On Alice's first night in Brighton; Emma insisted to take her to a Korean restaurant for dinner. Emma forced her to freshen up and have a shower, the water stung as it hit her chest and her tiny baby bump, her face felt as if it was running a low fever. She later got dressed in baggy clothes paired with a cardigan, going into the third month of her pregnancy she had a fondness for neutral colors.
On the way to the restaurant Emma did most of the talking, she was trying her best to distract Alice with her work stories. As they walked Alice noticed a couple snogging by the light pole, Freddie's image conjured in her head and she started to pace quickly. "Al, wait for me!" Emma cried grabbing her hand so they'd walk together. Alice glanced to her apologetically forcing a smile. Barely 24 hours in and she felt down, haunted by how she ended their telephone conversation.
The Korean restaurant aptly called The Kimchi was five blocks away, it was a full house but Emma was a regular who knew the owner. The owner had purchase one of her paintings and it is paraded in the middle of the restaurant. Alice sat in the corner while Emma chased the waiter ordering the usual, she knew the place inside out that she could laugh and joke with the waiter.
"Al~! Do you want grilled beef or chicken?" Emma asked giddily. "Or we could just have both, whatever floats your boat love."
Alice woke up from her trance, "Sure, I mean yeah. Whatever you have." She rested her chin back to her palm, both elbows on the table, hunkering over all the side dishes she had in front of her.
Emma sighed at Alice's lackluster response, Korean food would usually cheer her up. After finishing up her orders she joined Alice at their table, "Fuck him Alice! You got your Korean side dishes. Boseyo! Kimchi! Tofu! Kimbap! Modun it-nendei..." She pointed each of the side dish in front of them with her chopstick attentively.
Alice looked up to Emma, her face red, her eyes watery, biting her lower lip defeated. The background music in the restaurant changed to a new tune and Freddie's voice played, "Open up your mind and let me step inside...". She felt a tear trickling down her cheeks as she looked down.
Play The Game was playing, Emma turned around annoyed at the cashier, "Who the hell put this on?"
"It's on random," Alice said accompanied with a hiccup.
"Good lord!" Emma cried standing up from her seat. Abruptly she requested for the radio to be turned down for the rest of the night.
Dinner that night was quieter than usual considering how chatty both of them would be. Alice did not have the energy to even attempt a conversation, Emma noticed it, and in between her stories she would glance back at Alice with muted concern in her eyes.
"You know what we should do tomorrow, go by the music store. You always rambled to me about learning a new instrument, let's get you a ukulele!" Emma said excitedly, flipping the meat on the grill.
Alice remained glum, her eyes still on the meat.
"Come on babes, talk to me..." Emma pleaded poking her chopstick to Alice's.
"Can we just--- Leave it?" Alice muttered grudgingly.
"What did he really say, on the phone?" Emma poked further.
"A lot!" Alice grumbled her tone changing. Emma accepted, at least she was talking.
"What an asshole," Emma muttered in a low tone, her eyes reading Alice's expression for any immediate reaction to what she said.
"He said--- He said that if I truly loved him, I wouldn't have left him like that, with a bloody note. And then he said--- He said I was just like the rest of them after all," Alice paused, smacking her lips. "Like them."
"That's harsh. But who's them?"
"His exes..." Alice put down her chopstick, she had lost her appetite for the night. The topic of his exes was a sensitive subject that Alice brought up twice, never the third as he would get very upset. Phoebe had told her it was a shock for everyone close to him when he openly dated her, everyone thought he had given up on love.
Emma felt a pang of guilt for bringing up about Freddie, she had never seen Alice this miserable over a boy before. It was always them against anyone. When they got home from dinner, Emma insisted to take the taxi. The ride home was silent throughout as Alice was miles away. When the taxi pulled up at the curb, Alice thought he saw Freddie at the entrance of the building. He stood there with his arms wide open and she saw herself jumping up into his arms and pressed his lips onto hers.
"Al! Alice!" Emma's voice startled her from her thoughts, her imagination. She looked to Emma and realized she was standing to the taxi, holding the door wide open. Swiftly she shut the door and mumbled a quick sorry to the driver. As Alice walked past her, Emma saw the wan, furtive smile of a troubled lonely girl.
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Falling For Freddie (Freddie Mercury or Queen Fanfic)
Romance"Can you sayyyyy... HELLO?" Freddie asked his daughter eagerly. She was so small seating on his chest, she weighed like a feather to him. "Yello..." Elle cried back. Alice leaned to the side of the door, a grin formed on her face. Freddie could comm...
