Catching Red Eyes

I woke the next morning with the sun filling the bedroom. My cheeks felt warm as I pulled the covers off and got up. I looked over at the clock on the bedside table and saw that it was almost noon. I couldn’t remember the last time I slept past ten am. I pulled back the door and was greeted by more sunshine falling into the foyer.

I walked down the stairs and made my way to the kitchen. I starting pulling open cabinets and searching for coffee and breakfast items. I found pancake mix, bacon, and coffee and got to work. After about twenty minutes of cooking, I heard Laurie walk into the kitchen.

“It smells amazing in here. Jeez, Row, feeling better?”

I nodded and continued flipping pancakes. I set a cup of coffee in front of her and a plate of breakfast.

“So, what do you want to do today?” she asked, over a mouth full of pancakes.

“Um, what is there even to do around here?”

“Honestly, nothing. There are a couple malls and a college but that’s pretty much it. We can go swimming? I have a ton of bathing suits.”

“Ok. Let’s do that.”

After cleaning up breakfast, Laurie and I changed into our bathing suits and walked down to the boat dock. It was stunningly sunny outside as we made our way to the gigantic lake. Without hesitation, Laurie threw her towel down and jumped in the water. Instead of following suit, I laid my towel down on the wooden dock and sat down. I watched Laurie as she swam back and forth. After tanning for a half hour, I was hot and sticky. I walked to the edge of the dock and dangled my feet in the water. It was surprisingly warm as I took the plunge and jumped in the water.

The water rushed over my head and it felt wonderful. I felt like I was in some kind of water world and I emerged a new person. All my troubles drifted away as I swam to the middle of the lake. I floated on my back and looked up to the clouds. They were slowly moving across the sky and I felt at peace. I swam back over to where Laurie was sunbathing. I used the ladder to pull myself up and laid down next to Laurie.

“This place is amazing. I’m so used to the beach. One day, when I am rich and famous, I want a lake house around here too.”

“Dude, you’re like halfway there dating Harry Styles.”

I looked over at her and smirked. “Yea, right. We will see what happens with that.”

“What do you mean? You had heart bubbles in your eyes last night.”

“It’s just…I don’t know.I love Harry so much but it’s so hard with him having to be far away all the time…”

“Row, stop looking at all the negative stuff. You two have been through so much shit already. Just focus on the positives. You’ll never make it out alive if you keep thinking of all the negative stuff, ok?”

“Ok. You’re right. I need to relax. I promised Harry and I promised myself I would.”

“Good.”

We lounged in the sun and swam for a couple more hours before going back up to the house. I felt warm and content as we went inside. I quickly ran upstairs and slipped out of my bathing suit and turned on the shower. The water rushed over my body as I washed my hair, taking my time. After the shower, I made my way back downstairs and was greeted by Marsh. Laurie was still upstairs, I was assuming.

“Ms. Emerson,” he said, handing me a white box. I looked at him with confusion and he smiled and turned back to leave the house. I placed the box on the island in the kitchen and grabbed a knife. I carefully opened it and gasped at what was inside. It was a brand new gold phone. I lifted the smaller white box out and carefully removed the plastic. I took the very large phone out and switched it on. The phone lit up as I touched in all my information. I heard Laurie walk up behind me and look over my shoulder.

“Dang! I couldn’t possibly imagine who got that for you! See what I said about rich and famous.”

“Yea, I’ll program it when we leave,” I said to her, ignoring her last statement.

“I mean, we could go into town but that’s up to you.”

“No, its fine. I’m sure Marsh told Harry he gave it to me already. Harry knows there’s no service here too.”

“He’s like big brother. He sees everything,” she said, wiggling her fingers and making her eyes go wide like she was an alien or something.

I put the phone back in the box for safe keeping and turned my attention to my growling stomach. “Let’s order pizza.”

“Yea!”

After ordering pizza and putting ourselves in a small food coma, we found a movie and between the sun and swimming, I felt myself drifting to sleep. I looked over at Laurie and she was already asleep too. My eyes got heavy as the world pulled away.

Notes