Ruby had just ran off to the bathroom, leaving an extremely buzzed Emma to sway slightly to the music. She was enjoying the feeling of the pills and the alcohol she had, along with all of the lights. They were just so pretty, all of them winking happily back at her. She was standing to the side of the dance floor with a happy grin on her face when Le walked up to her. She hardly noticed him looming over her before he growled his opening. She nearly had a heart attack, and whipped around to see him glowering down at her.

Her eye's widened in surprise and she instantly stuck out her lower lip in a pout, her eyes starting to tear up as if on command. "I didn't do it! I swear!" she yelled frantically. "I swear to god Le I've been a gentleman all night to Ruby! Hands above the waist and everything! Oh god." She could feel big fat tears rolling down her face and her lip quivering as she looked up at him. "Please don't kill me! I promise I'll never hurt Ru! You gotta believe me!"

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Le was startled by her reaction. He stepped back in surprise when the tears began to flow. Great, now I'm going to be seen as a bigger bully, he thought as she yelled and cried. "The fuck are you on kid?" he asked, looking around suspiciously.

"Just.. stop... stop crying... please?" he reached out tentatively and patted her shoulder. "There, there." He sighed deeply. "Fuck kid, I never made someone cry in seven words before, gimme a damn break. I just said I wanted to talk."

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"N-nothing?" she answered between tears. She didn't want to possibly make Leland hate her more by telling him she was drunk and on whatever they had taken. She especially didn't want him to find out Ruby was as well. "I'm not on anything!"

She let out a loud sniff as he patter her shoulder, biting her lip nervously. It was the talk that she was terrified of, she already knew that Ruby could do so much better than a drug dealer burn out like herself. What if Leland said she couldn't date Ruby? Forbid her from seeing her? She couldn't handle that kind of separation, especially from her best friend. "W-well you're big and scary!" she informed him, dabbing her eyes on her sleeve so as not to ruin her make up. "What did you want to talk about?"

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He frowned deeply. This chick had to be lying to him. At least the little hippie was forward. Nah man, I aint on anything tonight, but I'll tell ya what, you want a deal on weed I got your back. He shook his head and patted her. "Fuck kid, aint no use in lying."

Big and scary. Well, that was true. "Look, why don't we step outside Thompson," he put his hand in the air solemnly. "I promise I don't hit chicks," he added as an after thought. He did want to scare her a little, but he hadn't meant for her to be downright terrified. "I wanna talk about some stuff and don't want eavesdroppers."

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Emma pouted, but figured if he knew she was lying she might as well tell him. "Just some vodka and pills," she mumbled sheepishly. "Nothing really hard though, I promise. I wouldn't do that to Ru...you gotta believe me!"

Sniffling, Emma considered his answer for a moment. She looked around the crowed, hoping that Ruby would turn up out of no where and tell Leland to screw off but she couldn't see her brunette girlfriend anywhere. "Okay," she agreed, biting her lip nervously. "We have to be quick though, Ru only went to the bathroom and I don't want her to freak out if she can't find me."

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"Fuck kid, you better know what them pills are," he growled. The he remembered her didn't want the poor thing to run away from him, he didn't want to scare her anymore. He reigned it in, using a more controlled voice. "You gotta be careful with that shit, it aint good for ya and my kid sister... you just better be careful," he warned, leading her outside.

Once they were standing in the fresh, open air, he sighed and looked at her. "Look Thompson. All I gotta say is this; dealin' is fuckin' stupid. It only causes trouble and if Ruby gets in trouble or gets hurt, or if you were to go an' get hurt on her..." he pursed his lips. "It just fuckin' sucks alright. There are bad people out there an' yer just this little, tiny, innocent thing..." he shoved his fidgety hands into his pockets and looked at her. She wouldn't be able to defend herself if someone attacked her and he cringed a bit when he realized he had just adopted another kid sister. "Fuck me," he sighed, turning away a bit.

"Listen," he finally said. "Anyone gives you trouble? Gimme a call," he shook his head in disbelief at what he was saying. "Just don't fuck up too bad alright?"

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"T-they're just Xanax, I promise!" Emma said, shrinking back again as Le growled at her. She chewed at her lip, thinking back to make sure that it actually was Xanax they had taken and not something else. "W-we don't do it very often, I swear! Especially not Ru, she's really careful and stuff. I-I'm always really careful what I give Ruby, she..she's special. I don't want to ruin anything for her."

Emma frowned as Leland started in on her drug dealing. She knew that it put Ruby at risk, and it made her feel bad anytime she thought about it a little too hard. She hadn't thought being an errand girl for Tatum would really lead to anyone getting hurt. Emma could see why Le was worried now, and she furrowed her brow, wringing her hands. "I'd never let Ruby get hurt...you have to believe me Le. I love her more than anything! I always have, ever since I first saw her. She's my everything, I'd protect her with my life."

"Thanks, I will." She wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering at the thought of Ruby ever getting hurt. "I'm trying really hard not to fuck up Le. I-I'm terrified of fucking up."

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He watched her carefully and was satisfied with the answer. He nodded and tried his best to soften the harshness of the look on his face. He scowled, that was just his resting face and he knew he had to work on it.

"I believe you and I think she feels the same way about you too kid," He nudged her gently. "Look, I don't know her nearly as well as I should, but I wanna. And first instinct is protectin' her and as that turns out, it means watchin' out for you too."

"I've done enough fucking up for the both of us," he said darkly. "It's awful," there were some days when he felt like he still had blood on his hands even though it was years ago. "I used to deal too and sure it was a crazier, scarier area but people are shits everywhere. Just... don't trust anyone that's buyin' or sellin'."

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Emma nodded, chewing her lip again. It was nice to know that Le was kind of on her side, even if he was threatening her at the same time. She had never had siblings, the only kind she had really been exposed to was Marney, and she wasn't exactly the best example. She supposed that even if Le was scary, his heart was in the right place. "She's a little stand-offish at first, but Ru's the best. I think you two would get along! You're both such tightwads!" She smiled at Le innocently. "Maybe you can get each other to relax a little bit!"

Her eyes became as wide as saucers, "You used to deal?! No way!" She shuddered thinking about what Le might have seen. She had only ever dealed to the upper class, rich white kids in the suburbs, you couldn't get much safer than that. She supposed that all of her sources had to come from somewhere a lot less desirable. "I...I can trust Tate though, right? And Apple? They don't seem like they could hurt a fly...maybe like...Tate's girlfriend could...but you're friends with her, right?"

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He rose an eyebrow high and looked at her. "Tightwad?" he asked. "No way, I aint not tightwad, I just..." She was probably right though because he couldn't think of an excuse for the way he was. He had lost too much to ever be careless again. "I just... I gotta take care of my own ya know? I don't got much so I gotta watch out for what I do have."

He only nodded when she asked him about his dealing. "Yeah, it was the only way a young kid could make any money and that's what my ma needed," he tried not to scowl but it just along with the territory when he was talking about his mom. He had sacrificed nearly everything for her and she had given him nothing in return, not even the motherly love he thought came along with moms. "I stopped dealing when I moved here with me aunt though and let me tell you, life has been a lot less complicated and a lot less fucked up."

"Mack's good people and so is Little Red," he said of Tatum, if she had been listening carefully, she would have heard the subtle endearment that came along with the nickname. "Still not sure about that Apple Pear kid though," his eyes flicked toward the door as if Apple would just appear out of nowhere. "Just... be careful man, I know you deal to a tamer crowd but the tame crowd can be just as mean as anyone else."

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"You and Ru are totally tightwads!" She chirped again, a small smile on her face. "Or worry warts! I think it's nice though, that you look out for other people the way you do. You both have good hearts."

Emma took all of this information in carefully, wondering if Ruby knew what Le had just told her. Not that Ruby would care, she assumed, but she didn't really know how much time she had spent with Le at this point. Just because Mars was always hanging off of him like some demented chimpanzee didn't mean much. She decided to keep it to herself for now and wait to see what happened.

"You just don't like Apple because he's gonna bone your sister!" Emma teased, not even a shred of tact in her tone. "I like Tatum and Mack and Apple! They're all really nice, or at least Mack is when Tatum tells her to be." She chewed her lip in thought again, thinking about how Le sounded a lot like Ruby when she lectured Emma about her job. They must be siblings was all that really went through her mind, but she figured that Ruby would be impressed if she took Le's advice anyway. "I'll be careful, promise!"

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He tried to suppress a smirk at her insistence but failed. "I gotta stop hanging out with you chicks, you're makin' me look all squishy and smiley," he teased, ruffling her hair.

"Hey, watch it now," he said, a joking threat hanging on his tone. "He better not touch my sister," then he grinned. "Mack is just... she's kinda like me," he left it vague like that cause there was no way he was going to get into a conversation like that with Emma.

"You better be," he loosely wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a half hug. "And you just drop my name if anyone starts to give you a hard time. Got it?"

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