Chapter 16
shine!" She stirred a little, opening her right eye. "Who died?" she asked.
"What?" Anya asked.
Gaby turned to her left to check the time. The clock read 6:00 AM! "Anya!
For Christ's sake!! It's six in the morning! Go back to bed! Unless someone
dies, let's hope it's not me, don't wake me up!" she grumbled, pulling the
quilt up her chin.
"You have to wake up," Anya insisted. "There are so many things we have to
do!" she said excitedly, pulling the covers away from her cousin's. "Wake up
or else!"
Gaby didn't budge. She was too tired. Her head was aching a bit and she
felt like she was coming down with a fever again.
"You asked for it!" Anya swiftly removed the covers off her and climbed on
the bed. She started bouncing up and down until Gaby paid attention. "I
won't stop until you get out and dress up!" she puffed, her voice becoming
muffled as she catches her breath.
Gaby yanked Anya`s hand which caused her to fall flat on her face near
Gaby`s stomach. "Stop it! I will get out of this bed and do whatever it is
you deem so important you have to bother me in the middle of my sleep!" she
said in one breath, standing up and leaving Anya sprawled on the soft,
unmade bed.
"Good," Anya brushed away the hair on her face and wheezed loudly.
An hour later, Gaby went down to the kitchen with a smile on her face. The
shower did her good-no more fever, no more headache, at least nothing she
can't handle by herself. "Morning," she said in a singsong voice as she
padded over to the kitchen island and plopped herself on the stool.
"Cereals or toast?' Anya asked, not looking up from the entertainment
section of the newspaper she was reading.
"Cereals. I`ll fix myself a bowl. Want one?" she asked, standing up to get
the corn flakes and cold milk.
"No, thanks. I'm stuffed already. Four toasts with bacon and egg plus a
bowl of cereal can do that to you!" Anya chuckled, rubbing her flat tummy.
Gaby laughed. Anya has always been very fond of food but she never gains
weight, though. That was something she was envious of. She has to watch what
she eats or else she'll gain a lot of weight. At one point, she went from
120 pounds to 200 because of the steroids she had to take for a couple of
months. But since she's stopped, she was able to pull her weight down again.
But I guess I don't have to worry about losing weight now, she thought
smugly. Being thin is definitely not in my agenda. Hell, I'm gonna die! And
I'm gonna have my body cremated so I don't have to worry about the
pallbearers being burdened!
Anya went on reading as Gaby began to eat her breakfast. They continued in
silence with occasional glances and remarks. "By the way, where are we
going?" Gaby broke the silence, walking to the sink to wash the few plates
piled up.
"I thought we'd walk around and explore places and talk." She really didn't
have a concrete plan. She just wanted to start early and do a lot of things
at once.
Gaby snorted. "Wow, what a grand plan! Here I was thinking you were going
to whisk me off to Scotland or England!"
Anya smiled sheepishly. "Well, excuse me but I couldn't think of anything
to do at this early! We can just walk around town, get some coffee and then
go shopping late in the morning and then go clubbing in the evening!"
"Clubbing sounds fun! Ok, let's go then!" she grabbed Anya`s hand and
dragged her out of the house, excited for some reason. At least I'm not so
jaded yet, she thought happily. If things like taking a walk and talking can
make me happy, it means I'm okay.
They had an amazing time walking and just basically embracing Sligo`s
beauty. Gaby told Anya the event yesterday when she met Mark Feehily and
what she did. Anya shrieked in disbelief when she found out Gaby snatched
Mark and kissed him and asked him if she raped him. They started guffawing
and people though they were mad!
Out of the blue, Anya started doing high kicks as if she was straight out
of a Kung Fu film. "Come on and have a go if you think you can handle me,"
she dared Gaby, her hands ready to strike.
Hands in fighting position, Gaby started jabbing the air and doing push
kicks. "Come here, lady! If you think you're tough, then let's get it on."
They both laughed at the silliness of it all. They started sparring, doing
hook punches, jabs, straight punches and kicks. People were stopping to
check out what they were doing but they couldn't be bothered.
"FIGHT! FIGHT!" someone screamed from behind but they were so intent on
their play they didn't notice the build up of people.
Gaby took Anya`s wrist and gave it a slight twist and dropped her on the
ground as painless as she could. She placed her feet to where she dropped
Anya to cushion her cousin's fall. Anya was rolling on the floor, laughing
her head off. Gaby roared with laughter.
With a sly smile, Anya extended her hand so Gaby can help her up. Upon
doing so, she hooked her right foot on Gaby`s calf and gave it a hard nudge.
SMACK! Gaby fell flat on her face, almost on top of Anya.
"Get off me, lady! The last time I checked I was a lady and only a guy can
top me!!" Anya remarked cheekily.
They started howling in laughter again and the people that have crowded
started clapping.
"OK, break it up, people! You're blocking our restaurant!" a voice said,
pushing its way to the inside of the circle.
Anya looked up to see that there were at least ten people surrounding and
looking at them. "OH MY GOD!" she exclaimed, giving Gaby a tap on the shoulder.
"UH-OH," Gaby said, surveying the people around. She smiled sheepishly and
tried to stand up but the preposterousness of it all made her laugh again.
"Come on, Anya, stand up!"
"How can I stand up when your body is all over me?" she retorted, laughing
her head off.
"Come on, people!!" the rich baritone voice boomed once again. "Break it
up. move along. You're all in the driveway." He looked at the two bodies
sprawled on the pavement near the door of the café. "As for you two, do your
sparring somewhere else because you're causing a problem."
They didn't budge. The girl lying on her back peeked from beneath and told
him, "Hey, you! Give us a hand will you? My cousin is massively heavy I
can't breathe anymore!" Anya laughed. People have started to dissipate and
go on with their own things.
The guy reached for the hand of the girl with the cropped hair and helped
her get up. She dusted herself off, shoulders shaking uncontrollably. He
helped the other girl up as well. "Well, next time, don't go hitting each
other!" he said, in a half-angry half-amused voice.
The girl with the crop hair looked at him and smiled widely.
His heart stopped for a while. He felt the butterflies in his tummy come
alive. Oh boy, he thought.