Chapter song:
"Release" - - Pearl Jam
*****
Wednesday, September 6th
Emmy was nervous. There was no way around it, nothing else to call it, nothing to appease it. It was the story of her day thus far and had been since she woke up. The twisting of her stomach only escalated as the day went on, increasing in intensity and spreading throughout the rest of her body. Work had provided an adequate distraction, but that had been only temporary. Now that it was over and she was off the clock, the twisting and tugging took center stage and became the unwanted star of the show. Simply put, she was a nervous wreck and would just have to live with that for now.
"Do you think this is okay to wear?" she asked Dani, who was applying lipstick in front of the mirror.
Dani eyed her straight-faced for a minute from the mirror, placing the lid back on the tube of lipstick. Her eyes took in the outfit she was wearing, and without saying anything, she twirled around to face her, a devilish grin on her face.
"Hmm, I dunno… you might be a little under-dressed," she said, poking a finger in one of the holes in her jeans. "Although the patch with the strawberries is a nice touch."
Emmy eyes wandered down at her jeans with the strawberry printed scrap material she'd sewn to cover a rip so her underwear wouldn't show. "Does it look stupid or something?"
"We're just going to watch them rehearse. It's not a fashion show or anything."
Emmy smoothed her hands down the front of her jeans. They felt sweaty. Yuck. "I know that. I meant… is it okay to wear… with the weather?"
Dani squinted at her. "The weather?"
"Yeah, do you think it's… warm enough?"
The weather had been strange lately.
That's all.
"Well, considering they don't rehearse in a walk-in freezer, I think you'll be fine."
Dani pursed her lips, as if Emmy needed further evidence that she was trying not to laugh at her, and strolled over to her bed. Emmy heard her rummaging through her makeup bag as she took her place in front of the mirror, tucking and then untucking her shirt. Her fingers played along the hem, and she tried tucking in only the front part of it. No, that didn't look right. Sighing, she tugged the shirt free and straightened it with her clammy hands.
"What's up with you?" She saw Dani through the mirror, observing her indecisiveness while sitting in front of her makeup bag on the bed.
Emmy snatched the hairbrush from the shelf next to the door and ran it briskly through her hair. Should she curl the ends of it? "What do you mean?"
"You're all jittery and shit."
No, no curling iron today. "I'm not."
"You are… and I think I know why."
"There is no why."
Dani zipped her makeup bag and reclined back with her hands on the mattress. "Oh, there's definitely a why, and I think it comes in the form of a mysterious surfing singer from Cali."
YOU ARE READING
Past the Horizon (Eddie Vedder)
FanfictionAnd she was brought back to reality. Still sitting in the living room, there were no fires blazing, no trees swaying to the sound of the music as they leaned into the healing touch of that voice. It was a soft caress on the fragile surface of a sing...
