When the day met the night

Chapter 3

Ashton

       I drop my things at the door before taking off my shoes and slouching down onto the couch in my living room. What an awful day. Working at a store that gets a lot of people, you get some really interesting types. Some days, they are super nice and there are only one or two people that really are miserable. Other days, there are only a couple nice ones. Today was a day filled with people that forgot that I was a person too, not just a worker.

       I turn on the tv and go into Netflix. I've been working through the first season of Supernatural, so I find it and start the next episode. As soon as the intro is over and the person has been brutally murdered, my roommate walks in.

       "Hey, you're back! How was work?" Emily asks me as her boyfriend comes up from behind her and hugs her around the waist.

       "It was fine." I hear my favorite brother's voice through the tv.

       "That great huh?" She walks in to the kitchen and starts some popcorn in the microwave as her boyfriend goes through the fridge looking for anything that catches his eye.

       "Yeah, you know that girl at the coffee shop from yesterday? She came in and bought some shoes." Someone on the tv screams so I pause the video.

       "Wow, what a small world." Emily says, taking the bag out of the microwave and blowing on it before she feels brave enough to open it.

       "Yeah, insanely small." I agree. Her boyfriend finally picks one of my energy drinks and settles onto the couch next to me. We've been friends for a while; since before I moved. He's actually how I ended up finding Emily for my roommate. I had been talking to him on some social media platform and was convinced that I was in love with him. When he told me that he got a girlfriend, I was devastated, but Emily ended up being super cool, and we clicked.

       I give him a dirty look as I hear the crack and hiss of the can opening. "You know the rule, River. For everyone you drink, you owe me two."

       He laughs and puts an arm around me to give me a quick hug. "Em and I stopped on the way home to get you some. You are fully restocked."

       Emily comes and sits on the other side of me, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth. When she's done chewing she asks, "So, are we feeling like sushi for dinner? Perhaps some ramen?"

       Emily is one of those curvy girls that looks good at any weight. Since I met her, she's always just done what makes her happiest. I have seen her in pictures looking too skinny to have been eating every day, but I've also seen her in plus sizes, and she is smiling just as brightly.

       "I was thinking-" I start, but River cuts me off.

       "Hey, I left my hoodie in Em's room, will you go get it for me real quick?" River asks me.

       At first I huff as if to say "No way dude, get it yourself", but then he looks at me as if he's pleading for his life. "Fine, if the goddamn hoodie means that much to you, I guess I'll go get the hoodie."

       I stand up and leave to go get it, looking around the room and in the closet, quickly gaging and closing it again. I'm about to open the top draw of the dresser when I hear a squeal from the living room. I rush out and see Emily with a small silver band with a beautiful emerald (her favorite gemstone) on her ring finger. I look between the two and see them both with huge smiles.

       Oh. OH. He just proposed! Why do I feel so awkward? Aren't we too young? River just hardly turned eighteen and Emily turns nineteen in a month. Without voicing my concerns, rush to my friends and hug them. "Congratulations!"