Emily: "Mary?"
Mary: "Glad you could finally make it home, Em."
Emily: "We're not doing this again, are we?"
Mary: "What are you talking about? I just meant you were at the studio forever today."

Emily glanced at the clock on the stove and was startled to see it was after 6:00 already. She could have sworn she'd only been at work for an hour or two, not nearly 7.

Emily: "Oh. Ok."

Emily: "I didn't see you there today- are you ok?"
Mary: "I'm fine, I just thought I'd take another sick day. Hell I'm owed that much, right?"
Emily: "Mary?"
Mary: "Sorry, it's just… never mind."

Mary shook her head and smiled.

Mary: "Are you hungry? I haven't eaten yet- I thought we could check out that new 24 hour diner thing in town."
Emily: "You're not fooling me, Mary- what's wrong?"

Mary felt herself getting annoyed with Emily, and then herself for getting annoyed in the first place. She didn't answer right away, choosing instead to go back to staring at the wall.

Emily: "Was Chris back? I can ask Andy-"
Mary: "No… Chris hasn't been back and you don't need to 'ask Andy' anything for me."
Emily: "Mary-"
Mary: "I just really didn't need to get sick without any sort of medical coverage, ok? Can we talk about something else now please?"
Emily: "I'm sorry, Mary."

The two sat in strained silence for a few minutes. Finally, Mary took a deep breath and turned her attention back to Emily.

Mary: "So… 24-hour diner? Maybe we could talk about it there."
Emily: "Sounds go-… hold on, my stupid phone is ringing."

Emily: "Hello? …
Oh hi Tristan! How are you? …"

Emily: "No, we were just getting ready to go out, actually, but other than that we're not busy at all. Why? …"

Mary watched as Emily's smile faded into concern, the color actually draining from her face.

Emily: "No, no- it's not a problem at all. We'll be there right away. Do we need to bring anything? …
Pajamas? Um… ok. See you in a few."

Emily hung up and turned to Mary, who looked like she was about to explode from curiosity.

Mary: "Well?"
Emily: "I think we just got invited to some sort of mystic slumber party."