you are my number one baby [p] I like you lots

madisons attention remained on emma as she spoke. she shook her head slightly. “yeah em, colby’s right. it was no one in specific’s fault. we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” madison tried to convince her friend. she knew how stubborn emma was and it would take a while before she thought logically about how it wasn’t her fault. but for now emma would continue to think that because that’s just who she was. madison was honestly the same way.

she leaned back in her seat, resting her head against the window as she gazed outside. the scenery zoomed by, the full moon still high in the sky. she yawned, fully tired from todays happenings. all went quiet in the car. she almost dozed off when she heard sam setting up the camera. he mentioned going ahead and getting the outro done.

she sat up a little straighter, leaning forward slightly to be in frame. sam began talking, briefly explaining the situation. madison didn’t have anything to say so she kept quiet and smiled slightly and waved as sam ended it. he put the camera away. it was clear everyone was still unsettled.

-timeskip to when they get home just to keep it moving along-

madison had passed out in the backseat and wasn’t even aware they were home when colby finally stopped the car. she didn’t budge an inch as she lay peacefully sleeping in the backseat.

sam bit his lip, listening to emma’s response. he normally would’ve chuckled at her sarcasm but just wasn’t in the mood. he was drained to say the least.

when emma got around to blaming herself, colby and madison beat him to telling her otherwise so he simple just nodded his agreement. sam knew exactly where emma was coming from but he also knew it couldn’t have been her fault. at least not her fault alone. there were a lot of factors that could’ve played into it. he sighed, running a hand over his face as he replayed in his head all the times they messed up during this expedition. the biggest was easily letting themselves get separated from the girls. sam was really pissed about that.

he glanced down at the camera in his bag and decided they might as well film the outro. “well we might as well go ahead and film the outro.” he said setting up the camera. he started filming and double checked everyone was in frame before talking.

“hey guys, sorry this videos going to be a little all over the place. i’m sorry I didnt get much footage of the ending, but we will just make fue with what we got. it was a really scary experience but we are all back together and safely heading home. next time we will be sure to thoroughly check out our sources and sites to explore before we trust them. see you guys next week.” he said, giving the others time to say something if they wanted before shutting off the camera.

-timeskip to when they get home-

sam chatted with colby and emma and madison, before she passed out, on their long car ride home. but now they were finally at the girls apartment complex, dropping them off. he got out of the car and stretched, hating being cooped up in that car for a couple hours. his limbs were achy and sore and he had scattered scratch marks from trees he acquired when he ran through the woods.

“alright, we will see you guys later.” sam smiled at emma as she was next to him.

(currently writing this at 12:00am so sorry if this doesn’t make sense haha. okay so what should happen next? them hanging out and making cookies?)

madison, much like her friend emma, was jamming out to her spotify playlist as she was getting ready. QUEEN's song Don't Stop Me now came on, and she was almost positive the whole apartment complex could her her as she sang. "cause im having a good time, having a good time!" she belted out, twirling around her room to her closet. Sam and Colby were coming over to hangout today. they hadn't all four been together since the night they got chased by a cult. madison had been monitoring peoples reactions but making no comments on anything. she didn't feel the need to, the video addressed what needed to be addressed. so she just kept moving with her life. if anything the whole situation brought the group closer rather than tearing it apart.

madison tapped her chin to the beat of the song as she tried to pick out what to wear. she had her hair and makeup done already. she wore her hair down and wavy with the top half dutch braided into a bun. she loves doing cute and different hairstyles and this was one of her personal favorites. she did her makeup light, nothing too crazy but enough were she didn't look like a naked mole rat. she ran her fingers over some clothes before finally deciding, just as the song ended. she grabbed a black t-shirt that simply had the words DARLIN' written across it in white font and tucked it into some high waisted ripped up blue jeans. she completed the look with a black belt and black and white high top vans. she went back into her bathroom, and applied some lip gloss before turning off her music. she flopped onto her bed, and scrolled through instagram liking some fans comments and responding to a few tweets on twitter.

her head turned as she heard emma call her. the boys were here! she jumped up and grabbed her purse, knowing they were all gonna leave to go get ingredients. she exited her room and walked into the living room to find everyone sitting down chilling, waiting on her. fashionably late in her house, how ironic.

"hey guys!" she greeted with a smile, making her way over to stand with everyone. she knew they would be leaving any second, so she didn't make a move to sit down.. she happened walked in just in time to hear colby ask if they were going to leave for the store.

"yup, we are. emma and I don't have everything we need so we just need to get a few things." she said, grabbing her wallet off the counter and putting it in her purse, making sure to grab a key. emma always forgot so she had to make sure to grab one. "oh I call shotgun!" she said with a wink towards sam, the person she always fought for shotgun over as she opened the door and led the way out of the apartment. she pressed the down button for the elevator and turned towards the group, subconsciously putting her hand on her butt to make sure her phone was secure in her back pocket, which it was. she had a tendency to misplace her phone a lot and was constantly using her apple watch to 'ding' it's location.

sam had awoken early as usual. he fixed himself a good hearty breakfast consisting of a bowl of yogurt with granola and fruit and a glass of water. after that, he decided to be productive with his morning and he and jake went to the gym for an hour or so. he came back and showered. he knew he would have to be leaving for madison and emma's soon but since it was still early he decided to edit some. he had lost track of time and colby brought him out of his focused state when he asked if he was ready to go. "oh yeah, one second!" sam called back saving his progress and hopping up. he shut his laptop down, grabbed his phone off the counter and headed downstairs.

sam and colby began their journey to emma and madisons, the normal 15 minute ride turning into a 45 minute one once they stopped for a drink and including los angeles traffic. if there was one thing he hated about this city, it was the traffic. he took a sip of his water her got from the gas station, feeling a little dehydrated. him and colby chatted in the car until they made it to the girls apartment complex. lucky for them the girls liked them enough to give them the code to get in so they wouldn't have to park far away and walk.

the elevator ride up to the room consisted of the usual antics of sam and colby with them goofing off but also promoting their march which was currently on sale. colby knocked on the apartment door and it wasn't but a few seconds later when emma's head peeked around the corner. she let them in, greeting them. "hey em!" Sam said cheerfully as he was in just a great mood today. he followed her inside and stood sort of next to her by the stairs. she mentioned madison being down in a sec as he glanced around. that answered his question as to where she was.

he was about to answer colby, feeling bad as to not giving him that much information when madison entered the living room. she beat him to it. "alright sounds good!" sam said, adjusting his white hat as he turned to follow madison out of the apartment. she called shotgun making him groan. "goddangit madison!" he said, using his catchphrase he says frequently. "I need to step up my game." he chuckled as he followed her into the hallway and towards the elevators. he found himself in step with emma as the group came to a halt. "looks like your stuck in the back with me." he laughed, looking down at her.

he was glad everyone was in a good mood and all just hanging out together. sure the girls had been over but they'd been so busy it'd really only be one at a time. he liked the whole group together, the chemistry was so there. thinking of that reminded him of all the comments they'd been receiving since they last uploaded. so many dating rumors and such were going around. honestly in this industry you couldn't been seen with someone of the opposite sex without stuff like that going around. obviously they weren't dating but sam couldn't deny to himself that he liked emma. whether he liked her as in more than a friends was was a question he seemed to be asking himself a lot as of lately.

"oh yeah, I do want to make cookies. cookies are my favorite." madison giggled as she admitted it was because of her they were going through the hassle of going to the store. she didn't mind much though, and hoped the others didn't either. it would be a fun little outing. she glanced at her group of friends, smiling in contentment. she was so happy to have gotten close to sam and colby over the past month or so, they all really clicked. she was grateful for all the friends she's made in LA, she never thought it would be this easy to fit in.

she sighed and shook hear as the elevator dinged, thinking of what was to come. madison loved cooking and was very good at it, if she did say so herself. but these other three...now that was a different story. they all approached colbys iconic red Toyota corolla. she opened up the passenger side door and slid inside, buckling and leaning back in the seat. "To target we go!" she said with excitement. Target was the go-to shopping spot for most youtubers she's come to find out. she never shopped there much in atlanta but now thats the only place she goes for groceries. sometimes she hits up whole foods though, to get that healthy stuff.

she glanced in the review mirror at sam and emma before looking down to find colbys aux. "Does anyone want aux? no? okay!" she said quicker than anyone could answer. she was dying to play some Queen and jam out with her friends. she was in a classic rock mood. "I don't know but I've really been vibing with Queen lately." she said to no one in particular as she hooked her phone up and started playing another one bites the dust. she started bobbing her head along to the music. they would probably only have time for two or three songs since the super target they were heading too wasn't far from madison and emma's apartment, even including LA traffic.

sam was the last in the elevator heading down. he trailed the group to colby's car, getting in the back. he didn't mind being in the back at all, especially since madison was short and moved the chair up meaning he had plenty of legroom. the thought made him chuckle. both her and emma were short, and that was saying something cause sam wasn't a very tall person.

colby started the car and soon they were off. luckily the ride to target shouldn't take long as it was close to their apartment complex. sam was excited to bake some things. he wasn't good at it at all, and knew colby wasn't either. apparently emma wasn't so that left madison being the only good chef. he could only imagine what on earth would happen and said a silent prayer that they wouldn't burn the girls kitchen down.

madison asked if anyone wanted the aux but spoke so fast no one could answer. sam chuckled. "no yeah it's fine, you go ahead and have the aux mads." sam said sarcastically, holding his hands up. she turned around and laughed, causing him to laugh too. "sorry sam, we gotta jam to Queen." she stated as she began to play another bites the dust.

"hey I can't be mad at that." he admitted, turning towards emma. "I have a strange feeling she blares music a lot? is that true?" he asked emma with a smirk. he glanced up to see madison and colby jamming out in the front seat. he sighed and shook his head, turning back to emma as he awaited her response. he assumed emma probably jammed too. "honestly I wouldn't be surprised if you guys put on mini concerts together!" he teased lightly with a chuckle.

madison knew she was being slightly extra currently and very eccentric. she was in just a really good mood today. something just told her today was gonna be a good day. so she decided to just make the most of this good feeling. she continued to bob her head to the music and sway slightly. she found her gaze darting out the front and side mirrors of the car.

she was still in awe of los angeles in a way. it was very different from the east cost. she adored the weather and the palm trees that were everywhere. people were weirdly friendly too, so it was like southern hospitality but not really. it was hard to explain. madison flipped down the sun visor and flipped the little latch that showed a mirror. she felt like her bun was getting loose so she wanted to check and sure enough a bobby pin was poking out. she tsked to herself and pushed it back into place. she then proceeded to shut the mirror and then the sun visor.

she turned to colby and laughed at his comment. "don't worry, I got enough crazy for the two of us." she joked, smiling. she caught herself laughing every time colby let loose at each of the stoplights. it brought her some comfort know he was willing to be crazy with her. it was more fun and easy to be weird with someone else than alone. the song shifted to Under Pressure. she bobbed her head to the music.

"you know, one day I'll learn how to play this song. I don't know when that day will come, but it will come!" she said randomly, glancing down at her phone to see how much longer of the song was left. she decided to take a snap of her and colby jamming, and then showed emma and sam in the back making funny faces at the camera. she chuckled and saved the video. she didn't post it anywhere. she wasn't trying to show anything off, she just wanted it for her own personal memories.

once she finished that, she noticed colby pulling into target. she smiled, unbuckling as he parked. she unhooked her phone and slid it in her back pocket as she exited the vehicle. "Alright, we only need a few things so this should take too long..." madison hummed, rolling on the balls of her feet as she waited for everyone to leave the car and join her by the sliding doors.

sam realized he hadn't buckled yet and was quick to do so. safety first. he nodded at emma, finding her explanation fair. "oh gotcha, I mean, that makes sense." he said with a title of his head and a smile. he and emma had never really talked about music before, he was curious as to what her favorite artists were. he knew that she didn't mind the music being played but he could tell she wasn't nearly as into it as colby and madison.

those two got along great, it almost weirded sam out. it was very easy to tell who got along the best out of the group and it was definitely colby and madison and emma and sam. now don't get him wrong, the group as a whole got along fantastically. he was just more inclined to hang out with emma outside of a group than he would be with madison per say. she was just a different type of outgoing bubbly personality. emma was outgoing but her personality was more chilled out and way more sam's tempo.

at emma's words, sam found himself glancing to the front. sure enough madison and colby were up there having a blast. he could see colby refraining from completely jamming out, and found it amusing. he turned back to emma, chuckling a little. "I wouldn't expect anything less from them." he joked, playfulling rolling his eyes. he pulled out his phone to check his text messages. he answer some from his manager then responded to jake before putting his phone away.

"so who's your favorite music artist? who do you jam out to in your room?" he asked curiously. he liked learning about emma, she was very interesting to him. he enjoyed talking to her and seeing her light up when she really got to going on topics she cared about. sam noticed they were approaching target. time really had flown but then again target was close by. he was excited to get the supplies and get cooking. he was kinda relieved that they were just doing this as friends and not for a video. it was nice to have a break from the camera every once in a while and just hangout with friends. he saw madison start videoing and once she moved the camera to show him and emma he made a funny face and stuck his tongue out as he clearly wasn't jamming with her and colby.

madison nodded her head at colby's question. "yeah, guitar or bass. I played a lot when I was younger but I haven't in the past year or so. I really should pick it back up again..." she trailed off, more to herself. she watched as everyone got out of the car and colby locked it. they ended up getting a pretty good parking spot. she turned towards the doors once everyone was ready.

madison pulled out her phone and then tapped on her notes page. she made a mini shopping list of all they would need to make her world famous chocolate chip cookies. "okay gang, all we need is brown sugar, vanilla extract, chocolate chips anddddd..." she trailed off dragging out the 'd' as she scrolled a bit down on her notes page. "baking soda." she finished with a smile and looked up. Emma and her had everything else they would need at home. these were just the ingredients they were running low on or didn't have at all.

madison brushed some strands of hair over her shoulder as they entered target, the glass doors sliding open and the cool ac blowing on them relieving them from the LA heat. she grabbed a little basket since they didn't really need a full blown buggy. she smiled and glanced at the others. she read the signs above the aisle and since they were closest to where the baking soda and brown sugar would be located she headed in that direction first.

"you've never had my famous chocolate chip cookies before, have you colby?" Madison asked him as they fell in pace besides each other. she couldn't remember if she'd baked them or not by now. madison loved cooking and was an avid baker and often made her cookies for her friends and family seeing as they all adored them. she paused about halfway down the aisle as she spotted the brown sugar. unlucky for her it was on the near the top shelf. she leaned forward and got on her tippy toes but to no avail. "could you help me please?" she giggled sheepishly, coming to the quick realization that she couldn't reach what she needed. lucky for her colby was almost 6 feet tall, so he would able to reach the ingredient just fine.

sam was giving emma the majority of his attention. madison and colby were rather distracting and he would occasionally glance at the front seat to see what they were up to. but for the most part his attention was on emma sitting next to him. he shifted his body slightly to mirror hers, now having him face her more.

he laughed with her nodding. he understood that, he liked listening to popular songs. I mean they were popular for a reason. sam nodded, his mouth forming a little 'o' shape. "I never thought about it that way, but you're right. sometimes I forget you aren't from here!" he laughed, leaning back a bit to get more comfortable. "oh me?" he said, cocking his head to the side. "hmm, I guess my music taste is very broad too." he started off, wondering how to put his music taste into words.

"I listen to a lot of different genres, mainly alternative and pop. but I mean I do enjoy the classic rocks bands." he admitted with a slight shrug as he nodded toward the Queen blaring through colby's speakers. sam ran a hand through his hair quickly. "i'm not too picky though, I like to consider myself very open minded when it comes to music." he said smiling.

next thing you know, they're pulling into target. sam made sure he had his phone and wallet before getting out of the car. he watched colby lock it before following the group inside. madison read off the list and he nodded. they really didn't need that much so they wouldn't be here for long. they'd be off at the girls apartment attempting to cook sooner than he thought. he watched madison and colby ahead of him and emma. he wondered when on earth his best friend was going to make a move. he has known colby since freshman year and he knew when his friend was into someone. he and colby had briefly talked about it but their convo was cut short when jake came bargaining in asking them to help with a video of his.

after that thought he found himself glancing down at emma and smiling to himself. he supposed he could say the same for himself. he did really like emma, probably in a more than friends way. he just didn't think he could work up the nerve to do anything about it til he had some hint or assurance she felt the same. besides the fear of messing up the friendship or friend group really got to him. he sighed slightly and turned back forward so he wouldn't be staring for two long. he laughed at the sight in front of him, madison trying but failing to grab the brown sugar on the top shelf. "ooh short girl problems!" he teased her, to which she stuck her tongue out at him in response.

sorry its taken me a bit to reply to both threads, I just had prom saturday and also I just broke up with my bf sooo I've not been motivated. but im feeling kinda inspired? lol but I am sorry if this reply sucks. I promise ill reply to our other thread at some point tomorrow!!) also love the cheesy drama ;)

madison smiled wide. so she was right, he hadn't. "well not to toot my own horn but...toot toot." she started. "i've been told I make the best chocolate chip cookies ever. I can't tell you exactly what I do differently because that's my secret ingredient." she winked as she watched him get the brown sugar down. she thanked him quickly, placing it in the basket. madison laughed at colbys comment. "ooh!" she hummed, glancing at sam who was shaking his head in defeat.

she turned as emma mentioned she had to go grab something. "okay em!" she said, continuing to walk with the boys. they chatted here and there about nonsense until madison came to a stop again. "vanilla extract." she answered colby as she bent down to grab some from a shelf near the bottom. she stood up straight and placed it in the basket. "okay and now we are looking for the chocolate chips. they should be the next aisle over..." she said with a raised brow as she tapped her nose. madison had the habit of tapping her nose while she thought. some called it a quirk. half the time she didn't recognize she was even doing it.

"wait but first we need baking soda!" she remembered, quickly turning on her heels and walking a ways back down the aisle and grabbing some baking soda to add to her cart. she mentally went through her checklist and all they had left was the actual chocolate chips. so they would be done pretty quick. she glanced down the aisle to see a group of girls exiting the target. they legit ran out and she shook her head to herself. they seemed young, they probably did something stupid. she remembered when her and emma and a few of their old friends would mess around in grocery stores when they were bored and in high school still. she made her way back to the boys. "got it!"

the scents of the grocery section were slightly overwhelming to her. she looked up at the signs and found the chocolate chips were indeed in the aisle over. "okay boys, do you prefer milk chocolate, white chocolate, or dark chocolate?" she asked them as they all stood in front of many options and sizes of chocolate chips. she felt her phone buzz in her back pocket signaling a text. she jumped slightly as the sudden movement startled her. she took a step back and pulled her phone out, letting the boys ponder over which chocolate to use. she frowned as she read the text from emma and slid her phone in her pocket after responding. okay will do. are you okay?

she looked down to the end of the aisle as emma approached them.

sam shook his head and smiled, holding his hands up in defense. "oh dang colby, you got me there." he chuckled, watching as his taller friend got the brown sugar down and madison added it to their cart. sam looked around, his eyes wondering. he was still very happy to just be here doing normal things with friends without the camera. being in the trap house there were always cameras in your face so you really always had to be camera ready. so it was nice to escape that for a bit.

don't get him wrong, he loved his job and wouldn't trade anything in his life for the world. he considered himself a very lucky guy. he snapped back into it when emma mentioned she needed something and would catch up with them in a second. he nodded, tempted to follow her but she was already gone. he shrugged and moved to catch up to madison and colby, joining in on their conversation. they chatted about this and that as they strolled the aisles. they got near the end and colby asked what was next. after answering madison said something sam didn't quite catch and then speed walked down the aisle to presumably grab something else.

"I never thought i'd be this excited to bake stuff." sam admitted to his friend as he crossed his arms and waited on madison to return. after she did they made their way to the chocolate chip cookies with him being a distraction and picking up random things along the way. madison called him a child multiple times. he couldn't blame her.

she asked them what chocolate they'd prefer. "hmm..." sam hummed, scanning the many options. "I don't know, what do you think colby?" he asked. he liked all chocolate. maybe just milk chocolate to keep the basic chocolate chip cookies would be nice. but in the end he really didn't care either way. his head instinctively turned when he heard emmas voice. "oh nothing much. we're debating on which chocolate to get our chips in." he caught her up quickly, noticing she seemed a little...anxious...? maybe? he wasn't sure but she obviously was trying to play it cool so he didn't say anything. he looked back to the chocolate.

madison saw emma approach them and did a quick once over of her friend. she didn't look hurt. of course, madison was smart and didn't bring it up but she definitely kept a close eye on emma. She was quick to keep the subject on the cookies and put her opinion of milk chocolate. madison chuckled at emma, just the way she said things cracked madison up some times. she grabbed a bag of milk chocolate chips and added it to the basket she was holding.

she paused as she heard colby mention not being able to eat milk chocolate. she completely forgot about his diet! "oh right!" she said, tapping her nose and grabbing a different bag of chocolate chips colby was able to eat. "no worries! we can make a batch with milk chocolate and a batch with these so you can have some without cheating too hard on your diet!" madison smiled sweetly, proud of her compromise. she felt her phone buzz in her pocket and glanced over to see emma sliding hers back in her own pocket. putting two and two together she realized she must've got another text from emma. she didn't want to make it obvious the girls were texting so she carried on as normal.

"nope, we got everything!" madison nodded, starting towards the check out area. as they group began walking to the checkout area madison nonchalantly pulled out her phone and read emmas text. she furrowed her brows in concern. Were those the same girls she saw running out of the store? madison quickly thumbs up-ed the text letting emma know she was aware of the situation and hurried her pace ever so slightly, deciding to go to self-checkout. that would be quicker.

she began to scan the items and put them in grocery bags, swiping her card. she grabbed both bags in her right hand and set the basket back in its designated area. "alright, now we just gotta go home and bake!" she said enthusiastically. she looped her arm with emma's as they exited target. as they were walking to colby's car, she noticed a group of girls not too far off, whispering and pointing at them. she leaned to emma. "is that them?" she asked softly. she was worried they would try to come up and pose as fans or something. she was worried if they threatened emma like that what else would they do?

(i think we should have the girls approach them and be like rude or something? thats kinda fun and dramatic)

sam completely forgot about colby's keto diet as he was quick to agree with emma on milk chocolate reigning superior. he smiled at her as she rejoined the group, noticing she seemed slightly on edge and wanting to ease her nerves. he watched madison grab both bags of chocolate chips, taking note of how sweet she was to ensure everyone was satisfied. "oh that sounds perfect mads! two batches equals more cookies." he said happily, content with eating more. madison wouldn't stop going on about how good her cookies were so he was sure he was going to eat more than one.

sam found his mind wandering to emma again. he felt such a strange urge to protect her. same with madison but that was more brotherly, for emerson it was something different. he knew he had mentioned it to colby before that he found her attractive and sweet but that was a while ago. he's been keeping his stronger more recent feelings to himself. he didn't know what to make of them yet, so he wanted to keep them secret until he could decipher them. he snapped himself out his thoughts quickly as he noticed the group leaving to check out. looks like they did have everything they needed.

sam chuckled at emma's comment, falling into pace with her as they trailed madison and colby. "hey i'm sure they'll restock, don't feel too bad." he nudged her playfully. He noticed their sudden change in direction as madison moved to go to the self checkout instead. he was about to offer to pay for it since he's just nice like that but she had already swiped her card. he sighed softly, before deciding to take the bags for her. "hey let me carry those!" he said, holding out his hands for the two bags. madison smiled and handed them to him. "thanks sam!" she said. "no problem." he responded quickly, holding both bags in his right hand.

he waited for emma to buy her SD card before the group exited target. he wasn't paying that much attention to his surroundings. therefore he didn't notice the suspicious group of girls starting to approach them.

madison's smile turned into a slight frown as emma confirmed those were the girls that threatened emma. she tried to shake it off, colby's car in view. they were in the home stretch now. unfortunately, right as they approached the car she heard their names being called. she turned around to find the three girls approaching with the fakest smiles plastered on their faces. madison had quite a few talents up her sleeve but her personal favorite was being able to spot a fake person from a mile away.

she found herself smiling and nodded in unison with the rest. she didn't want to speak in fear of saying something petty or snarky. after permission was granted she was engulfed in an unnecessarily tight hug from one of the girls. madison thought the life was about to be squeezed out of her. the girl menacingly whispered in her ear, "you need to stay away from sam and colby. you are nothing and you don't deserve to be in their presence." Madison swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. She kept a small smile on her face but she was now very uncomfortable. She now knew exactly why emma was in such a hurry. Not long after the first girl came the next and another menacing threat. The third girl was just the same. Madison felt her fingers tapping at her sides and knew her anxiety was skyrocketing right now. The minute she sat down her leg would be going ninety-to-nothing.

The girls left sharing one last glance over their shoulders. Madison was very quick to get in the car. Her smile disappeared instantly and her assumptions were correct when her leg started bouncing rapidly. She was fiddling with her fingers as she replayed what just happened over again in her head. Emma's shaky comment snapped her out of it as she turned around in the front seat to look at her friend. The stutter made Madison share an apologetic and reassuring smile, she knew emma was shaken up. Colby's next statement made her heart skip a beat. She bit her lip, leg still tapping as she thought about how to respond.

"Uhm, nothing really, don't worry about it." She said, her voice kind of shaky. She was hoping sam nor colby would notice. She didn't want to make this a big deal and she was sure emma didn't want to either. Sam however, shook his head. "Come on guys, somethings up. You can tell us." Sam said, his face serious and full of concern as he glanced from madison to emma. Madison sighed, deciding to just come clean.

"Those girls threatened emma earlier in the store when she went to get her SD card which is why we were in such a hurry to leave. Then just now when they were hugging us they threatened us again and told us to basically stay away from you two." Madison summed the situation up once again fiddling with her hands. Her leg was still bouncing. She couldn't really control it and she desperately needed something to help ground her before she had an anxiety attack but emma was too far away to hold her hand or lean on for comfort.

sam shared colby's smile, having fall in step beside him. The girls carried on their way, arms looped together heading straight for colby's good ol' corolla. he chuckled at the sight, being the last one to reach the car. he opened the back door and put the bags in the floorboard, assuming madison would want shot gun again. just as he was about to get in the car he heard all four of their names behind called. he turned his head to see a group of girls coming up to them. he shut the door and smiled, assuming they were fans.

"yeah sure!" he greeted. He was rather surprised they only wanted hugs. normally people wanted pictures. he didn't think too much of it though, maybe some people just wanted the experience and not have it on their phone. he gave them hugs as they went by and noticed madison and emma looking rather uncomfortable. he could tell something was wrong because bot of their demeanor had changed. He waved the group of girls off and also took note of how quickly mads and em got into the car. something wasn't quite right. he shared a look with colby as he hopped in the back.

colby began to pull out of the parking lot and he buckled up, observing emma out of his peripheral vision. he was going to ask her if she was okay but she made a comment first. her stutter threw sam off but also confirmed his thoughts of something being wrong. colby was quick to cut to the chase. he waited as both girls seemed unsure. he watched madison, noticing how fidgety she was. she finally spoke up, saying it was nothing which sam was quick to steer away from. clearly there was something going on.

He shook his head and said, "Come on guys, somethings up. You can tell us". He waited as madison sighed before explaining what happened. sam was shocked and appalled. that was absolutely ridiculous! he couldn't believe someone could treat sweet emma and madison like that. it honestly angered him quite a lot. now everything made sense.

"That's absurd, I'm so sorry they treated you guys like that. Definitely don't take anything they said to heart. They're just jealous." He began to try and reassure the girls, placing a hand on emma's shoulder to calm her down. "You guys should've told colby and I, we would've turned them away. Can you tell us what exactly they said?" Sam questioned, trying to figure out what kind of threats were made. Obviously cruel things were said if the girls were as distraught as they appeared to be right now. Sam just wanted to give both of them, especially emma a big hug.

His anger grew as he looked at her so shaken up. He felt a strong urge to protect her. he really was falling hard whether he wanted to admit it or not. in his eyes, emma was amazing. it baffled him anyone could ever think otherwise or even consider being so rude to such a genuine, caring, gorgeous girl.

madison sat quietly as emma continued talking, trying to shake off what happened. it shouldn't be bothering her that much. she definitely wasn't used to things like that. her and emma weren't necessarily new to the fame but they were definitely new to this type of interaction. madison was slowly but surely calming down and she quit fiddling. Suddenly she felt someones hand on her leg and looked up to find it was colby. she smiled, her leg ceasing to tap. she was very appreciative of this small gesture. she felt a wave of comfort come over her.

madison softly smiled through colby's comment. "thank you, you guys are right. i just honestly wasn't expecting that." she sighed, turning her head to look out the window. she fought back the urge to place her hand over colby's but didn't want to be weird. she had calmed down a lot now and was kind of surprised. the only other person that's contact has helped her calm down this fast was emma. theres just another reason to like colby.

the car ride passed rather quickly and the boys quickly lifted the girls spirits with their silly conversations. madison just couldn't help but be so grateful. how did her and em end up with such great guys like sam and colby? before she knew it they had arrived back at the girls apartment. colby managed to get a good spot, close to the elevators which was good. madison was the last to get out of the car, her head hurting a little from her almost episode earlier but she was feeling much better now. she felt like a little bitch because she felt she overreacted but there wasn't much she could do about it now.

once out of the car she noticed sam and emma already making their way to the elevators and was about to go join them when she was stopped by colby. she stopped to look up at him smiling appreciatively. he really was a sweetheart. "yeah i'm much better now, thank you." she started, her cheeks turning slightly red with blush. she hoped it wasn't too noticeable. "nothing like that's ever really happened to me on that scale before, so i guess i wasn't sure how to react." she chuckled, trying to make light of the conversation. "but really thank you, i appreciate a lot. and em does to. you guys are awesome." she said softly, placing her hand on colbys which was on her shoulder and giving it a slight squeeze before the two began to walk to the elevators.

she giggled as they entered her apartment, excited about sam and emma's enthusiasm. "oh well first we need to preheat the oven then lay out all our ingredients. So em, could you preheat the oven to 375 degrees?" madison asked as she started sifting through the bags laid on the table and laying out everything. She then went over to the cabinets and laid everything else out they needed that they didn't need to buy at the store.

"Okay Colby, you're stuck with me, think you can handle that?" she questioned him with a playful grin. she knew them two would be working on colbys batch with the chocolate for his keto diet and then sam and emma would be working on the regular batch. that way with two on each batch they would get done a lot quicker.

sam's hand remained on her shoulder and he frowned, his anger growing as emma continued to explain. he understood that the fangirls could be crazy but he never thought to this extent. it was honestly so ridiculous. he wished he could do more to comfort or reassure her but no, the hand on the shoulder would have to suffice.

sam nodded in agreement with colby. "i'm sorry that happened, but colby's right, don't let what they said get to you. you guys are our best friends, those girls are irrelevant to our lives and their stupid for thinking otherwise." sam proceeded to try and reassure. he noticed emma appeared a lot less shaken than madison but he could tell something was off. he knew emma well enough to notice when her vibe wasn't quite right. sighing he thought it best to remove his hand before things got weird as it was a slightly awkward position.

he shifted in his seat as the conversation changed to other things. colby and him were trying their best to cheer the girls up and get their mind of those bitchy fangirls. sam was still very angry that anyone would treat any human beign like that but he was doing a good job of concealing it. the group shared crazy and funny fan stories, and just had other random conversations to make the los angeles traffic go a little bit faster. it worked as soon enough colby was pulling into the girls apartment complexes parking deck. snatching a spot a lot closer than last time everyone was quick to get out of the cramped car and go make some cookies.

sam followed emma quickly to the elevator area, having given one of his bags to colby to carry. "you ready to make some cookies em?" he questioned as she pressed the button and the group waited on the elevator. colby and madison joined them right as the elevator dinged. they rode up to the girls apartment and emma was quick to go inside. her reaction made sam chuckle. he set his bags down on their large island. madison was quick to take charge and sam was quick to sit back and wait to be told what to do.

after she talked to colby, she turned to him. "sam you and emma work on you guys batch of cookies. i'll walk you guys through it as colby and i work on our batch!" she explained to him. that made sense. "ohh we should have a competition on whose cookies are better!" sam suggested. "emma and i can find our own recipe online!" he said, wiggling his eyebrows.