Ale I Need is You

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About the Image

After two years apart, Serena and Emi had plenty to catch up on, and their quiet lunch by the beach quickly turned into an afternoon of fair food, friendship, and a spontaneous Pride party. Of course, if you are going to celebrate a reunion properly, you need the perfect summer outfit.

Serena, on the left, is wearing the new Magnolia Top by Sorumin, available now at the current round of Kustom9. This sexy handkerchief-style top is available in six color packs, with four color options in each. The palettes range from deep jewel tones and soft nudes to fun patterns like the one Serena is wearing. Each pack includes a HUD to customize colors, textures, transparency, and special effects such as glow or sparkle. As always, Sorumin’s color palettes are absolutely gorgeous for summer styling. Pick up a demo at Kustom9.

Serena is also wearing Aura, the latest hairstyle release by Faga for Kustom9. This long, wavy style comes in four color packs with four style options, and also includes a beautiful bow headband, not pictured here. Serena’s color includes some fun green streaks, courtesy of the Mixing color HUD. Grab a demo at Kustom9.

Sorumin opened nine years ago today, and Emi, on the right, is wearing the anniversary gift released to celebrate the occasion. The Sweetheart Top comes in 28 colors, with four metal color options for the heart that cheekily holds the top together. It also comes in a variety of mesh body sizes; Emi is wearing Legacy Perky. The Sorumin in-world group is free to join until 30 June, so head over to the mainstore, join the group, and pick up this adorable summer top!

Emi is also wearing the lovely new Serene Eyes by IKON, available at the current round of FaMESHed. Her skin is Nisha, a new release from Glam Affair for Kustom9. Nisha comes in 10 Light Ethereal Essence tones and seven tones to match Velour body skin tones. It also includes eye makeup and lip toners, blush, and brows. The skin was designed with the LeLutka Avalon head in mind, but Emi is wearing it on Ceylon, and it looks perfect. Grab a demo of Nisha at Kustom9.

Emi’s hat and hair are a new release from Nova for ACCESS. She customized the hat to reflect her Japanese heritage and Japan’s participation in the World Cup, with one of two free gift HUDs from Nova. These HUDs are just one of many gifts set out for the ACCESS 8th birthday celebration. You do have to purchase the hair, but the HUDs are free.

Emi is also wearing a few other new gifts picked up from around the SL23B Shop & Hop:

Holly Moles (face) by Izzie’s
Wildflower Chest Tattoo by CAROL G.
Paparazzi Polish by Mani Pedi

Last but not least, the Rainbow Room backdrop is the June group gift from Synnergy.Tavis. It includes a large stage with balloons, rainbow metallic curtains, and a neon sign reading “Be Proud.” It is perfect for your Pride party photos! The Synnergy.Tavis group is $150L to join, but they offer amazing monthly group gifts that are well worth the fee.

Complete credits are below the story. Store and event SLurls are available on the Store & Event Links page.

The Story

Serena spotted Emi before Emi saw her.

It had been two years since they had last hugged in person—two years of video calls scheduled across time zones, voice messages sent too late at night, and photos from Japan that made Serena both wildly happy for her friend and quietly ache with missing her. Emi Yamada had always been the kind of person who could make any place feel like an adventure, whether it was a college dorm hallway, a sorority fundraiser gone slightly off the rails, or a train platform halfway around the world.

And now there she was, back in the U.S., walking toward Serena with the same bright smile Serena remembered.

For half a second, they both just stared.

Then Emi laughed. “Are we doing the dramatic movie moment, or are you going to hug me?”

Serena didn’t need to be asked twice.

They met in the middle of the sidewalk, arms thrown around each other, talking at the same time before either of them had even let go.

“You’re really here.”

“You look amazing.”

“I missed you so much.”

“Your hair!”

“Your hat!”

“You have to tell me everything.”

“No, you have to tell me everything first.”

By the time they made it to lunch, they had already covered Emi’s flight home, Serena’s latest photography projects, Gavin’s crazy veterinary clinic schedule, and at least three ridiculous memories from their sorority days that probably should have been left in the past but absolutely were not.

Over iced tea and fish tacos at a little beachside café, Emi told Serena about the last two years in Japan: the work, the travel, the moments of loneliness, the tiny neighborhood bakery she still missed, and the way cherry blossoms had made her cry the first spring she saw them in full bloom.

“It was incredible,” Emi said, turning her glass slowly between her hands. “But coming back is strange. It feels familiar and completely different at the same time.”

Serena nodded. “Maybe that’s because you’re different.”

Emi smiled softly. “Maybe. But you still make the same face when you’re trying not to cry.”

“I do not.”

“You absolutely do.”

Serena reached across the table and stole one of Emi’s fries. “Fine. But only because I’m emotionally delicate and underfed.”

Emi laughed, and for a while, it felt as though no time had passed at all.

Then Serena leaned forward, narrowing her eyes just a little. “Okay. Real question.”

“Oh no.”

“Did you meet anyone while you were in Japan?”

Emi immediately looked down at her plate.

Serena gasped. “You did!”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You looked at your taco like it suddenly contained state secrets. You absolutely did.”

Emi tried to hide her smile, but failed. “Maybe.”

“Emi Yamada.”

“Fine.” Emi exhaled, then laughed softly. “Yes. I met someone.”

Serena’s whole face lit up. “Tell me everything.”

“There isn’t much to tell.”

“That has never once been true when someone says it.”

Emi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “He’s an archaeologist. He came into the archives at the heritage site where I was working because he needed help with some historical records for a dig site. He was polite, serious, way too careful with documents—”

“As he should be,” Serena said.

“And then he came back. And kept coming back.”

“For the records?”

“At first.” Emi’s smile turned quieter. “Then maybe not just for the records.”

Serena softened. “Oh, Emi.”

“I miss him,” Emi admitted. “More than I expected to. We’re trying the long-distance thing, but it’s hard. The time difference, the work, the not knowing when we’ll see each other again.”

Serena reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “If anyone can make a romance out of archival records and international time zones, it’s you.”

Emi laughed, though her eyes were bright. “That is possibly the strangest encouragement anyone has ever given me.”

“And yet deeply accurate.”

After lunch, neither of them was ready for the day to end, so they wandered toward the beach. The boardwalk was buzzing with summer energy. A small fair had popped up near the sand, full of striped tents, music, food trucks, and people carrying paper trays of funnel cake and lemonade.

They browsed handmade jewelry, debated buying matching sunglasses, and took photos in front of a mural that Emi insisted looked “very Serena-coded,” which Serena decided to accept as a compliment.

“We have to send these to Ella Rose,” Emi said, checking the photo on Serena’s phone.

Serena grinned. “She is going to be so jealous.”

“Hey, she was the one who said she couldn’t come.”

“She had a very responsible museum thing.”

“Still tragic.”

“Deeply tragic,” Serena agreed. “But also, if she wanted to avoid missing out, she should have chosen irresponsible fun with us.”

Emi laughed. “We’ll tell her we thought of her.”

“We will tell her that while sending photographic evidence of everything she missed.”

“That seems thoughtful.”

“It’s sisterhood.”

For hours, they walked and talked as if they were trying to catch up on every minute they had missed. Emi told stories about getting lost in Kyoto with a dead phone battery. Serena filled her in on life back home, the wedding plans that still felt both exciting and terrifying, and the way Fiona had developed a very strong opinion about delivery drivers.

Eventually, the sound of music pulled them farther down the beach.

At first, they thought it was just another fair stage. Then they saw the rainbow balloons, the glowing lights, the bright outfits, and the crowd dancing under a canopy of color.

Emi stopped. “Is that a Pride party?”

Serena grinned. “Looks like it.”

“We should go.”

“Obviously.”

They slipped into the party as if the day had been leading them there all along. The air was warm, the music was loud, and everything sparkled—the lights, the decorations, the glitter on people’s cheeks, the joy moving through the crowd like its own kind of weather. Someone handed them rainbow beads. Someone else pointed them toward the drinks.

A few minutes later, Serena and Emi were standing near the stage with cold beers in hand, laughing over absolutely nothing and everything.

“This,” Emi said, lifting her bottle slightly, “is exactly what I needed.”

Serena clinked her bottle against Emi’s. “Welcome home.”

The words landed between them, simple and true.

Emi’s expression softened. “I missed this. Not just the U.S. I missed this. You. Us.”

Serena leaned her shoulder against Emi’s. “Good. Because now that you’re back, I’m not letting you disappear for two years again.”

“I was working,” Emi protested.

“You were living a very cinematic international life.”

“That too.”

“And apparently falling in love with an archaeologist in the archives, which you somehow failed to mention until I interrogated you over lunch.”

Emi laughed. “I was building suspense.”

“You were withholding important plot information.”

“I’ll do better next time.”

“You’d better. Ella Rose will demand a full report.”

“Oh, Ella Rose is going to be unbearable when she finds out we did this without her.”

Serena held up her phone. “Should we send her one picture now or wait until we have the perfect one?”

Emi looked toward the glowing party backdrop. “Perfect one. If we’re going to make her jealous, we should do it properly.”

A photographer near the party backdrop waved them over, gesturing toward the neon lights and balloons. Emi grabbed Serena’s hand before she could even answer.

“Come on,” Emi said. “We need proof.”

Serena held up her bottle, Emi flashed a peace sign, and for one perfect second, they were right back where they had always belonged: laughing, glowing, and completely themselves.

The photo would show the party—the rainbow lights, the balloons, the bright colors, the easy summer chaos.

But Serena knew what it really captured.

A friendship that had crossed oceans, stretched across time zones, survived distance, and somehow picked up exactly where it left off.

All they had needed was lunch, a beach fair, a little music, some very good ale, and the kind of sisterhood that always found its way home.

CREDITS

Serena (Left)

Faga Aura Hair (NEW @ Kustom9)
Angel Eyes Messy 25 Hairbase
IKON Resolution Eyes
Glam Affair Jacklin
WarPaint Fortuna Eyeshadow
AvaWay Lovely Ribbon Earrings
Deep Static Indira Glasses
AvaWay Summer Necklaces Set
CAROL G. Be Your Best Version Tattoo
Glam Affair Ethereal Essence Body Skin
Sorumin Magnolia Top (NEW @ Kustom9)
Blueberry Capri Jeans
Vibing Summer Rings
Ysoral Luxe Engagement Ring Bridgette

EMi (Right)

Nova Sadie Hair & Hat (NEW @ Access)
Nova Sadie’s Hat HUD Cities (free gift @ Access)
IKON Serene Eyes (NEW @ FaMESHed)
Glam Affair Nisha (NEW @ Kustom9)
Izzie’s Holly Moles (S&H gift)
NaaNaa’s ChromaHeart Necklace Set (NEW for PRIDE at Home)
CAROL G. Wildflower Chest Tattoo (S&H gift)
Glam Affair Ethereal Idol Body Skin
Sorumin Sweetheart Top (group gift)
Mani Pedi Paparazzi Polish (S&H gift)
COCO Flare Jeans (gift)