I Tripped and Fell in Love With You

Chapter 2: Hope

The laundromat belted a cacophony of noises leading to one crescendo. The swish and churn of soapy suds working through towels, the low hum of heat drying out a man's work uniforms, the drone of the morning news on four TVs, one in every corner. Two beeps. The end of a washing cycle. The lights turned off above. The curtain was drawn on the performance.

Dawn's yellow sun blazed through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Emiko sat at a small cafe table at the end of the row of dryers, warming her bare arms in the glare. Her bedding was a long tangle of sheets spinning around and around, hypnotizing her one-track mind as of late. She propped her feet on the plastic chair opposite her and glanced at her phone. It laid face up.

It didn't light up with a text. She could've sworn it did.

Idly, she traced the juvenile carvings in the table. Symbols, names, declarations of love. She tapped her phone to show the lock screen. No text.

The white and grey bedding braided itself, encircling her reflection like a portrait. If she focused, her surroundings disappeared. The moms with sleepy children hanging off their shirts turned to blurs of color, the talking heads on the TVs became fuzz. Only her eager face stared back.

To say she scrambled for her phone when it vibrated was an understatement. At the first sight of his name, her heart leapt quicker than her feet. The chair scraped the cement floor. Obito was answering her inquiry about his state of being and if he was ready for their trip.

Emi: Howdy partner! Let me know when you're awake and I'll come pick you up. I'm doing some last minute chores this morning, should be done soon. :)

Obito: who the hell wakes up this early?

Obito: you can get me whenever

Obito: i'll send the address in a sec

Her retro van crawled to the front of the address in the text, standing out in the gray metropolis. Emi hunched until her chin hit the steering wheel. The glass building dominated the shorter ones around it, obscuring the sun and causing them to be forever in it's shadow.

The streets were relatively empty this hour. Emi parked in a metered spot out front. She stuck her head out of either window, inconspicuously surveying the area for anyone in uniform issuing tickets. It didn't matter too much, she knew the unspoken rules; as long as the van was running, she could pull away without any lip.

Emi picked up her phone to shoot a quick text to Obito-it proved unwarranted. A glass door swung open and Kakashi stepped out wearing the t-shirt she sold him with a pair of sweatpants. Most of his face was hidden behind a mask, but his body language was apparent. Bickering, argumentative. Obito pushed himself around his friend, suitcase bumping over the metal doorstop, eyebrows angled down in frustration. Kakashi must've said one last thing because Obito squared his shoulders and refused to take whatever was being handed to him. Kakashi shrugged and put the item in his pocket and jogged the rest of the way to the van.

Emi greeted them both at the side door, hoping to ease the tension with her award winning smile. The stern downturn of Obtio's mouth lifted and his eyes relaxed upon seeing her. His pink cheeks darkened to red.

"What do I do with this?" He held up the suitcase and she took it from him. It was unceremoniously shoved under the table in the back and he felt foolish for not doing it himself.

Obito grabbed the frame and hefted himself into the van. Emi gave him a double thumbs up, asked if he was ready to go, and fell into the driver's seat in one swift movement. Obito kept his eyes on the floor and nodded. He grabbed the door handle and yanked the sliding door closed-God, he hoped he didn't just slam it-and crouched to maneuver between the seats. There was an overhead shelf above the seats he almost banged his head on.