| SEATTLE |
YOGA, YOGA, RUN
July 13th
It's been two and a half weeks (and counting) since NYC and already it's like some beautifully obscured dream. I can do this forever. This being the casual run-in with Brooks whenever our friend group finds it imperative we get together.
Maybe it'll be once or twice a year for now. But then it'll be less and less frequent, until, one day in seven years, we eventually grow apart and group get-togethers become just as beautifully obscure as NYC.
I'll always have Trix and Meg. In a way, I suppose I'll always have them all. Woven into the fabric of my being. Am I being dramatic again?
"What are you thinking of?" Josh asks, elbowing mine with his.
"Hmm?" I turn to look at him, my messy bun letting hairs loose around my face.
"You've got that look on again. Your running and thinking look." Josh tells me.
Josh and I woke up with the dawn to run the piers while the air's still cool and the paths aren't overcrowded yet. It's what we've been doing the last few weeks. Part of my new routine. Run. Yoga. Run. Yoga. Duck. Goose.
"I didn't know I have a running and thinking look," I tease.
"Is it your birthday?" Josh raises an eyebrow, keeping pace beside me. "Because I know a certain someone who is days away from the big THREE-ZERO."
"Yea?
"That kind of pressure could get to anyone," Josh shrugs playfully.
"I was just thinking –silently praying –you aren't planning to throw me a party," I say, rolling my eyes.
"No such plans. I know that's not your vibe." Josh shakes his head.
"That's why I love you, Joshi." I blow a kiss.
We circle back around and run to Go Zen 2. Josh leaves me there to go shower and change before heading into the office. He's planning on having a late night as they finalize a new client's account. Me? I plan on finalizing a deal of my own.
After Zoë insisted we launch the website (and its success), I spent a ton of time looking into other opportunities, driven, most likely, by the need to occupy my mind with all things business. I'm meeting today to wrap up negotiations to have Go Zen partner with a local boutique gym.
It's this super popular and boujee high end gym that will now host 1 yoga sesh a day (compliments of either me or Zoë) and allow their members to sign up for Go Zen at a discounted rate. In other words, it's a mega deal for us.
I shower off and change in the mini bathroom at the back of GZ2. Raz is already in when I return to the studio floor. They are setting up yoga blocks on the floor for the first class.
"Hey," I call out from behind the desk.
"Hi Emmy," Raz says. "Good run?"
"You know it."
"What time's that meeting again?" They ask. "And you're going there or they're coming here?"
"It's at 10. And I'm going to their facility," I say, adding two new totes to the dwindling rack in front of the counter. People love their merch.
"Will you be back for the 2 PM? I was going to meet Zoë at the other location, but I can lead the sesh if you want." They offer.
"I'll let you know how long it'll be, but I think I'll be back on time!"
Raz and I prep the rest of the morning up until the first session at 8 AM. Raz leads the full class and I observe from the loft, reviewing notes on the partnership proposal meeting. I find myself unintentionally stretching and wishing I were partaking in the class below.
It's not that I'm nervous for the meeting. I rarely get nervous over anything business anymore. It just seems to come naturally. It's that I just can't keep my mind focused on anything. It's restless. I'm restless. For no reason. Just like I'm a volcano waiting to erupt, except I'm a mountain and I don't even erupt.
An hour and a half later I am pulling on my best Go Zen T-shirt and heading out of the studio, In Capri in my wake.
...
The pitch goes without a hitch and I step into the afternoon with a freshly minted partnership deal that will easily buy me a new bag.
I text my parents and Josh the news before heading across the street for some iced oat milk coffee. I take my cup from the peppy barista and plop down onto a stool at the free Wi-Fi bar.
My phone dings in my bag and I fish it out, half expecting it to be Josh congratulating me or maybe Trix checking in (I also told her about this meeting). What I don't expect it to be is an Instagram tag from Cece.
My heart races as I see her name scroll across my locked screen. I quickly swipe it open to see Cece shared Go Zen's latest fig and flaxseed smoothie recipe to her account, mentioning our profile and thanking us for the continued healthy breakfast inspo.
Within four minutes, I see 27 more people have followed our page. Oh wait, 28. Zoë is going to flip shit when she sees this.
I think back to meeting Cece Majors, or her, as Demi has taken to calling her, and I still haven't worked out how I feel about it.
It's a weird thing when someone you're with –someone you could see yourself with in forty years decides to pick someone else. And it's extra weird when you meet that someone else. Comparisons run wild. How much you're alike. How much you're not. How you could be and how you'll never be.
It's like goddamn son, you want so badly for there to be a right answer that you don't even realize no one is asking a question. She's just her and you're just you.
There aren't words to describe it.
I double tap to "like" her repost and slide up to look at my new text from Zoë.
ABSO FREAKING THE FUCK OUT RN
I sip on my iced coffee and shake my head typing back to her.
ikr
who knew she wasn't all talk :)
The surprise doesn't stop there. Wish it did.
A number, 10 digits long in all its stupid LA area code glory, pops up in a banner on the top of my screen. I pull open the text and read.
Hey Emmy, it's Cece. Got your # from Brooks. Wanted to say I posted about Go Zen. You probably already saw it. Well, I hope it's not so so weird! Loved the recipe and I'll keep obsessing :)
Hope we see you guys soon!
I don't know why, but part of me expected her to sign her texts XOXO. my eyes hover over the 'we' and 'you guys'. As if Cece, Brooks, Josh, and I will ever just have a casual get-together.
I don't respond. I can't.
I text Raz and then stow my phone away and set off down the block to GZ2. I'll be back in plenty of time to teach the afternoon session.
Not that yoga is the most pressing thing on my mind right now...
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