“Step up.” Skylar said to Emily. The pair synchronized their step onto the small concrete patio in front of the blue door. “Ready to ring the doorbell?”
“Yeah.” Emily said, because she was about as ready as she could be to spend the night at someone’s house and hang out primarily with people she barely knew.
There was no turning back now.
The doorbell ring wasn’t anything special, just like as far as Emily was concerned Hannah wasn’t all that special or cool, though she was nicer than expected, at least so far.
“Hi!” Hannah’s voice was loudest, but with the door open Emily and Skylar could hear plenty others in the background. “Come in! Let me help you with the bags Skylar.”
“Thanks.” Skylar said. Emily could feel Skylar's posture shift and hear a grunt from Hannah. "What did you pack? Rocks?"
"Good one." Emily spoke before Skylar could say anything. "My mother insisted on a few extras that, well, you know, made everything heavy."
"A first aid kit, extra clothes, extra cane, extra glasses, extra-" Skylar flinched when Emily pinched their arm. "You get the idea." Another warning, another step, and they must have crossed the threshold for the ground felt a little softer than outside.
"Your mom sounds like John."
"Yeah." Emily snorted. "He hates it when I say that." Hannah snickered.
"I'll bet." The key chains on Emily's duffel bag jingled.
“We have a flight of stairs, straight.” Skylar said. The voices kept getting louder, though still slightly muffled, and Emily chewed her lip.
One question floated through the partially open door. “What’s your least favorite color Amber?”
“Puce. Lean the card more to keep the tower straight.”
“Hey,” Hannah’s voice covered up the creak of the door. “Emily and Skylar are here.” She did rapid fire introductions, and with the greetings from each person overlapping, Emily didn’t properly hear the names at first. Most of the voices were pretty distinct, so she hoped she would catch onto who was who fairly quickly.
“So,” Hannah dropped the duffel bags in the corner and gently grabbed Emily’s arm. She didn’t pull away, and the hostess helped Skylar lead her through the room, describing where to step to avoid sprawling legs, bowls of snacks, cups and the card tower.
“You can sit now.” Hannah said. “Now, where’d we leave off?”
“I believe Amber replied to the question of least favorite color with puke green.” Skylar said. The room filled with giggles.
“Well, no,” Amber said, “but puke green is probably close. I said puce, less for how it looks and more because it sounds horrible.”
“Oh.” Skylar chuckled too, “my bad.”
“It’s fine.” Hannah clapped her hands. “I say a few more get to know you questions for our last guests and then we can really get this party started!”
Emily’s cheer was a little less enthusiastic than the others, because suddenly all of John’s worries about Skylar’s origins being discovered suddenly seemed less far fetched.
Word count: 498
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