tired (Joshua/Katee)
Joshua/Katee (SYTYCD4)
G for mostly general.
Inspired by this photo:
and the keyword: 'tired'
(1,513 words) I... kind of loved writing this :D
It was an Indian summer. Day in and day out, it was sweaty, sticky and uncomfortable, the heat heavy and oppressive. Staying inside meant boiling in the muggy humidity that seemed to creep in through cracks under doors and windows and settle thickly in areas enclosed by solid walls. Outside, the sky was bright blue and cloudless. It stretched from one horizon to the next, marred only by the single, blinding sun that scorched the skin of the earth.
Katee stood outside, under the shade of her porch. Shadows only took the harsh edge off the sun; its heat still pressed in from all sides, suffocating. Her hair had been carelessly swept up into a bun, but stray strands were falling from the haphazard piling of hair at the back of her head and sticking uncomfortably to the back of her neck. The wood under her bare feet was verging on painfully hot.
She was tired.
In this weather, getting up early in the mornings was exhausting; walking down to her studio to teach, and the teaching itself, was almost more than could be asked of her. The heat seemed to addle with her biological clock, telling her that she just needed to lay herself down and sleep off the weight of summer. She only barely made it through her days, dragging herself home from the studio in the sweltering haze of the afternoon to collapse with a quiet exhale onto her bed, the bed sheet sticking to the backs of her bare limbs; only to lie there half-awake, unable to remain asleep in the unbearable heat.
She embraced the weekends with quietly sleepy, wide-open arms, dozing fitfully into the afternoon. The heat discouraged her from leaving her house. She didn’t have the energy to go out, and her friends seemed to have the same idea. On the rare occasion that she did go out with Natalie, or Comfort, or Twitch, they’d sit in unnoticeably air-conditioned coffeehouses, sipping down iced drinks, condensation damp against their palms. They’d talk briefly about the heat, languid and unmoving in their seats. It eventually got to be too much effort to drag themselves out just to meet up. She did sometimes receive text messages and the odd phone call, which she’d answer, lying on her bed in heat-induced exhaustion, hanging up as soon as possible. The warmth of her phone against her cheek distracted her from all conversation. In some ways, she was grateful that it was so hot. It made her thinking slow and sluggish, and she couldn’t spend too long wondering why Josh never called her; it simply took too much of the energy she didn’t have.
On the porch, her tired eyes scanned the street. Even the windows of the houses across the street looked exhausted, the square panes of glass like eyes staring morosely back at her, not a hint of a breeze fluttering the lacy white curtains. Everything was still and silent except for the low hum of crickets.
And the far-off drone of what sounded like an engine.
She strained her ears to pick up the distant sound and looked down the street, first in one direction, then, swiveling her head, down the other. The small movement exhausted her, and she bent, bowing her head forward and leaning her forearms against the wooden railing, her hands flopping over the edge. The sound was getting louder.
She lifted her head, and watched through lazy eyes as a car came to a stop in front of her driveway. Raising her arm, she pushed her bangs off her forehead, where they were sticking. The door on the driver’s side of the car opened, and a figure stepped out, closing the door behind him before straightening.
Katee could barely muster the energy to smile at Josh, who was coming up the driveway. She watched him approach and tilted her head, feeling her ear hot against the heated skin of her bare shoulder. He stopped in front of the railing and smiled. His hair was pulled back, and she could see the sheen of sweat on his forehead.
“Hey, Katee!”
The corners of her mouth curved up slightly at his enthusiasm in the muggy weather. “Hey, partner.” Despite their lightness, her words felt slow, pulled out of her mouth to hang heavily in the humid air.
He looked awkward, standing there and smiling, but she didn’t invite him inside. The only difference between the heat inside and the heat outside was the glare of the sun, and, to be honest, she didn’t really want to move.
She wanted to ask him why didn’t you call and what are you doing here, but instead found herself saying, “What have you been up to?”
He lifted one of his shoulders in a shrug. “Oh, you know, interviews, mostly. I’ve been meeting up with Adam a lot, talking about the movie.” The heat made her feel dull and stupid, and his words sounded distant. He seemed to sense that she didn’t really want to talk; when he spoke again, his voice was quiet. “Are you okay, Katee?”
She made a face, pushing herself off of the railing. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. I’m okay.” She exhaled, a long huff of air. “Just tired. I’ve been teaching a lot, and it’s really draining my energy.” She paused, half-turned towards her door, contemplating the pressure cooker of her house. “Did you want to come in? I think I have some ice cubes.” She braced herself to step back inside.
He shook his head, squinting at her in contemplation. “Do you want to go somewhere? I mean,” He corrected himself, “I want to show you a place I found.”
His eyes were bright as he looked at her, and she found herself nodding. His dimpled smile blossomed, sudden and familiar, across his face. He reached up to grasp her hand, and she stepped down from the porch and into the burning sun.
***
They lay in a field; the stems of grasses around them reached into the hot-blue sky that seemed to stretch for miles. Katee felt completely boneless, her limbs loose, so relaxed that she could’ve sworn she had no body at all, if it weren’t for the solid reminder of her body pressed against Joshua’s.
She’d felt, for the past few weeks, like she’d been stretched too thin - her body pulled taut and tight, the summer air thick and heavy on her fragile skin. She’d been so tired, so exhausted, every molecule of which she was composed feeling strained and weak in the heat, and sleep never seemed to be able to come.
Laying in the grass with Josh, however, the quiet hum of crickets in the air and the slow movement of Josh’s fingertips on her waist, she found herself being lulled to sleep. She’d considered asking him about his conspicuous absence, but as soon as they’d positioned themselves as they were now, her brain had seemed to melt, and all the possible reasons in the world had seemed insignificant. He was here now; that was what mattered - he was here, and she could finally let herself relax. She heard Joshua talking, through the sinking haze of her consciousness, and she struggled to stay awake, forcing her eyelids to stay open.
“... to just… get away from everything.”
“Whu’ja say?” Her voice was a low murmur, muffled slightly by her own lips; she couldn’t quite open her mouth wide enough for the words to come out. She could almost sense the smile on his face as he turned his head slightly and dropped a kiss on her temple. “I said that I come here sometimes, when I just want to get away from everything.” His head moved, and she turned her head slightly so that her face was resting lightly against the side of his jaw. When she blinked, the movement slowed by her sleepiness, she could feel her eyelashes brushing his cheek.
She remembered Josh had said something, and she tried to form an articulate reply. The warmth of the sun pressing down on them was making it hard to think, let alone speak. “Why’d you want t’get ‘way?”
He sighed, stirring the flyaway hair on the top of Katee’s head, before muttering, “I don’t know. Everything’s going so fast, I never got to see you when I wanted to; I missed you, Katee.” He made a frustrated noise. “I don’t know… I’m just tired.”
As he talked, her mind had drifted, alighting on the grass, the sun, the sensation of his hand pressed against her skin. This, though, she could easily understand. “Me too. ‘M so…” Here she yawned widely, as though to emphasize her point, “…tired.”
She felt him tilt his head up to face the sky, and when he spoke again she could hear the grin in his words. “Then we should go to sleep, Heffer.”
His arms were loose around her. Smiling, she murmured a groggy mkay before snuggling closer to Joshua, already feeling herself slip willingly into the darkened world of blissfully uninterrupted, dreamless sleep.
G for mostly general.
Inspired by this photo:
and the keyword: 'tired'
(1,513 words) I... kind of loved writing this :D
It was an Indian summer. Day in and day out, it was sweaty, sticky and uncomfortable, the heat heavy and oppressive. Staying inside meant boiling in the muggy humidity that seemed to creep in through cracks under doors and windows and settle thickly in areas enclosed by solid walls. Outside, the sky was bright blue and cloudless. It stretched from one horizon to the next, marred only by the single, blinding sun that scorched the skin of the earth.
Katee stood outside, under the shade of her porch. Shadows only took the harsh edge off the sun; its heat still pressed in from all sides, suffocating. Her hair had been carelessly swept up into a bun, but stray strands were falling from the haphazard piling of hair at the back of her head and sticking uncomfortably to the back of her neck. The wood under her bare feet was verging on painfully hot.
She was tired.
In this weather, getting up early in the mornings was exhausting; walking down to her studio to teach, and the teaching itself, was almost more than could be asked of her. The heat seemed to addle with her biological clock, telling her that she just needed to lay herself down and sleep off the weight of summer. She only barely made it through her days, dragging herself home from the studio in the sweltering haze of the afternoon to collapse with a quiet exhale onto her bed, the bed sheet sticking to the backs of her bare limbs; only to lie there half-awake, unable to remain asleep in the unbearable heat.
She embraced the weekends with quietly sleepy, wide-open arms, dozing fitfully into the afternoon. The heat discouraged her from leaving her house. She didn’t have the energy to go out, and her friends seemed to have the same idea. On the rare occasion that she did go out with Natalie, or Comfort, or Twitch, they’d sit in unnoticeably air-conditioned coffeehouses, sipping down iced drinks, condensation damp against their palms. They’d talk briefly about the heat, languid and unmoving in their seats. It eventually got to be too much effort to drag themselves out just to meet up. She did sometimes receive text messages and the odd phone call, which she’d answer, lying on her bed in heat-induced exhaustion, hanging up as soon as possible. The warmth of her phone against her cheek distracted her from all conversation. In some ways, she was grateful that it was so hot. It made her thinking slow and sluggish, and she couldn’t spend too long wondering why Josh never called her; it simply took too much of the energy she didn’t have.
On the porch, her tired eyes scanned the street. Even the windows of the houses across the street looked exhausted, the square panes of glass like eyes staring morosely back at her, not a hint of a breeze fluttering the lacy white curtains. Everything was still and silent except for the low hum of crickets.
And the far-off drone of what sounded like an engine.
She strained her ears to pick up the distant sound and looked down the street, first in one direction, then, swiveling her head, down the other. The small movement exhausted her, and she bent, bowing her head forward and leaning her forearms against the wooden railing, her hands flopping over the edge. The sound was getting louder.
She lifted her head, and watched through lazy eyes as a car came to a stop in front of her driveway. Raising her arm, she pushed her bangs off her forehead, where they were sticking. The door on the driver’s side of the car opened, and a figure stepped out, closing the door behind him before straightening.
Katee could barely muster the energy to smile at Josh, who was coming up the driveway. She watched him approach and tilted her head, feeling her ear hot against the heated skin of her bare shoulder. He stopped in front of the railing and smiled. His hair was pulled back, and she could see the sheen of sweat on his forehead.
“Hey, Katee!”
The corners of her mouth curved up slightly at his enthusiasm in the muggy weather. “Hey, partner.” Despite their lightness, her words felt slow, pulled out of her mouth to hang heavily in the humid air.
He looked awkward, standing there and smiling, but she didn’t invite him inside. The only difference between the heat inside and the heat outside was the glare of the sun, and, to be honest, she didn’t really want to move.
She wanted to ask him why didn’t you call and what are you doing here, but instead found herself saying, “What have you been up to?”
He lifted one of his shoulders in a shrug. “Oh, you know, interviews, mostly. I’ve been meeting up with Adam a lot, talking about the movie.” The heat made her feel dull and stupid, and his words sounded distant. He seemed to sense that she didn’t really want to talk; when he spoke again, his voice was quiet. “Are you okay, Katee?”
She made a face, pushing herself off of the railing. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. I’m okay.” She exhaled, a long huff of air. “Just tired. I’ve been teaching a lot, and it’s really draining my energy.” She paused, half-turned towards her door, contemplating the pressure cooker of her house. “Did you want to come in? I think I have some ice cubes.” She braced herself to step back inside.
He shook his head, squinting at her in contemplation. “Do you want to go somewhere? I mean,” He corrected himself, “I want to show you a place I found.”
His eyes were bright as he looked at her, and she found herself nodding. His dimpled smile blossomed, sudden and familiar, across his face. He reached up to grasp her hand, and she stepped down from the porch and into the burning sun.
***
They lay in a field; the stems of grasses around them reached into the hot-blue sky that seemed to stretch for miles. Katee felt completely boneless, her limbs loose, so relaxed that she could’ve sworn she had no body at all, if it weren’t for the solid reminder of her body pressed against Joshua’s.
She’d felt, for the past few weeks, like she’d been stretched too thin - her body pulled taut and tight, the summer air thick and heavy on her fragile skin. She’d been so tired, so exhausted, every molecule of which she was composed feeling strained and weak in the heat, and sleep never seemed to be able to come.
Laying in the grass with Josh, however, the quiet hum of crickets in the air and the slow movement of Josh’s fingertips on her waist, she found herself being lulled to sleep. She’d considered asking him about his conspicuous absence, but as soon as they’d positioned themselves as they were now, her brain had seemed to melt, and all the possible reasons in the world had seemed insignificant. He was here now; that was what mattered - he was here, and she could finally let herself relax. She heard Joshua talking, through the sinking haze of her consciousness, and she struggled to stay awake, forcing her eyelids to stay open.
“... to just… get away from everything.”
“Whu’ja say?” Her voice was a low murmur, muffled slightly by her own lips; she couldn’t quite open her mouth wide enough for the words to come out. She could almost sense the smile on his face as he turned his head slightly and dropped a kiss on her temple. “I said that I come here sometimes, when I just want to get away from everything.” His head moved, and she turned her head slightly so that her face was resting lightly against the side of his jaw. When she blinked, the movement slowed by her sleepiness, she could feel her eyelashes brushing his cheek.
She remembered Josh had said something, and she tried to form an articulate reply. The warmth of the sun pressing down on them was making it hard to think, let alone speak. “Why’d you want t’get ‘way?”
He sighed, stirring the flyaway hair on the top of Katee’s head, before muttering, “I don’t know. Everything’s going so fast, I never got to see you when I wanted to; I missed you, Katee.” He made a frustrated noise. “I don’t know… I’m just tired.”
As he talked, her mind had drifted, alighting on the grass, the sun, the sensation of his hand pressed against her skin. This, though, she could easily understand. “Me too. ‘M so…” Here she yawned widely, as though to emphasize her point, “…tired.”
She felt him tilt his head up to face the sky, and when he spoke again she could hear the grin in his words. “Then we should go to sleep, Heffer.”
His arms were loose around her. Smiling, she murmured a groggy mkay before snuggling closer to Joshua, already feeling herself slip willingly into the darkened world of blissfully uninterrupted, dreamless sleep.