Eternally Yours

C A S S A D E E

I woke up in the morning, an ache behind my eyes from a hangover, and a warm body pressing up against me. I didn’t want to open my eyes, I didn’t want to admit that I was awake yet. I hadn’t had much experience with the ‘hooking-up-at-a-bar’ thing, but it seemed like typical etiquette that he’d already be gone. The fact that he wasn’t made me unreasonably happy, and I didn’t want it to end.

I knew eventually I’d have to get up and face the reality that I’d been nothing to him other than a one-time fling. Something that he probably was able to get from anyone. It was Saturday, I didn’t have to work today and no one needed childcare this Saturday so I didn’t have to get out of bed at all. I didn’t have to wake up. Regardless of the ability to sleep in, my body automatically woke me up when the sun came out. I knew that eventually, he’d get up regardless, but I wanted to soak up the presence.

I had been content sleeping alone until I remembered how good it felt to be held through the night. I also hadn’t remembered that sex could actually be enjoyable, you know if the person you’re having it with isn’t done in five minutes. After about ten minutes, I knew General would be wanting to eat so I couldn’t just keep laying there.

Instead, I sat up slowly, yawning a little and throwing my legs over the edge of the bed. I was still mainly naked, the only clothing I was wearing was his black tee shirt. It was draped over me like one of my sleep shirts. I tiptoed out of the bedroom, not wanting to wake him, and headed to the kitchen.

I grabbed out the dog food and poured some for General, who’d been sleeping outside the door of the room the entire night. I definitely would have to make it up to him tonight, give him some ground beef or something. I started making pancakes and bacon. I didn’t normally cook two things like this at once, but I wasn’t really sure if he’d eat one or the other, or even either. Do you normally feed the people you sleep with? I assumed so, at least if they hung around until eleven in the morning.

I turned on the coffee maker and started brewing coffee. I heard the bedroom door open and bare feet padding down my hallway. My house wasn’t exactly huge or anything, so it only took about two minutes for him to be standing in the doorway of the kitchen, boxers, and nothing else. I blushed a little and turned my eyes to the bacon I was flipping.

“Good morning,” I said, breaking the silence.

“Good morning,” He responded, yawning a little. His hair was messed up from where we’d been sleeping, and I found it endearing. He looked like he’d never have a moment of being messy or unkempt.

“I made bacon and pancakes, I don’t know if you want any, but...” I trailed off, letting the silence fill the air between us. I was completely out of my element now, I was used to committed relationships, not whatever this was.

“I’ll take some bacon and maybe a cup of coffee.” He said, sighing and rubbing his face. “Micheal’s going to strangle me.” He groaned, sitting down at the counter with his phone in his hand. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he typed a message on his phone before sitting it down on the counter.

“Micheal?” I asked, curious.

“Yeah, my three best friends and one of their wives live with me.” He explained.

“Oh,” I said and frowned a little. “Why is he going to... strangle you?” I asked.

“I was supposed to meet them at seven to go hunting, but obviously I overslept.” He laughed and rolled his eyes. “I’ll live.” The way he said it like it was some sort of an inside joke, made me curious about him. I reigned in my questions and poured myself a cup of coffee.

“You want some coffee?” I asked, taking the bacon out of the pan and putting it on a paper towel. I flipped a pancake, and then took a sip of coffee.

“Sure,” He said, and I grabbed a coffee cup and poured it for him. I put a spoon over the top of it and handed it to him. He took it, sat it down on the counter, and laid the spoon down.

“It’s hot,” I said, just as he took a really big gulp of it. I blinked twice, surprised that he was able to swallow the coffee. My coffee maker keeps the coffee really warm, I think it gets almost too hot, sometimes. He didn’t seem bothered at all by the temperature, however, so I turned my focus to the pancakes. General came over to me and pushed me with his nose, sitting down beside me and huffing.

“I will put you outside in a moment,” I said, resisting the urge to pet him. I didn’t want to get my hands dirty while I was cooking.

“I can put him out if you’d like.” Everett offered, and I shrugged.

“Either way is fine,” I said, surprised that he’d offered. I shouldn’t have been surprised, Darien had always said that General wasn’t his dog so he shouldn’t have to walk him. I pushed the thought aside and focused on finishing breakfast

.It didn’t take too long for me to finish cooking and placing it out on the table with syrup, honey, and orange juice. I put two juice glasses down, and two plates, with a fork and a knife for each of us. When he got to the table, he sat down and smiled at me. “I appreciate the breakfast,” He said politely, taking a couple of pieces of bacon.

“Oh, it was no problem,” I said, feeling embarrassed. Why had I thought I was ready for this? Why had I been so stupid as to fall asleep with him? Why... I broke the train of thought immediately, taking a bite of buttery pancake.

“How long have you lived here?” He asked curiously.

“My whole life, my parents grew up here,” I admitted. “Well, I guess since we covered how long you’ve been here, where did you live before here?” I asked curiously.

“I grew up in England, actually.” He said, sounding thoughtful. “However, I lived in Chicago for ten years, from seventeen to twenty-seven.” He explained. That explained the lack of an accent, I supposed.

“How was Chicago?” I asked, playing with my hair a little bit.

“It wasn’t terrible. But, I decided I wanted a change.” He explained, and I nodded my head. I smiled a little bit. “Since you haven’t lived anywhere else, have you ever visited anywhere?” He asked.

“I’ve been to Canada, but that’s it.” I admitted, a little bit embarrassedly. My parents never had enough money to travel farther than Canada, but it wasn’t bad. I loved Canada, it’s beautiful and I didn’t mind staying in the area. Honestly, I never would’ve even thought twice about it if we never went on vacation. It just wasn’t the priority when I was growing up.

“Canada is beautiful,” He said and popped one of the pieces of bacon into his mouth. Whole. I raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. All guys do at least one thing that doesn’t really make sense, or that I won’t understand. It’s whatever.

“I agree,” I said, and finished off my pancakes. Once he finished, I took the plates to the sink and ran some water, letting them soak for a minute with the pans that I had cooked in.

“I actually really have to go, love, but can you give me your phone number?” He asked. For the briefest moment I saw him look shy, but it was pushed aside and hidden away like it hadn’t existed. I was okay with ignoring it, it was kind of cute. He seemed like the type that mentioning it would make him uncomfortable.

“Yeah, sure, can I see your phone?” I asked, and he handed it to me. I didn’t really know if he remembered my name, so I put it in for him with my number.

“Alright,” He said when I handed it back to him after I pressed the checkmark. He laid the phone down and walked over to me, putting his hand on my neck, pulling my face up to meet his lips in a kiss. I was momentarily shocked, but I slipped my eyes shut and immediately started kissing him back.

His lips were smooth and soft, and his breath somehow didn’t smell or taste terrible at all. I figured he probably had a mint or something before coming into the kitchen. The amount of passion that he was pouring into the kiss was blinding and I felt my knees get weak, his warm hand on my skin the only thing holding me to the earth. He was smiling a little into the kiss. When he pulled back, I sucked in a deep breath and blushed brightly, feeling a little dizzy. I suddenly could’ve spent the rest of the day in bed with him.

“I hate that I have to do this...” He trailed off, his hands going down to my waist. “Okay, I don’t hate it, but I do need my shirt back.” He said, looking over me. I glanced down, noticing that I was in fact, still wearing his shirt.

I gathered all the courage I could and pulled the shirt off leaving myself in just my underwear. His eyes trailed over me, blazing with lust and heat.

“I am not disappointed in the reaction asking for it back got, and I’m definitely going to have a hard time concentrating today now.” He said, leaning his head down again and pressing his lips against mine for a brief moment.

“Well, go on,” I said teasingly, leaning back against my counter. I felt completely bared to him, ridiculous, but I pushed the feeling away. I could tell by the way his eyes were lingering on my breasts and then trailing down to my panties, and then back up that he didn’t have any complaints. I couldn’t help feeling a teensy bit embarrassed, but I was not going to let it show. Fake it until you make it, Maria had once said to me, and I lived by that.

“Now I don’t want to.” He said, walking forward. I couldn’t breathe for a moment when his body touched mine, my heart lept. I felt heat flood between my legs and I squeezed my thighs together a little bit.

“Just go,” I said teasingly. “Maybe you can come over again some time,” I said with a wink.

“Soon,” He agreed, giving me one final lustful look before taking the shirt and going straight to the bedroom to dress. As he left he said goodbye, kissed my cheek, and thanked me for a wonderful night. When he was out the door, I immediately raced to my room and started getting my clothes on. I had a shower this morning after we had sex, so I didn’t need one now. I pulled on one of my sweaters and a pair of jeans, pulling on my snow boots and going out into the yard, sitting down on the porch with a book. I would sit out here and read until General tired himself out and wanted to go inside.

I got lost in the book, flipping through the pages as fast as I possibly could. I was chilly, but the longer that I sat out here, the less I noticed it so I wasn’t too worried about it. I lost track of time, but eventually, General came up to me and laid his head in my lap, and huffed. I swear this dog communicates through huffs. I smiled and patted his head. I dog eared my page, standing up and walking into my back door letting General in behind me before shutting it and locking it.

I washed the dishes and put them into the drainer letting them dry so that I could put them up later. I then walked to the living room and sat down on my grey sectional, propping my feet up on the ottoman and grabbing the remote, turning on the television, and surfing the channels until I settled on NCIS.

I patted the couch, inviting General up onto the couch beside me. General hopped up on the couch and laid his head in my lap. I put my hand on his head and started petting him. General panted happily in my lap, stretched out like he owned the place. I giggled a little bit. I was unusually elated, happy. I knew exactly what it was about, him... Everett. He blew into my life last night like a blizzard and suddenly I was like a sixteen-year-old girl with a crush.

I brushed my hair out of my face with my hand and sighed deeply, glancing down at General with a frustrated sigh. He looked up at me with those brown eyes, and let out a single huff, probably because I’d forgotten to pet him. I smiled sheepishly at him and started petting his head a little bit. I glanced down at my phone and then back to the television.

Distractions. Just what I need right now.

I wasn’t tired enough to take a nap, but I didn’t really feel like doing anything major. I just wanted to get lost in something. After a few failed attempts at getting lost in NCIS, I changed tactics, getting up and cutting the television off and going over to my stereo, turning it on and connecting my phone to it. I pulled my fifties playlist and started cleaning my house.

I started with the living room, vacuuming my rug, febreezing the couch, fluffing the pillows, and then I went over to my bookshelf and threw myself into rearranging it in alphabetical order. Once I finished rearranging the bookshelf, went up to the bathroom and grabbed my clothes basket, taking them into the tiny little laundry room and starting a load of laundry.

After the laundry was started, I cleaned the counters in my kitchen. I put the dishes up and wiped the table off. I got a cup of coffee and powered up, before heading up to my room and going through the clothes in my closet. I didn’t have many to get rid of, so that didn’t take long at all and I found myself out of chores to do. Instead of waiting at home for a text that may not even come, I got General up and put on a leash. I took him out to the car and he hopped in the passenger seat of the car.

I drove him down to the park and took him on a walk around the walkway, letting him get some exercise. I stopped and filled up his water bowl with water and gave him some water. He got very excited over a squirrel and started chasing after it so I had to use all of my weight to keep him from running after the poor thing and eating it.

After the excitement from that, I ushered the dog back to the car. When I got home, I let him into the house and walked to my mailbox, and got my mail. I looked through it on my way to my front door. I opened the screen door and walked in, shutting it and the door itself behind me. I put my keys in the bowl by the door and sat the mail down beside the bowl. I walked into the kitchen and opened a bottle of wine, pouring myself a glass and starting to cook dinner.

Chicken stir fry. I chopped up some green pepper, red pepper, cauliflower, broccoli, and left the baby corn whole. It’s small enough not to matter. I put the chicken into the pan and cooked it, putting soy and teriyaki in it. I started boiling the vegetables and rice. I boiled the vegetables in soy and teriyaki as well, gotta maintain flavor throughout.

Once I got the chicken fully cooked, and the vegetables were done I combined them together in a wok. I mixed the two together, stirring it and letting it fry. Once the rice was done I took it out of the pan and put it into a bowl, pouring the stir fry in and mixing it. I added soy and teriyaki to taste, and then dug in.

Once I finished eating, I immediately started cleaning up the kitchen again. I didn’t dare chance a glance at my phone, embarrassed by how much I wanted him to message me. I shouldn’t care, right? I was lucky to get a single night of his attention. I shook my head.

I’m being ridiculous, insane. I was lucky to sleep with him, but not because I wasn’t worthy of him. It was because he was such a caring and attentive lover. He’d taken me to places I didn’t know was possible. I had always looked at sex as a way to please Darien, to keep him from being such an ass. I didn’t really enjoy it, I had never really enjoyed it before, until now.

I blushed despite being alone and decided to go ahead and dry my dishes by hand, just wanting something to keep busy with. It’s much easier to distract myself than wonder if he’s going to actually message me. Once I finished drying the dishes I grabbed the clothes out of the dryer and took them to my room, putting them on my bed and folding them up.

It took about forty minutes to get the clothes folded and put away, mainly because I was dragging my feet a little. I glanced over at the clock to see it was finally nine o’clock. I decided that was a reasonable time to go to bed today, given that I was obsessively cleaning and doing anything just to keep my mind from lingering on Everett too much.

I got dressed for bed, braiding my hair and laying down in my bed. Finally, I allowed myself to open my phone. One new message from an unknown number. Excitement bubbled in my chest and I clicked on the message.

9:10 pm: Hey, sorry, I’ve been working all day. Did not forget you, just can’t break my focus when I’m working.

I quickly clicked on the message box and began composing a message.

9:15 pm: It’s all good, I was busy most of the day.

It was true, I’d kept myself pretty occupied.

9:16 pm: I’m glad you’re not angry with me, I’ve learned not to piss a pretty woman off.

It was teasing and playful, completed with a laughing emoji. I giggled a little bit, pressing the message box again.

9:18 pm: Smart man

I responded. It was a relief that he’d messaged me, at least that meant I hadn’t embarrassed myself too much last night or this morning.

We talked for a long time, well into the early morning hours before I finally passed out from exhaustion. I found that I really liked the time spent texting with him. He was really smart, witty and a total jokester, which was fine with me. I loved people who knew how to have fun but also were able to be serious when the situation called for it. I could tell by the time I spent with him that was a perfect description of him, so far at least.