She wasn't in the wrong place, was she?

It had been ten minutes since Elise had arrived at the coffee shop across from the station, and a solid nine since Jen had been supposed to meet her. Problem was, Jen wasn't there, and Elise was slowly beginning to have second thoughts.

Okay, that was a lie. Her second thoughts had started the minute after the scheduled meetup time had passed, and by now she was at about twenty-seventh thoughts and counting. Was she in the right place? Had she remembered the time right? Sure, she had double-checked and triple-checked and then quadruple-checked too for good measure; but what if she had misremembered each time? Or maybe there was another Starbucks across from the station that she simply didn't know about. Was it even the right day? They had agreed to meet on Tuesday—it was Tuesday, right?

Except, she rationalized, if Jen was waiting for her somewhere else, she'd definitely have tried to text or call by now. Which meant that either she was leagues too early, or else Jen was running late.

But in that case, wouldn't she have informed Elise too by now? That was what people generally did when they were running late…unless their phone somehow failed them, or something had happened.

Was Jen okay? Was something wrong?

Elise took that train of thoughts and yanked it back before it could go any further off the rails. Enough was enough, she decided. She was not getting into a full-on freak-out when the matter could be solved by a simple text and call.

I'm at Starbucks, she typed into her phone. I can't find you, where are you?

The message was sent and delivered. There was a long, awkward pause.

Then it was marked as read, and Elise relaxed ever so slightly. The typing bubble popped up under Jen's name.

WAIT HOLYSHIT I COMPLETLEY FORGOT, her message read. IM SO SORRY AAAA

Before Elise could type up a response, a second message from Jen popped up. BE THERE IN 10

Sure thing, Elise wrote back, equal parts baffled and relieved. It happens to the best of us, don't worry about it!

Using the time to buy herself a cup of green tea and one of her beloved triple-chocolate cupcakes, Elise sat down at one of the tables and scrolled through her phone. Every minute or two her eyes flitted to the door, hoping to catch the familiar shock of pink hair between all the dull shades of brown, blond and gray. Each time she was a little disappointed not to find her there, even though the ten minutes were far from over. Why was she so impatient, anyway? Under normal circumstances she had much less of a problem with waiting.

Maybe, she mused, she was afraid of being ditched. Or maybe she was simply very eager to see Jen—she already didn't have the chance as often as she'd like, so when she did see her she wanted to spend as much time with her as humanly possible.

The minutes crawled by. And sure enough, precisely ten minutes after sending the text, Jen came barging into the coffee shop with her backpack half open and her hair a mess.

"I'm so sorry," she spluttered out as she collapsed into the chair across from Elise. "I totally forgot it was Tuesday, for some reason I thought it was Monday!"

Elise snorted. "How did you even manage that?"

"I don't know! I forget everything." Jen flung up her hands in a frustrated gesture. "Chores, song lyrics, friends' birthdays, my own birthday…"

Elise blinked in disbelief. "You forget your own birthday?"

"Yeah! It's like, I know when it's coming up," Jen explained. "You know? I look at the calendar and I'm like, oh, my birthday's next week. But on the actual day I totally forget about it till people start wishing me happy birthday."

Propping herself up on the table with her elbow, Elise laughed out loud. "Oh my god," she burst out. "I'm just imagining all your friends sending you all these heartfelt hand-crafted wishes and you're just sitting there like, wait, what year is it again?"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Jen jumped up from her chair, pointing exactly. "That's literally it!"

People from the neighboring tables shot them disapproving glares. "Excuse me, ma'am," a passing coffee shop employee told them in an undertone. "Could you keep it down a little?"

"Sorry!" Elise said reflexively, even though she hadn't been the one shouting.

Jen sat back down. "Why did you apologize?" she asked, using her inside voice again. "You didn't even say anything."

Elise shrugged. "Force of habit, I guess."

"That's depressing! Why are you apologizing for stuff you didn't do?"

"Hey, it's not like I apologize for everything," Elise defended herself. "Just when I want to smooth out a situation or something. To save trouble—you know?"

Jen furrowed her brow, her lively eyes dark, contemplating as they studied Elise's face. Elise met her gaze, then she looked away, feeling perceived and analyzed in a way she didn't want to be. She didn't like being studied. She didn't like being read, unless it was the specific page she had willingly opened to that person.

"What?" she asked, masking her discomfort with an awkward laugh.

"Nothing," said Jen, reaching over the table to nick a piece of Elise's half-eaten cupcake. "I was just wondering how sad your life has to be."

"It's not sad! I just don't like getting in—hey! My cupcake!"

Laughing, Jen shoved the piece of cupcake into her mouth, batting her eyes so innocently that Elise smirked and sighed. "Fine, I'm letting you have this one bite," she said, pulling the plate away from Jen's reach to hover protectively over it like a dragon over its hoard. "But if you ever try to steal my food again…"

Jen grinned from ear to ear. "Oh? Is that a challenge?"

"Don't even think of it!"

"Fine, Uncle Scrooge. I'll just sit here and starve."

"You're welcome to buy your own," Elise remarked, motioning to the counter. "Anyway, weren't we supposed to talk about songs?"

"Right!" Pulling out her phone and a pair of earbuds, Jen tapped around on the screen before holding one of the earbuds out towards Elise. "I tried singing the whole thing," she said. "What do you think?"

Holding the earbud to her ear, Elise pressed the play button and listened closely. The song they were working on, Welcome To My World, was nearing completion; but it was still in its beta version, and Elise had no idea if Jen had suggested it to her band already. All the same, it sounded a million times better than their first attempts, and she honestly couldn't find any faults in it anymore.

"It's great," Elise said honestly. To her it seemed like she sounded stiff and forced, but going by the way Jen's face lit up, it must have been her imagination.

"Okay," Jen said with an ear-splitting grin on her face. "Then I'm showing it to the guys! And that other demo…"

"Ground Breaker?" Elise asked.

"I tried singing it too," Jen replied with a nod. "But I'm stuck in this one spot. The one, you know, hang on…" She opened Elise's message with the lyrics again. "I rise from the concrete, my roots can bring down cities—how's that fit on the melody in your head?"

A twang of panic shot through Elise's chest, the dawning fear that she had messed up the rhythm. Still, it had sounded right in her head, somehow. She recalled the melody, playing around with the tune in her mind. All she remembered was that this part had been a little difficult, but she had managed in the end.

"I rise from the concrete," she sang quietly, fitting the words to the melody. "My roots can bring down cities, I am stronger than your stone…"

Her voice trailed off into nothing. Looking down, she hoped that none of the people around them had heard her awkward singing. All the same she could feel Jen's gaze on her, wide, intense and unblinking for so long that she wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground.

"I…didn't remember the melody right," she guessed quietly. "Did I?"

"…Sing it again."

Elise's head shot up. "What?"

"Sing it again," Jen insisted. "I wanna hear it."

Swallowing her awkwardness, the painful awareness that her voice sounded stiff and she wasn't hitting the notes right, Elise sang the line again. Now people were definitely staring. Damn it, this was exactly why she hated to sing when there were witnesses around.

When she was done, Jen was quiet for a long, uncomfortable moment. Then, without warning, she reached across the table to grab Elise's wrist.

"Why," she said, "aren't you a singer?"

Elise felt like she had been dropped out of an airplane without a parachute and landed lightly on a trampoline some dozen feet below. "Uh," she said intelligently. "What?"

"Your voice is amazing." The look on Jen's face was a mixture of awe and accusation. "Why didn't you ever tell me you can sing too?"

Elise shrank back, half wondering if she was being made fun of. "I…don't think I'm much good at it," she admitted. "I sound fine when I'm alone, but in front of people my voice gets super awkward and I can't hit the notes."

"I think you sounded good," Jen retorted.

"Also, I've heard recordings of my singing voice." Elise made a dismissive gesture. "I know it sounds weird, I sound like a little kid that's just speaking the melody instead of singing."

Jen's face fell, though Elise couldn't understand what she was so disappointed about.

"I like your voice," she insisted. "But…whatever."

They talked more songwriting after that, but Jen was less energetic now, as if something had put a sudden damper on her mood. Elise tried to guess what she was thinking and failed. Was it the singing thing that still bothered her? Given the timing it seemed like the most logical explanation, but for the life of her Elise couldn't see what was such a big deal about it.

Finally they were out of things to discuss, and Elise was preparing to leave and catch her train home when Jen suddenly leaned over, pausing her in her tracks.

"By the way," she said, "you should come to our band practice sometime."

Elise had the strong impression that she was up to something, but wasn't sure what. "Me?" she said. "Uh…I wouldn't mind, but what for?"

"You helped write these songs, right?" Jen stood up, reaching for her backpack. "If I'm gonna finish them with the band, it doesn't feel right to leave you out of it. You know?"

Elise hesitated.

On one hand, she wanted to go. Spending time with Jen was something she was always down for, and she had nothing against getting to know her bandmates either. But on the other hand, she would only be sitting on the sidelines telling virtual strangers how to play a song she had only written the lyrics for, and the mere thought already made her feel like an intruder.

But on the other other hand…she really wanted to go.

"Uh," she said. "I…"

…will think about it, she had wanted to say, but Jen didn't wait for her answer. "Please!" she said. "I'm not finishing these songs without you."

Elise sighed, then cracked a smile.

"That's blackmail," she said.

"Is that a yes?"

"…Yeah, okay. Fine." Elise laughed defeatedly. "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to help, but I guess I can give it a try."

It should be fine, she told herself.

She just hoped she wouldn't have to sing.