#interaction.julia

There was very little in life that Emmy was actually scared of, but approaching Val’s apartment, praying the woman wasn’t home, while simultaneously hoping to be greeted by her equally as dreaded roommate was something that not only scared her, but terrified her into almost calling the jacket she had left in the car Val had used to pick her up a total loss. But, it was her favorite leather jacket and one that she had missed dearly for almost a month, so it was time to reclaim it, even if that meant having to deal with the woman’s roommate for the first time since their little run in at the soap shop many months ago. Emmy was sure after ignoring Valerie for a month and abruptly leaving the state had probably left a bad taste in said-roommate’s mouth and she almost groaned in verbal despair when the elevator reached Julia’s floor, despite her wishing with every fiber of her being that the machine would release her from her misery and breakdown instead. Taking a deep breath, she held out her knuckle and pressed it against the apartment door she had come to know all too well, stepping back as the door unlocked and she was faced with the blonde she had been hoping for. “Thank god,” Emmy breathed out, her eyes widening when she realized she had spoken aloud and stuttered to correct herself. “I, uh... I mean, hey. I... Val picked me up a few weeks ago in a car and I’m assuming it was your car, but I kind of left a jacket inside and I was really hoping to get it back. Or not. Actually, you can totally keep it, that’s. cool. Yeah, I should just go.”

Emmy will never be sure what possessed her to find her way into the Old West Soap Company in Claret Park. She didn’t even live in the neighborhood and she sure as hell was the type of person who actively sought out organic soaps with essential oils and way too many scent combinations that made it seem like the soap bars were just waiting to be eaten instead of being used on your body. No, she was always the type of person who was just fine with the first five-in-one shampoo, conditioner, car wash, dish soap, and laundry detergent she could find in the grocery store. It was something her ex-girlfriend had always been on her to change, to try and do better at. It wasn’t that she was lazy, she just had better things to do then spend five dollars a bar on specially crafted artisanal body soap that would only last her two weeks and left her smelling like a candy bar. Maybe it was the fact that she was hanging around said ex-girlfriend that subconsciously drove her into the store, weaving slowly among the other customers who had a much bigger interest in being there than her. But when her shoulder bumped into yet another person, Emmy’s patience for the fancy shop finally wore thin. “Okay, c’mon, these aisles are like, three people wide. Just watch where you’re going,” She complained, knowing full well that her Amelie would have had her tongue when she was younger if she had ever spoken that sharply, but with a bar of jasmine gardenia, a scent that was only familiar to her because it happened to be Valerie’s favorite, scented soap in her hand and the growing heat of irritation behind her neck, she couldn’t help but lose her cool on the fiftieth person she had managed to bump into in her short amount of time in the shop.

Unfortunately for her, that fiftieth person just so happened to also be said ex-girlfriend’s current roommate, someone she had yet to meet but had seen photos of when she and Val found themselves participating in certain extracurricular activities at the woman’s apartment. “Shit.” The utterance came with an audible groan and she never wished more than in that moment that she’d be buried alive six feet below ground. “Of course it’s you.”