“Not that I mind, but what brings you here?” Lily’s voice came from the bedroom as Amelia was taking off her outerwear.
“Oh, yeah. Well, I suppose I just wanted a bit of a do-over. After all, we... didn’t get to talk much yesterday. Sorry again.” They’d chatted for a bit after finishing their meals, but the mood had remained a bit awkward.
“Just forget it.” Sounding somewhere between annoyed and embarrassed, Lily appeared from the bedroom. Her hair was still flowing free for some reason. She’d put on a similar outfit as the previous day, except this time the shirt was black too. And like the first time they’d met there, her feet were bare.
“Alright, alright.” Amelia lifted a paper bag she was carrying. “Regardless, I bring an offering of peace.” When Lily just walked toward the living room instead of asking about it, she harrumphed and followed, pouting. However, upon entering the living room, she stopped in surprise. “Huh?”
Where there had been the recliner the last time was now a sofa. The recliner had been moved to the right, next to the cabinets that Lily had retrieved the memento box from. Lily stopped and glanced first at the sofa, and then at Amelia, before looking away again.
“It was delivered this morning. That is what I was in the city centre for yesterday.” She appeared uncomfortable again, her words barely audible.
“But why…” Amelia caught herself. She’d been about to ask why Lily would shop for one all the way in Glasgow, when surely she could’ve just done so in Stirling. But she figured her friend had her reasons. Shaking her head in mild disbelief, Amelia walked to the sofa, placed the paper bag on the coffee table in front of it and plopped herself down. “Comfy!” It was a two-seater and indeed felt quite soft and comfortable. She figured that her friend must’ve been a bit embarrassed about the level of hospitality she could offer. Like a kid, Amelia bounced up and down a few times and chuckled. Once Lily decided to do something, it appeared she wasted no time getting it done. In light of the previous day’s events, Amelia suppressed her rising impulse to say something teasing, instead going with something a bit more amicable. “I guess your offering wins this time, but mine’s no slouch either. It’s from the café – their autumn special apple pie.”
“You sure do like your sweets,” came her host’s voice from the kitchen. Soon after, she heard a clinking of glasses, and the fridge being opened. Soon after, Lily appeared carrying a carton of apple juice and a glass, plate and spoon for both of them. Placing them on the coffee table, she sat down next to Amelia. “This should fit the apparent theme.”
“Yeah, I do, and so it does. I do like my apples, too – the doctors in turn hate me for it,” Amelia joked and reached for the paper bag. She pulled out two sizeable, individually wrapped apple pie slices. “I would’ve brought the whole thing, but this was all they had left.” Lily was just pouring the drinks, so she unstacked the plates and placed the pies on them. With a nod of thanks, she took the glass her friend handed to her. She took a sip and looked around. She’d not paid much attention to detail the last time, but now she noticed that tucked into the TV stand was a video game console and what she assumed was the amplifier for the speakers. On top of the two cabinets on the right was what appeared to be a row of disc cases – games and/or movies, she supposed.
Curious, she stood up and walked up to them. She unconsciously raised an eyebrow as she randomly browsed them and noticed that many, perhaps even most, of the movies as well as games appeared to be martial arts-themed. She turned around, about to say something, only to see Lily gazing at her silently.
“Oh, sorry for going through your things without asking,” she instead offered sheepishly. Lily just shrugged in response. “Still, martial arts, huh? Wouldn’t have guessed.” Lily shifted in her seat.
“I got into it on my last year of primary school. Maybe a little too into it.”
“Too into it? What do you mean?” Lily shifted again and squeezed her glass more than necessary, appearing uncomfortable.
“Are you sure you want to hear this?”
“You don’t have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable, but I’d like to hear it. There’s so much I missed out on during all these years, after all.” Amelia’s voice and expression were earnest. Lily took a deep breath in and out.
“It does. A little. But it is not like I want to hide these things from you or anything, so it would come up eventually anyway. Before I talk your ears off... short or long version?”
“Long, please.” Lily, talking her ears off? She couldn’t help but be curious about such a novel experience.
“Well. I… I tend to overdo things. I get... obsessed. I wasn’t getting along with the other kids, as usual, and then during the last year of primary school I happened to see the movie Karate Kid, where the main character was having issues with other students too. You probably know it?” Amelia simply nodded. She’d noticed it was also included in Lily’s collection. “I looked for more movies, books and comics, but I also started trying out martial arts lessons. I ended up doing kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The Reynoldses just seemed happy that I was into something, so they let me do it.” She paused to collect her thoughts for a moment and sipped her juice before continuing.
“It turned out I was good at it, too, despite not having done sports beyond the bare minimum required at school.” She sighed again, and was silent for a while, mindlessly snacking on the pie while collecting her thoughts. Amelia wanted to let her go on at her own pace and so said nothing, especially given knew Lily didn’t like being interrupted. It made her lose track.
Amelia also realized she’d been neglecting her pie entirely so far and had a taste as well while waiting. It was as delicious as she remembered.
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