Chapter Text
SIGH.
Four letters. 8 points.
Pink square means double word score, so 16 points.
Perfectly respectable.
Emily plays the word whilst sitting on a dirty bench in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. Her coffee has gone cold, her cigarette is burnt to almost nothing where it simmers between her gloved fingertips. Snuffing it out, she lights a new one. That’s one good thing about being dead - she can smoke again without worrying about lung cancer.
Her phone buzzes in her hand. She unlocks it. The Scrabble chat bubble bounces beside the main game panel, a message popping up in the dialogue window a moment later.
Cheetobreath: Bad day?
It’s not fair to say Emily’s heart warms. It can’t. JJ’s breaking a thousand rules staying in contact with her like this. The only reason Emily has been able to justify it to herself is because she can’t be sure this person is actually JJ.
The day they said goodbye, Emily made a joke about playing online Scrabble to pass the time. Hours later, she’d followed through. Her first friend request came the morning after from a user named Cheetobreath, but Emily never gave JJ her own username. She hadn't even chosen one at that point. JJ had no way of finding her on this thing. It could just be a coincidence.
Like always, Emily keeps her response vague.
Blackb1rd: Bad week.
The chat bubble bobs up and down, then settles.
Cheetobreath: I know the feeling.
A few seconds later, a familiar trill vibrates Emily’s phone.
Cheetobreath has played a word: 15 points.
Triple letter score on ‘E,’ so 17 points.
MISCARRIED.
Emily’s stomach drops. Surely not? She had no idea JJ was even pregnant. Her fingers tremble as she navigates to the chat bubble, writing a message, then deleting it, then writing it again.
Blackb1rd: I’m so sorry, JJ-
She deletes the last part hastily, hitting send on:
Blackb1rd: I’m so sorry.
The follow up question flows from her fingers naturally.
Blackb1rd: Does Will-
Shit.
Emily erases the message in its entirety, replacing it with:
Blackb1rd: Have you talked to anyone?
The message is read immediately.
No typing bubble appears.
The green dot beside Cheetobreath’s icon - a flaming hot cheeto - fades to red.
Sighing, Emily plays her next word. 9 points.
LONELY.