Shorter days, Longer nights

Chapter 31 || Five years ago

"H-y, L--zy!" my eyes flickered, the weight of my drowsiness forcing them shut no matter how hard I tried. I could see Eva's image on my bedside, her hand waving furiously in front of my face. Her voice was muffled, breaking apart as I tried to process the idea of being awake.

"Mmm," I groaned, tucking my head under my pillow from the side, and my arm atop the free end. My body was upside down under my blanket, enveloped by the warmth.

"Wak- up" she persisted.

"Mm- hmmm," my voice faded as my drowsiness stretched on. 

"We have school," her voice was getting louder and louder by the second. Since when did she care about school?

"No," I muffled out, adjusting my head under my pillow. The soft covering was a comfortable veil against my skin.

"What do you mean no?" the volume decreased, I could tell she had backed away. Was it really that surprising that I wanted to skip school? Wait- I wanted to skip school?

"Mh insert inaudible rubbish g-," I tried to get a grip on my blanket, my hand struggling to clutch against it, only to be unable to pull the weight over me.

Hold on, what weight? I finally peeked out the pillow, my eyes struggling against the light. Harsh sunlight was beaming through from right behind my bed. How late had it been? Eva's hand was tight against the edge of my blanket keeping it in place. Ah, so not weight. Gotcha.

"What are you saying?" she pulled the pillow away from below my arm. It felt like my heart and soul had been ripped away from me. How could she?

"I'm not going!" I retaliated, ducking my head into my arms, annoyed by the absence of my pillow.

"Why not?" I could feel the edges of my mattress pushing down as ripples formed against the sheets, around her body.

"Why are you momming me?!" It's annoying how serious Eva could get at times. Times that were a rare occurrence but still. 

"Everything okay?" and that was my first meeting with Jaycee for the day. I made a secret bet with myself that she was leaning against the doorframe in her mysterious hot-girl style. Probably looking at me like I was some annoying little 'kid'. I recalled the previous night. It still made no sense but I had my path set straight. No messes. 

"Yeah, she's just being Lizzy,"  guess that did make me a kid then huh? Good for Jaycee, she won't have to deal with my childishness now.

I was still in my polka pyjamas from last night, the ones that had prompted the nickname from Jaycee. That was probably the highlight of my day yesterday. That and the... what was it called? plea? pale? pella? The amazing Spanish dish Jaycee made. 

"You never skip school Liz, what's going on?" Eva continued.

"Nothing! I just don't want to go," I finally turned over, my head falling lower than I wanted and hitting the mattress straight on. Where had she thrown my pillow? I looked over at her, having to hold my head in a slightly upward and extremely uncomfortable position to see her while completely ignoring the blurry figure in the background. Leaning against the doorframe might I add. I owed myself twenty bucks now. "Why do you care anyway?" 

"Oh don't get me wrong honey, I am overjoyed," she did wear a proudish expression with her eyebrows slightly raised and her lips parted in a small smile. She had strands of her blonde hair tucked under a black hairpin at the side. It reminded me of her go-to hairstyle when we were younger. Or well I was anyway. She didn't age which was strange now that I thought of it. "I'm just worried, you never skip school," she was right about that one.

"My motivations have gone to shit, as you could probably tell," I pointed towards myself and the room with the whole of both my hands.

"Right," She nodded, a worry taking over her expression, knotting her eyebrows. It faded just as soon as it appeared. Eva worked in strange ways. "Still though you can't miss school," why was she so persistent? I placed an arm underneath my head, raising it upward so I could see more comfortably.

"You're saying that like you go everyday," I replied, although she had started to go more often now that I was with them. I wondered if that was to keep an eye on me. Maybe they did think I'd rip someone's head off or something. There were a lot of things I had yet to figure out. I realized that now that I finally had some time to think.

"I graduated five years ago," well I definitely hadn't thought of that one. 

"Oh," I answered, turning my gaze from her. Bad idea in retrospect. I had completely forgotten about the mysterious hot girl standing there. She was... heavenly.

Her hair was taken back in a ponytail with loose strands escaping at the sides. It was messy and I loved it. Her gaze was torn between me and Eva, switching from one to another. I tried to cross out the note my brain had imprinted to my heart that it lingered on me just a few seconds more than her. I tried to focus on something else.

She wore a light-purple button-up shirt with white... polka dots... was that because... No. I crossed out another thought, trying to shun the fireworks that had started in my heart, only to no avail. I was certain I was staring. And staring at anything but her face at that. I unknowingly bit the edge of my lower lip as if in a daze while my eyes travelled further downward. I wanted to take all of her in and I wanted it to last as long as possible.

She finished off the outfit with tight black jeans, that curved at all the perfect places and reached to her ankles. I glared directly back at her face, unsure of what I was even doing by this point. Horizontal wrinkles had formed on her forehead, and her eyes broadened. I had even caught a twitch in her mouth. I suddenly no longer needed the blanket over me. In fact I was pretty sure I was sweating. 

I let my eyes wander once again screaming 'one last time' in my head. How long had I been staring? I realized, letting go of my lip, I was sure I would've drawn blood if I hadn't at that point. My sight turned toward Eva, trying to find a worthy distraction. Her eyes were full-blown too, gawking between me and Jaycee much like Jaycee had done before except Eva's head was practically snapping in amusement. Jaycee's sight was burning holes into my skull too now, I was sure of that. I realized I had just put on a show.

'Wow' she mouthed at me, a big grin threatening to break free any moment. 

"How was dinner?" She was practically glowing based on the beam she had on her face. I barely heard her over the beating in my chest and the grip on my lungs. This was bad and the best part was that I only wanted to make it worse, despite all the obscenities my brain was shouting at me for it. 

"Perfect," I whispered hesitantly, my mind drawing back to those few minutes in heaven while I looked into nothingness toward my right, away from both of them.

"What was that? sorry I didn't get it," I was free entertainment yet again. 

"Shut up," I shook my head, fighting back the smile that had taken hold. I could just guess I had red paint over my cheeks right about now. "You're going to have to call in for me," I broke through the curve in my lips. 

"My time to be an old lady huh, at last," she said.