Shh! It's love

3. Lacking Vitamin D.

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Time ticked by awfully slow and two days later, Bubbles found herself wrapped up in her favorite navy blanket with baby-blue stripes. With her nose scrunched up, a pair of big, round-shaped glasses sat perched on top of it, her mop of wild strands in a messy bun.

Occasional subconscious grunts filled her spacious, empty room. Nimble fingers tapped viciously on the pink laptop, following the rhythm of some song stuck in her head.

Bubbles could feel actual smoke swirl at the top of her head after frying her brain over meaningless information that she wasn't going to use in her life. "Ugh!" She slammed the device shut, tossed it aside, and flopped on her stomach. "I'm so tired," she drawled out. Assignments after assignments piled on top of her desk. She eyed them warily. The mere sight of the papers was soul-draining. "I just need to survive till graduation."

Huffing, her hands tugged the covers closer...and closer. The room was cold despite the heater being on.

Her eyes roamed the crowded space until they landed on the bunch of messy pictures scattered on the wall above her desk. An involuntary smile bloomed as nostalgia slowly trickled in.

Pictures held a fleeting, tiny moment of the whole scene. Yet, they worked as the best trigger for the endless, full memories, making sure they never faded away.

They were huddled together by the bonfire for a family picture. Her front teeth were missing. Her mother, a woman with similar hair color and plumper figure covered in a pink summer dress, was nuzzling her husband. Her father, who was clad in Capri beige pants and a light blue shirt, was holding back his ruffled black hair with one hand and holding out a half-burnt marshmallow with the other to her sister whose face was about to get split in two from her wide grin.

Bubbles breathed out a laugh, her eyes moving to the picture under it.

It was taken on the first day of her preschool. Her eyes twitched at the rugged look she sported. Bubbles has always been an energetic child. Hence why her clothes tended to get dirty the moment she breathed. She could never sit still and do nothing.

Her mom once admitted that she drank considerable amounts of coffee before she realized that Bubbles was residing inside her uterus. After that, she immediately stopped. But, apparently, the damage was already done. She shook her head with a soft smile. Science had denied this as far as Bubbles knows. However, it was hard for her mother to believe that. In fact, it seemed like she just wanted something, a reason...an excuse for her daughter's behavior.

As she grew up though, her childishness and hyper-activities dimmed a bit. She was a bit more refined. Yet, vomiting words was something she still had to tame. It was beyond mortifying at times. Yet, those moments were her favorites for they say: the most embarrassing events make up the best stories later on in life.

And, she had plenty of those to retell.

Bubbles sighed and reached out for her phone. The device was cold and she glared at it. Then, her gaze softened. Sometimes it takes more than a radiator to get you warm. A human, perhaps. Rolling her eyes, she chewed on her lips, fingers flying swiftly across the chipped screen.

It rang five times before someone picked up. "Who's this?"

"Who're you?"

"I'm Jackson-" He was interrupted by someone shouting at him. Muffled voices reached her ear. Then, after some shuffling noises, a door clicked shut in the background. "Bubbles?"

At the sound of her sister's voice, Bubbles sagged, sinking further in the bed. "What was that all about?" Her heart struggled to calm down.

"it's nothing. Jackson just mistook my phone for his. We have the same brand and model." Her easy laughter lifted Bubbles' mood. Relieved, she chuckled.