Sakura was sunburnt.
Her skin was completely red and blistering, and she'd been plagued with headaches and chills. Not even her feet were spared. She'd spent the past few days cooped up at home, sleeping and reading manga, and just generally hiding from the sun. Emily was probably worrying about her, but honestly Sakura had felt much too nauseous to care.
Finally, after countless applications of aloe gel, her skin looked to be healing. It wasn't so painful anymore, and simply itched. It had also just begun to peel. Sakura supposed that it'd be good to stay in for one more day and then venture outside. After all, Emily was waiting.
Even though Emily really was a handful, Sakura had enjoyed the day out at the beach (excluding the awful sunburn she'd come out of it with). And it was always good to have a friend, even if the friend in question happened to have nothing in common with you. Actually, nothing in common might've been an understatement. "Complete and utter opposites" probably hit closer to the mark.
But honestly, Sakura had no one else to talk to. All of her friends were back in Japan, and time differences made it difficult to catch them when they were awake. And her cousin, like her, wasn't much of a talker, and was barely ever home.
It might even have been a blessing that Sakura had met and befriended someone like Emily, a person who would strike up a conversation with a random stranger without a second thought. Sakura just wasn't that kind of person. Even the very thought of going up to someone on the street and just saying hello made her heart begin beating like a rabbit and her insides twist with anxiety.
In a way, she sort of admired Emily. When they first met she'd deemed her loud and stupid and brash, and yes, she was. But now Sakura could see that she possessed a truckload of confidence, and even if it seemed a bit too over-the-top to be completely real, it was something that Sakura couldn't even fake. She was just a little bit envious.
She sighed. It does not matter, she thought to herself, picking up a book. Best not to dwell on it.
"WHERE WERE YOU?!" Emily exploded. Sakura flinched, and several others in the vicinity turned to see what was going on. "You've been gone for ages!"
"A few days only," Sakura said, but it only made Emily pout harder.
"I've been waiting for you!" she wailed. Sakura hurried to shush her before more people took notice of them.
"I am very sorry," she apologized. "Please forgive me."
Emily scowled for a second, but immediately dropped the expression and began to smile. She grabbed Sakura's hands.
"I missed you!"
Sakura exhaled, glad that Emily's little tantrum was over. Really though, this girl's moods change much too fast.
"Let us go sit down," Sakura said.
"Okay!" Emily beamed, happily obliging. They both seated themselves on the beach towel, with Sakura perching demurely at the edge and Emily plonking her butt down and spreading herself out like a starfish. Sakura took great care to stay in the shadow of the umbrella, avoiding the sun like the plague. Meanwhile, Emily payed no attention to the umbrella at all, instead choosing to lie half in half out of the shade. Sakura pondered briefly what kind of sunburn Emily would get if she kept up this position, then stifled a giggle at the image that came to mind.
A pleasant breeze blew past. Emily sighed in content, her eyes fluttering shut as she leaned back into a cushion of curls.
"So where did you go the last few days?" she asked, turning her head to address Sakura.
"I was at home," Sakura responded. "I have been recovering from bad sunburn."
"Seriously?" Emily chortled. Sakura felt a twinge of annoyance, but kept her features neutral. "Should've put on sunscreen then,"
"I had applied sunscreen that day," Sakura said. "It had not worked."
"Oh," Emily said. "Then sorry about making you hang out with me and getting sunburned."
Sakura blinked and raised her eyebrows, glancing over at Emily, who genuinely seemed apologetic.
After a moment's silence she exhaled and responded, "it is alright. I know you did not mean any harm, and it is my failure to not take care of my skin properly."
Emily cocked an eyebrow. "It always ends with you apologising, doesn't it," she chuckled to herself, shaking her head
"Hmm?" Sakura tilted her head, straining to hear. "Sorry?"
"HA!"
Sakura flinched, thoroughly confused.
"Point proven, Saku." She laughed and lightly punched her on the arm.
Saku..? Sakura thought to herself, question marks erupting in her head. What? And what is she talking about?
After a moment of deliberation, she responded, "I… see."
She did not, in fact, see.
They sat like that for a few minutes more, an awkward silence hanging in the air. Though perhaps it was only she that felt it, Sakura thought, as Emily, like always, seemed blissfully oblivious and was happily humming a tune to herself.
So carefree. Sakura sighed, gazing almost fondly down at Emily.
They gazed out at the sea, watching the waves crash into the shore. There were fewer towels laid out and umbrellas set up than there were the last day they had hung out, but the beach was still crowded with the sounds of laughing children and squawking seagulls. To Sakura and Emily, however, these sounds were distant, as they both seemed to be in their own peaceful world of sea breeze and sunshine.
"Oh yeah!" Emily perked up. "I've been meaning to ask you, do you want to see a movie together?"
"A… movie?" Sakura raised an eyebrow and bit her lip. So clingy! I have only known you for a week!
Emily waited patiently for a response, before realizing that she wasn't going to get one until she said something else.
"It'll be fun!" she insisted, sitting up and grabbing Sakura's hand. "Please? It's not like you have anything else to do anyway." She stared into Sakura's eyes, pouting beseechingly.
Sakura felt a twinge of annoyance at Emily's remark, but realized that she was actually right, and that if it weren't for her she'd be stuck doing the exact same things each day, without the courage to go out and explore.
"What genre of movie?" she asked.
Emily brightened immediately, grinning. "Horror! Think you can handle it?"
"I will try." Sakura wasn't particularly fond of horror movies, but she could handle them if they weren't too scary. And it had been a while since she'd seen one, although she did have quite a few horror games back home.
"Great!" Emily sighed, leaning back onto her elbows. "Oh, but don't blame me if you piss yourself," she said, smirking.
"I will not." Sakura tucked a strand of hair behind her hair. "What is the name of the movie we are going to be seeing?"
"Hmm…" Emily frowned and tilted her head. "Uh, something like... Escape the Mansion? Or it might've been maybe, Into the Bowels of Hell? …I don't know, I forgot. Something along those lines." She giggled sheepishly.
"Alright," Sakura said, silently thinking to herself, what the heck! Those two names are completely different! And why does the first one sound like some generic point and click escape game?
She cleared her throat. "What day?" she asked.
"Oh, right." Emily thought for a second, frowning, the tip of her tongue poking out through her mouth. "Maybe next week? I'm going to visit my cousin tomorrow."
"Your cousin?" Sakura raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah!" Emily nodded. "In Canada. She's a bit sick, and there's no one to take care of her, so my mom told me to go keep her company for a few days. Said I wasn't doing anything useful with my summer anyway." She exhaled. "She's probably right. Well," Emily turned to grin at Sakura, "at least I got to meet you! Even though I've only known you for a few days, it's been hella fun." Her broad, cheerful smile seemed to tug at Sakura's heart, but she dismissed it as just a side effect of Emily's infectious happy mood.
Sakura smiled and said that she agreed, and wished her a safe trip.
"Thanks!" Emily laughed again. "Oh, y'know, she has a really cute dog, and it sorta looks like a polar bear. Do you like dogs?"
"Yes." Sakura nodded happily. "I have one at home in Japan. His name is Pochi." She smiled at the memory of sinking her hands into his soft fluffy fur as he curled up next to her, asleep.
Emily watched her smile for a second, before turning away. "Cute," she mumbled, more to herself than to Sakura.
Sakura nodded, still thinking about Pochi. "Yes, he is. Oh, but Emily, I cannot contact you when you leave…"
"Hmm, I can give you my number! And we can message each other and also set up meeting times and stuff!" She fished her phone out of her pocket while Sakura dug around in her bag for hers.
"Got it!" she cheered, tugging it out. She clicked the home button and the screen came to life. "Alright, now gimme your digits."
Sakura by now had also gotten her phone out and was now clutching it in her hand. And so they exchanged numbers, and became texting buddies.
"Woohoo! I feel like we've progressed to a new stage in our relationship!" She laughed. "Now we can keep each other up to date on what we're doing!"
"Yes."
"And don't ignore my messages, else I'll think you went and fell off the face of the earth or worse, don't like me anymore!"
Sakura smiled. Really, Emily was just like a child. "Right, I will make sure to respond quickly."
"Yay!" Emily beamed. "And don't just respond either, keep me updated! I wanna know what you're doing too. If you don't, I won't send you any pictures of the dog."
As soon as the condition reached Sakura's ears, her face twisted in confusion and sadness. Sakura turned to face her, appalled. "But-"
"Kidding! Of course I'll send pics of the dog. Don't worry." Emily snickered and nudged Sakura, good-naturedly but with perhaps a bit too much force. Sakura stopped herself from toppling over and hurriedly straightened back up.
"What is the name of the dog?" Sakura asked, remembering a very important detail that Emily had forgotten to mention.
"The dog's name? Hmm…" Emily pouted, tilting her head as she thought. She nibbled her lip and turned towards Sakura, smiling sheepishly. "Ah, I forgot."
Sakura sighed. Well, not terribly surprising, she thought.
"Heyy, I don't even think my cousin knows! The dog has so many different nicknames that I don't think I've ever heard her call him the same thing twice! She probably doesn't even remember his real name. So you can't blame me! Hmph!" She turned up her nose and pointedly looked away, crossing her arms.
Sakura had to stifle a laugh. "It is alright, I forgive you."
Emily raised an eyebrow. "You should be the one apologizing," she said, trying to sound snooty but ultimately failing to keep the mirth out of her voice.
"Right," Sakura replied and fell silent, pointedly not apologizing. She glanced up at Emily, a playful smile on her face.
Emily pouted and reached over to pull Sakura's cheek.
"Meanie."
sakura
sakuraaa
are u there
answer
wake up
talk to me
ok so
here's the dog
u wanted to see him right
respond
"W…...what?" Sakura yawned, awoken by the incessant pinging of her phone. "Who is that?" She hoisted herself onto her elbows and scrabbled around for her phone, the bright screen a beacon in the dark.
Phone now in hand, Sakura sat up and squinted at her screen. Oh, it's Emily, she thought, rubbing her eyes drowsily. She quickly scanned through her texts.
Aside from the multitude of messages nagging her to respond, Emily had also sent her a few pictures of an impossibly fluffy dog, soft and cute and adorable and also vaguely like a polar bear. Sakura promptly fell in love.
Very cute! () she texted.
From Emily came an immediate response:
oh ur here!
ye hes cute
my cousins here too
say hi
Opening the image that had been sent to her, Sakura saw that it was of a beaming Emily with her arm around a demure-looking girl with glasses who, considering how tightly Emily was clinging to her, was presumably getting the life squeezed out of her. Sakura had to smile at the pained expression on the girl's face contrasted with the blissfully oblivious one on Emily's.
Hello! (^O^)／
she says hi back
They continued chatting, and eventually solidified their plans for movie-seeing. Sakura also found that Emily was just as talkative over text as she was in person, and she could barely get a word in edgewise. But it was fine. Sakura was content to just let her babble on and on. After all, there wasn't much going on right now in her life anyway, having spent the majority of the last few days cooped up in the house.
Yawning, she turned to face the window and almost jumped out of her skin when she noticed a few stray streaks of dawn painting the sky outside.
Already morning? she thought sleepily to herself. I should probably sleep.
Stifling another yawn, she faced her phone once more and hurriedly tapped out a goodbye. Before Emily had time to reply, Sakura was already conked out in her bed.