Cursed

Chapter Twenty Eight

The blistering sun shining through her bedroom window had been the culprit. The criminal woke her so early, at 6:03 am on whichever day of the week this was. Elora stopped caring enough to track the days. It did not matter to her now.

She didn't have a job to attend to, no friends to meet. This was it. A lonely, twenty-three-year-old living with two men she didn't know enough about– I'm starting to feel like Snow White.

All she did was clean and when she wasn't cleaning, she was just...existing.

She had taken the world's quickest shower and dressed in a pretty yellow sundress with spaghetti straps. She had sent Lex off shopping for summer clothes with some of the cash she had on her person yesterday.

He did weirdly well. She was half expecting him to return with something a little...less modest than this, or the other three dresses. The weather was getting warmer now, the month of may meant nothing back in Fairgraves, it was always sort of cold even in the hottest peak of summer.

She didn't want to be spending the cash she had on dresses but if she never saw a pair of leggings again it would be too soon.

"Elora?" Lex's morning voice was husky, rough. He had just awoken, unable to sleep at all.

Elora's damp hair ran freely down her back and her face bare of makeup. Not even her famous cherry red lipstick had been applied, she had skipped nail day too. Her fingernails were all-natural since the last of her polish had chipped away.

"Good morning to you too, Lex."

He grabbed the kettle–still hot from Elora's trip to make coffee moments ago– and started the process of making himself one too.

"You look lovely today, beautiful as always." He greeted her with a smile upon returning, hot, black coffee in his hand. He joined Elora at the island, pulling his stool closer to her, not wanting to sit too close to that part of the island  counter. It wasn't that Elora had been sitting there, it was that Elora had been sitting there, legs wrapped around Leif, eating his face. While she was wearing my shirt, might I add.

All Leif did now was avoid Elora. Lex didn't like that. His old friend was a very stupid man. Lex would admit to her beauty any day of the week, any time of day.

Elora clearly liked Leif in return, that much was obvious to Lex. The other week, Lex had asked Leif all that he could about the woman, hoping that perhaps Leif had finally accepted he did deserve love in his life. Lex had been disappointed in his friend. Disappointed in the poor way he was handling this, handling his feelings.

If anything, Lex assumed Leif would jump at the chance to be happy. It didn't matter how many times Leif had said 'I don't deserve her' and 'I deserve nothing but the pain life serves me', Lex would always disagree with the man.

Leif wasn't a very likeable person. Lex had been surprised himself to find a friend in someone so moody, so hot cold, cold hot.

"It's too early for your flirty perkiness, Lexie" Elora brought the porcelain mug to her lips, taking a sip as she tried not to smirk at Lex's eye roll.

"It's never too early to be honest, my beauty. Those dresses fit you nicely. Yellow suits you." Lex was on his feet, abandoning his coffee at the counter and vanishing into the hallway.

Elora watched the arch doorway, wondering.

Lex returned all but a minute later, a wad of cash in his hands. He dropped it onto the table in front of her. Elora eyed him with an unspoken question.

"I think you should save your money for something more important. I know you can't access your bank account right now, that cash is all you have. Save it for something more important, like whiskey perhaps!" Lex dropped back into his seat.