Gemma's mostly peaceful slumber was yet again interrupted by the racking coughs and her body involuntarily clenched in pain. A small dribble made its way out of the corner of her dry mouth and she quickly wiped it away with her clammy hand leaving a trail of blood along the surface. Her body was covered in a glossy layer of sweat making her want to immediately take a bath. Legs swung over the edge of the bed as Gemma proceeded to get up. Shakily, she made her way to the door, which she opened and then asked for a maid's assistance with some water.
"There's nothing wrong with me, it's all in my head. I'm perfectly healthy, not a thing is the matter…" she kept mumbling.
Within another moment, Gemma was standing in front of the bathroom door. She opened it quickly, wanting to get the bath to get over with. Normally, she relished the thought of being surrounding by warm water with fragrances mixed in to leave the scent on her clean body. But today, it was something she dreaded. Her body felt unusually weak, and Gemma wasn't sure that if she was to go down that far, that she would be able to pick herself up again. No matter the thought though, she entered the bathroom and began to strip herself before emerging into the heavenly water. Contrary to her earlier belief, the bath felt rather nice as always. She seemed to regain some strength just by relaxing so. Her long eyelashes shut closed, leaving her world dark. The steam floating upwards did something wonderful to her breathing, and she only wished the warmth would last an eternity. A loud clattering noise disrupted her dream world. Gemma's head shot up, but she heard nothing more.
"Hmm… must have been Will, the klutz." She snorted. The basking sun made its way up and over, leaving a 4 o'clock shadow on everything in the room. A small breeze flew through the many windows in Gemma's second story bathroom
"Oops," she smiled, "I must have been asleep longer than I suspected. Best not keep Lizzie waiting!"
She stood up with ease, much to her delight, and got out of the tub with a towel draped around her. She opened the door to go back into her room when she heard another noise.
"Liz, that you?" she asked playfully. No answer. Gemma stepped through the doorway and saw a figure in black jump out the window. Worried, yet intrigued, she made her way to the window in effort to spot the man in black. She whirled back around when she heard Elizabeth's voice.
"Gemma Doyle, step away from the window at once! People can see you! And you're hardly dressed appropriately."
"Stop being so modest Lizzie. I worked on a ship with nothing but men for quite some time if you don't remember."
"Yes, but you weren't exactly running around in your towel either!"
"You're right, I didn't even have one of those!" Gemma laughed, and only increased as she saw the look of horror on her best friend's face.
"That is no laughing matter, Gem. Besides, Anamaria was with you as well. You weren't the only female."
"True."
"Well, you might as well get dressed so we can go shopping. Chop chop!"
"Yes master." Gemma bowed in mock respect.
"Quite the sarcastic one aren't you?"
Gemma smiled, "Always."
Elizabeth just shook her head in mock disappointment and motioned for Gemma to stand near. Her friend complied and got dressed without another word. Together they were out of the house and enjoying the fresh sea breeze while walking through town on their search for dresses. An hour went by, then another one, and pretty soon the sun would be going down, which meant all shops were closing. No one wanted to run a business in the night, it just wasn't safe. So, Gemma and Liz began to walk faster in effort to catch a few more stores. They walked into the nearest one and were greeted by dust. The filth provoked Gemma's lungs, and she began coughing once more, although no blood this time. Lizzie gave her a reassuring pat on the back before taking another few steps into the creepy place.
Gemma scanned the deserted shop, "I think it may be closed, Liz. Lets go."
"No, look around, there are some magnificent gowns. Ooh, see, look here." Elizabeth said as she held up a stunning white dress inlaid with gold trim with all the works.
"That is beautiful."
"See? Now go and peek around, if you like one, we'll just leave the money on the counter."
Gemma nodded and started browsing. Some took to her fancy, others most definitely did not. Finally her eyes rested upon a black dress so dark and mysterious that it made her ebony tresses appear chocolate. She was sure this was the one and grabbed it hastily and ran towards Elizabeth. While she made her way to her friend, Gemma couldn't let loose the feeling of being watched. She reached the point of being slightly freaked out when she could not find Liz.
"Lizzie?" she called, but no answer. This really made her mind focus on the possibilities that her friend could have encountered. A murderer, a drunken man wanting some fun, maybe she fell and was knocked unconscious. There was no way Elizabeth was more skilled defensively than Gemma, despite the fact that Will had been giving her lessons for the past couple of years. Gemma often helped in the training and found herself once again practicing with her right hand rather than the left. Now she was equally as talented with both, which pleased her very much. Gemma walked along the rows of dresses and continued her search for the lost Lizzie. With each step, her worry grew, and it rose more with every unanswered call. Distress was filling up her insides rather quickly. She turned the corner and gave an odd look of curiosity with what she found there. Elizabeth was sitting on a pile of dresses that looked rather lumpy with her hands folded neatly over her lap. She wore an innocent smile on her face, which faltered after she began biting her lower lip out of habit as Gemma scolded her.
"Where the hell have you been Liz? I've been looking everywhere for you. You go gallivanting off by yourself leaving me to think the worst must had happened when you didn't respond. You're bloody insane to think I wouldn't worry in the least!"
Elizabeth laughed nervously and shifted her weight, causing a noise to emit from the dresses. Gemma raised an eyebrow, but decided not to comment, rather wanting to hear Liz's argument. "I um, went to search for more dresses, you know since you weren't having any luck. But it uh, appears that I was mistaken as you have a dress in you arms this very moment. And my, oh, my is it ever gorgeous!" she said with forced cheerfulness.
Gemma frowned in confusion. Elizabeth claimed to have been looking for more dresses, yet she was sitting down when found. And she swore the pile beneath her had given off some noise. "Then where are the selections you made for me?"
"Well, I didn't grab them. There were so many choices and as you know dresses are extremely heavy so I decided not to carry any and leave them on the rack. Then, when I found you, I was going to show them all to you."
"Hmmmm…" Gemma mumbled. Her eyes focused to the lump underneath Elizabeth as it shifted without movement from the body atop it. "I wonder, lets have a looksie at the dresses your sitting on. I see one that I may like." She suggested indifferently.
Elizabeth's eyes momentarily widened in what appeared to be horror. "Oh no, I've already checked these garments. They are all incredibly ugly. No selections here."
"Why are you being so defensive all of a sudden?"
"Me? Being defensive? Ha, you must be going crazy my dear friend." Liz yawned, "oh excuse me for that. Well, I daresay its getting late, I suppose we should just go now."
Gemma inwardly smirked. "Yes, I think that's a wise decision." Elizabeth made to get up but stopped when Gemma protested.
"Lizzie! Don't move. There's a spider right by your head." She said. (A/N: haha, that rhymed.). Lizzie gasped, for one of her biggest fears were creepy crawlies. Never mind about undead pirates wanting her blood, just get those spiders away! Gemma tiptoed towards her and then leaped across to tackle her friend. Liz fell backwards and Gemma landed on top.
"What the hell was that for, you daft girl!?" Elizabeth shrieked.
Gemma smiled and pretended to pick up a spider. "Got it." And then she flicked the 'spider' away. A smirk spread across her angelic features as Lizzie just harrumphed. Gemma looked over at the pile of dresses and reached her hand across. It was swatted away recklessly.
"I was just going to examine the top dress, it looked nice." Gemma said simply. She went to grab it again but Elizabeth retaliated her best friend's previous action and jumped on top of her. Gemma snorted, not having this much fun in a while and flipped Liz over, giving her and advantageous spot on top. Lizzie smirked and used her foot to turn over a dress rack that promptly fell atop Gemma. The two of them were at it for what seemed like an eternity before the commodore walked inside.
"Mrs. Turner! Miss Doyle! What in the heavens are you two doing?"
Elizabeth and Gemma exchanged glances before they both began to explain at once.
"I tripped and Gemma was helping me up but slipped and therefore landed on me-"
"I fell and screamed causing Elizabeth to turn quickly and fall and-"
"Cease your bickering! Now, which one of you fell?"
They pointed at each other, and then noticing what they did, pointed to themselves. Both gave off sheepish smiles. The commodore looked them over, deciding not to inquire any further and began helping the ladies up from the floor. Gemma and Elizabeth gave him thanks and excused themselves, leaving the store in a rush. Gemma hit her head with her palm as she remembered leaving the dress there.
"Oh, just wait here Liz while I go and get my dress, I will be right back." Elizabeth nodded and Gemma walked away briskly, passing the commodore on the way. She stepped into the shop once more, but found it rather difficult to see with the sun setting outside. Her weight caused the floor to creak and startled her, but no harm really done. 'Now if only I could remember where I left it.' she thought. Whether her mind was playing tricks on her or she actually saw a man in the shadows, Gemma did not know. She stared at the now empty space once more trying to catch a glimpse of whoever it was.
"Uh oh," she mumbled when Gemma felt that familiar feeling in her throat. Her body began shaking with coughs and she used the underneath part of her dress to wipe anything off her face that might have come to. It lasted a little while longer until she spotted a glass right in front of her. She peered into the cup and sniffed at the liquid inside that appeared to be water. Willing to take the risk, Gemma lifted it to her lips and drank whatever it was quickly. Her throat immediately felt better, and she thanked her lucky stars she came across the cup. How it got there, however, was something she was rather curious about. After putting the cup back where she found it, Gemma continued on her search for the dress. From the outside, the shop seemed to be rather small, but once inside, Gemma thought she could get lost for quite some time if she didn't keep track of her route. She ran across a chair she knew for sure she already passed and growled in displeasure at her unluckiness. 'Where the hell is it?!' she yelled in her mind. In front of Gemma were two different rows. Gemma pondered which one to take and decided for the left one and started to walk but stopped suddenly as she looked at the chair once more. In it lay her dress.
"Ok, something most definitely is not right."
"You're very right lass." someone whispered. She turned her head at the sound of the man's voice but found no one. Was she hallucinating? Suddenly Gemma got very dizzy and the room was spinning before her eyes. She put a foot back to steady herself, but it backfired and she began to fall backwards. When she was less than a foot away from the hard ground, arms reached out and grabbed her. She opened her eyes, which she had shut as she fell, and blinked away the fogginess that blocked her normally perfect vision. Neither of them moved, and Gemma found it rather odd that she was still hanging about in their arms. What more, it was making her uncomfortable. Without a doubt, the shop did not provide sufficient lighting and therefore it hindered her vision even more and she tried to make out whom the person was. Before she knew what happened though, lips were brought forth on top of hers and she experienced her first upside down kiss.
: : : : : :
ok ok, I know it was really short, and youre all dying to know who the person is, but don't kill me just yet. As the writer, I do have a plan. But with school starting in hm, what is it now? 5 days? Oh yes, that's it. With school starting in 5 days, I have a duty to complete all homework that is due the first day. Attending a charter school really sucks sometimes because they can make up their own rules and therefore can make us start school a whole 14 days before everyone else. And let me tell you, those 14 extra days would be like heaven for me. Ive also been on a constant vacation throughout the entire summer, so its not entirely my fault for not updating soon. But I hate excuses, so I wont give you any more. There will most like not be an update within a week, but after I have all my classes settled and whatnot, you can be expecting. I am fully prepared to finish up this story and perhaps write a sequel or maybe kill someone off and begin a new one. What do you guys think? You wanna sequel? What do you want to happen to Gemma? Its up to you, so leave your thoughts in the reviews. Anyways, gotta run and finish my packing, hope you liked this chappie even though I think its incredibly lame. Whatever, I love you all!
Jacks