Not a Fan (Wilbur Soot)

On purpose

11 months and 21 days later.

"Are you sure you're okay with all of this?"

Aurora smiled, sealing the box in front of her with packing tape before turning around to face the source of the worried pink clouds.

"More than okay. I want this, Niki." Aurora offered Niki reassurance in the form of a smile and an outstretched hand. There was no hesitation in the way Niki pulled Aurora in by her hand, trapping her in a tight embrace instead.

"Ugh, I know. I'm the one not okay with this. How could you spoil me for a whole year and then move back to America? It's cruel, Rori." Niki whined, her complaint holding no true guilt.

With her smile widening and her face squished into the crook of Niki's neck, Aurora let herself sway the two of them. She knew that Niki was more excited for her than anyone else. Well, other than maybe her mom, who was happy to have her daughter at least in the same country again.

"Okay, enough, enough. I told myself I can't cry today." Niki said with a laugh, pulling away from Aurora, and fanning her eyes.

"Weren't you crying when you got here? And then again when you found the picture of us on the Ferris wheel at the Goose Fair?" Aurora teased, stepping forward. She reached out, gently wiping away some of the smeared eyeliner under Niki's eyes.

"Those were tears of relief that I'll never have to go on that stupid ferris wheel again." Niki lied, quite poorly. Aurora laughed but didn't explicitly call her out on the excuse, letting the moment pass.

"There will be plenty of Ferris wheels in California that I can drag you on." She smiled, heading back to her kitchen, picking up where she left off on packing her pots and pans. There wasn't much left, her apartment somehow feeling more barren now than when she first moved in.

"If you're even there." Niki laughed, nudging Aurora's arm.

They went back to packing in silence, only the sound of Niki's playlist in the background. It was interesting to listen to other people's music- how each song had a different array of color with no cohesion, much unlike her carefully crafted playlists.

Aurora froze after hearing the first beat of the next song that came on shuffle, already knowing every chord, every lyric, even all the spots she could hear the singer take a breath.

"Oh, sorry, I can skip- let me skip this one." Niki rushed, reaching for her phone.

"No, no. Don't worry about it. Let it play." Aurora shrugged, smiling over her shoulder.

"You're sure?" Niki asked rather wearily, slowly setting her phone back on the otherwise empty countertop.

"Positive." She smiled again, facing forward. Her box was tightly packed, leaving her with nothing to do but seal it up, getting ready to make its way to its new home- her new home, all the way in San Francisco, California.

As the familiar melody muddled her vision with cool-toned earthy colors, Aurora closed her eyes. She preferred listening to music this way- eyes closed, with no busy backgrounds to distract her from the beautiful way the song danced in her vision.

With everything in her life changing, it was nice to have something familiar. She was about to trade rainy days for west coast heat, beach views for cityscape, enticing accents for ones that sounded like her own.

The song slowed into the bridge, the lead singer's voice dropping nearly an octave, feeling like he was whispering directly in her ear.

"You're going to regret this."

Aurora jumped, startled when the same voice as in the song was now actually whispering in her ear. She spun around on her heels, turning to face the man behind her.