Heaven Ain't Easy To Get To [oneshot]

heaven ain't easy to get to

"Emily!" Lavinia yelled from the bottom of the stairs. "Mother needs you!"

Inside of her room Emily flinched at the sound of her sister's voice. The pencil in her hand sliding off the edge of the scrap of paper she was writing on. She groaned. Everyone always seemed to interrupt her at the perfect time, right in the middle of her contemplative state. And always, right in the middle of a stanza.

"What for?" She mumbled to herself. She hurriedly tried to write down the rest of the words before they left her brain. She read them back to herself pretty content with herself. Her sister called for her again. "I am coming!" she yelled in return. Emily dropped her things and tied back her hair. "'Cause I am sure Austin has so much he is doing right now." She whispered under her breath. In all honesty, he was probably doing nothing more than sitting on the couch reading.

She met Lavinia's gaze at the bottom of the stairs. Her sister looked at her, shrugging like she had been waiting years. Emily pretended not to notice as she stood before her.

"Mother needs you to hang the clothes outside." Lavinia said. She finished wiping her hands with a towel. Emily groaned dramatically about opening her mouth to protest. "Nope," Lavinia said, cutting her off with a pinched hand motion. "You didn't want to cook, now you have to go hang the clothes."

Emily mocked her silently, but she turned to walk away. "God Vinnie, when did you start to become a miniature version of Mom." Lavinia turned around squinting her eyes at her and subtly flicked her off before disappearing back into the kitchen. Emily smiled, knowing she had gotten on her sister's last nerve. "Ahh, there she is!"

Begrudgingly, Emily made her way to the porch finding the clothes waiting for her in a bucket of water. She dragged them towards the lines and started hanging them. It was one of the better chores, if such a thing could be said. She would much rather be outside content by herself, then be forced to cook dinner for men who were likely never going to appreciate it like they should. At least outside, she could let her mind wander to what happened in the far expenses beyond this town. Things she may never experience, things she could probably never imagine. All just beyond her reach.

As she hung the clothes, Emily got lost amongst her imagination. The petticoat she about to hang on the line got pushed out of her hand. Sue peeped over the side, her eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Dear god," Emily said, flinching. Sue giggled, as she playfully got swatted by one of Austin's shirts that Emily held in her hand. She smiled at Sue, for a moment before covering her face with the shirt. Sue was way too excited at the fact that she actually scared her best friend half to death. "Are you happy you almost gave me a heart attack?"

It wasn't just that Sue surprised her out of nowhere, in fact, she almost gave Emily a heart attack by just standing there, inches away from her. She loved Sue more than any other person in the world, she loved the way she could understand her in a way no one else did. There was no need to try between them, they clicked, they were just themselves. And that's why it absolutely freaked her out that she was starting to feel things she hadn't before...

"So, I guess you're not happy to see me then?" Sue said, smiling from ear to ear.

"I didn't say that," Emily said, trying to focus on hanging the clothes so she didn't have to look Sue in the eyes before she was ready. "I just didn't know you were coming over today."

Sue grabbed some clothes out of the bucket and began helping Emily hang the rest of the clothes. "Well, I wanted to see you before you left..." Sue said, hanging on her words as to not make it too obvious that she would miss Emily while she was gone.

"But you're leaving too." Emily said. They met in the middle, attempting to hang the garments in their hands on the same set of clothespins. Sue met Emily's eyes, their fingers touched. "Well, I just thought you'd be too busy to even..." Emily blushed, pulling away, moving to the other line.