Succulents on the Window Sill

Chapter 23

The sky was grey with clouds, spits of rain were beginning to fall. They always seemed to be falling lately. Corinne was tired of it.

The world around her almost looked like a colouring book, but instead of white pages and black lines, it was shades of grey. She wished it was as easy to add colour to this place as it was to a piece of paper. It was badly in need of some, as was her heart right now.

Corinne tugged up the hood of her jacket, before making a run towards her car. She waited until she reached the driver's door to begin poking through her bag for the keys, pushing aside packets of tissues and tote bags, before finally finding them buried under a stack of old receipts.

She tugged them out, quickly pressing the button to unlock the doors, just as light footsteps sounded behind her. Corinne turned, eye's meeting with Sara's as she seemed to do her best to hurry on by. The eye contact had been made though, and Corinne knew she couldn't ignore her.

Corinne took a quick look around, not noticing Sara's car, nor the one that had dropped her off at her parent's house yesterday. "How are you getting home?"

"Walking."

The rain was starting to come on heavier now. Corinne blinked at her. Surely she wasn't planning to walk like this? "You live at the other end of town."

Sara shrugged, darting in close to the building beside them to seek shelter. She kept on walking, but it wasn't at her usual pace, never mind the scurrying speed of before.

"Sara, come on. I'll give you a lift home." She shook her head, eyes glued to the shop window at her side. Corinne sighed, squinting through the rain to watch her. "We can turn on some music and ignore each other if that's what you want, just hurry up."

Corinne opened her car door and jumped inside, tossing her handbag into the back seat. She slid her seatbelt on, and started the engine. She wasn't sure if Sara was going to take her up on her offer or not, but suddenly the passenger door opened, and Sara crawled inside.

She may have promised to sit in silence, but Corinne wasn't going to until Sara asked for it. Sara needed time, and Corinne knew she probably did too, but if this was to be her only chance to talk with her, then Corinne was going to make sure that she took it.

"Did you get your car sorted? Who was that that drove you to mine yesterday?"

Sara shook her head, turning to stare out the window. "Peter. He contacted a garage, they're fixing it."

"Cool. Know when you'll have it back?" Sara shook her head again.

Corinne switched on the car wipers, watching the gentle swish-swish as they moved back and forth clearing the rain from the front window. She wanted to use this time with Sara wisely, but she didn't want to rush into it either. Corinne didn't know what more to say though. She was running out of small talk and she hadn't even pulled out of the parking space yet.

Corinne quickly reached back for her bag, digging her phone out of it before flicking open the screen to check it. "Mum and I are going out for dinner tonight. I'm thinking of getting my hair cut too. What do you think?" Corinne looked up just to see Sara shrug indifferently.

Glancing back down at her phone, she could see a text from her Mum, as well as one from Zach. As much as her heart pointed her finger towards the 'H' for husband that he was saved under, Sandy was the reason why Corinne had grabbed her phone in the first place. She wanted to know if they were still on for tonight, and when and where they were to meet.

Antonio's Bistro? 6pm? Meet you there? X -mum

Corinne's eyes skimmed over the words, before she sent back a quick reply to confirm that the plans suited her perfectly.