When J Asked Out Emily

Hello! This is part of a short story I'm writing, and it's the scene I was about to write anyway, so I thought it would be fun to include it in UIC Radio's "Week of Love." I don't know if it would've worked better as a script since it's dialogue heavy and low on description. For some context, the characters have a love hate relationship. Emily hates J but a little part of her likes her, and J knows this. J is in love with Emily but is also a magical vessel that carries the soul of an ancient god that she only knows as her "true form" that Emily is a follower of. So they're kind of in love but also toxic, and one of them has internalized homophobia and the other is out and both are morally gray and, man, I just liked this concept. Sorry I'm sort of dropping you into the middle of the plot. I haven't done this kind of writing in a year as well, so I apologize if it stinks. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

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Emily was sitting on a bench by her dorm, watching her friends play volleyball in a rough patch of grass. She planned on joining them eventually but had loads of homework to get through. She squinted at her laptop, trying to avoid the glare of the sun. It was strangely warm out for October. Emily sighed, jotting down a note then twiddling her pencil. She had completely forgotten about yesterday’s events as soon as she had left J. The best part was that she hadn’t been bugged since.

Well, so much for that. Emily glanced at her friends, and out of the corner of her eye, saw a girl in a tight skirt and fluffy sweater approaching the bench. She rolled her eyes. Taking down more notes, she pretended to be entranced in her homework.

“Hey.”

Emily glanced up, J right in front of her now, blond hair almost glowing in the sunlight. She slouched on the bench and slung her brown hair over her shoulder. “Sorry, I’m busy.”

“You surely have time for a quick chat,” J urged, moving Emily’s bag to sit on the bench next to her. Not getting the attention she desired, she scooted closer to the other girl, trying to glance at her computer. “What’cha working on?”

Emily continued to jot away in her notebook. Maybe if I ignore it, it’ll go away. She could tell the girl was getting sick of being treated like a fly, as she could feel an intense stare on her.

“Are you serious?” J asked, finally fed up. “You’re going to ignore me? After what you did?”

Oh right. Emily closed her computer. “What did you want to do? Talk about it or something?”

“Yes, actually.”

“I’ve heard bathrooms aren’t even the worst place to make out with someone—”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just… What happened to not liking girls?”

“I don’t.”

“Girl.” J waved her hands around, exasperated. “Okay, so making out with me in a bathroom during class doesn’t make you gay.”

“Yes.” Emily was doing whatever she could to put this conversation to an end. 

“I don’t see the logic here.”

“Listen,” she turned to face J. “You’re a magic vessel thing, so you’re probably a not human with natural biology, which surely makes it less gay.”

“I…” J froze. “I can’t believe this.”

J got up to leave, but Emily thought she’d figure out what she was getting bugged about. “Fine. What do you want?”

“I want to go out with you.”

“What?” Now it was Emily’s turn to freeze. “Like… on a date?”

“What else would I mean?” J crossed her arms. 

“It's just… why?”

“Why not?”

Emily looked away as J reclaimed her spot next to her, waiting for the answer.

“I promise it’s not as bad as you think it would be,” J implored.

“I think you got the wrong idea. I’m not interested in you.”

“So what was yesterday?”

“It was just one time.”

J sprung off the bench, pacing around. “Oh, I get it. We’re just keeping it casual.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, like casually dating. No commitment. No labels.”

Emily shook her head. “Stop stop stop. We’re not anything.”

“Okay, well I just wanted to let you know, my true form said we had to, so…” J turned away.

Planning on just letting her leave, Emily changed her mind since she didn’t expect that last part. She jumped up to stop J. “Woah, hold on. Why didn’t you mention that earlier?”

“I didn’t want to make it seem like you had to.”

This idiot. Emily wasn’t sure what to do. She could assume J was lying and tell her to leave her alone, but at the same time, she had the most pathetically hopeful expression on her face and looked so cute in that skirt and maybe it wouldn’t be too bad if they kept everything strictly platonic and what's one girl?— She cleared her throat. “What did you have in mind?”

“Wait, you’re serious?”

“Don’t make me change my mind.”

“Okay, um…” The girl went back to pacing, and Emily just watched her with a tinge of heartache. “So I travel around dimensions a lot because I like finding quiet places to study, and like one time, I found this abandoned mall, but it’s not, like, creepy abandoned, it’s like, ‘oh cool, we’re here by ourselves’ abandoned. Seemed like a good date spot.”

Emily blinked. “You know, it sounds cool, as long as you stop throwing ‘date’ around.”

J nodded. “That’s fine. We don't need to be—”

“And you have to stop calling me gay.”

“Okay, I’m sorry for assuming.”

“Just… hanging out.”

“Fine.”

Then they stood there looking at each other. Emily cleared her throat again, trying not to sound enthused. “And when are you picking me up?”

“Tomorrow? At 6?” J asked, a wishful sparkle in her eye.

“Sounds good, flesh bag.”

“Hey! I’ll see you then, jerk.”

“Mine was better.”

“Yeah yeah.” J stomped off, and Emily couldn’t tell which of them should be less excited for their date.