Bad Sun

[pride_of_kiwi]

WHO: Emi and John
WHEN: October 24th, evening
WHERE: The Flat
WHAT: Her flightless Kiwi's come home.
RATING: Fluffier than a goddamn pile of Pomeranian.

Comments

[salylimon]

"So I wait for you like a lonely house
till you will see me again and live in me.
Till then my windows ache."

Perhaps, given all that had happened in the last few months and the last few days, curling up on the sofa (or rather, the nest she had created in the living room) to read a worn copy of Pablo Neruda's sonnets hadn't been the best of ideas. But Emi was tired. Confused. Heartbroken.

And lonely.

The living room kept her from the four lonely rooms of her bedroom. It kept her from having to walk down the hallway and from passing John's untouched room to the now barren room that Jared once inhabited.

Her little nest kept her from hurting. From letting the loneliness consume her too much when neither school or work could distract her. A stack of dogeared books resided on the coffee table beside a half-empty water bottle and a bowl of leftovers cooked the night before as she waited.

Waited and nestled beneath and between a collection of blankets and pillows until, suddenly, the sound of the doorknob rattling faintly caused her to look up.

John. John was back. He was home. He was-

"Emiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, I'm hoooooooooooooooome."

In a flash, Emi all but tossed the book down onto the sofa as she leapt up, hurrying toward the man she hadn't seen in only god knows how long as she practically hurled herself into his chest. Arms wrapping around his middle tightly, she buried her face against his chest, the tell-tale signs of tears prickling at the corners of her eyes as she shakily let out a, "Welcome home."

Funny, she thought she'd be all cried out by now.

[pride_of_kiwi]

As much as he had been expecting a 'dramatic tearful reunion', he truly had not calculated just how strongly having his friend- his dear, dear friend- wrapped in his arms would affect him.

'Eyeball sweating', Logan had called it. John was on the verge of sweating heaps then.

He heaved a sigh, hunched over, shut his eyes and offered in all the cheer he could muster, "S'good to be back. But y'know- I'm surprised y'didn't break out the machete for all the shit I put ya through."

[salylimon]

"Didn't want to go to my room," Emi mumbled against his chest, almost as if that cryptic answer would be enough to properly explain to John just how much walking down that hallway affected her. Such sentiments were petty, probably, but the small woman couldn't find herself to care as she tightened her hold around him, fingers clinging to the back of his shirt.

She felt like a child clinging to their parent after a bad nightmare, but even that comparison wasn't enough for her to pull away just yet. Not as she attempted to control the slight trembling that now plagued her. Swallowing, Emi managed to loosen her hold somewhat as she pulled back, forehead resting against John's chest as she just stood there, teary eyes staring at the floor beneath them.

"D-Do you need help bringing your things inside?" She finally asked, finding some comfort in the steady rise and fall of John's chest and the familiar warmth of his embrace.

[pride_of_kiwi]

A large palm settled on her head, patting gently a few times as language of any sort tangled on his tongue. There was a meaningful flourish of an arm toward the suitcases, boxes, bags he'd been balancing now splayed carelessly across the floor where they had landed.

"Think I've got that covered."

For lack of any more insightful commentary, he hummed a few bars of an old drinking song before reluctantly breaking their eternity of an embrace.

"Got some curbside in there somewhere. How d'y'feel about curry? Unless y'already ate. M'not too hungry m'self and- Strewth, Emi, let's just watch a goddamn flick n' caterwaul ourselves to sleep."

He couldn't help it- John sniffled. Once.

[salylimon]

A weary laugh escaped her lips as Emi glanced over at the mess John had, in fact, created upon stepping inside. Hastily, she reached up to wipe at her eyes, stepping back from the older man, gaze still averted for a brief moment as she shakily exhaled, fighting to calm herself down before she finally looked up at him.

"I'm sorry," she finally murmured with a weak smile. "I honestly thought I was done being emotional but I guess not. It's all your fault, jerk." Shuffling in her over-sized sweater and pajama pants, Emi rubbed her hand against John's arm soothingly at the first sound of a sniffle as she shook her head. "N-No, no I'm not really hungry...but a movie sounds nice. Though we should probably catch up, hm?"

Patting his arm lightly, Emi moved away, picking up a bag or two to place beside the couch before she quickly sat down back on the sofa, patting the seat beside her.

[pride_of_kiwi]

It was as if he were staring down a potentially deadly opponent, gaping mouth, sharp, jagged teeth and a veracious appetite for flesh.

A couch was, in the end, just a couch however, and the prospect of divulging all the filthy personal details he would have rather dragged to his grave (entirely the reason for his momentary dread) was just another means of affirming their bond.

John settled in with a loud, weightless flop beside her. "Well alright, sheila. Let's start from the beginning- What's new with you? All the good bits!"

[salylimon]

Chewing on her bottom lip, Emi shifted on top of the couch, bringing her legs up in order to wrap her arms around her knees loosely as she remained silent for a few moments, unsure of where to begin.

Lowering her gaze momentarily, she glanced up at John from beneath her lashes before offering a week smile as she slowly began. She told him of two weeks she and Jared spent in Mexico with her family and how they immediately spent another two weeks in Canada with Jared's family before returning to Liberty shortly after. There was a brief pause as Emi found herself mumbling about how happy she had been during that one month, how they had left on that trip for their one year anniversary and how it really, really, seemed like it was the beginning of forever for them.

Until Jared got the job offer back in Canada later in the summer.

And so Emi told John of the days filled with uncertainty until finally they both decided he should accept. She continued, with weak laughter, to say how he had left before her 23rd birthday and how she had spent that alone, save for the hours long phone conversation with Jared before he was forced to leave. There was another brief pause as Emi felt her eyes begin to moisten as she forced herself to continue on with the strain they almost immediately began to feel from the distance, from the realization that, given Emi's own financial strain, they would only see each other once, maybe twice, a year.

Unable to hold John's gaze any longer, she finished with telling him of their break-up and the drunken snog with Matthew and what had happened with him shortly after. By the end of it all, Emi found herself attempting to practically hide beneath the weight and size of her baggy sweater as she curled up further into the corner of the sofa. Sniffling and jaw firmly set to keep from crying, the small woman gave her friend a shaky, teary-eyed grin.

"And that's it," she mumbled, a trembling hand reaching up to sheepishly wipe at her eyes as she sniffled again. "Just, uhm, yeah. Y-You didn't miss much, really," Emi joked weakly.