Chasing Memories

[1] Rebound

    Spending nights by the bay had been one of the key appeals that drew Elise Penrose back to Bosmouth. Other universities offered more prestigious courses, yet their concrete city bulk sank out of mind when compared to the electric thrill that wired through her veins at the thought of returning to the coastal town she left behind. As a prospective student, Elise imagined newfound independence as sprawling beaches, swelling waves, and a golden-faced sun kissing the flawless sea as she sipped another gin lemonade in her carefree hometown.

    As an actual student, however, Elise only imagined the soft embrace of her bed from the moment she left the campus. Dragging herself up the building's stairs to her flat, she slammed the door and winced as another splinter snapped into being along the frame. "You're paying for that," her flatmate called from the kitchen, his face poking around the tired grey wall. "And you might as well get some money out now to fix the next split you make, too."

    "Will that be before or after you get the dodgy boiler looked at?" Elise said as she ruffled his tidy dark hair on her way to the sofa, firing a sharp wink into his unimpressed exterior. The radio murmured over the hob's low hum and Robin's light steps, a familiar set of beats that soothed the aches throbbing through her shoulders. With a sigh, she flopped into the dark fabric sofa, let her messenger bag thud against the floor, and kicked off her black canvas trainers. "Don't look at me like that, Robin. I hear your shrieks every time the shower gets cold on you."

    Robin shrugged as he stirred a pot of tomato and herb pasta sauce. "If you think you can get the landlord to answer the phone, be my guest."

    "Someone's forgotten why they're the one that deals with the landlord." Pulling off her charcoal-hued sleeveless jumper and tossing it into the armchair across the room, Elise grinned at Robin over the back of the sofa. "He didn't appreciate my frank assessment of his failings, remember?"

    "Most people wouldn't appreciate being called a 'bloodsucking slumlord', Ellie."

    "They shouldn't act like one, then!"

    Elise hauled herself up the back of the sofa, her honeyed shoulder-length hair bouncing around her face. The flat was barely large enough for herself and Robin to share, and the tight rooms plastered with cool grey paint conspired to shrink the feel of the tiny residence even further. As the single unshaded lightbulb shined over the coffee table, streaks of shadow swept along the room's walls, their tendrils stretching to surround Elise on the sofa island. A potent basil aroma helped to mask the hint of musk that lingered in the air. 

    The hob hissed into silence over Elise's shoulder, and the clatter of cutlery against plateware accompanied Robin's thoughtful muttering. "Did you stay late at the library again?" he asked, glancing at his watch.

    Running her hand over her face, Elise took a deep breath before answering. "I tried to, but then I checked my email." She dug her phone out of her bag, swiped to her inbox, and pulled up the message on her mind. "My book reviews are getting accepted, even that one for the trashy Misty Waters romance novel, Wanderlove, and I'm getting editing work here and there, but my story chapters for the Orchard magazine..."

    Robin set the pan down on the hob and pulled at his polo shirt collar. "Oh no."

    "They didn't even tell me directly, Robin. They just dropped the next issue and left me to find out I'd been rejected for myself." As she spoke, Elise spun her beaded bracelet around her wrist, her steel eyes fixed on the darkening sky outside the window. "I lost it a little, so I went for a walk before I strung the guy across my desk up by his own cheap earbuds."

    "Maybe they'll publish your story in the next issue," her flatmate said, his note of optimism waning before he finished speaking.

    A soft sigh left Elise's lips. "If they liked it, they'd have said something by now."