Awakening

Chapter 5

"Look who finally decided to show up!" Emily announced loudly as Rose walked into the bar.

The Drunken Sailor was a small bar at the edge of town. Although there were other bars with a larger variety of drinks, The Drunken Sailor was still popular among the town's residents. Wednesdays was karaoke night and each Friday the bar featured local talent. It was meticulously decorated to look like the inside of a ship, hence the name. The smell of beer and deep fried foods drifted through the bar, making everyone feel right at home.

Rose laughed at her friend and gave her a hug.

"So sorry Em, you know how it goes!"

Emily shook her head profusely, her blond hair whipping back and forth.

"Nope, I don't. Come five o'clock, I'm out of the office. I've got much better stuff to do than stay late. Like have drinks with my best friend." As she said this she gave Rose a pointed look.

Rose laughed. "Oh please Em, don't give me that look! You learned about my workaholic trait early on in this friendship and you still decided to stay, so now you're stuck with me."

"Lucky me," Emily rolled her eyes and continued. "Since you're buying, thanks for that by the way, I've gone ahead and ordered us some tequila shots to celebrate the weekend."

Rose looked at the tequila shots on the table in front of her. In fact, tequila did nothing for her. She could drink the whole damn bottle and she wouldn't even feel a buzz. Her metabolism worked way too fast for the alcohol to do anything. But, normal people drank and got wasted, so sometimes she would have to lay it on a bit.

"To Emily," Rose stated as she lifted her shot glass, "Who puts up with me and my antics, when other people would have kicked me to the curb long ago."

"You know that's right!" Emily replied, before downing her shot.

Rose did the same. She smiled and nodded as Emily started relaying a story about some high school frenemy she had seen at the local coffee shop that afternoon, but she wasn't really listening. She was thinking about her "hiking" trip the next day. She couldn't wait. She could already smell the pine and musk of the forest. Feel the dirt and ground beneath her feet. Hear the animals burrowing and the birds singing. She could feel the wind blowing on her skin. She needed to let loose a bit. She hadn't changed in weeks, her schedule hadn't allowed a trip to the forest. She had so much pent up energy and stress that her skin was crawling. It was like an itch she couldn't scratch.

"Earth to Rose!" Emily's voice broke through her thoughts.

"Huh?" Rose replied. Her mouth was open, a confused look on her face.

"Have you even been listening to what I've been saying?" Emily asked. She already knew the answer, though.

She knew her friend hadn't heard a word she had said. Once again, she was in her own little world. But Emily was used to that. Rose was the best friend she had ever had. Even though they were complete opposites, they got along really well. She could always count on Rose when things were tough and she had always had her back. She had never met anyone as loyal as Rose James. But she also quickly learned in the early stages of their friendship that Rose's thoughts tended to drift away. Many times she would just get quiet and Emily would catch her deep in thought. She didn't know where she went during these drift offs, but most times she was sure it wasn't anywhere good. Rose's eyes testified to that. She had never seen so much pain in one person's eyes. On more than one occasion she had seen tears welling up in her eyes. She tried asking her about it once or twice but Rose just laughed it off as Emily's imagination acting up. Her eyes had told a completely different story though. Emily had never asked again, deciding to respect and support her friend rather than dig up painful memories Rose clearly didn't want to remember.

Emily looked at her friend noting that this time, luckily, her eyes were not filled with pain or tears. She was just preoccupied then.

"Where did you go just then?" she asked carefully, just in case her assessment was wrong.

"Just thinking about the weekend. I'm really looking forward to the hike." Rose replied excitedly, a brilliant smile sweeping across her face.

A look of disgust crossed Emily's face. "You know I love you, right? But I just don't get what's fun about walking around in die dirt and sun and getting all sweaty."

Rose laughed at this. Emily was not one for the outdoors or physical activity. Which she should probably be thankful for. At least she didn't have to make up excuses to go on these trips alone.

"Oh dear, sweet Emily. I'm sure you'd love it if you gave it a try. You should come with me one weekend." Rose cooed.

Immediately Emily shook her head. "No thank you. They didn't invent air conditioning so that we can go outside and sweat all over the place."

Rose smiled and left it there. She didn't want to push Emily into actually agreeing to come with her. As long as Emily thought she wanted her to come along, it was all good. "I'm also sure they didn't invent it so that you can sit on your butt all weekend and do nothing but binge watch some series."

"Hey! Don't diss it till you've tried it." Emily replied pointedly. "And I don't sit at home ALL weekend. I actually go out with other people and do this thing normal people call 'socializing'. You should try it some time."

"Nah, I'm good. I'm not much for groups of people." Rose smiled wryly as she said this, her old pack members' faces flashing before her eyes. "I'm more of a one friend at a time type of girl." she smiled at Emily as she said this.

"Aww, that's so sweet! And so stupid. Multiple friends can be a good thing. What if I wasn't here and you needed help with something? An extra friend could come in handy."

Rose pretended to think about this and then answered.

"Nope, I'm happy as is."

Emily sighed loudly before declaring that there was no hope for Rose.

Rose looked at Emily. The poor thing look utterly defeated. She took a sip of the beer they had ordered and smiled as she looked at her friend. She hadn't had a friend like Emily in, well, never actually. With all the mistakes she had made in the past, somewhere, somehow, she knew she must have done something right too.