Such a Fun Age

Emira sits in a red booth beneath neon signs and fake palm trees. It’s her birthday, and everyone is at Tropicana 187 to celebrate. She’s wearing a tight black dress, sheer tights, and a plastic tiara. The club isn’t as upscale as the places Zara, Shaunie, and Josefa favor, but Emira is happy. She orders a round of tequila shots for everyone.

After the movie let out earlier that day, Emira took Briar to a bakery, and they split a red velvet cupcake. Emira has felt good about her work lately: she’s spent the week introducing Briar to new words, places, and ideas. At night, she scours the Internet for job postings, and she’s sent out six résumés. Emira even has an interview for a childcare manager position at Body World Fitness lined up, though the job doesn’t pay well, and she has a hard time imagining caring for kids other than Briar. And best of all, Kelley remembered it was her birthday and sent flowers to her apartment that morning.

Emira and her friends finish eating and head downstairs to the bar area. Kelley shows up with some of his friends. “Hey, pretty,” Kelley says to Emira when he sees her.  She tells him about her day and her new job prospects. Kelley is shocked to hear that Emira is thinking of leaving the Chamberlains, but he’s happy for her. Emira tells him about the awkward conversation she had with Mrs. Chamberlain earlier that day. Kelley wants to tell Emira about his meeting with Alix, but he holds off, not wanting to ruin the evening. Instead, he offers to buy the next round of drinks. Shaunie demands champagne. In between taking pictures and drinking drinks, Josefa quietly signals for Zara to come over. Then Zara pretends that Emira is bleeding, grabs her arm, and pulls her into the bathroom. Shaunie and Josefa follow. Something is up. 

Emira and her friends crowd into the accessible stall. Zara asks Emira if she shared the Market Depot video. Emira doesn’t know what Zara is talking about.  Josefa pulls up the video on her phone. Emira grabs the phone, sees herself on the screen, and starts to panic. Who could’ve leaked the video? She’d thought that she was the only one who had it, but now it’s on Twitter for the whole world to see. Emira scrolls through the comments. Many of them are positive, but a lot of them make light of the incident.

Emira’s friends suspect that Kelley may have leaked the video. Inwardly, Emira tries to convince herself that it isn’t true: Kelley has been good to her, and she has no reason to doubt him—right? Before Emira can stop her, Zara runs out of the bathroom and heads toward Kelley and his friends. She pretends she’s lost her phone and asks Kelley to call it for her. As soon as he punches in his password, Zara snatches the phone and scrolls through its contents until she finds the video in Kelley’s outgoing mailbox. Emira freezes. She looks at Kelley and says, “Fuck you.” 

Kelley tries to explain himself, but Emira and her friends grab their things and exit the club. Kelley runs out after them. He tries to tell Emira he had nothing to do with the leaked video. “Literally no one else wanted this but you,” Emira tells him. Then she accuses Kelley of wanting to change her. She claims that Kelley hates the run-down neighborhood she lives in, and the fact that she works as a babysitter. Kelley replies Emira is the only one who cares that she’s a babysitter. “Cool,” Emira replies. Then she turns to leave with her friends. Before Emira gets in the Uber, Kelley tells her that Alix likely leaked the video. But Emira ignores him, climbs into the car with her friends, and leaves. Inside the car, Zara takes Emira’s phone and relabels Kelley’s number “Don’t Answer.”