Emma let out a small groan of pain. Her head was pounding and the damn sunlight shining through her curtains didn't do much to help it. Grabbing the pillow and throwing it over her head in an attempt to block out the sun, Emma tried to get back to the calm serenity of sleep. However, the headache kept one question running through her mind.

She started to evaluate her memories of last night, wondering when she was stupid enough to actually drink. Because whatever made her do it was definitely not worth the hangover she was experiencing in that moment. But then she remembered it was no hangover.

Emma could feel the warmth over the fire wash over her skin as she hunched over on the ground, coughing up a storm as she struggled to breath because of the smoke. The fire weaned down, and while the orange flamed still cast shadows around her, Emma pushed herself up back to her feet, her eyes frantically searching the ground for her purse.

"Emma?" The voice calling out to her seemed so distant that the girl herself barely noticed it. And as she let out a string of coughs once more, she knew she needed to find her bag. But the voice must've been much closer than she initially guessed. Within the blink of an eye, Emma felt a pair of hands steady her as Rebekah's face appeared in her field of vision.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Rebekah's bright eyes scanned over Emma, but she was glad to see no sign of injury on the brunette.

"Bag... My bag." Emma wheezed out, her urgent tone leaving no room for argument. The blonde looked around quickly, her eyes zeroing in on Emma's leather purse laying on the ground in a haphazard manner, some things spilling out onto the pavement.

Emma was sure the lack of air was getting to her head as she thought she saw Rebekah run faster than humanly possible to her purse and back, already searching through it as she questioned Emma on what she needed from it.

"Inhaler."

Rebekah paused for a moment, unsure of what an inhaler looked like nowadays. So she grabbed the only thing she didn't know what it was. Luckily it seemed to be the right one as Emma clutched on to it and brought it to her lips in a somewhat greedy manner.

"Are you alright?" Rebekah questioned again once Emma seemed to catch her breath again. She kept her inhaler in her hand, even though the smoke around them had cleared as the fire died down.

"I'm better, thank you." Emma said in relief, her eyes glancing back to the flame engulfed car. When it first exploded, Emma thought she'd seen people close by, but there was nobody in the parking lot aside from Rebekah and herself. "We should really call somebody about that."

"No need, I already did." Rebekah lied quickly. Knowing who the vehicle belonged to, it didn't take much for the blonde to gather what happened, especially after seeing Elena and the history teacher scurrying away with Stephan in their arms.

"Should we wait?" Emma questioned, unsure of what to do with the situation they found themselves in.

"Okay, listen to me..." Rebekah spoke, her tone changing and making Emma's eyes focus on her, just as Rebekah needed her to. "You're going to go home and just get some rest. Forget about the car and the fire."

Emma nodded her head in acceptance, knowing Rebekah was right. Even though she was feeling better now, it was unwise for her to stick around. She believed the blonde to be looking out for her. And in a way, that was exactly Rebekah's goal. While the vampire wasn't expecting to make friends when she came to the high school, she took a liking to Emma. It was why she wanted to keep her friend out of their supernatural world. At this moment compulsion was the only way she knew how to.

Although as she watched Emma drive away in her car, Rebekah realized she hated having to do it. But she doubted it to be something Elena's little group would have an issue with. Rebekah knew that, with her goal being to keep Emma away from the supernatural, she would have to get some vervain for her friend.

As the memory replayed in her head, Emma finally pushed the pillow away from her face and with her eyes squinted, reached for the phone settled on the nightstand beside her bed. She unlocked it, and after a small search through her most recent calls, dialed the number of her blonde friend.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?" It didn't take Rebekah too long to answer, her voice sounding quite chipper and relaxed on the other end. It would seem she had proven Emma wrong, sounding like she was as refreshed as ever with no indication of a hangover.

"Like a log." Emma said honestly. "I was wondering whether you're going to this illuminating thing tonight?" Emma asked, having already heard about the event being held in town that night from her mother.

"I wasn't planning on it. These small towns are always holding events, it's not a disaster if you skip one." Rebekah said half-heartedly, truly not really interested in attending whatever founder-honoring event was being held that night.

"Well then how about..." Emma started to ask, but before she continued, she first checked the time on her phone. "Brunch? Early lunch?"

"Sure. Meet me at the Grill?" Rebekah asked cheerily.

"That's the place around the square, right?" Emma questioned, she was convinced she'd passed by it before, but wanted to be sure so she wouldn't get lost and force Rebekah to wait for her while she was late. A small sound of confirmation came from the other end of the line. "Alright, I'll see you soon."

"I took the initiative and got you a cup of tea, you seem like a tea person." Rebekah announced once Emma sat down at the table, shortly after entering the Grill and spotting Rebekah already there.

"Thank you. And you got it right, I am a tea person. Unless I pulled an all-nighter and actually need it, coffee makes me like a child on Christmas morning... on steroids." Emma said with a smile, taking a sip of the tea. She tried to guess what it was, sensing the herbal tones and definitely recognizing chamomile, but there was something else, familiar yet foreign at the same time. "I also wanted to thank you for last night." Emma added on, choosing to give up on trying to guess what it was that she was tasting.

"Last night?" Rebekah froze for a moment, wondering what Emma was referring to. At first, she thought the brunette remembered the car and the fire, but that was impossible. However, Rebekah wasn't sure what else she could be thanking her for. Making her go to the bonfire because she had fun in the end?

"The whole parking lot thing. I hope you didn't get into any trouble over it." Emma said, wanting to know what happened after she left. She doubted Rebekah would get into trouble, after all, they had nothing to do with that car, but she still wanted to be sure. Also, to know if someone would need to speak to her over it or something.

"You remember that?" Rebekah couldn't stop herself from asking as her own surprise overpowered her sense of reason.

"Did I look that out of it? Man, no wonder you sent me home." Emma of course suspected nothing from Rebekah's surprise. However, the lack of an answer that lapsed them into a silence made the brunette send her friend a questioning look. "So? What happened?"

"Oh, nothing much really. And no, I didn't get into any trouble." Rebekah lied to the best of her ability, trying to seem composed now, but inside of her all kinds of suspicions were rising as she sent Emma a fake smile.

Had she been wrong about Emma? Did she possibly know more than she let on? It was obvious from all of this that Rebekah's attempt to slip vervain into the girl's tea was futile. She already had it in her system. That was the only explanation as to how she could remember after Rebekah tried to compel her to forget. The only thing she needed to find out was how... and why Emma was so eager to be friends with her if she did know about what she was.

Either Emma was as oblivious as she acted, in which case something else was going on here, and probably nothing good. Or this was some ploy from Elena's side. And if that proved to be the case, Rebekah would not hesitate in killing her. Even if she did like Emma, nobody played Rebekah for a fool and betrayed her. Those who tried in the past did not live long to tell the tales.

"So this Night of the Illumination thing, I actually want to go. It might be cool." Emma said honestly, choosing to switch the topics and bring the conversation into the small silence that was starting to become slightly awkward.

"You should if you want to." Rebekah said, seeing nothing wrong with wanting to go. It just didn't seem appealing to her.

"I'd like it if you came with me?" Emma asked, a hopeful smile on her face that Rebekah did not return as she instead fixed the brunette with an unimpressed look. It prompted Emma to go on. "Well think of it this way, you wanted me to come with you to the bonfire, and I did. Now it's your turn."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Rebekah questioned, already seeing the answer in Emma's eyes and mischievous smile.

"Nope. It could be really pretty with all the lanterns and stuff. And it's probably the closest I'll ever get to something like the Yi Peng Festival of Lights." Emma explained, making Rebekah send her a curious look.

"The Yi Peng Festival of Lights?"

"It's a traditional festival in Thailand where people set off thousands and thousands of lanterns into the night sky on the year's twelfth lunar moon believing it's when the rivers are at their fullest and moon at it's brightest. They believe that letting go of the lantern, it takes away your worries, fears and anxieties." Emma explained, remembering the story her mother had told her about the event and the information she'd gathered on her own after.

"How do you know all of this?" Rebekah asked curiously.

"I've always wanted to travel, everywhere. I have seen a lot of the States, true, but I want to go beyond that. But since I can, I read about all the things that are out there instead." Emma explained shortly, not diving into all of her reasons behind it.

"Well maybe one day you'll get to." Rebekah offered optimistically, making Emma let out a small laugh, knowing more than Rebekah just how unlikely that was. "But until then, I suppose we can go watch a cheap copy here."

"Thank you." Emma sent Rebekah a pleased smile, making the blonde shake her head at the girl, surprised by how easily she actually got her to agree. As Emma took another sip of her tea, Rebekah spared a hopeful glance towards the brunette. In truth, the vampire truly hoped Emma was just oblivious, it would make everything so much easier.