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She wanted to sing, she loved to sing. Kirari and her had often times sung together. Kirari opting for the harmony and Ririka the melody without ever assigning each part out. They would switch who would sing back up vocals and who would sing the lead without discussion. They never sang in front of anyone else. Only ever in the privacy of each other, wherever that might be at whatever moment they felt. Ririka enjoyed singing, the emotions that were expressed in a song could raise or lower all who participated spirits'. Both listeners and vocalist could connect through the notes. It was beautiful, intimate and if she could be selfish (and despite her thinking otherwise, she often was), it was fun.
Before the end of the work day, Mary had let her known she was on her way to pick her up from the office. The text she received from Mary mentioned something about picking up a treat on their way home. "Treat" was really the only word Ririka had read in the text message before she hit send confirming her agreement to whatever Mary had offered. The clock reached the top of the next hour and Ririka clocked out milliseconds after. The trek out of the office was as it always was; uneventful. Minimal eye contact and the right amount of silence she needed to regain some semblance of peace and focus.
Pushing the doors open she caught sight of the familiar black Ford pulling up. She broke into a brisk walk as she made her way to meet the car before it completely stopped. As it stopped, the passenger window rolled down to reveal an eager Mary in the driver's seat, bright amber eyes and a warm smile. Ririka's hand barely touched the door handle when she could her the click of the locks releasing. With a tug she moved the door and slid into the passenger seat, her eyes falling closed as she leaned towards Mary to receive the kiss they shared as routine.
"Hey! How was work?" Mary asked, she recieved a soft sigh in response. "That blegh, huh?" Ririka could only nod as she shifted back to rest comfortably on the chair. The passenger door now closed, she could feel the car slowly pull out of the parking lot. The low hum of the car and the music playing quietly was enough to lull her to sleep. Ririka shook her head a bit and moved to turn the music up.
Mary watched between paying attention to the road (obviously) and observing the platinum haired woman. She frowned seeing how absolutely exhausted Ririka was. "Are you still okay to get some food? We can do drive-thru instead." She smiled as she spoke. Honestly she'd prefer drive through too but waited for Ririka to decide to be sure.
"Uh…" Ririka didn't move as she spoke, head still leaned back against the headrest, she bit her lip as she thought for a moment. "Drive-thru, please." She titled her head to look at Mary and smile, she really wanted to be more energetic for her but work sucked whatever she had left out of her. "Thank you."
"Of course! And to be honest, I'm not really feeling dine-in anymore either." Mary laughed a little and she could hear Ririka giggle too. Mary grinned, getting her to giggle was always a win. And if she was this tuckered out after work, a good laugh was a nice bit of medicine. Not a cure by any means, but it did help.
They drove in a comfortable silence for a while, the radio's music now filling up the space between them. Mary had switched stations a couple times avoiding commercials. Her surfing ended when she began to let the radio play the intro to a song and she heard humming. The humming was most definitely not coming from the radio, the start of the song didn't give itself to humming in Mary's opinion. Mary didn't dare glance at the passenger next to her, instead she reached to slowly raise the volume. Doing so would either cause the voice right next to her to stop humming; the louder volume also risked her not being able to hear the voice any longer, or it would encourage the humming to be louder. Mary wanted to take the risk. She wanted to bet everything just to hear the voice louder. Clearer. If she turned it down it would be too obvious that she was trying to hear the voice humming along.
The sound from the radio was now ringing through the car, Mary held her breath for a moment waiting for the next versus to come in. Nearly praying she'd hear that warm voice again and not the one from the radio, thought that voice was really good too.
The voice came back, the one in the radio. And so did the other, the one she could hear beside her. Soft at first but as the verse continued it was louder. It was strong and beautiful. Mary smiled so fucking hard she had to grip the wheel a bit tighter to stop from reacting verbally.
Ririka laid her eyes closed as she sung along with the radio, when the volume had gotten so loud she hadn't noticed till now, but she allowed herself this moment to belt along with the song. Whatever tension she had been holding onto releasing with each refrain. Mary began to sing along as best she could, and that's when Ririka sat up, pink peppered her cheeks as she completely forgot where she had been. Her eyes met Mary's as the driver glanced back again to watch her sing. They both smiled nervously as the song continued. Ririka moved to hide behind her hands but was stopped as Mary grabbed her both hands as best she could with one of her own.
Mary's ears were red, she could feel how heated they were but she took the biggest breath she could muster and began singing along to the song again, mumbling parts she hadn't heard in the versus or the last refrain and nodding her head to the beat. Glancing at Ririka every chance she could while driving. The whole act made Ririka laugh, Mary could feel the nervousness leave both her and Ririka enough for them to hold hands more comfortably as Ririka began to sing again with Mary.
As the final lyric left their lips, Mary began to sing again not realizing it was the end of the song and stopped herself with a laugh, "Whoops, I should probably leave the singing to you, huh?" Ririka squeezed her hand one time before lifting their joined hands to kiss the back of Mary's gently. She shook her head slowly, still blushing from having been caught singing earlier.
"No, I love hearing you sing. I'd… I'd like to sing with more often." She looked at Mary, a softness in her eyes that only Mary ever saw. Mary squeezed her hand back and looked at Ririka, these were the moments that were a real treat in her life.