Greg glared at he rumpled sheets, the disordered bed told it�s own story. The quilt was bundled in the centre of the bed. Heeled sandals littered the floor, one turned drunkenly on its side. Clothes lay discarded on the floor, pooled from their harried removal. A bare arm hanging over the side of the bed completed the picture.
�Ellie?�
Dark silken strands of hair feathered over the pillow, the only indication to the beds occupants. Greg stared at the gossamer veil; face blank, eyes dead. His sense of urgent purpose sank to futility. Would anyone hear him call? He held a hand before his eyes and stared though it at the bed. If this fade was final would anyone care? Forming a tight solid fist, knuckles whitening; he punched the wall with no tangible result. Felt nothing.
A throaty groan sounded from the massed bedding. The quilt moved as though an organic form. A foot broke from the covers. Small, feminine the nails polished a warm amber. There was nothing remarkable about the limb. Nothing to call for the focused scrutiny. Nothing to lessen the darkening mood.
The squirming continued as the sleeper begrudgingly gave up on dreaming. A voice broke the silence husky from sleep and seductive as a lovers caress.
�Greg�� the mumbled words were lost to the bedding, only the name penetrating.
Greg sighed, tension easing from his pores counteracting the lick of heat he had no business feeling. He�d drawn a slow teasing finger along the sole of the her exposed foot before the impulse had fully registered.
Reflexes kicked in immediately, the foot withdrew. The edge of the quilt was slapped down and an indignant head appeared to glare blearily through an unruly mane of hair.
�Greg!�
Greg grinned appreciatively at the snarl.
Her eyes moving over her surrounds Ellie gave a despairing groan and sunk back under the clothes. An errant pillow sailed haphazardly in Greg�s general direction. When Ellie again sat upright the bedding settled to show that only her form was concealed. She looked peaky and disgruntled as she finger brushed uncooperative curls from her eyes and fixed them roughly back in an ancient scrunchy.
Greg moved to sit on the edge of the bed careful not to sink through. He strove for neutral.
�Date go well?�
The query was too loaded for idle chatter and her eyes flared like kinder under a match. Time had little relevance and yet the timer was in the hands of another and the sand free flowing. In the week, fortnight, month that he�d been visiting he�d soon found little Ellie was far less amiable and far more fiery than he�d have imagined during his life in little Bremwich.
She�d caught his observation of the bed.
�The date�was perfect� The words were distinct, the adjective all but purred as she stretched languidly.
�You ready to listen yet?�
�Add caffeine to the morning wake-up calls and you�d get further�
�Like he did?�
The room spun; muffled voices, a piercing white glare behind his eyes.
Elsie shook herself awake ready to go around with her uninvited guest. Greg had paled. Bleached of all colour. For a moment dark shadows formed on his face.
�Later?� His voice came from a distance for the first time taking on a weak ethereal quality.
�Ok�
The ready agreement brought a wry smile and nod as eyes fast on hers Greg faded and slipped away.
Unnerved Ellie stared at the void until her alarm sounded, drawing her from her reverie and into the new day.