Happy Birthday dear Emily

Emily was sat at her table, pondering a card she'd just drawn from her tarot deck. She had decided that today, rather then just sitting around in her pajamas like she had most of this mourning, she should probably do something. That something had begun with a simple reading of her cards, but one card gave her a bit of pause. The hanged man. It wasn't particularly strange, but it had been decidedly absent from many of her readings until now.

As she was trying to decipher it's meaning, there was a knock at the door. Still somewhat lost in her thoughts, she stood up, walked over, and opened it. She blinked once, twice, and a third time as she processed who was standing outside her door. "... L-Lochlann..."

Very suddenly Em became accutely aware of several things. What had happened the last time she had seen him, the taste of guilt emanating off of Lochlann, and the fact that she was currently standing in full view of him still just in her pj's. Her face rapidly filled with blood, and moments later the door slammed shut.

A couple more moments passed as Em stared at the door. She had shut it mostly on reflex, trying to hide her blushing and indecency. Now she was the one feeling guilty, Loch probably didn't deserve to have her door slammed in his face.

The door opened again, this time just a crack as Emily's still red face peeked out at him. "... Um... H-Hi... I... I-I um... Th-Thought you had..... L-Left......."

Emily reached and took the bag from him, a slightly surprised expression crossing her face. "O-Oh... That's... Th-Thank you... Th-That's kind o-of s-sweet..."

Her eyes darted around a little, between the bag and her apartment, herself and Lochlann. She licked her lips a little bit as the moment dragged on. She had a lot of questions, but she wasn't really sure if she wanted to here the answers. Her gaze finally just settled on the floor as she fidgeted idly behind the door.

"... Th-This is r-rather sudden... I-I-I wasn't e-expecting this..... B... Birthday c-cake... Tastes b-better if it's... If i-it's shared... I-I'll need to ch... To ch-ch-change... But... W-Would you l-like to... C-Come inside..?" Any amount that her blush had receded had returned in spades by the time she had finished inviting him in.

"B-But..." She pulled the bag in close to her chest, her eyes bouncing between him and the floor. "Y-You're... Just g-going to l-leave again...?" She opened the door a bit more fully, stepping out in front of it.

"It... It's a-awkward... Y-Yes... B-B-But I don't th-think... Think it'll get b-better if... W-We just ignore i-it..." Her eyes were glued to the floor once more now, her hands trembled ever so slightly. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as it continued to color her face.

Her tongue sneaked out to wet her lips, savoring the tension that was permeating the air around them, before she continued speaking. "I... I c-can... C-C-Can leave my... M-My pajamas on... If y-you want... I just..... I-I don't... Th-Think you should l-leave....."

Emily stepped back into the house, a small smile crossing her face as Lochlann past by her. Soon after though she had darted off into her bedroom to exchange all of her embarrassing clothing. She didn't put a ton of consideration into it, just threw on some sweat pants and an oversized tshirt.

Once redressed, Em made her way to the kitchen area with the cupcake and dug out a small knife. She halved the dessert and set the pieces on a couple plates, bring one over to Lochlann. "M-Me..? I've b-been well... I g-guess... I haven't r-really done much th-that's notew-worthy recently... I-I've been thinking a-about trying to f-find... An i-internship... O-Or see if I c-can practice on s-some students... Or s-s-something..."

She sat down at the table, gathering up her cards when she noticed them again. She lefted her piece of cupcake off the plate and bit into the side of it. She got crumbs all over her mouth, but she seemed to be enjoying it. "W-What about you..... I... I'm surprised... Th-that you came b-b-back..... I th-thought you didn't..... D-Didn't have g-good feelings... About b-being here..."

Em giggled a little at Lochlann's excitement. It felt supportive, and made her feel happy. "Y-Yes... I'm still s-studying psychology... I'm s-still taking classes... B-But I feel l-like it might b-b-be... Beneficial t-to try and... Apply some o-of what I'm learning... A-And I'd be helping p-people..."

Her expression fell just a little as he explained his reasons for being back. She couldn't really blame him for disliking the island, she understood he had his own view of it, but it still made her a little sad to hear it. She wasn't entirely sure why she felt this way. "O-Oh..... Th-That's terrible... I h-hope you can help y-your friend... B-But... Um... B-B-Be careful... Okey..? I w-wouldn't want you to get hurt t-too....."

She perked up a little when he mentioned feeling like he couldn't remember. Her back straightening a little and her eyes lighting up. Rather quickly, however, her face flushed with blood again and she directed her eyes solidly at the floor. She allowed Lochlann to continue on and change the subject. "... I-I haven't really started l-looking yet... I-I-I want to... F-Figure out all of what I want out... F-First... A-And I need to f-f-figure out if I have... Enough t-time... And stuff... I-I'll keep it i-in mind though."

Em began fidgeting again, still looking at the floor. She licked her lips once before realizing there were a bunch of crumbs on her face and becoming further flustered. "... U-Um..... I-If you're... J-Just having troub-ble re... Remembering..." She brushed the crumbs off with the back of her hand. "... I... I might... B-B-Be able to... H-Help... W-With that..... It'll b-b-be a l-little... I-Intim-mate though... I-is... W-Would you be... Okey w-with th-that...?" Very few parts of her were resisting the fidgets at this point. Her feet were shuffling back and forth, and her fingers were ddancing around each other. Her face had become almost completely red, and she couldn't seem to convince her eyes to look up at Lochlann again.