Home Away From Home

Chapter Three

Dinner was what they call a meat pie and what I call delicious. Perhaps it was because I hadn't eaten in so long, but I practically licked my plate clean. For the sake of manners, I of course didn't literally lick my plate, but I certainly wanted to. 

"Can I help you clean up?" I offered my services to Liz, and she just dismissed me.

"You're probably exhausted. You go ahead on up to bed." She gave me a sweet, motherly smile and no choice but to follow her orders. 

"Thank you." I smiled, questioning whether I should hug her yet again. I began to walk away, but stopped. "Do you think I should have you guys wake me up when you get up so I can adjust to the time better, or?"

Liz and Andy looked at each other as if mere facial expressions would give me an answer. "Well, we can let you sleep late tomorrow, if you'd like, and then we can get you on track for the next day."

I just nodded my head and proceeded up to my new room. Doing the math, I figured that it was currently about three in the morning back home, which makes for a very tired me. 

My toothbrush had somehow ended up in the very bottom of my bag, so I made a mess trying to find it. After I brushed my teeth, I sauntered around the upstairs area for a little bit before making my way back to my bed. As soon as I had laid down and covered up, I knew that saying I was tired was a tremedous understatement.

I heard footsteps crawling up the stairs, and I'm surprised I even heard them considering the depth of sleep I was in. I checked the clock to see that it was in the very early hours Sydney time, and I wondered who it could be. I quickly realized that I had probably heard the footsteps because I wasn't in as deep of a sleep as I had thought; I desperately needed to pee. 

DAY TWO

I quietly crawled out of bed and threw a sweatshirt on being that the air temp was much cooler than the blankets I was under. I'm not sure why, but I tiptoed out of the room and through the hall. Just as I was turning the knob to open the bathroom door, it opened, or rather Luke had opened. 

Wonderful.

"Uh, I'm sorry." I rambled, avoiding eye contact. I debated just turning around and going back to bed, but I couldn't seem to move my feet. I had seemingly lost control of my own body.

"Yeah, hi... who are you?" He asked, more annoyed than curious.

"Uh, Greta... the exchange student from America?" I watched him as he tried to recall what I was exactly talking about. 

 "I thought you weren't coming until next week?" He said angrily, but I knew he was lying. There is no way he was this clueless about my presence. I, however, played along to make sure I didn't hurt his ego too much on our first encounter.

"Well, I'm here now..." I bit the inside of my cheek as I secretly wished he would just go back to his room and stop blocking the entrance to the bathroom.

"And you're from America?" He studied me, and even though I should have felt uncomfortable under his gaze, I just grew overwhelmingly frustrated. 

I ran my hands down my face in an act to try and calm myself. "That is what I said."
I spoke tersely. I'm exhausted as crap, and I just want to go back to bed. 

"Huh." The longer Luke stood there, the more my loathing manifested. "And you're--"

"I don't mean to be rude, but can we finish whatever this is in the morning? I'm kind of dead-tired right now." No matter how much I didn't want to be rude, I definitely sounded it.

Luke's eyebrows raised in surprise at my demanding tone. "Well, then. I guess I'll see you in the morning." He walked off with a flick of his hand, and I let go of the breath I hadn't realize I had been holding.