Tegan sat down on the couch next to me during our break from recording. She handed me a beer and smiled lightly at me as she used a bottle opener to open hers. I stared at the bottle in my hands with intent as i flipped it over and over in my hands. I read the labels a hundred times over feeling the cool glass surface turn warm in my hands. Tegan took another swig of her beer before she looked over at me and raised an eyebrow.
"You not gonna open it? We have two more hours of recording - you need to get some liquid." Tegan assured me.
I looked up from the bottle and at Tegan, who now had lowered her beer, resting it on her knee. Her soft expression slowly began to fade into confusion as she watched my shattered face.
"I don't really feel like a beer right now…" I sighed as I rested my elbows on my knees clutching the warming beer in my stiff hands. I looked down at it again and kinda half grinned.
"Ya know, this was Emy's favorite brand."
Tegan smirked lightly and rolled her eyes at me. She turned her body to face mine and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
"Sara, you gotta stop thinking about that girl. She's in the past now, and we need to focus on the now. On our music."
Tegan smiled softly at me then and squeezed my shoulder. She stood up from the rusty couch and put out her hand. I looked up at it and then at her, questioning her motives. Tegan twitched her fingers at me, and when I still didn't understand what she meant, she smiled wide and almost shouted, "Give me the damn bottle Sara!"
Laughing, we both smiled at each other and I handed over the bottle. Tegan looked at me quickly before she popped the cap off and took a big sip of the warm beer. She glanced over at me and offered me the bottle. I gapped my mouth lightly and reached for it, but before my fingered could grasp the smooth glass, Tegan pulled it away and tucked it close to her.
"Ah ah ahhh," Tegan teased, "You gotta promise me somethin' before you can have it."
I smiled sadly at her and asked, "Yeah, what's that?"
"You gotta promise me there'll be no more of this "Emy" crap the rest of recording."
Tegan offered me the bottle again, and I gleamed at her as my fingers wrapped around the hot glass.
"Promise." I said with a grin.
Tegan held up her almost empty bottle and smartly grinned at me, "Cheers then."
"Cheers!" We clanged bottles and chugged what we had left. Tegan walked away from me in the direction of the recording studio, and I was left alone by the old, rusty couch. Memories started flooding in from the silence of Emy and me, sitting toasting beer together on the couch - celebrating the end of a recorded album. I thought of all the laughs we sharred, and all the pictures that we stored.
I looked down the hall when I heard Tegan call after me. I quickly hid the bottle behind the couch, and chased after her down the hallway. I caught up to her and she stared talking to me about what song we're supposed to be recording next, but all I could think of was that couch.
The bottle would sit there for a long time, just like all the others. All clanging together behind that rusty, old couch that I love so much.