Gemotions

"So… no party?" Sarah asked, her voice deliberately flat. The organiser, a bubbly acquaintance, shuffled her feet, avoiding eye contact. “Well, you know, things…” The air in the coffee shop thickened with unspoken words. Sarah felt a prickling heat rise up her neck. She’d cleared her schedule, bought a new dress, even booked a spa treatment to pamper herself before the big night. The thought of all that wasted effort, the lost opportunity to be celebrated, sat heavily in her chest. She took a long, slow sip of her lukewarm coffee, the bitterness doing little to soothe the sudden ache in her jaw.