by LeniPreuß
“Bye Bea!” I can hear my mum shout.
“Bye Mum!” I call back. She’s going away for the weekend to visit her sister. Somehow they were able to keep that tight sibling bond up all through adulthood. My mum’s sister doesn’t have any kids so most of the time she goes to visit, I don’t join her. When I was younger it was fairly boring for me, and now I am normally busy when my mum drives up North to her.
Since I have the whole flat to myself and Emery doesn’t really enjoy being at home with her parents we decided to have a sleepover.
Ten minutes after my mum has left, the doorbell rings, signalling that Emery is here.
I press the buzzer that opens the door and listen to her going up the staircase. We live on the third floor but over the past few weeks, Emery has been here so often that she even knows where she can find knives and other stuff in our kitchen.
“Hey,” I greet her when she finds me in the kitchen where I am prepping dinner.
“Hi, you’re mum’s already gone?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I nod. “Here you can grate the cheese,” I point at the block of gouda. Before Emery starts she connects with our Bluetooth speaker to play some music. We discovered our shared love for music on her first official day working at the shelter because I normally have my earphones in to listen to music when I work. Since that day I take one of the earphones and Emery gets the other one. We’ve started to make a playlist adding to it whenever we hear a new song we both like.
We make the pizza talking about everything and nothing. As soon as the pizza is in the oven Emery’s phone rings. Emery looks at it rolling her eyes.
“Speaking of the devil,” she says showing me her phone screen. Her mum’s is calling. For a second I think she might decline the call, but after the fourth ring, she picks up holding the phone to her ear.
“Hi Mum,” she says, with no emotion in her voice.
“I told you I was at Bea’s,” she sighs. She’s quiet for a moment listening to what her mum is saying.
“No. I still don’t have time. I have football practice. And before you ask, no I can’t miss it,” Emery says annoyed.
“Bye Mum,” Emery presses the red button. She rakes her hand through her blonde hair and closes her eyes for a moment.
“What’d she want?” I ask Emery.
“She wanted me to come to some social event with her. I don’t know,” Emery says shaking her head.
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Later that night Emery and I are laying on the couch watching a film. It’s a little after midnight and I don’t even know if Emery is still awake. I stifle a yawn and glance down at her. Nope, eyes closed.
“Hey, come on let’s go to bed,” I poke Emery’s shoulder. She blinks looking at me with sleepy ocean blue eyes. After quickly changing into some oversized t-shirts and brushing our teeth we both collapse into bed. Emery’s breathing which is getting deeper is the last thing I hear before I also slip away to sleep.
© LeniPreuß 2023-08-08