Just A Notion

Chapter 26: In This Bubble Made For Two

Friday, 20th August, early morning.

    After a night full of tossing and turning on Björn´s couch, Benny finally woke up. He had spent the last two days at Björn´s place like they always did when they discussed new material for an album. Most of the times they stayed there together for over a week or longer if necessary, but this time Benny couldn’t stay any longer. He hadn’t even planned on staying more than a day but Björn insisted they would first finish the things they were working on before he could let Benny go.

     Checking the time on his wristwatch, he got up and started packing his bags. He had to be very quiet since Björn was still sleeping, and he certainly didn’t want to give him the exact reasons of his departure.

     Benny was quick to finish packing and just reached for the door to leave, he heard Björn behind him walk out of his bedroom. He froze as he registered the sound and turned around to face him, shutting the door as neatly as possible so that Björn wouldn’t notice he was already on his way out.

     Björn just stood there for a moment, taking in what he was witnessing, repeatedly blinking his eyes as if to adjust them to the orange sunlight simmering through the light curtains.

     “Where are you going?”, Björn said, his voice still heavy with sleep. He kept his eyes on Benny that hadn’t moved from the door and before Benny could answer he added: “I thought we would continue today. We´re not nearly finished.”

     Benny´s head desperately searched for a lie good enough to get him out of that situation. “Well, I totally forgot to tell you, but I needed to go see my parents this weekend. Apparently they need my help with the construction of a cabinet in their apartment. Would be rude to just say no right?”, Benny answered, unsure whether that statement sounded believable but if it did, he would have the whole weekend to spent in the woods.

     When Björn hadn’t answered right away, Benny grabbed his phone to show him the call he had with someone some time ago, making Björn think it was his parents. “They just called me.” He let out a short laugh putting his phone back in his pocket.

     “Okay, well do what you want, but I´ll see you next week. We have to get going. It has already taken us too long to get where we are now. We´re just loosing time.”, Björn murmured and turned around to enter his bedroom again.

     Benny took his chance to leave and hurried out the door. He got to his car, but before he drove off, he took his bag which he had thrown on the passenger seat and went to search for something.

     It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for and then he held it in his hands. A small letter he had prepared while he was with Björn. He knew when Agnetha returned from her trip she would not be happy about Frida´s absence and might also want to accuse him again and now that he had done such thing he cant get into a situation where Agnetha tries to confront them again.

     So, he had to do something that would convince her that Frida had left on her own, the way she did it the last time. He tried his best to mimic Frida´s style of writing from his experience with her writing letters to him, but he couldn’t use his own handwriting even if he gave his best to make it as close to Frida´s.

     Agnetha knew her more than Benny did at that time, and she would certainly know if that’s her handwriting or someone else’s. He couldn’t take such a risk. That’s why he had used Björns typewriter when he was out buying some beer.

     But then, when he looked at his creation in the car, a sudden wave of doubt hit him. Agnetha would know Frida only writes her letters herself and not with a typewriter. Does she even own a typewriter? How can I make sure she´ll believe the letter was from her?