❛ SUPERMARKET FLOWERS ♪ ❜ - z. herron

fifty-six: listen to that lyric again and again.

"Hey KJ, I haven't seen you in a while." Emerson smiles at me as she closes the door.

I drop my eyes down to my hands, fiddling with my hair. "I don't go by KJ anymore."

"Okay..." she says, sitting down on Isa's bed beside us. "How are you? I feel like it's been a while since i've seen you."

"I'm alright. I've been busy with school and Nate, it's been super nonstop." I say.

This earns a reaction from Isa, who sits straight up. "I need to go grab something from my car, I'll be back. You two converse."

Em and I nod, looking back at each other. "So, how have you been?" I speak.

"I'm really good actually. The boys and I have started this ping pong bet where we-"

"Oh cool." I say, not wanting to hear the rest. I look down, twisting the strings of my hoodie.

I don't want to hear about all the times I've missed.

"Is that an office hoodie?" she asks, her voice holding curiosity.

"Yeah." I smile, looking up at her. "It's the Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies-"

"-Rabies Awareness Fun Run Pro Am Race for the Cure." She finishes with me, all in one breath. "The only episode of the office you won't be annoyed to watch. When did you buy that? I want one."

"I didn't actually. It's not mine." I reply, tying my hair up.

Her face twists, "When did Nate get into The Office? He always talked about how Community was better."

I laugh, "It's not his either."

"Then who's is it?" She says, raising an eyebrow.

"Zach's, actually." I say, reminiscing. "I forgot to give it back so it's been in my closet ever since."

"He missed you, you know?" Emerson says, tapping her feet together. "He doesn't talk about it often but whenever we are doing anything, he'll mention you. "Oh, Ira would love this," or "Oh, we should take a picture for her."" she imitates. "It irritates the living crap out of everyone.

"I miss him too. It's so weird not talking to him everyday." I say quietly, still twisting the strings in between my fingers.

"Then why don't you reply to any of them?" she says, the slightest hint of betrayal in her voice. "Poor boys thought you were dead until they saw your private story. I didn't even know what to tell them because you didn't tell me anything."

"I made a decision that was healthy for my relationship, Em. Nate and I needed that. We are doing well now, you know?"

"Yeah, but you didn't want to give your best fucking friends a heads up. They could have been happy for you and found a comprise instead of cutting them off." She says, now the betrayal is super apparent. "They weren't even mad Kir, just hurt. They get used left and right, so the fact that someone so close to them would ghost them sucked. You know all of this,"

"I didn't realize-"

"Yeah, well, they don't even talk about it. It's not like anyone cried or anything. But, it just hurt that they let someone in who was bound to hurt them. Zach especially was not expecting it. The picture of you both from Disneyland is still on his bedside table."

"Yeah, I get messages from him every once in a while...."

"You reply?" she asks, readjusting her trucker hat.