emma gives a polite smile. she straightens her back, trying to make sure that she’s POISED. she wants audrey’s girlfriend rachel to like her, to feel safe with her. ( especially after the terrible things she’d done with its guilt, like acid, rotting away at her insides. ) ❛ i’m not sure ! let’s see. ❜ she pulls out a box of goodies from various customers. ❛ we have two phones. either one yours ? ❜ she slides the box across the counter with a smile. ❛ besides the lost phone, how are you holding up ? ❜
It’s hard not to grab for the box. But God, where’s her phone? It has everything on it, and if someone else were to find it, it’d be a death sentence. “Uhh,” she answers shakily, “I mean, I’m okay– Oh my gosh! I was so worried!” Rachael suppresses a squeal as she grabs for her phone. “Sorry, I–wow, I thought I was dead.”
audrey does it without THINKING - as soon as she gets the distressed message from rachael, she’s on the road, pushing the speed limit a little too fast in her effort to get to the blonde’s house. she knows how rachael gets, and when it comes to these moments, she wants to be the one to be there to pick up the pieces. just bi-curious, she told herself, still wildly unsure of her sexuality, but she wasn’t going to just let rachael suffer alone when there’s somehting she can do about it. she texted her back from the driveway and climbed out of her truck, closing the door shut behind her as she goes to the front door, knowing full well that rachael is home alone, she knocks. ‘rach, it’s me!’
Without a vibrating notification to alert her that Audrey’s even read the text, Rachael’s dreadful sense of loneliness escalates quickly. To some degree, she tells herself, she’s glad she’s got the house to herself and no one to stop her. She’s already bleeding by the time she hears footsteps on the stairs and as she rushes to hide what she’s done, the pink heart clatters closed. A cocktail of dread and relief swirl through her when she recognizes Audrey’s voice. Rachael shoves her shame into a dark corner inside her as she slides her long sleeve down, pressing hard on her arm. “I’m in here,” she calls back.
“Hey, Noah,” Rachael greets him on his way from Audrey’s place. As tends to happen, a smile is still plastered on her face from the visit as she hikes her backpack higher on one shoulder. “How’s it going?”
“I don’t want to go,” whispers Rachael, languidly leaning towards the other. “I should get to work on the time machine of mine. I want to stay here forever, y’know?” Hushed tones flow between them because it’s already so late and her curfew is already passed.
Rachael rushes into the coffee house as quickly as she possibly could without drawing too much attention to herself. The human-shaped bundle of nerves that she was, it was no easy task. She races towards the counter behind which a familiar face appears. “Did I leave my phone here? Please tell me I left my phone here–I can’t find it anywhere.”
“Five more minutes, I swear. Please? I’m not done editing yet.” This short film was going to be a masterpiece, and Rachael was in the zone. Even as she speaks, she’s still clicking away, typing shortcut commands into the keyboard. “Don’t look!”
“I… could’ve sworn that book was right here,” murmured Rachael, mostly to herself. It was a bit too nerve-wracking to approach the librarian, despite having been here five trillion times in her life. And besides, the book was right there. “Sorry to bother you–have you seen The Color Purple?”
I’m having the worst day. Can you come over? If not it’s okay
Rachael put her phone down on her desk and began pacing. Pacing. Pacing. Pacing. She clenched her hands into tights fists, rubbed them hard against her thighs, but the dreadful feelings wouldn’t go away. She needed someone to talk to. She needed Audrey. Leaving her room and going downstairs, maybe even going for a walk might’ve been a good idea, but it dissipated quickly when she laid eyes on the heart- shaped porcelain container on her night stand. She glanced at her phone one more time before walking over and lifting the lid.
