Head Above Water

10. What to Do

“Wake up, wake up, wake up!”

A large solid body landed on my stomach and I exhaled with an ‘oof’.

“Jillian, I’m writing your obituary in my head right now,” I warned, draping an arm over my eyes.

Jill spoke in a melodramatic, airy voice, “Beloved sister, devoted humanitarian…”

I snorted inelegantly and she raised my arm over my eyes, only to drop it unceremoniously back onto my face. Being unprepared, I didn’t stop it and the weight of my arm smashed against my nose.

“Ow! Freaking A! Jillian!” I shouted. I sat up to grab my pillow and swifty introduced it to her face, effectively halting her giggles. I threw myself back into a reclining position and put the pillow over my face, but she snatched it away.

“Come on, Sleeping Beauty. I wanna go shopping,” she whined.

“Shopping? Jill, I hate shopping. And I get up at 4am every frickin’ day of the week. I want to sleep in.”

“It’s 9 o’clock. You have slept in.”

“For you, Miss Morning Person. For me, it’s still too freakin’ early!”

“Frickin’ this, Freakin’ that. Just swear already, jeeze!” Jillian suddenly ripped all of the covers off my bed, leaving me cold. I jumped off the bed quickly and she squealed and bolted out of the room, knowing she was in trouble.

“That’s it!” I took off in pursuit. We flew past my mom in the hallway and, unperturbed by the scene, she said, “Morning Jillian.”

“Hi Mrs. Stewart,” Jill threw out as she ran past.

“You’re dead when I catch you, woman!” I shouted after Jill.

“Pshht! You’re only fast in the water, babe. On land you slow!” she taunted.

We were outside in the backyard now and she was right. After several circuits around the yard and her letting me get close only to slip away again, I finally stopped the chase. I thought briefly of how to get her back and came up with the genius plan to lock her out of the house as I ran back in. The minute she saw my face though, she read my mind and bolted for the door only a spilt second after me.

Unfortunately she caught up just in time for us to try cramming ourselves through the doorframe at the same time, which of course, didn’t quite work. We ended up giggling hysterically as neither of us wanted to give up and let the other person through first.

Finally I pulled back with an exaggerated sigh and said, “Fine, I’ll be the bigger person Jilly, since you obviously lack manners.” I stepped back with a grin and she sauntered into the house, flipping her hair over her shoulder grandly, before grinning right back.

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 Two hours and five stores later, I put my foot down, “Time to go, Jill.”

“We’ve only been here an hour!” she whined.

“No, we’ve been here two, and that’s as much as I can take. You know that. My turn now…food court,” I ordered.

She sighed in defeat and followed my lead. I was chatting away as we walked toward my favorite pastime when a silky voice interrupted, “What are two beautiful young ladies like you doing here this fine day?”

I looked up to see a cocky grin and, after a moment of surprise, I beamed at him, “Connor!”

“Hey Fish,” he said, his grin melting into a casual smile.