Weeping Willows

Breakfast of Champions

Chapter 43

The next morning found the group having breakfast on a yacht. At first Elizabeth was skeptical when she found out that Courtney had planned this part, but it turned out to not be some surprise nightmare. Elizabeth was smiling sheepishly while Courtney glared at her agitated over the fact that her friend had no faith in her. As Courtney pointed out there were babies on board on this trip so she couldn't go all out as usual. Elizabeth just hoped that the pimp bus transportation was as wild as it was going to get this time. She wasn't holding her breath however, there was plenty of time to spring something spontaneous on everyone at the last minute. She still had yet to complete her revenge on Mikey and Lauren as well. At this point Roy may be well on his way to seeing the wrong side of his girlfriend as well.

When Courtney had come out of her room last night after Elizabeth had gotten back, she was upset. That wasn't normal since she was the type of person who generally didn't let things get to her but clearly Roy was the exception. Elizabeth had a sneaking suspicion that Roy had wormed his way into Courtney's self-proclaimed cold dead heart. Their group of friends all knew that the little imp actually cared quite a bit about those she considered family even if she hid it well behind sarcasm and snarky remarks. The fact that he seemed to be planning their future without discussing it with her really bothered Courtney. One of the things that few people knew about her was that her father, while being a minister, ruled his family with an iron fist and was a very controlling man. It was one of the reasons Courtney was so determined to strike out on her own at such a young age. She had felt suffocated at home and couldn't live that way anymore. It's also one of the reasons she could be so argumentative now too. She's always had to fight tooth and nail to be whoever she wanted to be in life. Lauren had debated once that that was possibly how Courtney's rowdier side was born. That it was a way of giving a big middle finger to her dad for all the forced oppression she had had to suffer under as a child. Courtney had told Elizabeth the night before that she was worried that Roy may be just as controlling. While Elizabeth had been sure he had been joking at the ill-timed comment he made, she could admit that after their talk last night she had a niggling of doubt as well. They made such a cute interesting couple but if it was going to end up being a bad relationship for her friend it was better to know now. Once Courtney went to bed Elizabeth vowed to find a moment to talk to Roy in private today and figure out his intentions. She didn't want her friends to get hurt especially if it was avoidable. Sometimes pain was unexpected and not something anyone could stop like in the case of Nicole but when it was it's a friend's duty to help. Elizabeth may not have a blood family anymore but the rag tag one she had compiled over the years were all she had left, and she would walk through fire for anyone of them.

That was another thing she was going to have to look into, Nicole. Elizabeth noticed that her friend hadn't been in attendance from the start of the weekend vacation. It made her sad to think that Nikki might have stayed away to avoid any contact with her still. Elizabeth was going to have to get one of the girls to tell her the truth as to what was going on. She had let them sugar coat anything they told Elizabeth about Nikki at the beginning honestly not knowing if she was strong enough to deal with the bad news that may come. Now though, she was feeling stronger than she had when she had left and while she wasn't exactly emotionally healed herself Elizabeth felt able to handle what ever was really going on. Elizabeth knew she had her new friends and the words of a long ago solider to thank for what progress she had made so far. While it wasn't leaps and bounds, baby steps still counted especially when they were steps in the right direction.

Ryan reached over rubbing her shoulder managing to pull Elizabeth out of her musings. She smiled gratefully at him knowing she could get trapped in inner ramblings for hours if she allowed. She looked around at the group chuckling quietly at Nell, Jenny, and Elliot. The three of them didn't seem to be fairing very well this morning at all. Nell's could be attributed to morning sickness, but Elizabeth was sure that the other two were due to motion sickness. It was a good thing they weren't on the open waters for breakfast as clearly those three would need to get back on land soon. Everyone else had seemed fine initially but even some of them were looking a little green around the gills. This was probably due more to the other pregnant woman in attendance this morning. The motion of the yacht rocking on the water moored didn't seem to faze her at all. Addison was putting away more food than a high school football team and probably just as fast as one as well. It didn't help that she was mixing all her food together making her plate look as if it was holding slop rather then something made for human consumption. By the little moans she gave off after every few bites and the bright smile she was wearing it was clear that Addison was enjoying herself. Even Elizabeth's appetite had waned the longer she watched her shoveling food into her mouth. If she didn't stop watching her soon, she too would be joining the other three with barf bags. Elizabeth put her fork down and decided on a distraction instead.