Ice frozen dreams turned golden

Chapter 11

Lizzie was sitting in the sun in the backyard, enjoying the first really warm day, a book in her hand. She somehow loved that she had nothing better to do than to read a book, and on the other hand she totally hated it.
She wasn't used to having time for something like laying in the sun, enjoying a good book just to get pulled into a fantasy world.

She couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty. There was so much she could do instead: clean the house, do the laundry or help cook dinner. But Taylor and Joe had made it pretty clear the other day that they expected her to relax instead of always trying to help.

She would have loved to spend the day with her friends but Thea was at the ice rink, trying to train as much as possible to be ready for her Junior Grand Prix debut in a few months, and Betty wasn't in New York for a couple of weeks as she was away with her parents who were filming something in L.A..

So the girl just sat outside trying to focus on her reading rather than fidgeting in her seat thinking about how useless she was.

"Lizzie?"

Someone cautiously calling her name made her look up from her book which was honestly not even that interesting to read.

Lizzie looked up and saw Nora running towards her. "Hey, Nora. What's up?" she asked her 'almost little sister'.

If she was honest Nora was the only one in the Alwyn family she hadn't bonded with yet. Thea was her best friend, she and Luca could talk about ballet forever, and Elena adored her. She didn't know exactly why but she and Nora hadn't spent much time alone so far.

"I wondered if you'd want to play hide and seek with me?" Nora asked her excitedly, and Lizzie immediately nodded her head in agreement, shutting the book in her lap close. It had been some time since she had last played hide and seek with her friends and she was honestly sad they didn't play as much as they used to do.

"I would love to," Lizzie replied, and Nora jumped up and down in excitement.

"Can you be the first one to seek? Just close your eyes and count to 50, okay?" Nora asked and didn't wait for Lizzie's answer as she was already running further into the backyard.

Lizzie chuckled and yelled an "Okay" after her and then closed her eyes counting slowly to 50.

It took her quite some time to find Nora, who was hiding behind the shed at the back of the garden where Lizzie didn't even think someone could fit between the back of it and the big tree that was directly growing behind it.
But Nora knew the backyard like the back of her hand and had the best hiding spots.

Nonetheless, Lizzie loved to play with Nora, even though the younger girl always found her way faster than Lizzie found her.
She hadn't even realized that she and her friends hadn't played something like hide and seek since forever. When had they stopped playing silly games, pretending to be fairies or mermaids, and instead started talking about their stupid classmates or their favorite TV series?
Lizzie missed playing with her friends though. She had never had the chance to be just a kid when she grew up, and the play dates with Thea and Betty had been her only chance to have fun and be foolish.

She and Nora played the whole afternoon and Lizzie had so much fun she even forgot to offer her help for dinner. When Taylor called them inside, they were laughing, cheeks still flushed from chasing each other and their clothes dirty.

"You two look like you had fun," Taylor just commented as she saw the two girls, and Lizzie bowed her head. She hadn't paid any mind to her clothes or her shoes and now she realized she was covered in dirt from head to toe.

"Taylor, I'm sorry. I should have known better than to get us all dirty," she timidly bit her lip and cursed herself. Instead of helping Taylor and Joe clean the house, she now got it even dirtier.