crevice was clean, the girl ultimately did something she had not done in what felt like a very long while.

   Reaching out, Emily picked up a bottle of shampoo eyeing the thing with disdain. However, the image of Richie touching her greasy hair was enough of a scare to have Emily pouring practically the entire bottle within the tresses of her thick mane. Her nose scrunched when she found a leaf tangled in the curls, happy she finally had washed her hair.

   After difficult scrubbing, Emily was certain all the tangles, dirt, and... leaves were out of her hair. Perhaps she should consider cutting it, or at least trimming it.

   With the shampoo washed out of her hair, Emily was quick to lather it with conditioner. Even with all the conditioner to put within the cinnamon-colored locks, it was not enough to make brushing her hair easy.

   Her skull pounded from the abuse that was brushing her hair, the tangles making the process of running her brush through it all the more irritable. It took an extremely painful thirty minutes of abusing her head until her hair was finally silky smooth and easy to run her hands through.

   Emily stood in front of the mirror with wide eyes, examining her hair while running her fingers through it. It was amazing what a thorough wash and brush could do to her hair. For the first time in what Emily suspected was years, her wild curls were tame and falling down her back in a bouncy mass.

   It was still damp, but not enough to soak her back.

   With a smile, Emily decided to change it up a bit more by choosing to wear a tee-shirt instead of her usual flannel. But the jeans and converse stayed, Emily would never change her beloved jeans and converse.

   Emily was not sure why she was so eager to see Richie's reaction, but she was, and she intended to find him as quick as possible.

   And so, Emily rode through Derry, trying to think of possible places for the losers to be. So far, she had checked the quarry, the pharmacy, and outside Bill's house. There was no sign of them.

   It wasn't until she saw Henry Bowers scrambling out of the woods with a bloody head that she suspected the small field just outside of the nearly abandoned train station. And, as she thought, that was where Emily found Beverly, Ben, Eddie, Stan, Bill, Richie, and another kid whom Emily soon learned was named Mike Hanlon.

   "Yo!" Emily cupped her mouth as she yelled gaining all of their attention. "What's up, guys?" She called as she approached the group, frowning when she saw their expressions.

   Most of them were breathing heavy, all with a slightly frightful twinkle in their eye. What really scared Emily was the cut on Richie's head which was dripping with thick red blood.

   "Holy shit, what happened Richie?"

   Emily walked forward, her hands delicately on his cheeks as she examined his head. The cut was not big at all, but it was big enough that it bled. Richie said nothing, and much to Emily's surprise, he simply pulled her against his body tightly.

   After a second of hesitation, Emily wrapped her arms around him, reciprocating the hug he was giving her. "It's been a long day." Is all he said, resting his head against her shoulder.

   After a minute, Emily understood that Richie would not be letting go anytime soon. Deciding to just allow him to hold her, Emily looked at the presumable new member of the losers club from over Richie's shoulder.

   He stood at the same height as Stan and Bill and had a noticeably friendly face. Flashing the new boy a smile, Emily nodded at him.

   "Hey, I'm Emily," She introduced herself, the boy giving her a small smile in return.

   "Mike Hanlon." He replied, wondering whether or not Richie and Emily were dating.

   It sure seemed like it by the way Richie was clutching her against him. The losers did not stay around for much longer, all of them needing to get back home soon.

   Tomorrow marked the day of the 4th of July, and in celebration, the town was hosting a large parade festival. A festival which they all made plans to attend together.

   "Baby," Richie and Emily were alone as they walked toward where Emily left her dirtbike. "You look nice."

   Of course, Richie noticed the way her hair lay down in bouncy curls instead of going every which way. He also noticed the shiny look it held and was tempted to run his hand through it to see if it felt as soft as it looked.

   Not to mention the new shirt that he had never seen her wear.

   Despite her best efforts, Emily could not stop the slight warming of her cheeks. "Thank you," She was smiling, something that knocked the breath out of Richie as he stared at her with large magnified eyes.

   "Let's get ice cream."

   His statement was simple, his words sounding as breathless as he felt. "I'll pay for you, I just got my allowance money this morning." Richie was digging through his pockets, pulling out a series of ones and a single five dollar bill.

   With a smile, Emily tilted her head shrugging. "Sounds cool to me."

   Richie swore he was in heaven. A date with Emily Winchester, this had to be a dream come true.

☐☐☐☐

   "So, when do I get to meet your family?" Emily nearly choked on her cotton candy flavored ice cream, her eyes wide as she looked to Richie who sat across from her in the booth. "I mean, you already met my folks and I feel as your future husband it's extremely important that I meet my future father-in-law and future siblings-in-law." Richie rambled as he licked his plain vanilla cone.

   In Richie's mind, there was nothing better than the simplicity of vanilla ice cream. Emily was the opposite, she was determined to try any and every interesting flavor when she got ice cream.

   The two had gone to the local ice cream joint in Derry, a small parlor that had not been updated in what they both suspected was somewhere in the mid-'60s. Hell, the place was still using a jukebox for music and playing nothing from above the year 1974.

   Other than Richie and Emily, the only other people in the place were the workers and one other couple who were sat on the other side of the parlor.

   "Erm..." Emily scratched the back of her neck with a nervous glint in her eye, biting her lip. Richie only watched her expectantly, licking his ice cream. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, my family isn't... uhm... what you would call--" Emily was having trouble completing her sentence, unsure of how to convince Richie that trying to meet her dad and brothers was not at all a good idea.

   Besides, they weren't even in Derry.

   "Normal." Emily finished, Richie only raising a brow in reply.

   "Sorry to break it to you gorgeous, but no family is normal," Richie stated. "But I suppose I can wait until we take our relationship to the next level."

   Emily was not sure what he meant by "the next level" and she definitely did not realize she was in an apparent "relationship" with him. However, she did not deter him, instead choosing to smile softly and continue to eat her ice cream.

   "What's your family like anyway?" Richie was truly curious.

   Since he had seen her, he had realized despite her prettiness, she was on the more 'boyish' side. She preferred jeans and big shirts over skirts and crop-tops and seemed to not know what the word "makeup" meant. Not that Richie was complaining, this was the girl he had fallen in love with and it was also the way he preferred her. He not would want anything about her to change for the world.

   However, her being a "tomboy" made sense now that Richie knew she did not have a mother figure. She was raised by males, and it made Richie curious as to exactly what her family was like.

   Letting loose a fond sigh, Emily gave a warm smile. "Well, my dad is a tough nut to crack, but he's nice once you get to know him. He cares about me and my brothers a lot and only wants to keep us safe. My oldest brother; Dean, now he's the one the ladies need to watch out for..." For the rest of the ice cream date, Emily told stories of her family, most of which made Richie laugh.

   Especially the one where Emily and her younger brother; Sam, pranked Dean by slapping him in surprise at random times for three months straight.

   Richie always wished he had a sibling, but his parents were quite keen on only having one child. However, Bill often felt like his twin, and in some aspects, Eddie was like the younger brother to them with Stan as the responsible older brother.

    "Does it really not bother you that I'm older than you?" Emily finally ended up asking, this question having been on her mind for a while.

   Yeah, boys often had crushes on older girls, but none had pursued them as Richie had with her.

   Richie barely even had to think before he answered. "Of course, not. If anything, it makes you even hotter."

   Emily was grinning, rolling her eyes playfully.

   "Yeah, well I'm still taller than you."

   "Ha, enjoy it while it lasts, toots. You know what they say about boys and growing."

   At that moment, the jukebox suddenly began playing a very familiar tune to Emily. Elvis Presley was singing about his "Burning Love", and Emily could not help but sing along, dancing to the song in her spot.

   "Damn, I love this song." She laughed, shaking her head causing her hair to sway back and forth.

"–Cause your kisses lift me higher! Like a sweet song of a choir! And you like my morning sky with burning love!"

   And at that moment, Richie swore that Emily Winchester could not get any more beautiful. To him, she was the most wonderful thing on the planet. She was his burning love.