Past the Horizon (Eddie Vedder)

Ch. 12 - A Friend in California part 3 (Emmy)

So... I'm not completely satisfied with the way I edited this chapter. I blame being sick this week 😅. Anywho, I hope some people enjoy!!!

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Continuation of previous chapter...

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Tuesday, September 5th

Technically, it was still Tuesday; though not for much longer. The clock on the wall was getting closer and closer to that midnight mark. Then, it would be Wednesday, and Friday would be upon her in the blink of an eye. The remainder of the week would go by fast too, solely for the reason that she was dreading Friday. Normally one of her favorite days. But this week... Friday might as well be like walking through hell fire.

"Anyway," she continued, tucking her hand - and the ring - between her thighs, "let's not spend the night talking about rings and engagements. I want to hear about you all. I haven't seen you in forever."

She needed a change of topic before she became too paranoid with thoughts of how many burns Friday night would leave behind. For, she assumed, there would be many.

Stone tapped his chin, and she worried for a split-second that he wouldn't allow for the subject change. "And whose fault is that? I seem to remember an invitation being offered for you and Dani to come with us."

"It's not easy for everyone to just up and move," Dani said. "Plus, Emmy still has to finish school."

Stone waved a hand. "Excuses."

"I know, I know. I suck," Emmy said, and she felt it was at least partially true. "But tell me what's going on. How's the search for a singer?"

It was something she felt she should have been paying more attention to, even with them living so far away. There was a disconnect present that she wasn't so proud to admit was her fault. But it was. She was the one who stopped answering letters. She was the one who never returned calls. She was the one who never checked the damn answering machine. And it was something she'd been thinking about off and on all day... the day before as well. The news that The Seattle Sound were coming in conjunction with the loss of the Alice in Chains show were like catalysts, and now she was itching to make up for that prior disconnect.

Damn that Brian Duncan.

Not only that though; there was also a hopefulness brewing, about to boil over, that the new band Jeff and Stone were trying to put together would come to fruition. She had seen Mother Love Bone live when they came for the festival last year, so she knew what kind of talent they possessed. Also... she had some awareness of the effect that Andy's death had on them. The starting of a new band was a huge undertaking for them, in more ways than one, and they deserved nothing less than a future filled with the music that they created.

She wanted that for them, and she could almost taste it on the tip of her tongue.

"You don't know?" Jeff asked.

"Know what?"

Dani groaned, throwing her head back against the couch. "I'm sorry, Emmy. I meant to tell you."

Stone pointed at Dani. "Yep, she was supposed to tell you."

"Hey, in my defense, I did tell her about the demo that Eddie sent back, and I didn't even know he's the new singer till I met him a couple of days ago."