Only Summer Loves October - Ryden

Chapter Three - The Ability To Destroy

I walk into the apartment after work and I'm surprised to find it empty. I don't normally get much time to myself at home because Emma has her office set up in the spare bedroom - so even when she's working, she's still here with me... there's no escape. Not that I mind it, I don't cope well with silence. I've lived in this apartment for a few months now, it's small but has everything we need, the rent is a decent price and it's close to work so I don't need to get out of bed until I'm almost late, which suits me. I'd much rather be at home playing guitar and video games all day, but the bills need to be paid so I put on a smile and work as many hours as I can at the pizza place.

I check the phone to see if we have any messages on the machine but there's nothing, I suppose I'll have to entertain myself until Emma gets home from wherever she is. It's almost midnight so I still have a few hours to chill out before I drag myself to bed. It's not like I have anywhere to be tomorrow, so I don't need to worry about how tired I'll look or feel.

I put the radio on to hear 'Under the Bridge' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which I'm loving right now. I grab myself a beer and start dancing through the kitchen when I hear loud, high pitched laughter coming from outside the apartment. I turn the radio off again as the DJ starts discussing a local news story of a young girl going missing, too depressing for me. The front door opens and Emma's voice along with the familiar laugh of our friend Sophie echoes through the room, the three of us have all been friends since middle school and she always visits when she's in town. Sophie used to live here with Emma before me, when she started travelling more with her job she decided to move out, so I offered to move in to help with rent (and to get away from my last room mate, Brent). It wasn't long after I moved in that Emma and me became a couple, a lot of people think our relationship has moved fast because we live together - but it just happens to have worked out like that.

"Brendon? You home yet? We have so much to tell you!" Emma squeals. She's clearly had a few too many, I'll need to drink this beer fast to catch up. 

"I have stuff to tell you too, I'll be right there." I open the almost empty fridge and grab myself a second beer which happens to be the last one; we definitely need to go grocery shopping but neither of us have ever been very good at doing grown-up stuff. I run into the lounge and leap over the back of the sofa, my usual after work hyperactivity starting to come out now. 

Emma giggles and raises her eyebrows at me before blurting out "So, who's going first? How was your day? Have you been home long? What have you got to tell me?"

"I only just got home before you did, it was really busy tonight. It's not that exciting though, just had someone famous come into work today. What do you two have to tell me?"

"Forget about our news for a minute, who was the famous person? Do we know them? Did you serve them?"

"Wow, alcohol makes you ask a lot of questions" I remark. "Have you ever heard of a band called The Weeds?" I know they both have because they still have their garish yellow t-shirts from the '89 tour. Soph paid a ridiculous amount of money for two tickets without even checking if anyone would want to go with her, Emma barely knew the band at the time but would never pass up an opportunity to have a night out with her best friend. Emma's the kind of girl who won't let go of memories no matter how distant or faded they might be, but memories is exactly what's stopping me from opening up to her with my feelings about that band.

As I say the band's name the girls stop smiling, look at each other and suddenly the room seems much quieter. Why are they acting shifty? They're so synchronized anyone would think they were sisters, they even look alike to some extent - they both have platinum blond hair and similar dress sense, the main contrast between them being their obvious height difference. Emma's around the same height as me, but Soph is only a little over 5 feet tall - something we will never get bored of making jokes about.