Dreamcatcher

9: Backstory, Part 2

Emmi: i haven't been doing so well in school

The summer had been long, but not as long as the summer that had passed before. The season had Emmi, at least. The two girls had even met up at the park near the young girl's house and felt like normal children for once.

Aerial knew Emmi was busy, but it never crossed her mind that Emmi perhaps couldn't handle her work load. It had also never crossed her mind where the time Emmi and Aerial spent together came from.

Emmi: school is pretty stressful

School was stressful for everybody. It was natural to think that way, Aerial thought to herself.

Aerial: do you wanna come unwind with me tonight? do you remember those old sleepovers we used to have?

Emmi: oh yeah! those were fun

Aerial: you need to relax once in a while

Aerial: my house, 8 pm

Emmi: got it

"This may be the first time in three years where I've seen you without your pigtails. I'm sure this'll be written down in the history books, Emmi." Aerial watched the young girl's blonde hair sway gently. The hairdryer Emmi was using was loud, but she could still hear Aerial's teasing. She turned off the hairdryer.

"Well, you better remember this moment quickly. My mom likes my pigtails, so..."

Aerial sat on the sink counter, watching Emmi comb through her wet hair with full focus. "Your mom likes your pigtails? What about you?"

"Eh, they're alright. Personally, though, I like my hair down better. It makes me feel more....free." Emmi smiled her sweet smile at the word 'free', then turned on the hairdryer.

Aerial didn't say anything after that.

An hour had passed. Emmi decided to leave her hair down, and Aerial's mom had sent up two plates of freshly-baked cookies for the two to enjoy. Two wins in a night, Aerial thought to herself.

'I've missed you, Emmi. I've missed you so much," Aerial said. It was a sweet moment, but not as sweet as the four cookies she had stuffed in her mouth beforehand. The two were in fits of giggles, and time melted away like the gooey chocolate inside the cookies. "I felt like I had lost a part of my soul when we weren't with each other."

Emmi responded to the lovely, overly-sappy words by shoving another warm cookie into the mouth of Aerial, and the two proceeded to hiccup and laugh uncontrollably for the fifth time that night. Logic didn't matter when one had fun, and logic had told Emmi that she needed to study for her large test the next day.

"You really want me to stay the night? I can't....It's a really important test for a pretty hard class," Emmi mumbled. The windows were closed tight and the curtains were drawn, but the two could feel the night shadowing the sky. With the darkness came a quietness that soothed the laughter inside Aerial's bedroom. "I'm worried about it."

"You shouldn't be. 'I'm worried about it' was literally your catchphrase for any quiz or test in elementary, and you still aced every class like it was the easiest thing in the world. At this point you need to believe in yourself more," Aerial said. She took a deep sigh, letting the cookies sit inside her stomach. It was winter, so she cherished this moment of warmth inside and out.

"...Aerial, have I ever told you my dream?" Emmi took a slight breath. "Y'know, you've seen my purple dreamcatcher on the door."

"That one was yours? Oh..." Aerial pondered for a moment, then came to the conclusion that Emmi probably wanted to get into some top university or high-paid job. When she replied with this answer, Emmi laughed softly.