Annabel Lee ─ emily prentiss

twenty-nine

AS SHE finished applying a thin line of eyeliner over Bel's yellow eyeshadow, borrowed from Penelope to match the fuzzy yellow sweater Bel was wearing, Emily once again worried she was making a mistake by letting Bel go on a date. Bel was so young. What if her heart got broken and it made her scared of being open to love in the future? Or what if this girl was bad news, and Bel became willing to do anything to please her?

Or maybe Emily needed to stop projecting her own regrets onto Bel, who was nothing like 14-year-old Emily, and not overthink this. Her therapist told her the same thing. Freyja agreed to come into the apartment when she "picked up" Bel (neither of them were old enough to drive, so Freyja was getting dropped off, and then they would walk to a nearby diner); she couldn't be that bad. If she was, Emily had a chance to vet her.

"Okay." Emily clicked the cap back onto the liquid liner. "Take a look."

Bel stood up from the edge of her bed and examined her reflection in the mirror. The yellow eyeshadow with the black eyeliner definitely had bee vibes, but in a cute way. The shiny lip gloss she borrowed from Emily glimmered beneath the overhead light.

"You like it?" Emily asked. Bel nodded.

"Yeah." She turned and threw her arms around Emily. "Thank you, Em."

"Any time."

How was it that Bel seemed to have grown up so much in just the three months she'd been here? She seemed so much older, so much more like a young adult. She even seemed  taller, even though there was no way she'd physically grown enough for it to be noticeable. Emily was unbelievably proud of how far Bel had come, but she also now understood when parents said their kids grew up too quick. Those three months passed in the blink of an eye. Watching it felt like shooting a film on a 35mm, only to realize the film was exposed. She wanted to hold on, to save every moment, but time moved too damn fast to hang onto anything more than memories.

"She's gonna be here soon," Bel said, looking at the clock on her nightstand. It was 4:53. Freyja would be there at 5. "We should get downstairs."

Her heart was pounding so hard she worried it would break her rib cage. She was the one to suggest they go on a date, as per Emily and her therapist's advice, and she now wondered what the hell four-days-ago Bel had been thinking. What if she made a complete fool of herself tonight and ruined both a possible romance and her friendship with Freyja?

"You're going to have a great time," Emily reassured her as they went downstairs. "And if you don't, her loss. You're the best kid there is."

"What if it goes horrible and I'm destined to die alone?"

"I don't think it's going to go horrible, but even if it does, one bad date when you're fourteen is not a good predictor of your future love life. If you want someone, you'll find them."

"And if I don't?"

"Get a dog. Because you don't like cats."

"Hm." Bel tugged her sneakers on. "Maybe I'll get a lab. A yellow one. And I'll name it...Geoffrey."

"Jeffrey?" Emily stared at her.

"Geoffrey. With a G-E-O,  because he'll be sophisticated."

"Of course."

Even though they were expecting it, the knock on their front door made them both jump.

"I got it!" Bel called back to Emily as she ran to the front door. She took a deep breath before opening the door. Freyja stood in the hall wearing a black babydoll dress covered in purple roses laced up at the chest, corset-style, partly covered by an open black cardigan, and platform ankle boots with chains and buckles. Her dark purple lipstick matched the flowers on her dress. She looked incredible.