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“Want me to brush your hair?” she asked, after we finished. I turned around and pushed my hair over my shoulder as an answer.
“Can you braid it too?” I asked. Emma could do these incredible braids and they helped my unruly hair look cute for several days without any work on my part.
“Yeah, sure.” I closed my eyes as she ran the brush through my hair and then sectioned it off to start braiding. The gentle yanks of my hair were somehow soothing. I almost drifted off to sleep as she worked, humming softly to herself. I knew exactly what song she was singing.
“There you go, Callyn,” she said, patting my head. My scalp was a little tight and sore, but that was fine. It was going to look great tomorrow.
“Thank you,” I said, turning around and smiling at her. “You’re the best.”
“Yes, I am,” she said, giving me a smug smile. I hit her with a pillow and she laughed. “Listen, I have to be up early tomorrow for class, so I’m going to go to bed.” I made a face. “Look, not all of us are vampire insomniacs.” That was true. Emma had always gone to bed earlier than I had. If only I could learn from her example and not stay up until all hours and then be exhausted the entire day.
“Fine, fine. Hugs.” I always had to hug her goodnight. Tonight’s hug was a little too brief for me, and then I was alone. I didn’t like it.
I turned on the small TV she had in the room (mostly by my demand) and put on something mindless as I scrolled through my phone for a little while. Figuring I should at least attempt to get to sleep at a reasonable time, I pulled up my meditation app and did a quick ten minutes to try and calm my mind.
Serenity didn’t last for long. I had too many thoughts. I was still determined to figure out how the marriage had happened in Vegas, but the more I tried to reach for the memories, the further away they got. Why had I gotten that drunk? I mean, Iknewwhy. It was Lara’s bachelorette and my job sucked and I just wanted to have a blowout with my friends. Look where that had gotten me. Married.
I sighed in frustration and pulled out my phone to scroll mindlessly until I fell asleep from pure exhaustion. It took a long, long time.
Tomorrow was going to be rough.
Three
The rest of the weekwas . . . what it was. Work was hell, but I’d finally gotten a call back for a job I’d applied for at a co-working space. I liked the vibe of their website, and the job seemed like it would pay better than my current one and would hopefully lead me to cry less in the bathroom during the day.
We scheduled the interview for the following week, so I went to Emma and she drilled me on all my questions. Once I had gone through every possible question I could think of at least five times, I asked her if she’d filed for the annulment yet.
“Haven’t had a chance,” she said, pulling at an invisible thread on her couch. I’d been spending a lot of time here because my roommates were being insufferable. They were both in new relationships so I was hearing a lot of sex through the thin walls and I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t need to hear my roommate screaming at her girlfriend to choke her harder, thank you very much.
Emma’s apartment was an oasis of quiet and peace. Plus, Emma didn’t really date much so there was no worry of hearing any of that stuff. I didn’t know why she didn’t have a girlfriend. It didn’t make any sense because she was so fucking amazing that I couldn’t imagine anyone not wanting her. Not that I should talk, because it had been ages since I’d been on a date of my own. I was too poor and too annoyed to date right now.
“But you should do it soon, right? I mean, I’m sure that the sooner we file the better, because it’s like we knew it was a mistake right away, you know?” I said. The fact that she hadn’t done anything yet completely shocked me. Emma was always the one who paid her bills early and never liked leaving things until the last minute. Unlike me.
“Yeah,” she said softly. “But I was thinking . . .” Emma trailed off, and finally looked up at me.
“What if . . . what if we didn’t get it annulled? I mean, not right away.” I stared at her, convinced I had heard her wrong. She could not be suggesting that we stayed in this mistake of a marriage. For what reason? Why would we do that?
