A Little Bit of Sunshine

Chapter 5: Lena

The weekend went by in a blur. In an attempt to pacify Sam, we went out for lunch Sunday afternoon at Noonan's, Ruby in tow. Ruby turned out to be the saving grace. I could practically feel the tension radiating off of Sam. She wanted to talk about the other night but we had made a pact years ago to not talk about some things in front of Ruby regardless of her age. At least not when we can control it.

By the time we parted on the street, Sam had hugged me tightly and whispered, "Call me later. We're still going to talk about this."

Camera shutters punctuated the normal sound of traffic and I quickly averted my gaze as I hurried towards my waiting vehicle. Frank was already behind the wheel. That was the deal between us; the faster I could get away from a place, the better.

"I'm sure that'll be on the news later..." I grumbled under my breath. Frank glanced up in the rearview mirror but didn't comment. Sam thought it was funny that the news wanted to believe that we were together. Jokes on them because we absolutely would never wander down that road. We would be lucky if we lasted a whole week in a relationship before murdering each other, or me going broke because of the cuss word jar Ruby seemed adamant to enforce.

Frank dropped me off in the garage level and I passed through security with a nod of my head and a short wave from Victor. I wasted little time scrounging around in the back of my cupboard for some Goldfish and pouring myself a bottle full of juice. My brain was at its limits and if I had to spend the rest of the day as an adult, I would probably crumble. No one should be showing up. Not that anyone besides Sam or security ever did, but despite it being a little after one, the rest of the day should be spent alone.

With that knowledge in hand, I pulled on my freshly laundered constellation onesie and a pull up before locking myself in my office with all of my comfort objects. I stuffed throw pillows and blankets under the large desk, relishing in the closed space. There were so many soft things under there by the time I crawled in with Donkey and my tablet, that I barely fit.

I watched Bluey at a low volume, a bottle propped up on the pillow by my head so I wouldn't have to hold it to my mouth, tablet resting on my bent legs. My eyes began to lull. Maybe it would be safe to take a nap. The middle of the day seemed like a safe time. Most of the attacks had happened at night...

My phone vibrating startled me awake an hour later. I let out a whine and curled further into my nest, Donkey pressed to my face. My body ached and I couldn't manage to get warm at all. I grabbed my phone with a wild swipe, eyes narrowed only to find that it was a message from Kara.

Kara: I just wanted to say hi and check on you :) I hope you're having a good day.

Lee: I eepy

Kara: Take a nap honey. It's Sunday! You can take as long of a nap as you want.

Lee: I was eepin under my desk and watchin Bluey

Kara: Aww honey, did I wake you up?

Lee: *grumble*

Kara: lol I'm so sorry. You didn't have to answer me... Now I feel really bad.

Lee: S'okay... I jus gwumpy when I wakes up

Kara: You not a morning person?

Lee: Gwoss

Kara: lol You're adorable. Do you want to go back to sleep?

Lee: Nu... I needs to go frew emails for tomorrow

Kara: You don't stop working much do you?

Lee: Nu... nu reawwy

Kara: As long as you're making time for yourself... At least tell me you ate lunch lol