Emily - Three Weeks Later from June

The warm mellow strums of a guitar filled the store with each swing of Rachel's hand, the notes binding into a sweet melody as it travelled around the air. She always had a thing with the guitar, whatever notes she made from it, it would always end up in what could be a beautiful song if lyrics were added.

"This sounds great," Rachel announced after plucking each individual strings. "I can't believe why I haven't started getting this brand. Just listen, they sound amazing!"

"Glad you like the recommendation. By they way, what song was that you were playing?" The store owner—a man in his thirties with a goatee—asked.

"I don't know. I kinda just made it up as I go," she said with a shy smile.

"Really? Wow," he said, touching his goatee with his hand as if something crossed his mind. "Do you perform?"

"No, but it would be a dream come true, sort of," Rachel said with a chuckled as she placed her guitar back into its case, gently as if it was her baby. Well, in a way, it was her baby.

"Maybe you will, one day. What you just did a second ago was beautiful," the store owner said and reached his hand to a pile of leaflets that were sitting next to the cash register. He took a look at it and gave it to Rachel. "Maybe you can give this a try. You might turn your dream into reality."

I read the leaflet with Rachel and started nodding at the store owner. "Rachel, he's right. You should give it try."

She frowned. "But I need an original song if I were to participate, which I don't have," she sighed and handed the leaflet back to him.

I snatched the leaflet back and shoved it into her guitar case. "Not now, but you can always write one later or tomorrow. The contest isn't until Christmas, which is months away. Who knows, you might already have a few songs by then," I assured and turned to the store owner for support.

"Your friend's right, girl," he said with a smile as another customer—who was standing in front of a drum set—waved a hand at him. "Don't waste the talent, just go for it."

Rachel gave him a smile and took her guitar, turning back to rolled her eyes at me as we walked out the store. "Who do you think I am? A songwriter who can write songs in just a few months time?"

"You could be one."

"Emily, I don't even write songs."

"Yet," I continued, putting my arm around her shoulder. I led us towards the escalator and put a hand on my tummy. "Anyway, I'm starving. Let's go get dinner and then brainstorm on your song."

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Five orders were made and I was still staring at the menu boards hanging behind the counter, going back and forth between the chicken burger and the fish burger. The chicken burger sounds nice. I could almost taste the juiciness of the chicken meat the moment I bite into the burger, but then again, the fish burger sounds nice too. The tenderness of the fish filet accompanied with the slightly sweet and sour tartar would be a great dinner.

"Have you decided yet? It's going to be our turn next," Rachel said as she shoved her elbow at me.

"Hmm, no."

"You've been thinking for twenty minutes," she said after checking the time on her phone. "How about you get the fish burger since I'm getting the chicken burger? Then, we can share and have both flavours."

"Great!" I said and snapped my fingers. "That's exactly what I'm thinking and I'm just waiting for you to say it."

"Thanks! As a reward, you'll be ordering for us," Rachel said, flashing a bright smile at me just as the family in front of us walked away, leaving us face to face with the cashier.

"Fine. Hold this for me," I rolled my eyes at her as I shoved my water bottle into her hands.

Turning back to the cashier, I started pointing at the pictures at the menu board above, adding a few requirements for our drinks. After everything was done, I carried the tray of food, feeling proud of myself for not messing up with the order. I don't know if it was just me, but seriously, every time I tried to order something, I ended up twisting my tongue instead.

"So where are we sit—"

I must be seeing things. That had got to be my imagination. This couldn't be real, right?

There, sitting at a table beside the window, having full access to the city view was Finn. And he was sharing an extra long piece of french fry with another girl, his lips touching hers as they got to the middle of the fry. He pushed the girl's copper brown hair behind her ears, just like he did to mine every time we kissed, just that this time, her hair stayed behind her ears because hers was silky straight.

"Emily. Emily, can you hear me?" Rachel asked and I felt her giving my arm a light pat with the back of her hand. "Let's just take-away and go somewhere else to eat."

How could this be happening? We just spent the night together less than twenty-four hours ago.

The girl was laughing, probably at something Finn said to her. Finn had always been funny, mainly because of all the sick jokes he made, most of them being the harmless ones. Suddenly, the girl turned her head to my direction and her smile stuck at a half-smile, making Finn followed her gaze to meet mine.

I didn't understand how they noticed me at first, but then I realised I had been staring.

"Emily," I heard Rachel's soft voice again as Finn stood up from his seat.

"That's not Finn, right?" I breathed, watching Finn made his way to me nonchalantly like he was just having the world's more ordinary dinner and came to say hello to an ordinary friend in school.

"Hello, girls. Having burgers for dinner?" Finn's casually cheerful voice sounded.

Rachel glared at him. "No, we're having the tray, paper cups and burger boxes for dinner. What are you doing? Having a french kiss after a french fry?"

"Nice one, Rachel. I like that joke,"he said and chuckled, sliding his hands into his jeans pockets.

"So that's it? This is just a joke?" I said as my grip on the tray tighten. I looked over Finn's shoulder to the girl and swallowed. "Who's the joke, Finn? Me or her?"

The place got quiet all of a sudden, heads turned to our direction. The girl was looking around the restaurant and back to the three of us before she stood up, walking tentatively towards us. There were whispers from the other patrons of the place and I realised I was speaking a little too loudly.

But I don't care.

"What's going on?" The girl asked when she got beside Finn, her voice soft with a hint of concern as she wrapped her arms around his.

I felt my heart tearing from the inside as she did that, the cracks slowly making its way to the surface. I sucked in a breath and steadied myself. "Who, Finn?"

He was quiet for a while, looking at the tip of his own orange sports shoes before sighing. "The both of you."

"What?" The girl gasped, her eyes wide as she took a step back from him. "What's going on right now?"

I was expecting Finn to burst into action, apologising to me and begged for forgiveness; to tell me that he really did love me and all of this was just a stupid mistake—or at least I was hoping him to do that to me, or her if it matters.

But all he did was shrugged.

"It was just this little game between Ben and I, okay? It goes something like this: we pick out a freshie who is pretty and also doesn't know about our notorious reputation, date her, see if we can get her to do it—" Finn made an air quote with his fingers as he said that. "—or just see how long we can go. There's also bonus points for whoever has the most kisses. As for this round, I won. Although I guess this round doesn't count because he ended it earlier than we usually do," he paused and eyed Rachel. "I think you made him feel something, Rachel. He actually said he didn't want to hurt you as if it's a bad thing. That last breakup message was sweet, wasn't it? Sweet, but too much of a coward if you ask me. Seriously, who breaks up through a text message?"

"A game?" I scoffed. "Seriously? Six months. We've been together for six freaking months! How do you not feel anything at all?"

I watched him, hoping something would change, that he wasn't as horrible as he was showing now; hoping he or the crowd that was gathering now to shout "Gotcha! You're on TV" or something like that. But once again, he shrugged as the crowd stayed silent.

"Being with you was great. You're sweet and caring. Hell, you even play video games with me even though you're not very good at it, but I appreciate that," he smiled as if he just finished his thank you speech at the Oscars.

I couldn't believe he was the same guy I had dated for the past six months. The guy who made me laugh so effortlessly; the guy who wrapped me in his warm hugs that made me feel like nothing could harm me; the guy who filled my world with colours, like the fireworks on the day he popped the question.

Now, he was just the guy who slashed at all the colours with the pieces of our love—my love to be exact.

"Was it because I didn't let you touch me last night?"

He stared at me for a moment and laughed, causing a few frowns to appear on the faces of the other patrons in the restaurant. "What? Of course, no. Like, I said, it's just a game, so it's no big deal if we ever did it. It doesn't really matter anyway."

I gave him a bitter laugh. "And all this while we thought Ben was the jerk."

"I swear, Finn, I would slap you right here right now if one of my hands are free," Rachel said sternly, lifting her hand—the one that was holding my water bottle—and lowering it down again after a second. "I wish I could hit you with this water bottle, but I really don't want to stain Em's stuff with any more of your presence."

"Let me," a controlled voice spoke up and a hand smacked Finn's cheek, loud and hard as gasps echoed in the restaurant.

It was the girl. 

I almost forgot about her with all the stabbing pain I felt with every word Finn said, one look at Rachel showed that she was shocked to find her still standing there too. The girl was staring at Finn with a scowl on her face, her cheeks red with anger as she tried to keep an even breathing.

"That was for the two of us. Hope you're having fun right now," she growled and turned to look at us, her eyes soften as they met mine. She gave me a small smile and walked out of the place, making sure to glare at him one last time before she turned the corner.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I did.

"Finn Huffman," I announced when I opened my eyes again. "I'm dumping you. Don't you dare get near me or my friends ever again, or I'll make sure you can't show your face in school again."

With that, I took the tray of untouched food back to the counter, telling the cashier—who was giving me a thumbs up—to pack the food so I could bring it home.

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The burgers were already cold and lumpy and the french fries dry and hard by the time we reached Rachel's house. She laid a piece of rectangular plastic on the floor—the only way her mother would allow us to eat in her room—and we placed all the cold untasty looking food on it.

I played around with the fries, using one to pushed the others around. I didn't have much appetite left after the scene, definitely not interested in french fries anymore. I inspected the burger that I was holding in my other hand, it looked as sluggish as I was. Sighing, I took a bite at it. It tasted like a piece of sponge soaked in oil, a totally different version from what I imagined it to be. That was the problem with fried food. They were only tasty if you eat them immediately. But I chewed on it anyway since I can't possibly just throw out perfectly good food.

Meredith walked by us and hissed at our dinner, her face looking like the grumpy cat on the net before she jumped into Rachel's bed, sitting elegantly at the side nearest to us.

Rachel was biting into her own burger too, her eyes staying on mine ever since we sat down. I know she was thinking about what happened just now. I got to say, that was absurd. I actually spent six months with a guy thinking he loved me just to find out that I was a pawn in his stupid game.

"The food taste awful. I feel like I'm eating oil," I complained.

"I think so too, especially the fries, they look so," she paused and studied the pile of french fries. "Lifeless."

"It's ridiculous, Rachel. Who makes a game like that and play it? Who even think about games like this?" I said and swallowed as I felt a lump in my throat.

"Heartless jerks like them," Rachel sighed and changed her position, sitting beside me with an arm over my shoulder.

"At least, Ben got a bit of conscience left. At least, he didn't try to do anything more while you were together. " I said and looked at her. "It looks like that lame breakup text wasn't that lame after all, huh?."

"Yeah, I guess," she said softly as she hugged her legs, her eyes darted to the pile of dead looking french fries. Then, as if remembering something, she sat up straight again. "What did you mean when you said you didn't let him touch you? Haven't you guys been doing a lot of touching? I mean, you were a couple."

I took a bite at my burger and waited for the lump to go away. But after I was done chewing, the lump was still there. "He tried to—his hands got under my dress last night, when we kissed," I squeaked as tears started to fall from the corner of my eyes.

A gasp escaped her mouth before she could cover it with her hand. A moment later, she stood up and looked around in her room. She got a box of Kleenex and placed it in front of me, pulling a piece of tissue paper out to wiped away my tears.

"Do you parents know about this?"

"I haven't told anyone," I said between sobs.

"But that's sexual assault!" She hissed. "You have to report it to someone."

"No, it's not. I mean, he didn't actually do anything. All he did was touch my thighs and I stopped him. I think," I protested. I didn't know why I did that even after how he treated me, but I just want everything to stop and go away. "His mum came and knocked on the door and he stopped whatever he was trying to do."

"Did his mum know about it?" She asked and then waved a hand to dismiss the question. "Your parents would have known if she knew. But Em, he still tried to do it. And from what you said, he didn't plan to stop if his mum didn't drop by."

"I don't know," I said and burst into tears.

I gave up trying to stuff myself with the oily fish burger at that time. Snort and tears were all over my face and I couldn't wipe them away because my hands were oily. I threw the quarter of burger next to the pile of french fries—which managed to looked even more unappetising since I last looked at it—and rushed to the bathroom.

"Emily," she called out to me before getting herself to the bathroom.

Rachel joined me at the sink, washing her hands with soap while I continued to cry in front of it, my hands wet after washing them. I tried to stop my tears but it was like a rebellious broken dam, the more I wanted to stop crying, the more I felt like crying.

"Emily, it's okay. I'm here, we'll get through this together. I promise," she said and hugged me tight after wiping her hands dry. "I know this is going to be hard, but we can deal with everything tomorrow."

I felt her jaw moving against my shoulder, still munching at the remaining of her burger. I cried harder when she tighten our hug, which I was really grateful for because it felt steady and familiar despite everything changing in one night.

Meredith made her way to the bathroom too, purring beside our feet as she brushed herself against me. Her fur was so soft, just the way I remembered when I first got to know her. Her purr had always sounded welcoming, like how it sounded now when she continued to purr as if trying to do what Rachel was trying to do—to comfort me.

"All we wanted was to be wanted, why is that so hard?" I managed to squeak before breaking into another sob.

Something wet touched my shoulder and I heard a sniffled from Rachel. "Probably because this isn't a fairy tale," she said and broke into a sob too.

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Little Note: 

What would you do if you were Emily? I would probably just walked away or if I'm in the mood, have a good argument with Finn and make sure I win. xD On a lighter note, do you think Rachel would enter the contest? And if she does, what do you think her song will sound like? 

And don't be a silent reader, tell me what you think about this chapter and if you enjoyed it, give it a vote? Anyway, hope you enjoyed! :P