Sketch

62 - Emmy

Dedicated to ThrillSeeker!  Enjoy :)

Dress shopping isn't really on my list of ideal ways to spend an afternoon, but hanging out with Alex is, so I agree to meet her near the shops I visited with the band when I'm done with rehearsal.

Stan had booked us in for an early morning recording slot, so we're finished by half twelve.  My stomach is rumbling as I make my way towards a bank of shops.  I can see a tall red haired girl waiting near a stone fountain that's covered in pigeons, and I immediately know it's Alex.  I quicken my pace, scaring the pigeons away as my feet slap the paving stones when I near her.

She spins around, her face breaking with a grin as she sees me.  She wraps me up in a hug when I reach her and I take in the smell of her perfume.  It's cinnamony, like Christmas.

"Hey!" she says, stepping back from me and hitching her brown satchel bag up onto her shoulder from where it had fallen to her elbow during our hug.  "How are you?"

"Great," I reply with a beam.  "Sam just dropped me off."

She raises a red eyebrow at me.  "So that's going well?"

I nod. "We're staying just friends for the moment."

Alex loops my arm in hers and starts pulling me towards the first shop.  The pavements are crowded with people but we somehow manage to stay linked.

"For the moment?" Alex repeats.

"Yeah," I reply.  "We're trying to get to know each other better."

"That sounds boring," Alex says, letting me pull her over to a shop that's painted a lime green. There are bags and scarfs displayed in the window and I gaze up at them , taking in the bright colours.

"It's for the best," I say.  "So we don't have a repeat of last time."

She nods, her ponytail swishing high on her head.  "Sure."

"You don't sound convinced," I say, moving us along to the next shop.

Alex shrugs.  "Seriously, Emmy.  Getting to know Sam without getting to kiss him sounds crap."

I feel my cheeks warm up and I roll my eyes at her, trying to come off as mature but failing.  "We'll get to that part eventually."

"But don't you want to get to it now?" she questions.

I look up at her.  The fact that she's wearing flat boots doesn't make us any nearer to being the same height.  She's always had a couple of inches on me.  The only make-up she's wearing is mascara and the only jewellery I can see are the silver hooped earrings hanging from her earlobes and resting on the crimson scarf around her neck.

It's pretty cold out today, being early October, and I'd had to delay our exit from the flat to pull on a pair of grey knitted tights under my denim shorts.  I tuck the hand that's not looped with Alex's in my coat pocket.

"Sure," I reply finally, looking to the next shop.  "But I don't want to rush anything."

Alex pulls me to a stop and offers me a reassuring smile.  "Sam let you sleep in his bed, twice, and he didn't try to grope you.  I think he's willing to take things slow too."

I think of his dark hair, his soft brown gaze, and his smile that makes me melt.  The image makes my knees weak.  What if I'm the one who can't take things slow?

Alex snaps me out of my musings by dragging me into a shop that smells of strong perfume or incense.  Whatever it is, it makes my nose itch and I have to stifle a sneeze into my sleeve as I'm pulled towards a rack of knitted jumpers.