Suzie’s House 430 : Permission

“This.. this is nice.” Emma glanced at Kate as the two of them walked down State Street together. She couldn’t remember the last time just the two of them hung out together.

“Yeah. We should do this more often.”

They sounded like a couple of old ladies. Emma looked sidelong at Kate, and Kate looked the same way at her. The two of them burst out laughing.

“Alright, so what did your mom say?”

“She … sh-she said ‘No.’.” Emma cringed. If it was Tracy, she’d probably say something like, ‘Well, then, just go anyway.’ But Emma didn’t want to go to Chicago without her mother’s permission. Maybe it was stupid, but going that much against her mother felt wrong.

“Yeah. Mine too.”

“Oh, thank God!” Emma grabbed Kate’s arm, making both ice cream cones wiggle dangerously. “It’s not just me.”

“Yeah. It’s not just you.” Kate sounded distracted.

“What… what’s wrong?”

“I’m kind of relieved, actually. Because I wasn’t so sure about spending the night… well, I know the boys and girls wouldn’t be in the same room. But Justin…”

“Justin?” Emma didn’t understand at all. She thought Kate and Justin were getting along really well. Why wouldn’t Kate want to spend more time with him?

“I think maybe he’s more serious than I want to be.” Kate walked along with her eyes carefully tracking the sidewalk as though her mother’s back depended on it.

Emma still didn’t get it. She wasn’t quite sure what Kate meant about serious. If they liked each other, then they liked each other. She’d never been in any kind of romantic relationship, but wasn’t it all kind of the same?

Not that she was about to say any of that. Saying anything would just make her look stupid.

“You look like you don’t get it.” Kate’s eyes crinkled and her lips tried to not curve up.

“It… i..it’s not funny.” Emma sounded petulant even to herself.

“It’s like this. I think Bruce is more serious about you than you are about him.”

“I don’t like Bruce!!!” If Emma was going to like one of the guys in the band, it would be Justin. But Justin belonged to Kate, so it wasn’t like Emma could say that. Yet another thing she couldn’t share with her best friend.

“See? But Bruce likes you. Right? Well, I think maybe Justin likes me more than I like him. I mean, I like him fine. But I think maybe I like the thought of dating him more than I like dating him.”

“Oh.”

“He’s just so pushy!” Kate’s voice rose with a surprising amount of venom. “And there’s nothing to him except music! I mean, I’m a drummer, too. So I get it that he’s always tapping out a rhythm. But do we have to jam every time we get together? And do we have to see each other every day?”

“Huh.” Emma thought maybe she’d like to see him every day, even if all they did was drum and sing. She’d even be willing to take up the guitar for that.

“So, anyway, if we tried to do that gig and get the recording deal in Chicago, we really might all end up in one room. I mean, It’s Uncle John making the arrangements, right? Who knows what he would do? Even Bruce doesn’t trust him. Right? Besides, if it’s our folks who say we can’t go, then it’s not our fault. Right?” Kate lifted her ice cream cone in emphasis.

“Right!”

“So anyway, I’m kind of relieved my folks won’t let me go.”

“Yeah. Me too,” Emma said with feeling.

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