While her mother hurried off to the kitchen, Ashley clambered out of bed. Her body felt weird today. Her muscles were achy, like she'd been working out, probably from all that puking. But at the same time, she felt fantastic, reenergized. She dug out a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt to wear and wandered into the bathroom with them.
After washing off her face and getting that weird crud out of her eyes, Ashley looked at her face in the mirror. "Huh," she marveled as she found her face almost glowing. Her skin had never been bad, not like her sister's, but it had never looked this good, either. The only blemish was the scar that cut across the end of her nose where she'd gotten hit by a wagon handle, of all things, as little kid. But her skin tone was even, making the smattering of freckles across her cheeks less noticeable. Even her eyebrows looked better, as if she'd waxed them just that perfect shape without them becoming pencil thin like her mom's. If that's what some bad eggs did for her, maybe she should get sick more often!
She was grateful that she hadn't made a mess of the bathroom while she'd been sick. The last thing she wanted to do today was clean up vomit, which might make her barf again. She paused, something tickling at the back of her mind. She thought maybe she'd had a dream about cleaning up cat puke in the hallway, and then chuckled to herself. Being sick always gave her weird dreams. Guess I'd had so much coming out of me that I had to blame Chester for some of it, she mused as she flipped on the shower.
The hot water made her feel better and eased up some of those aches she had. Washing, though, was difficult. Her skin felt super sensitive today, as if she could feel every cell as the water ran across it. Running a washcloth over it left her gasping at the sensation. She couldn't decide if it felt good or it hurt, but once she'd gotten started, it was hard to stop. Even washing between her legs, something she usually did in a hurry, had her lingering with intense curiosity. When she realized what part she was rubbing, a dark flush ran across her skin as she immediately stopped.
"What is wrong with me?" she whispered as she turned the water cold to snap herself out of it. The shock of the cold against her dashed any pleasure she'd had in the shower, her skin crying out against the sudden harshness against it. She quickly rinsed out her hair and cut the water. For a moment, she just stood there, wet and shivering and afraid. Then, out of nowhere, she caught a faint whiff of honeysuckle, even though it wasn't blooming right now. Still, the familiar scent relaxed her and pulled her mind away from the fear. She dried off and dressed, never noticing any of the other changes that had occurred while she was sleeping.
After she combed through her mess of curls, Ashley padded down to the kitchen, her hair dampening her shirt. "Momma, that smells aMAZing!" Not only had her mother cooked up some waffles, she'd fried some bacon to go with it. "I swear, I could eat a horse right now." She grabbed a couple of waffles, slathered them with butter and drowned them in syrup. Even food right now tasted better, and something about the way it felt in her mouth left her tingling again.
Loretta, for her part, sat opposite daughter with a pleased but confused smile on her face. It wasn't like Ashley to be forgetful, sick or not. In fact, she was usually the one who called her even when she just had a sniffle. And now here she was, shoveling down waffles like she hadn't eaten in a year. Her baby hadn't eaten like this since she was maybe nine or ten, just before she started to hit a growth spurt. While it was nice to see the girl ignore the calorie count for once, it still had her slightly concerned. "So Ash, you going to stay home and take it easy today?"
Ashley dragged her last piece of bacon through the remains of the syrup on her otherwise empty plate. "No, I need to go back out and look for Chester. I'm gonna whip up a lost cat flyer, make some copies and go put them up around town." She shifted uncomfortably when the word "cat" came out of her mouth, but she managed to give her mother a smile. "Stupid old thing probably just got lost on the way home. It wouldn't be the first time."
"Okay, well, be sure to take some water with you. You probably got a little overheated yesterday, and it's supposed to be another hot one out there today."
Ashley rose and kissed her mother on the top of the head before taking her dish to the sink to rinse. "I will, Momma. I promise." She grabbed her sneakers from their spot by the back door and slid one on.
"Uh, Ashley, you're not going out like that, are you?"
She looked up to find a disapproving frown on her mom's face. "Why, what's wrong with these shorts? I wear them out all the time!" Sure, they were a little short, but they were made for jogging, which she did regularly, so it's not like they made her thighs look fat.
Loretta opened her mouth, closed it, then stood up and felt Ashley's forehead again. "You sure you're feeling okay?"
