Emoji Fiction Friday (Extreme Tardiness Edition)

You guys. I totally dropped the ball on Emoji Fiction Friday about 75 weeks ago. I got caught up with work and life and just didn't write a word. But I cannot handle an unclosed loop. Drives me bonkers. So I had to finish things out. 

We only had one entry that week - from Abbadabba, but it was seriously awesome.

She strode confidently through the revolving door of her office building, without a halted step. The subzero air greeted her face with a harsh slap, but today it felt refreshing instead of cruel. She looked to her right and saw the entrance to the subway a block away. On any other day she would head straight to it, as if on autopilot, descend the steps, crush with the masses onto the next car and re-read all the Facebook statuses she’d already read while wasting her life for a paycheck. 

But not today. 

After making the decision the night before, she had the best night’s sleep she’d had in years. She arrived at the office late that morning because she stopped to buy the gorgeous red pumps she’d been admiring for weeks. She didn’t need the extra boost of confidence to make this choice, but it didn’t hurt to be wearing some Billy Badass heels while doing it. 
She quit. 

She didn’t bother with two weeks’ notice – she was resolved to never need his reference to succeed. 

Stepping to the curb she raised her arm to treat herself to a cab ride and slid inside its warm luxury. She felt her coat pocket vibrate and instinctively pulled her work Blackberry out to see what inane request he was making today, the cost of which could easily cure hunger in a third world country. A familiar flicker of fury and loathing filled her gut before she realized she never needed to feel that way again. She paused to contemplate the implication of that truth, but was pulled from her reverie by the driver clearing his throat and indicating a “no cellphones” decal on his window. 

Pulling the phone to her chest, the smallest of smiles flirted across her lips. She knew she’d be made to pay for it and felt a twinge of guilt for littering, but it wasn’t every day she got to make completely irresponsible decisions in the name of her own happiness. And in an instant, the window was down and with a cheerful flick of her wrist, the phone (and a significant chunk of her final paycheck) flew to its own freedom/tragic demise. 

As the taxi glided onto Lake Shore Drive, she turned to look out the back window and watch as the skyline grew and loomed, and then began to shrink from view becoming nothing but a beautiful display of lights. Her love affair with the city was over, replaced by a fond, comforting nostalgia; the kind you feel for your first childhood love. The Windy City had helped her discover who she really was, but they had grown apart. It wasn’t the city, it was her. 

She turned back to face front again and fished around in her purse for a moment. Her fingers found the familiar soft pages of her composition book from senior year of college. She’d found it the night before while giving her closet a good deep reorganizing. She’d expected to find its pages filled with angst ridden love poems and shallow musings on everyone from Nietzsche to Nirvana. Instead, cracking its well-worn spine released a side of her she had locked away long ago. Several glasses of wine, more than a few tears, and a couple of Broadway showtunes sung at the top her lungs later… she knew what she had to do.

How did she ever manage to get so lost? She lifted the book of her writing to her lips, gave the cover a big smooch of gratitude and directed the cabbie to get off at the next exit. She had no idea where she was heading now, but at least, for the first time in years, she was actually moving. 

I'm guessing you want to comment on this post and ask her to please please write more! Tell us where she's going! This felt like the first scene in a novel to me, and I want to read the rest!

And here's mine:

Anne - 

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written, and I know I owe you like eight emails, but oh my god - you have to hear what happened to me today. 

So I was walking home from work, and you know that little market where they sell those amazing Italian sodas? Well, I walked by, and I just instantly had a craving for one of those, which is kind of weird because it was like 4 degrees outside and I walk by there every single day without buying a soda. But I just felt like I had to have one, so I went inside, and I grabbed a soda - cherry vanilla - and brought it to the counter and I reached into my purse - no wallet. Seriously? I had no idea where it was, if someone had stolen it or if it was on my dresser at home. I put the soda back, but on the way out, this guy was rushing in and he just slammed into me. I caught myself before I fell down, but the heel of my shoe - you know those amazing red ones that we bought at that outlet mall last year? - got caught in the grate thing by the door and just ripped right off. And the guy didn't even apologize. WTF?

Well at that point I had to take a cab, obviously, but I didn't have my wallet. I knew Mark was home, so I just figured I'd have him meet the taxi and pay when I got there. So I get in a taxi, and I call Mark to ask him to come out in a few minutes, and the cab driver tells me that I can't talk on the phone in his cab. And I'm like what? And he points at this sign in the front with a picture of a cell phone with a line through it - you know what I'm talking about, right? And I tell him that I think that means HE can't talk on the phone while he's driving. And he starts screaming at me to hang up the phone. And it was actually kind of scary, so I did. But then Mark tried to call me back, so it was ringing and the guy started screaming again. I turned off the volume and texted Mark instead - all secretly since the cab guy was watching me in the rearview mirror. Creepy, right?

So when we got to the apartment, Mark was standing outside - he didn't even put a coat on. Guys are so weird. Anyway, he was there with the money, and as I started to get out of the cab, he opened the front passenger door to give the cab driver the money, and the cab driver started freaking out again. He took the money and he threw it at Mark! And it was so windy that the money was just flying around, and landing on the gross sidewalks, and I was trying to run after it with my one good shoe and Mark was screaming at the cab driver what the hell is wrong with you, man? I couldn't tell what the cab driver was saying, but eventually he pulled out this little notebook - like those composition books from elementary school? You know what I'm talking about, right? And it had all these entries in it, like every place he'd driven that day and what the people paid. 

And there was an entry with my address on it and it said paid and then it said MY NAME. Abby Pike. Like, as if he already knew he was going to be taking me to my address! As if he knew my name. And I wasn't even planning to take a cab! Mark and I were pretty wigged out, and I was like, hey, why is my name in there? But the cab driver was still screaming and all agitated and we couldn't figure out what was going on. Mark said we should just go and leave the cab driver there, but I wanted to know how my name got there. 

So I put on my calmest voice and I walked over to him and I said Sir, why did you write this here? And he quit screaming and stared at me for a minute, and then he said "I didn't write it. He did." And he pointed behind me, and I turned around and Mark was there, down on one knee with an ENGAGEMENT RING. 

Yes, that's what I said. Can you believe it? I couldn't either. And also, what a weird way to do it, right? He is so weird. It took me forever to figure it out because it just didn't make sense, but apparently he got that guy to run into me and break my shoe, which when I asked him how he knew that would happen, he was like "those shoes are ridiculous." As if that means anything. But the weirdest thing was the whole Italian soda thing - and I was like, there was no way you could have known I was going to go in there for an Italian soda, but apparently he had mentioned it to me that morning before I left, to try to get it into my head (right after he slipped my wallet out of my purse). How crazy is that? And the whole cab driver thing was just crazy - he said that went way overboard. The guy was actually just a little nuts. 

But I think the fact that it actually worked - I mean, it was the stupidest engagement plan ever, right? - anyway, I think the fact that it actually worked is a sign that we're meant to be together. So I kissed him and said yes. I'm engaged. :)

Love, 

Abby

Pretty random and ridiculous, but the whole point of Emoji Fiction Friday is just to have fun and go with it! 

p.s. Click here for more emoji fiction posts.