Aria took a long time panning around the room from the counter. She noted all of the empty granite tables, and their dark red chairs that sat tucked in near them. Her eyes skimmed across the light brown tiles that ran along the floor, noticing how very clean and smooth they all were. Even the counter she was leaning on was near perfect in appearance, save for the few fingerprints she left where her hand was resting.
She had a moment to absorb it all, taking in a deep breath of the peace, before she could no longer avoid what she was feeling right then. “Ugh, I’m so bored!” she nearly shouted as she leaned an elbow against the counter, tapping her fingers against it impatiently.
The girls had managed to do pretty well for the past month. After Adagio and Sonata getting their jobs, it looked like Adagio would stop freaking out about their money now that they got a decent amount of income.
Sonata somehow got a job at the sweet shop downtown, and had managed to not burn it down yet, despite many close calls. From what Aria could pick up, she was working as a waitress, with only limited kitchen work. Trying to picture Sonata actually paying attention long enough to work was surprising at first, but Aria eventually stopped caring after the first week.
Adagio, on the other hand, managed to get a job as a piano player. She played for a bar four nights a week, and managed to get a good pay from there. Aria noticed that she came home with a bottle of wine on some nights, it being a gift from her boss. They never finished the bottles before getting a new one, so they were starting to get a collection in one of their, so far, unused cabinets. She was actually a little jealous that Adagio got a job involving music; it was a lot better than the short straw she managed to pull.
Aria herself had hardly looked for a job until after the other two got theirs. She didn’t want to have a boss, someone standing over her, since she already had to deal with Adagio. Her big sister, though, wouldn’t have any of her attitude. Every day, Adagio would start badgering Aria that she needed to get a job, because she and Sonata were supporting Aria now.
Having enough of the constant pestering, she finally caved. Looking for jobs again, she hoped to get it over with so Adagio would get off her back. It took a little while, but Aria finally managed to get one. She didn’t care what it was, just as long as it got her money. Though now she wish she had looked a little harder.
A little bell dinged, indicating someone finally walked in through the double doors to her left, after the room being empty for what seemed like hours. “Welcome to the Hayburger,” Aria chimed with a false enthusiasm. “What can we get for you today?” she asked, forcing a half smile on her face. Pretending to act nice made her even more irritated than when she was bored. She didn’t really enjoy being “happy.”
Seeming to ignore her greeting, the man walked up in front of her, looking only at the menu that was placed above her. “Yeah, I want the number four. Large. To go,” he said very quickly, well rehearsed, before reaching to grab his wallet.
Rolling her eyes, Aria looked down to her register, typing in his order. “That’s $6.42.”
He handed her his money, she gave him his receipt, and he walked away to the side without another word. Aria glared at him through the corner of her eye, very upset at his attitude. She wasn’t having a fun time here to begin with, and being ignored didn’t help much.
After a few minutes, the man got his food, and left, leaving her back to her boredom. She had a couple of people working with her today, but they were usually hiding away in the kitchen, and she didn’t like them anyway. Aria quickly forgot about the man entirely, as she took a long sigh from being so bored. Who knew standing at a register all day could have been so terribly aggravating?
“Hey Aria,” a voice called out from the back; it sounded like her manager. “I’ll have Short Change take over for you in about ten minutes, then you can get out of here.”
“Thank goodness,” Aria groaned, slamming her head against the top of her cash register. She closed her eyes, gritting her teeth from the collision. A part of her hoped that she could just sleep away those last few minutes, but a little bell sounding told her that wasn’t going to happen. She sighed, and waited for the new customer to get closer to the counter.
“Welcome to the Hayburger, what can I get for you today?” she groaned, not bothering to lift her head.
“Oh! I, um, I’m sorry,” a quiet, timid voice replied.
Aria opened her eyes, slightly curious who was standing there, and not just shouting an order. Pulling her head up, she raised an eyebrow in surprise, and the customer gasped.
It was one of the girls from Canterlot High: Shutterfly, or whatever her name was. She was just standing there, eyes wide, with the rest of her face hidden behind her pink hair. The girl was shaking, and looked to be almost terrified of seeing Aria. She couldn’t be blamed, though, with the vicious glare she was now receiving.
Aria rolled her eyes, scoffing. “What do you want?”
Shutterfly finally gathered herself, holding her hands behind her back, and tapping a foot on the ground. “Well, I was coming to get some lunch, but I can see you’re busy. I can just go, it’s fine.” She started shuffling her way towards the door, looking at Aria with uncertainty.
She wanted to glare the girl out the door, but Aria knew she would get heat from her manager. She decided to suck it up for the moment. There was only ten minutes left, after all. “Look, it’s fine. Just order something.”
“Uh, well okay.” Shutterfly slowly shuffled her way back to the counter, seeming to shrink in size as she did.
Starting again, Aria readied herself at the register. “What do you want?” she asked bluntly, no smiles or happy tone. She heard a strange cluster of murmurs and whines, but couldn’t make out whatever the girl said. “Speak sentences!” Aria snapped suddenly, causing a yelp from her.
“I’ll just have a veggie wrap,” she whispered. Shutterfly reached into her bag to grab her money, trying not to make eye contact with Aria.
“Any fries or drinks?” she rehearsed, not bothering to hide her disinterest.
“Uh, no.”
They didn’t say another word until Aria gave her the receipt, and Shutterfly made her way to the waiting counter, tucking herself near the wall.
Aria could not stand the thought of someone like her being the cause of her downfall, and it irritated her far more than she thought it would. She was drumming her fingers angrily against the counter before a short boy walked up beside her. He had dark red hair, and was wearing the same stupid black hat, shirt and pants that she was.
“About time you got here, Short Change,” she greeted in her normal, grumpy manner.
He put a hand to his chest. “Why, Miss Aria, an employee arrives precisely when he means to.”
“Just take this drawer so I can go.” She signed off from the computer terminal, relieving it to Short Change, and walked her way toward the back.
“It’s nice to see you too!” He called after Aria, giving a huff of irritation, but she didn’t care.
In a swift motion, Aria snatched her time card to clock out, already opening her locker to grab her purse and make her hasty retreat. Aria stopped in front of the mirror by the locker area to look over herself again.
She was wearing a plain black polo shirt that was tucked in to her solid black slacks. The hat on her head was black as well, save for the logo for the Hayburger on the front, and the purple hair that stuck out of the back. The dress policy required her to wear her hair through the back of the hat, which gave her a ponytail similar to Sonata’s. Aria didn’t enjoy that.
She pulled her shirt out from her pants, and took the hat off quickly, causing her hair to flow back. Aria grabbed her star-shaped hairpins from her purse to get her hair back in her twin tails. She hated her hair looking the same as Adagio or Sonata’s, so she couldn’t wear it down, and, under normal circumstances, would never be caught in a ponytail.
Feeling fit to be seen in public again, she exited the employee area, and walked out the door into town. She was fortunate to be let off early today, getting out and home before any of the evening traffic clogged the sidewalks again. Aria just hated walking in crowds.
~~~
Climbing up the stairs to their studio apartment, she entered with a gentle kick on the door, which slammed it open against the wall, and noticed Adagio sitting on their couch. “I’m home, Dag’,” she grumbled, just so she didn’t have to have that argument.
Adagio turned around, and gave her a nod of acknowledgment, her face screaming an expression of boredom, before facing forward again, typing away.
She got a small notebook computer a few weeks ago, one she could carry with her wherever needed. Adagio was working on some kind of paperwork for a while, and needed to use the internet a lot, so she figured having her own device was finally a necessity. After a few awkward days of her trying to use the keyboard correctly, she was rarely seen without it open.
Aria took that bored face as a sign to leave her alone for now. She didn’t mind much, it was better than trying to figure out what to talk about anyway. Making her way to the hall, she threw her purse across the living room to land on her corner chair, and started to take her clothes off to get out of the work smell.
Her shirt halfway up, she walked in to her room to see Sonata sitting in her chair, clicking away on her computer and humming a tune like she was supposed to be there. She covered herself back up before fuming. “Sonata! What the heck are you doing on my computer?!”
Wheeling around in surprise, Sonata looked up at her in shock for a moment, then smiled. “Welcome home, Aria! I was just using your computer like you said I could.”
She paused for a second, unsure how to respond. “What do you mean: ‘Like I said you could?’” she asked in a mocking tone.
Sonata stood up, and took a short breath. “Hey Aria, do you mind if I use your computer while you’re at work today?” She appeared to be quoting herself from earlier. Switching to a hunched position, crossing her arms, she continued. “Psh, sure Sonata. Use my computer as much as you want,” she replied, imitating the sarcastic tone Aria liked to use.
"I was being sarcastic, Sonata,” Aria snapped, groaning and going back to getting herself dressed. She couldn’t argue without getting comfortable first.
Sonata let out a similar groan. “Then why don’t you just say that? I’ve been on here for like, three hours now, thinking you were totally okay with it!” She sat back down, resuming what she was doing. “You and Adagio always talk like that.”
“Well, maybe if you weren’t the worst, you’d be able to understand us half the time.”
“Well, I think you’re the worst, because Adagio at least explains herself to me,” Sonata humphed.
"Because she knows you're such a dip."
"You're a dip!" was the clever comeback.
Rolling her eyes, she changed her topic. “Why do you even need the computer anyway? We decided a long time ago that I was the only one who ever used it. You agreed to moving it in here!"
“Yeah, well it doesn’t mean that we can’t use it if we-” she spun back around, and cut herself off when she looked at the door.
Aria blinked twice before following suit, turning to see Adagio, with a look of death on her face. “Shut up, or at least close the door,” she hissed under her breath before slamming the door shut.
They were quiet for a few seconds, before Aria shook her head. “What’s got her hair in knots, today?” she asked, her tone nitpicking that this wasn’t the first time Adagio had been so snappy.
“I think she’s still working on all of those papers,” Sonata replied, her anger and surprise both removed from her posture. “You know, whatever she’s been doing for the past three weeks.”
“Right.” Adagio had been a bit secretive about whatever she was doing lately. It’s not like she was trying to hide it, but just wouldn’t explain to them. “It’s business,” Aria mocked, repeating what Adagio told them whenever the subject came up.
“So, I’m gonna finish up real fast, then let you have the computer back, kay?” Sonata smiled brightly before wheeling back around to resume typing.
“What are you even doing, anyway?” she asked, still not given a clear answer.
“Oh!” she yelled in surprise, clicking frantically for a few seconds, before moving the chair aside to give Aria a clear view of the monitor. “I’m designing some new clothes for us!”
Aria leaned forward, now in more comfortable attire, to see the project she was working on. On the page were three sketches, each of a faceless mannequin wearing some sort of elaborate clothing. They were, well, sketches. Aria wasn’t really one to go into details about how good something was if she wasn’t interested. After taking a second glance over them, she noticed that they were pretty fancy to be regular clothes, more high tier like they would use while performing.
Sonata always had a knack for drawing, but she only used it when she was sketching clothes. After years of fishing through countless clothing stores to find less than satisfying outfits, Sonata learned that some tailors accepted special orders, custom made. She was dumbfounded when she first found out, and had done it for almost a decade now.
While impressive, which she wouldn’t admit, Aria had to ask: “But what are they for? We don’t sing anymore, and I doubt we can just walk in on any big events or whatever.”
She just chuckled a little in response, turning her head to the side. “I dunno. It just feels really good to make stuff. We haven’t got any clothes in almost three months, not counting those outfits from the mall, so I thought I’d spoil us!” Sonata made a big grin before she clicked one more time on the mouse. “And sent! You can have the computer back, now.”
With that, she skipped out of the room, humming to herself as she closed the door again. The room was quiet finally, which was how it should always be, but Aria felt like she just couldn’t sit down and web surf. Well, she could, but lately she had been getting rather bored of just staring at her computer.
She contemplated going back to the living room, and sitting in her corner. It had been a while since she had sat out there, and the atmosphere would be a little lighter, not to mention warmer. Facing away from the sun, her room window didn’t let it much light, even when she did open the curtains, and it was usually cooler than the rest of the house. Still, Adagio was out there doing who knows what on her notebook, and looked to be super irritated about it. Aria didn’t like the idea of getting hissed at by her sister by walking out to the living room. Besides, what if Sonata was out there?
She thought for a moment, considering the horrible outcomes of leaving the room, before grabbing her phone from her pants, and proceeding outside.
Adagio didn’t seem to acknowledge her as she sat down in her chair, but it didn’t matter. Being in the same room with someone other than her monitor was what she needed after a day like today. The business at work was terribly slow, and having to talk with that Flutter girl made her upset.
Aria messed around on her phone, playing a few games while she sat bored. Periodically, she glanced over to catch Adagio looking at her, or at least around her direction, before going back to her computer. “So, it’s the awkward treatment again?” she asked herself, sighing inside.
She wasn’t sure what it was, but Adagio had been much less outgoing when it came to talking to her for these past few weeks. Adagio seemed to be fine when talking to Sonata, making fun of her and everything, but could never act normal around her. By Aria’s perception of normal, it was usually her bragging about her accomplishment of the day, or pointing out a flaw of Aria’s for good fun.
It was after she got her job when she started acting like that. Adagio would bug her, asking her when she planned on getting one, seeing Sonata get one before her. She would say the same things every time: “It isn’t fair to support you if you aren’t contributing, Aria.” “You know, even Sonata’s working hard, Aria.” She seriously got tired of it real fast, and had a couple of heated arguments with her. After she got her own job though, Adagio stopped. The nagging, the arguing, they just disappeared the moment she told her. Adagio was obviously happy, but had been very quiet since.
"How was work?" Adagio asked suddenly, breaking the eerie silence.
Aria paused so she wouldn't instinctively say anything snide. "It was boring, pretty much the same."
Adagio nodded, not looking up still. "Well, I'm just glad you didn't have any incidents."
"Did Sonata get in trouble again?"
Rolling her eyes, she nodded again. "Carrot Cake called me to let me know that she made a disaster of their soda machine. She's trying her hardest, but I'm just not sure how she will handle small jobs." Adagio let out a sigh, closing her eyes.
Aria just shrugged. "Eh, that's Sonata for you. Not really much we can do about it."
"I already talked to her about it, but if this keeps up, she might have to look elsewhere." She paused for a moment. "You know, I think it would be a great idea if she applied for the Hayburger-"
"Don't even joke about that," Aria snapped, sitting upright. She looked at Adagio, who was holding back a smirk. "It's bad enough with the strangers I have to put up with, I don't need family there too."
Adagio smiled, raising a brow. "You know, your buttons are easier to push than Sonata's sometimes."
Aria just huffed, looking around the room to distract herself. "I'm surprised that you still want to do that, seeing how distant you've been lately."
She hesitated for a short moment, feeling herself crumple a bit. "You know how stressed I've been since... Well, you know when." Adagio looked away, her face losing the smile.
"Yeah, yeah I get it. I've been really edgy too. But you acting so awkward isn't really making this any better." Her sister didn't respond for a moment, which made Aria curious. She perked up, looking across the room to see Adagio hanging her head, her computer closed. Aria felt a pang of guilt, and felt the need to get up. "Hey, Adagio, don't get like that." She made her way to the couch, sitting down next to Adagio. Aria crossed her arms, not sure if she should hug or pat her shoulder, or just give her space, but she felt like she needed to be next to her sister.
Adagio took a couple of breaths before straightening her posture. "I'm fine," she assured Aria. "It's just all of this going on. I never imagined being normal would be so difficult. We really should have practiced this sooner."
"Don't worry too much, Adagio," Aria said, leaning back now. "I mean, we're still looking for a way to get our magic back, whenever we can. We won't have to put up with this much longer."
"You are?" she asked, looking up in surprise.
"Well, yeah," Aria answered, feeling confused herself. "I mean, you kept telling us that was the plan. Sonata may not have as many good sources, but she's still trying. We don't want you doing all the work for that."
Adagio just nodded, looking back down. "I'm going to take a shower," she said suddenly as she got up, placing her notebook gently on the coffee table.
"Don't worry, Dag'," she repeated. "You know we'll figure this out."
Her sister turned around, and saw Aria giving her a small smile, something she knew was difficult for her to do. Adagio smiled back, awkwardly, before going back down the hall. "That's what I'm afraid of," she muttered quietly.