OUT OF THE WOODS, jeremiah fisher

four.

WILLOW WAS SITTING at the table behind the kitchen island with her head plopped on her hand, eating a bowl of cereal with milk. She was hungover along with Conrad, who was definitely worse and was lying on the couch in the living room.

The previous night, when they got back home, Laurel and Cecelia told them off for getting picked up by the cops for underage drinking.

Laurel was especially worried about Belly sneaking out and walking to the bonfire by herself.

After that was over, Willow went straight to her room and spent the rest of the night texting back and forth with Grace.

This morning, after a few hours of sleep, she had a huge headache and was trying to block out the conversation happening in front of her, because of it.

"Do we really have to physically sit for our portraits? Can't she just, like, look at a picture on her phone or something?" Jeremiah asked while trying to get Steven out of the kitchen because he was breathing down his neck, watching him cook.

Willow's attention was grabbed by his question, suddenly stopping her chewing of the soggy cereal.

She had completely forgotten that Susannah wanted to paint them this summer.

She instantly tensed up once she realized what this meant.

All of the previous times through the years that Susannah made portraits of them, she always insisted on Willow and Jeremiah posing together. 

Willow hoped Susannah would forget about it, since it's been so long, but knew that it was impossible.

There's no way that Susannah would want to ruin the tradition.

Suddenly her headache became worse at the thought, so she just went back to blocking out the conversation and playing with her cereal.

"Are you feeling better honey?" Cecelia asked, looking at her daughter through her reading glasses.

The older woman was sitting next to Laurel at the kitchen island, reading a psychology book, one of her favorite hobbies.

"I'm fine. I just have a headache, that's all," Willow replied, giving her mom a tight-lipped smile.

After the girl's reassurance, the two older women went back to the conversation about Susannah's portraits and how she wants to "capture their essence while they are still young and full of hope" with Jeremiah and Steven chuckling at their words.

Steven walked by Willow and ruffled up her hair just to annoy her.

She didn't even bother to look at him while removing his hand from her head.

The sudden sound of the mixer going off made Willow slightly jump from her seat.

Jeremiah being the one who set it off, noticed and sent her an apologetic smile with Willow glaring back at him.

Jeremiah went over to give Conrad the hangover smoothie that he made for him.

After doing so, he walked over to the table Willow was sitting at and set a glass of water and some painkillers on it.

"For your headache," he spoke in a low volume and Willow felt his breath fan on her neck, making her slightly shiver.

"Thanks," she replied, looking up at him.

Once she did, she realized their close proximity and when their eyes met, both of their hearts skipped a beat.

Willow was the one to look away first, breaking the tension, with Steven telling Jeremiah to hurry up so that they wouldn't be late on their first day of work.