It wasn't until two days later, when Bethy fully rejoined hospital life, that Campbell was able to put "Operation Loud and Clear" into action. While loath to not jump right in to his new project, he had promised Eddie that he would wait until Bethy was up and about.
Campbell had been able to find an assortment of worn-down crayons, and he and Francine went to find Bethy, who was in the common room. As usual, she was reading.
"Hey! Mind if we join you?" The girl looked up as Campbell greeted her brightly. When she made no move to either welcome them or send them away, the pair sat down and began to draw.
Campbell and Francine sat in silence for a while. Every so often, a pair of eyes would flick upwards, seeing if Bethy was showing any signs of joining them. When they heard her finally stand up, however, they both pretended to be fully absorbed in their simple drawings of music notes and kittens.
Bethy set her book down on the table with a sharp snap of the hardcover against the tabletop and sat down in the empty chair heavily. Campbell watched through his eyelashes as she rolled the crayons under her fingers, looking as if it was the most interesting thing she had done all day. Which, Campbell thought ruefully, it probably was. He watched as she finally selected a short blue crayon and he held his breath as she finally began to draw.
Just then, Francine poked him under the table, making Campbell jump. He looked at her with a "What the hell was that for?" glare. Francine, in turn, gestured at Bethy with her chin, replying with a "Stop staring!" look of her own. Campbell rolled his eyes, but knew she was right. Whatever was going to happen would happen…
The three sat in silence for a while; the only sounds were the quiet laughter coming from the television across the room and the occasional squeak of crayon over paper.
Campbell sat back, pleased with his picture. After aimlessly scribbling for a while, he had created a simple illustration of two people in a radio booth who looked suspiciously like himself and Bethy. He looked over curiously at Francine, who was finishing up a drawing of a smiling woman holding a bunch of kittens in her arms. Campbell turned his head to look at Bethy, and was startled to see her cold blue eyes staring straight into his soft brown ones. He broke her gaze to glance down at the paper in front of her. He should have guessed that it would be upside-down, he thought bemusedly. Did he expect her to hand him everything he wanted on a silver platter?
"Will ya' show me yer picture?" Campbell asked delicately, meeting her solemn blue eyes again.
It seemed to take her a moment to consider the prospect, but her face was rather expressionless as she pushed the white sheet across the table.
I'm sorry I'm such a slow writer; I don't really know where this story is going, so please PM me if you have any ideas (especially like what the heck did Bethy draw because I really have no idea yet)! Thank you to captaingrahamcr on tumblr for all the support and for her idea-bouncing skills!
Just a reminder that this is not a dead story; I'm just lazy. Comments help me a lot, even if it's just a "MORE"!