The Girl In The Crowd

A break in the clouds allows the sun to shine through Vancouver city. It awakens as traffic rolls in and the crowds form on the streets and yet in a small fashion boutique is a girl weighing down silk fabric in her hands, with tears. She sits behind the counter, not daring to open her shop as tears continue to soak through the fabric. It was a scarf she'd gotten only a few weeks ago, that her boyfriend said would make her look more elegant.

She holds it tightly in her hands even as her sadness weeps from her eyes, down her cheeks and onto the last remnant of her former lover. He'd broken up with her just the day before, after finding a woman he didn't need to mold into his idea of perfection. Thinking about his every critique he'd make from the way she talk, walk and dresses infuriated her and still she'd bite her lip and listen. He loved her... She'd tell herself and he'd been the first to do so.

Now after two years she sat alone in a shop she hated, with dresses she'd thought about tearing up a million times over as it was all a reminder of what she'd done for him. It was then that the wind blew in and a drawing from a few days prior floated across her desk. She dropped the scarf and caught it before it flew past her. "Emma?" She hears and sees her good friend Sophie standing in the doorway.

"How did you...?" "You forgot to lock the door when you entered." She walks closer and sees the tears running down her usually emotionless friend. Sophie didn't know what to think of this. What had happened? "You're... crying?" It was hard for her to say the words as Emma is usually the calm, collected and fierce one in their friendship. She'd even heard some people call her unusually cold, especially for a woman.

"He broke up with me." Emma expresses as she wipes her tears away. Sophie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Andy had always been the perfect guy. She didn't mean just for Emma either. Sophie was out with her co-workers one night and without knowing Emma, they all started talking about how attractive and how he seemed like a perfect gentlemen. They watched as he opened the door for her when the went into a restaurant. Sophie recalls how even she felt jealous of their dynamic. How could two perfect people find each other?

She never did question it though as she'd only known Emma for about a year now and they met after bumping into each other at a cafe. It had been a mess and with coffee covering them both, they'd exchanged numbers and had quickly became friends after a few jokes about how clumsy they are. Not knowing Emma well enough yet... Sophie wondered how to talk to her about a relationship that started before she'd met her.

"He was right though." Sophie realizes that she'd been too focused on the past and not on what's happening now. She sees in Emma's hands is a drawing and a beautiful one at that. "That's beautiful." "You like it?" Emma sounds surprised and Sophie is curious as to why. "I drew it." Sophie gets her explanation and some information about her friend. "You're an artist?" She called her for what she is, for the landscape was something divine and should be hanging in a art gallery.

"I wouldn't call myself an artist." "It was always just a dream and Andy taught me to be realistic about such things." Are they going to talk about him? Emma had never liked to talk about Andy and would always brush people off when her or others talked about her handsome boyfriend. Is it now okay to talk about him since he's they're no longer together? "He did?" Sophie asks and Emma nods. "It's now that I look at this drawing that I understand his argument." "He'd wanted me to be someone I'm not."

"It didn't matter how often I got my nails done, hair done or wore the clothes he'd demand me to wear... as it still didn't change who I was." "Emma..." "He upgraded as I knew he would." This is the longest conversation Sophie has had with Emma in a long time, probably ever if she's being honest. "I never knew." Is all Sophie could say. "It used to cheer me up that you didn't." "I remember all those times when you and your friends would talk about him like he's this perfect man and I'd envy the way you described him." "I never wanted to destroy that image as it had been destroyed for me." "When you all talked about him... it brought me back to when we first met and we'd been so in love." "He really did feel like the perfect man at that time."

Sophie watches Emma pick up a ring on the table. "He once promised to marry me once he felt I matched his status." Sophie realized fast that the man she was with had been toxic. She knew she needed to do something to make her feel better. It was then that she pulled out the tickets from her pocket. She had promised Trina that they would go together but Emma needs this more.

Sophie places the concert tickets on her desk and Emma picks them up. "What's this?" "Diversify." "You've never heard of them?" Sophie didn't know whether to cringe or cry at the fact that she was taking someone who has never heard of the group that shes followed for years. She had stayed up all night just to get the tickets before they sold out online. "They are a mixed group in every sense... from race, ethnicity and gender." "In my opinion... they are the first to of ever made such a perfect dynamic."

"Sounds interesting but shouldn't you take someone who knows the group." Sophie held her tongue as she knew Emma was speaking the truth. "You need this and perhaps you'll like their music as much as I do."