A Night Out With Sabrina Quesada and Emma Brooks

“We're a little witchy and telepathic like that," Sabrina Quesada says about her friendship with Emma Brooks. They finish each other's sentences, communicate in glances, and have spent enough time together to develop their own language. Tonight, a brisk Tuesday evening in Manhattan, ahead of the NYLON x Tommy Hilfiger holiday party at Chez Margaux, they're in sync, per usual. And soon, they're making it official: the content creators and best friends are moving in together.

For Quesada, who moved from Los Angeles just over a year ago, New York is it. "I've finally reached that level of comfort where it really does feel like my home," she says. With Mexican, Texan, and Floridian roots, the connection runs deeper for the influencer. "New York reminds me a lot of Mexico City, which is where I'm from. I think that's why I was so drawn here."

For Brooks, who first visited the city at 15 and always dreamed of living there, it's a new beginning. She describes it to friends as answering a phone that won't stop ringing. "Now that I have picked it up, I don't plan on putting the phone down."

Their Tommy origin stories were equally inevitable. When Quesada started working with the brand, she posted a throwback of herself at three years old already wearing it. "It was such a surreal moment for me and my family because we all grew up wearing Tommy. I remember always stealing my older brother's polos because I loved the logo." With Books, it started in her pre-teen years: "My first pair of nice jeans were Tommy. I begged my mom to get them for me."

Cut to last year's New York Fashion Week. Brooks and Quesada were on a ferry to a Tommy show when Emma brought up living together. The idea sat there for a while. Then came a trip to Mykonos with the brand — twenty-plus days together, a few glasses of wine — and they both knew. "We're kind of always on the same page like that."

Lately, Brooks has been raiding Quesada’s closet because she hasn't moved all her stuff from LA yet. "But when she does, I will be raiding hers. She's got great style. We both have very different aesthetics, so it's fun playing dress up with each other.

"Their pre-event ritual is simple and charmingly unserious: "You look so good." "No, YOU look so good." "No, we look so good." Then they dance. "I'm not exaggerating, we dance a lot," Quesada says. "Specifically, alone in our living room."

Outside of the apartment, Brooks still has one Louisiana habit she can't shake: hanging out in cars. Back in Houma (population 33,000), there wasn't much to do, so she and her friends would sit in parking lots and eat or just hang out. "Obviously, now that I'm in New York I don't have a car, but whenever I get a chance, I will always take advantage. It's definitely a habit that will never die."

Quesada used to host a podcast called "Brutally Honest" and has become more reserved in sharing stories about her personal life since ending it, but ask about her most chaotic night out and she'll make an exception. The story: back to that Mykonos trip. After a few drinks, they went for a swim in a part of the ocean lit up by bright lights. For about an hour. At midnight. The next day, a friend at their hotel informed them: "Big light means big fish." It's a running joke now. "I guess the big fish liked us though because we left unscathed."

Tonight they move through the room finishing each other's sentences, laughing at inside jokes. The Tommy crowd is full of familiar faces, which is exactly how they like it. "Our Tommy family is very welcoming, and it really does feel like a family," Quesada says.

When the party starts winding down, they're already plotting the next move. Knowing them, there's a side quest brewing — Emma's idea, Sabrina will get dragged along. Maybe an after-party at that bar in Chinatown no one can ever remember the name of. That's the deal when you finally pick up the phone: New York doesn't let you put it back down.