The Art of Living

[15] Pat and Sue

After Ellie had shot him down like that the conversation had kind of died off. Brian hadn't said anything else, and Ellie wasn't going to start a conversation. It had been nice so far, but she didn't want to test her luck too much.

Not long after that, Ellie had fallen asleep. She had only slept very shortly the night before, so the constant humming of the van and the mostly gentle shaking soon made her fall asleep. And when she woke up again, she had a blanket on top of her. And a bunched-up jacket between her head and the wall of the van. Both things hadn't been there when she had falled asleep, she was certain of that. Slightly confused she sat up and rubbed her eyes carefully.

"Welcome back, sleeping beauty," she could hear Freddie tease her from the front of the car.

Sighing softly she blinked a few times and stretched a little. "Shut up," she muttered, and tried to kick the bench where Freddie was sitting.

"Hey, ouch, wow, she's getting violent now."

When she heard Freddie complain she smiled satisfied and sighed. "Just getting payback. Do we have any water or something by any chance?" She looked around, trying to spot something to drink.

"See, Freddie, I told you we forgot something," Roger told Freddie and apparently slapped his thigh because the next thing she could hear was Freddie.

"Ouch, what is it with everyone being violent today? I need my body tomorrow, you can't maltreat me like that."

Ellie chuckled and shook her head, especially when she heard Roger's reply.

"Maltreat," he scoffed. "As if, you're just too sensitive."

She glanced at Brian who was shaking his head and rubbing his forehead, a sight which made her laugh a little. He seemed so desperate.

"And Ellie, we're nearly in Taunton so we're going to get petrol and I'm gonna take over, so I'm sure you can buy something to drink there." This time Roger was talking to her.

Ellie nodded and smiled. "Okay, that's fine with me."

"Actually, you can just have some of my water, I'm prepared. I know that relying on those two is not always the best idea. I also brought food, if you're getting hungry." Brian smiled at her and gave her a bottle of water. "I have apples and some biscuits and a couple of sandwiches. I'd be happy to share."

Ellie smiled a little. She was reluctant to take what he offered, but since she was really thirsty she decided to take the water. "Okay. Thank you very much, that's very nice of you. Just some water will do fine actually, but thank you for offering your food."

When she saw that he had already had drunken some water from the bottle, she hesitated for a moment. That would be like kissing him. But then again, she had already kissed him so it didn't really matter, did it? She opened the bottle and drank about half of it. When she handed it back to Brian, she smiled a little. "Sorry.. I'll get you another one when we're at the petrol station."

"Oh no, no don't worry. I offered it to you so you can have as much as you want. I don't want you to be thirsty." Brian smiled and placed the bottle on the floor between them.

Was accepting that treating him like any other guy? Or did that go further? And if it did, would he be upset if she declined that? Did she really want to argue with him over a bottle of water? Not really. She didn't really want to argue with him over anything.

"Okay, thank you.." She smiled a little at him. "So where exactly will we be staying in Truro?" She realised she had no clue about that actually. She leaned forward a little so she could have a better view of where they currently were.