but i'm better than i was

call me emmy. baton rouge, louisiana born and raised. reality cooking show drop out. currently a twenty-eight year old executive chef and owner of amélie in downtown providence peak, co.

[emelinecormierarchive]

THE BASICS

Name: Emeline Sofía Cormier.

Gender: cis Female, She/Her.

Age: Twenty-Eight.

Birthday: July 30th, 1992.

ZodiacSign: Leo.

Location: University Heights, Providence Peak, CO.

Birthplace: Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Orientation: Bisexual.

Nationality: American.

THE PHYSIQUE

Eye Color: Brown..

Natural Hair Color: Brown.

Height: 5′ 5″.

Body Type: Slim.

Allergies: Douchy Men.

Dominant Hand: Right.

Tattoos: Undecided.

Piercings: Ears.

THE INTRODUCTION

Her bio is so much more in depth, but to summarize Emeline (who mostly goes by Emmy) there are only a few words needed; hot abandoned mess.

Emmy’s mom was young and living in Pasadena, Texas where she worked as a housekeeper when she met Emmy’s dad and fell head over heels for his charming smile and extravagant gifts. They rendezvoused every few weeks for about a year before she picked up her life and moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to be with him. She had expected to move in with him, but instead he had an apartment set up for her and only showed up for a few nights every couple of weeks when he was ‘home from a business trip’. This woman was very clearly being bamboozled as The Other Woman, but was naive and innocent and in love so she as none the wiser.

After a few months of this, the man stopped showing up, his phone was disconnected, and Emmy’s mom came home to an eviction notice on her apartment door (aka he yeeted and stopped paying her rent). However, he did leave her with a little gift - a positive pregnancy test.

So, without any back up plan as her parents lived in Mexico and she wasn’t going to tell them she was pregnant and not married until Hell froze over, she found a roommate by the name of Amalie Boudreaux, a slightly older Creole woman hailing from New Orleans just tryna live her best life, and became a housekeeper for a local hotel to make enough to get by.

Because she worked early morning and long hours, when Emmy was born she spent a lot of time with Amalie, listening to old tales from the deep bayou and learning how to cook creole food, which was the woman’s favorite passion. It influence Emmy fairly early in her life and by the time she was ready to go to preschool, she had already learned two things in life; her numbers through measurements and that she loved creating food.

When she was four years old, her mom went to work early one morning, long before Emmy awoke as usual, and just never came back. Amalie was unable to reach the woman and without knowing more than a last name for Emmy’s father (which her mother gave her at birth, but refused to share any more details with the woman who would end up raising her daughter) there was no way to contact anyone to take Emmy in. So they just continue as usual and Amalie became the only mom Emmy ever knew.

Her love for cooking only continued to grow and she applied to multiple culinary programs when she finished high school, becoming a chef at a local restaurant in Baton Rouge, and eventually finding herself on a cooking competition that may rhyme with Bell’s Witchen run by a certain Rorden Gamsay when she was twenty-five. During her little stint on this particular show, she ended up flirting a little too much with one of the other girls during filming and when the show aired a few months later, Emmy, who had been in a stable relationship for two years prior, suddenly found herself single.

Without much else to do and craving a bit of adventure, Emmy moved to Providence Peak where her best friend already lived (and may have convinced her to move to) and took up a job as a chef at Silver Sliver before saving up enough to open the fancy, yet modest in size, Creole/Cajun restaurant Amalie’s.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

Best Friend - This friend would have been someone that she could have met a few ways, but it was mostly at some point in Baton Rouge. Whether they grew up together or your character was just passing through and they traded numbers and eventually formed a bond. They’re the ones that convinced Emmy to make the move to Providence Peak two years ago.

Neighbors - While her restaurant is Downtown, Emmy lives in University Heights. She likes her neighborhood and apartment and prefers to save the money instead of moving Downtown. 

Enemies? Frenemies? - Honestly, she’s a Leo and has probably fought everyone at least once. She’s opinionated, sometimes too sarcastic for her own good, and burns a little too bright in the feisty category. Someone out there has to hate her. Promise.

Hook-ups - Since her two year relationship ended, well, two years ago, Emmy has been free real estate ever since and has avoided commitment ever since multiple articles dropped about her flirtation on the cooking show when the show had aired. After a being bothered by how people saw her for a bit of time, she decided to just embrace the doorknob life.

[emelinecormierarchive]

leila barak​:

location; bonfire bash event tagged; @emelinecormier​

The whole idea of the paintball tournament hadn’t really appealed to Leila, but as soon as the paintball gun was put in her hands, that had all changed. She may not know how to go run around and shoot it, but she could fix it. Sitting herself not too far from where everything was getting organized, Leila took out the tool kit that she always had on her and started dismantling the gun to make a few quick improvements to it. Sensing someone coming her way, Leila glanced up, offering a sheepish grin Emmy’s way. “Hi. I uh - I figured I could…fix this one a bit. Make it shoot two at a time or something,” Leila shrugged. She didn’t have an exact idea just yet, just that she would make it better than everyone else’s gun. Whether that was an unfair advantage or not, she wasn’t sure. “Are you playing?”

.

Seeing a familiar face as she was gearing up for the tournament was a welcome sight and Emmy quickly paused what she was doing and made her way toward the woman, an amused grin on her lips and furrowed brow. “I, uh... I’m not sure you’re actually supposed to dismantle the gun,” She laughed, sitting down next to Leila and bumping the other’s shoulder as she went back to the process of adjusting the gear to fit her. “I’m pretty sure they’re just rentals.” Though any adjustments the brunette would make would probably be an improvement on the thirty year old rentals they seem to have been handed. She couldn’t help but wonder how many hands the gun had passed through before landing in theirs. “But it seems like whatever you’re doing is pretty badass.”

[emelinecormierarchive]

rachel hargrove​:

character: @emelinecormier​ Emeline Cormier

location: bonfire; end of summer bash

Rachel wasn’t absolutely sure why she was here when she had convinced herself at least five times on the way there to just turn around, knowing full well she would be seeing her ex-husband and his possible girlfriend there. Which sounded like the worst thing imaginable. But yet again guess whose fault that was? Her own. It was a chilly night and although being close to the fire sounded like a great idea, she’d stick to cheap beer for warmth because the outskirts were where she’d staying. Standing to someone also near the shadows she gave them a small nod. “It’s nicer over here anyway, better for people watching.” She had no idea why she was trying to engage in conversation when she was clearly just an idiot. She figured it had to do with the fact that she wanted to distract herself from staring at Charlie all night.

.

The first thing Emmy had made a beeline for when she got to the bonfire was alcohol. Dusk was already churning the Colorado sky a deep purple as smoke from the large fire curled toward the stars and all she could think about was drowning out the fact that Valerie was somewhere out there, in the exact same place she was. A pre-bottled mixed drink fit well in her hand and she lingered around the fire, not sure what to do after having met her goal for the night. Her friends were sparse at the moment, but a good drink never failed her. A voice pulled her out of what would most likely have been a long inner-monologue and she offered the woman a soft smile in agreement. “Better than running into someone you’re trying to avoid. Things like this make Providence seem less like a city and more like a small town where everyone knows everyone. But... I don’t think we’ve ever met. I’m Emeline.”

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dominic baccari​:

Dom folded his arms over his chest as he looked down at Emmy before his gaze drifted to the car. It wasn’t the first time he’d told her the scrap metal with wheels was a piece of shit, but maybe now she’d start to listen. “Funny,” Dom monotoned, his voice a low rumble in his chest as his eyes cut back to her, dark and taunting. “You were way less inclined to complain the last time I was under there.” 

He raised a brow as the sounds of the whatever-the-fuck bonfire raged on somewhere behind them and narrowed his eyes at her. “This wasn’t your way of inviting me out here, was it? All out of friends and need a partner for paintball?”

.

“Gag me,” Emmy’s expression twisted at his comment, the realization of what she said hit her and she immediately stuck up a finger in his direction. “Not another word.” The last thing she needed was another reference to the one night of her life that she was trying so desperately to forget when the only thing she needed from Dom in the moment was a fixed car and well... yeah, if she could sucker him into being a team member for this dumb paintball tournament that she had talked herself into trying out, then at least she would get some kind of benefit out of having to call him in the first place. Although one look at his face had her regretting calling him at all. Maybe it would’ve been best to leave the Comet sit and hitchhike the extra half mile? “Listen, just get me to the dumb sign up office for this dumb tournament so I can hopefully get hit with enough paintballs to forget that I ever saw your bare ass and you can even collect this as an ‘I owe you’, ‘kay?”

[emelinecormierarchive]

julia carlyle​:

starter for @emelinecormier​ location: bonfire 

Julia had her fair share of drinks, making her bolder than normal. Though, when she saw Emmy staring off at Val, she was already a bit on edge. The woman had no right to be staring at Val. The blonde stormed over to Emmy, drink in hand. “Honestly, can you stop.” She shook her head at the woman, “I don’t know what you are trying to accomplish by staring at Val, but it’s getting kind of creepy if you ask me.” Julia raised a brow at her. “I mean c’mon, can’t you just let her have a fun night?” She had been trying to help Val heal over the recent heartache but she knew that it wasn’t going to come so quickly. 

.

She had lost count of the drinks she had over the course of the last hour, but what she hadn’t lost track of was the amount of times her gaze would fall back to the woman across the bonfire, and even though there was quite a bit of distance between them, once she had caught sight of her, it was hard to pull her attention away. Apparently, though, someone else had been keeping up with how many times her dark gaze had fallen toward Val and though Emmy hadn’t expected the blonde to approach her, especially after being asked to keep her distance from the both of them, the alcohol running through her veins made her more than ready to face the woman. “I think the bigger question is, why are you watching me in the first place,” Emmy pointed out, tilting her drink toward Julia as an eyebrow raised. It was a confidence she had no right to have, but she had it anyway. “I’m keeping my distance, just like you asked. Looks like she’s having plenty of fun to me. In fact, it’s only her fan club that seems to be keeping me from having the same amount of fun.”

[emelinecormierarchive]

ana navarro​:

They weren’t out, not yet anyway. A few accidental trips here and there, some dirty play and endless determination had seen them through the first couple of rounds. Ana wouldn’t be happy though, not until they had won the tournament entirely. There was a reason she didn’t continue with competitive sports after college, maybe her friends would find out why in the next couple of hours. 

She didn’t take a break, instead Ana watched from the sidelines as players were knocked out, keeping an eye on the stronger members of the winning team. Pausing only to readjust her hair, Ana looked behind her as someone sent a clear hint that she should move, “Shoot, I’m sorry.” Stepping to the side, Ana moved into the shade and crouched down next to her. “She hasn’t though, no. Oh my god—” Thinking she recognised the woman, Ana took a sharp breath in and  offered her a smile. “You’re not the person I tripped over and blasted in the back of the head, right? Because if you are, I’m sorry. Kind of. I’m a different person out there.”

.

One eye peeked open, then the other as Emmy suddenly realized the person standing above her seemed genuinely apologetic. Her gaze followed the woman as she sat down next to her, her own body sitting up in response. If this complete stranger were planning on murdering her, she at least wanted to be on a level playing field. “Don’t be,” She finally shrugged nonchalantly, eyebrows shifting as she came to the conclusion that she wasn’t as upset as she would have been had it been someone annoying lingering above her, like Dom, or even someone she was all but avoiding seeing, especially since she risked coming to such a public event like the one that day. The other’s expression of horror and regret drew a soft chuckle out of Emmy, the first that had managed to fall all day. “I’m not,” She finally confirmed with a shake of her head. “I'm a chef, not an athlete, you’re lucky if I lasted five minutes in there.”

[emelinecormierarchive]

location: paintball tournament field, bighorn hills. status: closed.

The sun bore down on the ground beneath her, blindly covering Emmy’s body along with it as she laid in the grass along the outside of the paintball field, listening to the sounds within as the tournament still raged on, having stripped of her gear and laid on the ground almost immediately after being eliminated from the game, catching her breath as a few of her teammates went to grab food from one of the food trucks located nearby. Her ponytail was mussed, tiny baby hairs poking out here and there, and paint splotches stained her skin where the gear hadn’t quite covered it. The feeling of doing more physical activity than she had somehow done her entire life completely drained her, but the moment she had taken to relax was interrupted when someone blocked the sun above her and without even opening her eyes, Emmy remarked, “Has your mother ever told you that you make a better door than a window?”

[emelinecormierarchive]

charlie mulgrave​:

Charlie knew all about the confusion and fear caused by a broken relationship being offered back to you. It wasn’t quite the same as what he was going through with Rachel, but it was damn near enough. One day you had everything you wanted, the next there was screaming and it was all over. When someone came along offering to fix it all, what were you meant to do? He winced in sympathy. 

“Wait, no, go back,” he was invested now and dammit if he wasn’t going to get the full story. “What do you mean it was ‘emotional’? Did you tell somebody else you were in love with them or something?”

.

Another shot, fingers gripped the glass as though it were the only thing anchoring her to this world, to this moment, and... keeping her from falling off of the bar stool. Sure, it didn’t make sense when it came to physics; how was holding a shot glass supposed to keep her sitting upright? But she never claimed to be a physicist - just a chef who made really, really poor decisions when it came to her personal life. Her hand ran over her face with a groan as the man asked to backtrack on the story, Emmy very clearly leaving out all of the little details that actually made it a story. It was a difficult thing to explain when tv only showed the world split seconds of interactions between them that looked bad for the sake of dramatic television when in reality, everything else that led up to those split second interactions was probably so much worse. She through back the shot, biting her lip as it seemingly went down more bitter than the others, and sighed. “Love wasn’t... I barely knew her for a few weeks, love wasn’t what it was.” It wasn’t, that much she knew for sure. Love was what she felt for Valerie, what she had felt for Amelie who stepped in to raise her when she didn’t have to... love was not what she felt from another random chef on a televised cooking competition. “It was a really stressful experience, everything was so high stakes, and we spent weeks together in those dorms... I guess I just, I don’t know... it was just flirting... that maybe got a little too flirty.”

[emelinecormierarchive]

charlie mulgrave​:

“I’m not gonna lie to you, at this point I’m pretty if I really wanted to steal your phone I could just grab it and run, and you’d fall off the stool trying to follow. You’ve had a lot to drink, my friend. Also, the bartender is right there and would probably call the police.”

He nodded to the bartender, who nodded back. Her phone wasn’t going anywhere between the two of them watching. Charlie went to take a sip of his drink, smiling as she reeled off the list like it was her job, only to choke and splutter on it when she hit the last two points. He thumped his chest, grabbing a napkin to wipe at his chin, and stared at her in amazement. It was safe to say, of all the drunken rambles he’d witnessed in his lifetime, he’d never heard that one before.

“You cheated on her on national television? Okay, wow. Maybe I see your point now. Jesus Christ.”

.

The utter surprise at her last few words shouldn’t have been something that shocked her and yet, Emmy couldn’t say she had been expecting that reaction. Then again, her mind was doing it’s best to process the interaction but because of the alcohol, seemed to be working at a speed akin to Windows 97. “Okay, when you say it like that...,” She trailed off, lips working into a grimace as her brain kicked into overdrive in an attempt to figure out how exactly to explain the whole national television situation. “It was exactly... physical cheating. It’s not like I got naked with someone else on television, I just... I guess it was more emotional? Either way, that’s not an excuse, because it was what it was and even though it was almost four years ago, I still fucked up and I know deep down she had every right to leave, but damn. Now it’s like we go back and forth on who wants what and who’s ready for what ever since we ended up in this damn city. She’s somehow all I want and everything I’m scared of having at the same time.”

[emelinecormierarchive]

katerina de la rosa​:

Kat had been in Emmy’s shoes before, feeling like her whole love life was as dramatic as feeling like she wanted to die. It all felt silly now, but at the time it was hard to put things into perspective. “A lot of people would definitely call that dying, so maybe a bit excessive. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Down the street may as well be miles away, you could avoid seeing her. If that’s what you want.” Kat didn’t get the impression at all that that was really what Emmy wanted, though. Taking a big bite of her food, Kat let her eyes flicker towards Emmy with a gleam in them. Sure, the idea maybe was crazy to other people, but to Kat it was fun. “You’d be fine, I’m a professional. That was the tamest idea that I had, so we might be out of luck here. Might as well line up another few shots,” Kat chuckled, tossing her hands up a bit in to the air. Her way of coping with trying to forget things was just that, to put herself into crazy situations and risky situations that got her heart pounding and head clouded with fear. 

.

To avoid seeing her was... exactly what Emmy tried to want, especially after she basically turned down the woman who stood at her door, prepared to give her a whole ass second chance, quicker than a blink of an eye. In her defense, when Val turned up at her door, she froze. How was she supposed to admit that she loved her while she was completely sober and still not entirely over the first time the woman had walked away from her? Was this all they were destined to be, a constant revolving door of both of them coming and going from the other’s life; only one being ready to dive in head first when the other was anything but ready? “It’s one thing I want,” Emmy stated, shrugging off the fact that she didn’t actually mean it in favor of snagging the liquor bottle the bartender had accidentally left near them. “Fuck it, how about this. You take one more shot with me and then we say send it and we go do things your way, seems like you have experience and who am I to argue with that.”

[emelinecormierarchive]

Text Message || Emmy

Emmy: Should I even ask how you got my number?

Emmy: The only thing I left with her is something I never expected to get back anyway, so we're cool.

Julia: Probably not.

Julia: Just steer clear of her and me until this blows over. I'll make sure she's okay.

[ read ]

[emelinecormierarchive]

Text Message || Emmy

Julia: You know, I shouldn't be surprised but I am a little bit after our conversation the other day.

Julia: I hope you didn't leave anything else around because you're not getting it back.

Emmy: Should I even ask how you got my number?

Emmy: The only thing I left with her is something I never expected to get back anyway, so we're cool.

[emelinecormierarchive]

valerie durmaz​:

Maybe showing up announced was a terrible idea, but when she thought about the voicemail and the food delivery, it seemed like her only option. She’d sat back and stayed to herself and this time around, Emmy had been the one to break the silence. It was unexpected, but every part of Val still craved her and that was the most confusing part of it all. It’d been years, but that hadn’t seemed to matter when they’d crawled into bed together once more. Val had blamed herself for believing that anything could have been left between them, but Emmy had one hell of a way of proving that theory totally wrong. When the chef had left Providence Peak without a word, it was taste of her own medicine. Val had left without looking back, but she’d thought about her mistake and had even grown to regret it. Even after Emmy had returned, it didn’t seem like the woman had regretted her decision. In all fairness, the loss of Amelie was something that Val hadn’t taken lightly, but she’d leveled with the person who would miss Amelie the most.

Lips parted to explain the voicemail, but it seemed that Emmy had figured that one out on her own. It was the hestitance and slight surprise in the other’s voice that left Val’s shoulders dropping and her heart doing the same. I still love you. How was she supposed to forget how that sounded? How could she erase such a thing from her mind? “Don’t,” she managed to choke out, her legs daring to give out beneath her. “I’m the only who should be apologizing. I shouldn’t have showed up like this.” She was panicking, but she wasn’t sure what hurt the most; Emmy not meaning it or Val actually believing that she had. “I should,” she trailed off, turning to blink away a few tears of frustration that dared to build. “I should go.”

.

Emmy shook her head, but no words came out. Complete and utter silence blanketed her and she was sure the look on her face said enough, and yet, somehow said absolutely none of what she really wanted to say. But how was she supposed to follow up telling the woman that she basically hadn’t meant the words she said in the voicemail, that she didn’t love her, with don’t go, I want you here, because in the end asking Val to not go would do nothing but drive the dagger into both of their hearts even deeper and she would rather them both hurt a little in the moment than a lot when they inevitably didn’t work out once again and Emmy found herself alone... once again. Resigning herself to being alone, to being without Val, was just... easier. So, she breathed out, making herself suffocate in her own silence instead, as the other backed away and turned around, letting the woman leave without a word.

[emelinecormierarchive]

charlie mulgrave​:

“Years?” 

A brief flash of horror filled Charlie, his mind automatically flitting to Rachel and the divorce. Reasonably he knew it would take longer than a year and few nights of heavy drinking to get over her, they’d spent more than a decade in each other’s arms, but here sat somebody else right before his very eyes, unavoidable proof that pining over someone like that could be a long-lasting condition. He balked at the thought of it.

Shaking himself, he refocused on the woman in front of him. From the way she was devouring his nachos, he figured they might be here a while. He might as well settle in. Grading papers could wait. With a sigh he indicated for the bartender to bring them another round. 

“Okay, consider this,” he suggested. “Instead of giving yourself liver failure, how about you put your phone on the bar, explain to me exactly why you’re still in so deep with this girl. What’s so great about her? Why’s she got you all messed up?”

.

Hey eyes narrowed suspiciously at his suggestion to put her phone on the bar, pausing her indulgence of the man’s nachos to question his idea. “Okay, say I do that... who’s to say you’re not playing me and you’re just a scammer who’s gonna take off with my phone first chance you get?” Of course, Emmy hadn’t gotten that vibe from the man, if she had she most likely wouldn’t have accepted food from him in the first place, but every second she was able to stall was another second she was able to avoid the predicted never ending waterfall of emotions that was bound to spill out when it came to her feelings about her ex. Another second of a silent stare-down before the brunette finally caved, brushing off her hands and setting her phone between them. “Okay, fine. But I grew up in Baton Rouge and drunk or not, I’ll beat your ass if you run off with this.” Her finger tapped the phone, looking at him pointedly, before she spoke again. “What’s not so great about her would be a shorter list, so where do I start? Her hair? Her smile? Her laugh? The way she lights up any room she walks into? How she took a chance on a scrappy chef from Louisiana who barely had anything to her name? The fact that I’m the one who cheated on her on national television and even three years later, she’s willing to give me another chance that I can’t even own up to?”

[emelinecormierarchive]

location: side of the road, bighorn hills. status: closed for @dombaccari​

“Please tell me I can sue them for a faulty car,” Emmy started as soon as Dom hopped down from the tow truck, her own body leaning against the red exterior of her own, currently refusing to work, car. “Better yet, can I sue you? I’m pretty sure you were under there last and now it’s suddenly not working again, so who’s fault is that?” Her eyes rolled, her arms crossed, and she had been in much better moods than the one that her car leaving her sit on some random backroad in Bighorn Hills left her in. God, maybe she should have just fessed up to loving Val, taken the risk, at least she could have called the woman to come rescue her, again, instead of Dominic-freaking-Baccari of all people. “You know what, I know you’re going to say something annoying so you can just, not even bother answering that question.”

[emelinecormierarchive]

emiliano baccari​:

Emiliano’s eyebrows arched as he heard the phrase ‘top shelf’. He had to be honest – he wasn’t that confident in his abilities, but he couldn’t step back now, could he? It was actually kind of intriguing and entertaining – the man finally had an actual reason to feel competitive and do his best. After all, he could win a glass of expensive beverage to himself.  “Well, it seems like we do have at least one thing in common. Don’t look at the beer I’m drinking right now, though. So don’t get too cocky, you might end up getting your favourite drink from your favourite shelf for me,” Emiliano smiled as he applied chalk to the end of his cue stick. He carefully looked at the woman, who was setting up the balls on the table. He did feel like he’s seen her before as well, but he wasn’t sure where or when. But it could also be that his mind was playing tricks on him. “Local. You?” He managed to take another sip of his beer before they began their game. “Wanna flip a coin to decide who breaks first?”

.

An immediate, hollow laugh fell from her lips at the mention of his beer and she couldn’t help but sneak a peek at the label. All beer tended to drink the same to her, but even Emmy knew that the beer in his hand happened to be complete and utter garbage in the flavor category. “Please. Number one, too late I already looked. Number two, the only thing that beer is good for is watering my trash,” She teased, lining the balls into the triangle before lifting it up and stepping back with a quick look his way. “I’m tempted to just buy you the top shelf drink even if I do win, just because I pity the torture you’re putting your tastebuds through right now.” Her stick pointed in his direction once, a teasing raise to her eyebrow. “No coin needed, you can start, you’re going to need all the advantage you can get.” And while the man got himself ready to play the game they had both bartered on, Emmy mulled over his reply, looking him over again, convinced that he looked like someone she had seen before. “Born and raised in Baton Rouge, been here for about four years give or take a few months. My best friend talked me into following her and I’ve been here ever since. Name’s Emmy, by the way.”

[emelinecormierarchive]

valerie durmaz​:

location: emmy’s apartment.

character: @emelinecormier​​

I love you. I loved you. I still love you. Drunken words were supposed to sober thoughts, weren’t they? She’d replayed the voicemail at least fifty times just to hear the other woman say those three simple words, but it was hard to convince herself that Emmy had meant any of it. A few days had passed since the voicemail had been left on her phone, but she hadn’t stopped thinking about it since she’d checked it. If Val had been able to muster the courage, she would have went over the next morning, but she’d been a coward and had talked herself out of it. Instead, she’d paced the apartment floors for hours on end, but no amount of thinking could answer the question at hand. In fact, the only person who held the answer to the burning question was Emeline Cormier. It was that final conclusion that left Val standing outside of the woman’s apartment. Knowing her luck, Emmy would’ve been busy at the restaurant. Knuckles fell gently against the wooden door before she stepped back. When the door was pulled open, Val didn’t even have to time to think before the question was rolling off her tongue and into the air between them. “Did you mean it?” If rewinding was an option, she would’ve done just that, but it was too late to take it back now and she couldn’t just walk away. “Because if you meant it,” she trailed off, honestly not sure what happened if the answer was yes. “I just need to know.”

.

Emmy would have liked to claim that she hadn’t touched alcohol since the morning she woke up with a splitting headache that made her realize hangovers definitely hit different the closer to thirty you were and returned to work to find an empty wine bottle tipped over onto her desk, paperwork left incomplete, and yet the open bottle of tequila that sat on her coffee table, 90 Day Fiancé playing on a continuous loop on the television, would have made that claim entirely false. It wasn’t a budding codependency by any means, at least she didn’t see it that way. A drink or several at night to unwind after a long day in the kitchen (and forget, just for a moment, that Amelie was no longer there for her when she needed her the most) was completely normal. By the next morning the alcohol had worn off and she found herself looking at everything that had happened in her life through a sober lens once again, placing the cap back onto the tequila bottle and shoving it onto her shelf as soon as she heard the knock on her door. Emmy hadn’t been expecting anyone and her brow furrowed, regretting the state her hair was in now more than ever as she moved toward the door, smoothing it as she went. Hand fell to the door knob, forgoing a peak through the peep hole of the door in favor of pulling it open immediately. 

The unexpected visitor on the opposite end of the doorway caused her to freeze, lungs unwilling to inhale as seconds turned into minutes and Val was speaking, a question falling between them that had Emmy more confused than ever. “Did I mean wh-?” Her voice faltered, the memory that had been hidden by a bottle of wine came flooding back into her mind, the three words that she had uttered to a voicemail that the other had surely listened to since. “Oh.” Her expression fell as she observed the woman in front of her. “I, uh... listen, I was drunk and it was a long day...” She trailed off, struggling to find the words that would convince Val that those three words hadn’t been ones she meant, even if that was the biggest lie she had ever let fall from her mouth. Finally an, “I’m sorry”, left her mouth in nothing but a quiet whisper thick with regret, her gaze meeting Val’s as she swallowed the lump threating to build in her throat.