Chapter 6 - A surprise visit

"Let's go shopping." Anna asked. More so demanded near the doorway of an apartment.

A half sleepy Emily looked back at the girl with a bit of resentment building due to how early she had been woken up.

"Anna, its 4AM. How the fuck do you expect us to go shopping." Emily said. She wouldn't normally swear but as said earlier, she has a reason.

"Just because it's a Saturday doesnt mean you get to be lazy. Chop chop, lets go!" She said with a little too much enthusiasm.

"Anna. What time do the shops open?"

"At 8, shouldn't you kno-"

"And what time is it?"

"It's 4. You said it yourself earlier Emily. Why are you asking so many dumb questions?"

"The shops are gonna be closed for the next 4 hours. We cant go anywhere."

In a singular 'oh', you could feel all the built up enthusiasm die. It was pitiful.

"You didn't even think of that, did you?"

Anna only looked down at her legs with shame. Emily let out a long sigh whilst holding the bridge of her nose, before reluctantly inviting her inside.

"Come on in."

Anna's eyes sparkled as she went in

For the last 2 weeks, Emily has been frequently going to Anna's Cafe for some coffee. The taste and sweetness that the coffee gave gave her the perfect mix of nostalgia and satisfaction. It had been a long time since she tasted her drinks. Seven years to be exact.

"It's as dull as I expected it to be." Anna stated as she looked around the room

"That's quite rude to say to someone who invited you to their home."

"You get special treatment"

As they walked through the corridors, they arrived at the living room which was very clean. The only thing out of the ordinary would be the numerous string instruments on the wall and the Digital piano located on the dinner table.

"So?" Anna asked expectantly as she looked around.

"So… what?" Emliy replied back confused.

"I mean… what are we gonna do?"

"I didnt expect any guests so I dont have anything plannned"

"What a great host you are" anna spoke sarcastically whilst throwing her arms around

"Well this 'host' never agreed to be a host at 4 am"

"Fair point Anyways, I can see that you've completed your collection."

"Collection?"

"Your collection of string instruments. "

"Yeah… wasn't exactly the cheapest thing to do."

"I could believe that. So do you know how to play them all?"

"Somewhat. Knowing how to play the guitar essentially gave me an Idea on how to play the rest… well almost the rest" She said as she eyed her collection

"I would love to hear you play again, it's been so long since I've last heard you." she said reminiscing about the old time.

"I'm sorry about that…" Emily looked at Anna with a slight frown that if you didn't look closely, would go unnoticeable.

"Ah! don't worry about it. You had your studies and I had a job. I just wished we kept contact."

A silence permeated through the air as they both recalled their younger years.

"Anyways… Lemme hear you play the guitar." She said with excitement.

"Unfortunately, I can't do that."

"Eh- WHY?"

"It's still…" Emily looked at the clock and continued. "4:30. The neighbours are probably still asleep and I wouldn't want to wake them up."

"Oh fuck… what a bummer."

"But, I could connect my earphones to the piano and we can listen together."

"YOU ARE A GENIUS EMILY."

"Right, right. Now stop shouting, you're gonna wake the neighbours up."

"Alright" Anna whispered.

Emily went to her room to grab some headphones whilst Anna followed closely behind. The room was black and white. It would be a minimalist's wet dream except for the numerous stacks of papers on her desk and tiny figurines and toys from her childhood. She also spotted a pair of dumbbells on the floor.

"So you still exercise, huh?"

"Hmm? Oh. I just restarted doing so recently. It's kinda therapeutic."

"I can't imagine. Whenever I go to play volleyball, it always becomes chaotic."

"That's probably because you always make a competition out of it."

Anna stared at Emily before speaking. "Have you been stalking me?"

"So I was right. Oh- found it." She said ⁹as she removed a pair of dangling earphones and started walking back to the living room. "So what do you want to hear?"

"Hmmm… Let's go with a classic."

"Oh no."

"Claire de Lune. What do you mean 'oh no?'"

"You actually chose a classic.." Emily expressed, her eyes widen with shock.

"Why is that the most expressive ive seen you since we've met again."

"I thought you wouldve chosen one of the popular songs."

"Honestly, I thought about doing it, but went against it."

"Thank goodness,"

Emily plugged the earphones onto the piano and gave one of the pair to Anna.

"Claire de Lune it is." She said as she stretched her fingers

Placing her fingers on the keys, she took a deep breath and started playing the notes. Quickly settling on a rhythm, she started to get comfortable with the instrument.

It had been a while since she last played for someone apart from her now ex-boyfriend. She wasnt used to someone else hearing the songs she played but it felt nice. The only 3 other people to have heard her play anything would be her mother, Anna and an old friend of hers who had gone to the states when she was only 8.

When she was in high school, Anna would force her to play songs that she wanted to sing. At first, Emily was a bit apprehensive of letting someone listen to her play something, but as time went on she became more accepting of it. It had almost become a tradition to play something on Friday evenings.

Emily's mother was very supportive of her daughter's hobbies so she would let her do whatever she wanted. To her Academic performance was not the most important thing in the world. Afterall, who cares how many A's you get if you don't have fun. She was also just happy to see Emily bring a friend over.

The piece brought out nostalgia as she reminisced on the past. It seems like she has been doing that a lot as of late. Though, it was interrupted by Anna clapping her hand needlessly loud.

"Oh my god. I swear you're better than the last time I heard you play."

"It has been 7 years after all. It would've been embarrassing if I didn't get any better."

"That's true… Anyways, I wanna sing!"

"Anna. Neighbours." She reprimanded her

"For fuck sake!"