I don't own these characters. Enjoy.
--
I'm outside. Panicked. Where am I?
"IAN!" I try to shout, but it only comes out a whisper. My throat is dry, my skin is dirty and rough, my clothes almost to shreds.
I start sobbing.
"Ian." I whimper through my tears.
Then I hear the crunching of gravel, someone appears from around a large boulder. I've never seen this person before; she was tall and muscular, her hair long, light brown. Her silver eyes peered into mine, she looked evil.
"Shut up," She ordered. "Do you want me to do what I did the last time you wouldn't listen to me? He's not coming for you, so give up. He's human. I told you, humans are untrustworthy, dangerous creatures. Look what he's done to you!"
Done to me? He'd done nothing to me…had he?
No, he wouldn't.
Even if he had, Jamie and Jared and Jeb and Mel, they would never let anything happen to me. Would they?
How come I couldn't remember anything? What had she done to me before when I hadn't listened to her?
"Wanda?"
Jamie?!
"Wanda?"
"Jamie?!" I looked around, I couldn't find him. Someone else was peeking from behind the boulder. Burns was looking at me with sad eyes and when my eyes met his he darted out of site.
"Wanda, wake up! Are you ok?" Jamie said, my eyes flashed open.
"Oh Jamie!" I grabbed him and pulled him to me, burying my face in his shirt.
"It's ok Wanda, it was just a dream," Jamie soothed, patting my back.
I pulled back from him and looked at him, he looked anxious.
"I'm sorry I scared you Jamie. You're right, it was just a dream," I confirmed. "Ugh, and I stained your shirt now!" His navy shirt had tears and a white powder all over it, "Wait, why is there white – Oh!" I immediately remembered last night.
"Yeah, Ian said you guys had a flour fight when you made cookies last night," Jamie laughed, "I wish I could have been there! The cookies are super good too, Wanda!"
"Thanks Jamie, I haven't had one yet."
"Oh yeah! Well, Jeb told me to come wake you up," Jamie smiled. "He knew Ian wouldn't want to wake you that's why he sent me, but the corn crop is ready today so most of us are working the fields so Jeb said he needs you in the kitchen today."
"Ok, I'll be there in a couple minutes. Ian should have woken me up earlier, so thank you for doing it."
Jamie got up from mine and Ian's mattress and walked to the door, "Anytime, Wanda!" and he walked.
I looked down at myself, I was still wearing Ian's shirt plastered with flour. Good thing I was mostly under the covers when Jamie entered otherwise we would have had to have a conversation I do not want to have with him.
I threw the blankets off of me and my whole body still had white flour all over it. I couldn't take a bath now, I had to go to the kitchen, I bet I look ridiculous.
As I got dressed and attempted to get as much white off of me as I could all I could think about was Ian.
Last night was so fun, making cookies was a new favorite hobby of mine even though I knew I wouldn't be able to do it very often. Then sitting in front of the oven, snuggling with Ian and falling asleep, feeling way to many kinds of perfect.
I fell asleep in the kitchen.
I sighed.
Ian must have finished with the cookies and carried me back to bed.
My throat tightened.
I was holding back tears when I grabbed the piece of mirror to see my reflection.
I burst into laughter.
Flour was grained into my skin and hair….oh my hair. It had no definite shape, it was just a tangled array of white mess.
There was no fixing it now so I wrapped it up into a bun on top of my head and walked to the kitchen, anticipating many jokes and questions about why I look the way I do.
--
"Wanda! Look at you!" Trudy whistled. I blushed and looked down.
"Wow, looks like you and Ian had some fun last night, he doesn't look too much better than you do this morning," Lily laughed.
My eyes snapped up, "Is he working in the fields today?"
Both Trudy and Lily laughed.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," Lily smiled, "and yes, Ian is with everyone else. Looks like we will be having a lot of corn tonight for dinner."
"Oh and we are running low on rolls, so we thought we could put you in charge of making those," Trudy teased, "beings as you are already full of flour anyway."
"Thanks," I muttered.
The three of us only talked every so often because we were all caught up in what we were doing. I didn't mind that at all because I knew what they would ask if we did start a conversation.
I was just rolling the dough into balls and placing them on a large pan when the undeniable happened.
"So let's hear the story about the flour fight." Lily said.
"Didn't Ian say enough?" I pouted.
"No, all he said is that you two had a flour fight, and that was the extent of it," Trudy explained, "But I know we will be able to get a little more out of you."
"No really, that is about the extent of it, we had a flour fight," I was praying so hard we weren't going to end up in an awkward conversation about mine and Ian's relationship. I don't know how comfortable that would make me.
"Well, is it safe to eat the cookies?" Lily asked.
"Yes!" I cried.
They both started laughing. I put my head down to hide my blush.
"Well that's good," Lily grinned, "Because I already ate one."
"But really, just tell us how you ended up throwing that much flour at each other," Trudy pleaded. "Ian was in here before I was, cleaning up the mess, there was a lot of flour in here."
Oh, Ian. I should have helped him; it was as much my fault as his.
"Well yesterday Ian and I were talking about how I had never made cookies before," I started, "and last night when Ian's stomach growled in bed I decided cookies would be a great midnight snack. So we came down here and when Ian was bringing out the flour it flew up and covered his face, I thought it looked pretty funny and laughed."
"I'm sure that was funny! Go on," Trudy insisted.
"Well Ian didn't think it was as funny as I did, not until he threw some at me. But I'm not just going to let him throw a handful of flour at me and say that's fair," I continued.
"No, of course not," Lily smiled.
"So I threw some back at him and we fought until we couldn't even find each other anymore because we were walking in a cloud!"
"So who gave in?" Trudy pressed.
"I did."
Both girls groaned.
"I had to! He was stalking me and I couldn't find him! And he is so much bigger than me!"
They both laughed. Then everyone started filing in.
I sighed. Finally, it was lunch time. My hands were numb from kneading the dough all morning, I needed a break.
Trudy, Lily and I stopped what we were doing and got into line behind Jeb and Jamie.
"Hey Wanda, are you feeling better?" Jamie asked concerned.
"Why are you asking her that?" Jeb questioned.
"Oh it's nothi-" I started but Jamie cut me off.
"Wanda was having a bad dream when I went to wake her up this morning. What was it about anyway?" Jamie explained.
"I don't even remember," I lied. Something about it felt so real, but it was ridiculous to worry about a stupid dream.
I stepped back and peeked out the door, looking for Ian.
"Well, how did you know she was having a bad dream Jamie?" I heard Jeb ask.
"She was crying and yelling, first Ian's name, but when I said her name then she started yelling my name."
I played with my hair nervously and tried not to pay attention to their conversation. I don't understand why having a bad dream was this big of a deal, especially when they didn't even know what it was about.
Suddenly I felt two large arms wrap around me, I turned to face him.
I squealed when I saw his face, wrapping my arms around his neck. Ian buried his face in my hair and sighed.
I had missed him too.
I felt him look up.
"What are you guys talking about?" Ian asked.
"Trying to figure out what Wanda's nightmare was about," Jeb said.
Ugh. Why did they have to tell Ian, it was really not this big of deal. Now he's going to worry about me. He pulled away from me slightly, looking into my eyes.
"You had a nightmare?" He asked me.
"Yes, but it was really nothing, I don't even remember what it was about," I sighed.
"When did this happen?" Ian asked Jeb and Jamie.
"When Jeb sent me to go wake up Wanda - "
Ian's eyebrows shot up.
"I had the kid go wake her up; we needed the help in the kitchen. When he went to your room she was screamin' and hollerin'."
"It really wasn't that bad," I said.
"She was yelling your name, Ian, like she couldn't find you or something," Jamie whispered.
Ian looked at me, I couldn't look back. His eyes looked sad, worried, this was all being blown way out of proportion.
"You know what this sounds like to me?" Trudy asked hypothetically. "A bad dream, and that's it, stop worrying over her! I get nightmares too, they happen. Now leave the girl alone."
I smiled at Trudy with gratitude.
Ian caught on that I didn't want to talk about it.
"You look like a mess," he smiled.
"Yes, and you are so much better now that you have added dirt to your ensemble," I teased.
---
The rest of lunch went on normally. We talked and laughed and of course we had to retell our story from the night before.
"Yeah, Wanda started it. She just picked up a hand of flour and threw it at my face!" Ian accused.
"Whatever! You dropped the bag and it flew up onto your face and I laughed so YOU threw it at ME!" I hit him, playfully.
"Oh…yeah," he smiled.
"Hey Wanda, I'll go get you one of your cookies right now! You said you haven't had one yet right?" Jamie jumped up from his seat and ran behind the counter. "Aw man! There was one left! Where did it go? I had it right here, saved for Wanda!"
Jamie searched the dining area. "You!" he called.
Kyle snapped his head up.
"You're eating Wanda's cookie!" Jamie whined.
Kyle took the last bite and then looked at me.
"Really it's ok, Jamie. I didn't need one, I made them for everyone else," I explained. Kyle still wasn't too fond of me, but he wasn't un-fond of me either, we just didn't pay each other much attention.
Jamie glared at Kyle and Kyle shrugged.
"Hey," Ian whispered in my ear, his hand was rubbing up and down the inside of my thigh. I turned towards him.
"You ready to go?" he asked.
"Go where?"
He didn't answer he just kissed my jaw, grabbed my hand and led me out the door, dropping our dishes in a bucket on the way out.
