slowly drifting ★ circa waves

III.

-

"the one day i want something
i just can't get,
i'm a long way from home."

-

the six of them are sat quietly at one of the tables in the parlour. each has a different flavour ice cream tub in front of them. sam takes a sip of his slushy and it comes out like a slurp. a loud slurp. every face turns to him.

"what?" he asks innocently. kieran shakes his head and takes another spoonful of ice cream.

"so," emma starts. eleanor internally cringes. talking to people is not her forté. like, at all. joe, however, seems ecstatic to make conversation.

"so," he continues. "shall we have more of an introduction?"

shoulders are shrugged and grunts are uttered. a sign of approval, of course.

"well, you know our names. we're a band, called circa waves, there used to be another member, sian plummer, but he ditched. he didn't want to go on a road trip. oh, we're going on a road trip. well, i think the band is still kind of shaken up, so we're probably going to stay here for a while."

"hopefully," colin adds on, then seemingly regretting it and sinking back in his seat. at this, eleanor giggles into her ice cream and almost dies. again. this brings a smile to colin's face as well. kieran looks disgusted at emma and joe's eye-locking, while sam is completely oblivious to everything.

"that was a good introduction, joe. thanks for that," kieran says sarcastically. "now you know everything about us."

"you're welcome. happy to help."

"well, i'm emma, and this is eleanor," emma gestures to her ginger friend, who lifts her hand to wave, but rethinks it and slams her hand down on the table. really loudly.

"oh my, uh, that was, like loud, and i'm sorry. for what you just, like, heard."

"are you finished?" emma scolds jokingly. in response, eleanor just sits back in her chair, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"yes," she squeaks.

"well, we both moved out here and got jobs. that's pretty much it."

"fascinating," kieran grumbles. joe silently pulls back on his leather jacket, despite all the talk about 't-shirt weather'.

"well," eleanor starts, "we kind of already know who you are. yeah, we've heard your music. not as bad as some i've heard. it's quite good, actually," she says, pointedly looking at colin for the last part.

"eleanor, no," emma whispers under her breath.

"too late, mate," eleanor whispers back.

"well, cool, i guess, i don't really care," kieran sasses.

"wait, hold on a second," emma narrows her eyes at kieran. "who was the one that came barging in here like they own the place? huh? and who was the one who gave you what you wanted? gave you your ice cream, your slushy, everything? and now look who's being disrespectful. dude, that's not on. sort your life out."

kieran abruptly pushes out his chair from the table and storms out of the shop.

"are you finished?" eleanor asks, laughing in spite of the situation.

"don't worry about him," sam joins the conversation. "he's just hung up about plummer, is all."

"it doesn't matter why he's mad. he needs to chill down," joe agrees with emma.

"no, i'm kind of sorry. i didn't mean to be that rude. it's just that, well, he was."

they all sit in silence for a solid minute, colin was counting.

"it's been one minute. like, exactly," colin announces proudly.

"uh, thanks," replies emma.

"that information was one hundred percent necessary in this conversation," eleanor says this time.

"like, so necessary. i don't know what would've happen if we wouldn't have known what you just said."

"do you want a sticker? i think you deserve a sticker."

"society is a better place, you have literally made world peace possible-"

"are you finished?" joe interrupts.

-

"here's a good motel, you should be fine here. only a minor degree of ratchet. i hope kieran finds you here," sympathises emma.

"he will, don't worry," joe responds.

"i wasn't, really."

"oh, well he should find us, anyways. i texted him where we were."

"you mean you texted this phone?" sam asks, picking up kieran's phone from his backpack.

"um...no?"

"idiot," sam mutters. all the while, colin and eleanor are whispering and gigging at each other. joe points this out to emma.

"i ship it," he whispers. she smiles like the joker as the realisation hits her.

"so do i."

"come on boys, into the motel. let's go," shouts sam. colin looks up, says something to eleanor, and rushes to the door. soon it's just emma and joe, eleanor already started walking back to the apartment.

"well, see you tomorrow," joe wishes to emma.

"will you?"

"i really, really hope so," he whispers in her ear before kissing her cheek quickly. "goodbye," he calls over his shoulder as he shuts the door. emma can't stop smiling all the way home.

-

omg the jemma feels rn. or eoe. i think i like eoe better. but how is it even pronounced? eeh-oh-eeh? or eh-oooooo-eh???

(song is fossils by circa waves)