The Colors In Her Voice

☆Chapter 31☆

The day at the coffee shop was kind of moving slow as it was afternoon so after Stephanie's permission, Emily and I took a lunch break. We turned around the open sign and finally got a breather while stuffing our mouths with the sugary goodness. 

My body was still charged with the nervousness and excitement from the performance we had yesterday. It must be the aftermath but something in my body felt alive and I wanted to feel that again.

What was even worse was that I missed practicing and hanging out with Bethany, Mason and Dylan. Dylan is considered generic because I never personally wanted to be left alone with him. 'Good ol' days,' I thought poignantly when in reality it was just two days ago.

I've been working here even after my mom's birthday was over because if I pay for my own expenses then I could at least be a lesser burden on her. Besides, it's not half as bad as I thought it would be before I'd started working here. I don't mind the job because Emily helps me by making it tolerable except for the days she takes a leave.

Emily was busy doodling a cupcake in her sketchbook while I just sat there staring at nothing in particular. I didn't even know that I had spaced out until Emily started waving her hands in front of my face like a madwoman.

"You on Earth?"

I blinked my eyes a few times and looked at her blankly. It took me some time to really come back to reality. "What?" I asked her quietly.

She sighed but passed me a rueful smile. "I've been trying to call you since the past five minutes because I forgot to apologize to you," she said, sitting on her stool and turning to face me.

"Five minutes? You're not serious." I deadpanned and she started laughing. "And apologize for what exactly?" I asked her, playing with the hem of my t-shirt. I was feeling droopy because I think the adrenaline was wearing off. I know that it sounded weird but once I get excited, it stays for hours, days and sometimes even for weeks. The reason for this is because I hardly feel excited.

"I know you had wanted me to attend your mom's birthday surprise but I couldn't make it," she explained, pouting sadly. I swear, sometimes, I think that Bethany and her are sisters. Although, it was still weird to me that she knows her and Dylan.

"But didn't you already apologize to me yesterday? On the phone?" I asked, not quite getting the point of her apologizing again.

"Exactly, it was on the phone. So I want to say that I'm extremely sorry for not attending your performance in person. My school took that exact moment to bombard us with so much homework. Like, it's due in a week but it is worth a whole month's workload? It's still waiting for me but I needed a break. They always do this before the weekend arrives. You know, sometimes, I really hate the weekends for the same reason!" Emily vented out in a single breath. 

It was actually amusing to see a whole riled up Emily because it was such a rare sight. She's always one of those happy-go-lucky girls. So it came off as a surprise for me to see this new side of hers.

"But trust me, I promise that the next time you invite me, I'll be the first one to come even if I have a year's worth of homework piling up on my desk. I learnt my lesson yesterday, which is to never give in to the pressure of too many assignments because it does nothing good than to give you the worst headache ever," she told me and it sounded like she was convincing herself more than me. "And the repercussions are even worse." She added it as an afterthought.

"Oh... yeah..." I trailed off, nodding my head. "It's okay though, you don't need to be sorry about it, it wasn't even your fault anyway. I'm fine," I assured her with a small smile.

"I know, right!" She exclaimed and I raised my eyebrows when she was not looking at me.

"Are you... um, okay?" I asked her tentatively because she was sounding really overwhelmed to me.