Weeping Willows

Lazy Days

Chapter 18

Sunday morning Elizabeth woke to a dreary day. No clear skies today apparently. The storm from the night before was not going to be moving out as quickly as the last one. Stretching she groaned not even having the motivation to leave the warmth of her bed. In fact, if nature hadn't left her in fear of turning her bed into a waterbed she would have just rolled over and ignored it. Groaning she hoisted herself up pushing the covers aside. The minute the cool air slammed into her warm flesh her bladder decided to seize. Stumbling in haste to the toilet she didn't even close the door on the way. Sitting there shivering with her night shorts hooked around her knees Elizabeth tried to stretch the fabric of the legs down to cover her calves. Draping her torso over her thighs she rubbed her arms for heat, she made a mental note to call a repair man tomorrow to fix the A.C. Sighing as her abs deflated with relief, she dropped her head trying to drape her hair like a blanket around her. Thinking over the day before a sense of dread settled in enforcing her need to just curl back under her covers.

By the time she was done and back in her room Elizabeth grumbled in annoyance as the now cool sheets draped around her chilled body. Determined to catch at least another hour or two she slammed her lids shut willing sleep to claim her. As she lay there slowly warming back up unwanted thoughts kept flitting through her mind. She tried to clear her head but no matter what, her brain just wouldn't shut back down. Thoroughly irritated now she growled into the silence and stared at the ceiling in anger. She was fully awake for the day and it was all her bladder's fault to begin with. Giving up any idea of going back to sleep but refusing to get up she decided to sketch instead. Fluffing her pillow and propping herself up she reached for her sketchbook and pencil off the nightstand beside her. She flipped to a clean page and began to aimlessly work the pencil to the paper losing herself in the familiar rhythm.

Some time later her stomach growled in demand bringing her consciousness back to the moment. Laying the book onto her legs she rubbed at her aching hand. Twisting and turning she popped her stiff joints limbering her body back up. She must have been sitting there working for too long and hadn't even realized it. Glancing at the bedside clock she was shocked to see it was almost one in the afternoon. Elizabeth had been so transfixed with her task that she had skipped both breakfast and lunch all together. Placing her pad off to the side she slid out finding the room at a more reasonable temperature. Tossing on her old fluffy robe she left the bedroom to forage for food finding leftover pizza tucked away in her fridge. Carrying her cold meal back to her room she snuggled down to eat it. She let out a delighted moan at the first bite and glanced over at her sketch book.

Elizabeth almost choked as she swallowed staring at her drawing with wide eyes. She didn't remember thinking about what she had seen in the water but clearly it had been on her mind. She mindlessly consumed the pizza as she stared at the intense stranger on the page. She wondered how he had not only entered the water but also left it without her or Ryan noticing. Something just didn't quite feel right about the whole thing as her whole body shook and shivered. Closing the offending book, she finished eating and decided to find something else to do. She got up taking the now empty box with her and exited the room determined to forget all about it.

Around six o'clock that evening Elizabeth stretched out her back feeling accomplished. The sleeves of her robe were rolled up to her elbows and her mop of red hair was haphazardly thrown on top of her head. She smiled down at the box on her kitchen table looking at each piece she had baked. She had been putting the task off since her class but knew it was something that needed to get done before she faced her seniors again. She had carefully re-wrapped all the sculptures back up taking care to not break the now fragile things. She placed on the lid and pushed it to the back of the table where it was least likely to get accidentally bumped into.