Page 80 of All That Remains
"No, not at all. We were gonna meet anyway."
"I could go back and come later...if that helps."
At that, he stopped and turned around.
"No, I'm not mad. Just a little surprised, is all." He looked down at our feet for a minute. "But surprises can be good, yeah?"
Inside, the aroma of hot food and coffee greeted me. He took me into the kitchen where he'd apparently made breakfast, and sat me at the small window-side nook. Egg whites, wheat toast, turkey bacon, and potatoes were arranged before me. He sat and let me eat off his plate while he finished his meal. I hadn't washed my hands like he had, so he fed me off his fork and his demeanor softened throughout the process. He was perpetually bemused by me, even when he wanted to be annoyed. When he handfed me a bit of bacon, I bit his finger, earning a chuckle.
Part of me was confident and wanted to test him, but the other part of me remained frantic and uncentered. Who even was I right now? Who was he? Who was this man who’d disabused me of all notions of self-respect? By every measure I was stillme—lighthearted, coquettish, prepossessing. But he had rendered me a bumbling, guileless freak unworthy of his company.
He studied me a while, and I lifted my eyebrows inquiringly. Did he like what he was seeing? Doubt it. My shirt was wrinkled. My hair was a mess, the low bun nearly undone. Each time he looked at it with that tiny, bemused smirk, I ducked my head and smoothed it down as best I could.
“You’re daft, mate,” he whispered, brushing a loose strand behind my ear.
“For you…”
He looked away and chewed his lip. He was surprisingly at ease for how early it was. 8AM. He despised mornings and onlyever roseearlyon business. I surmised he was only up now because he'd chosen to makeherbreakfast. It was rare that he cooked for me in the past, because we were always cooped up in hotels and deprived of a proper kitchen, but whenever we were home and had to be up early to separate, he made it a point to send me away on a full stomach.
"Baby..." I began. He looked at me and lifted his brows with a smirk. "Can I kiss you?" I was fiending for his touch. He grinned, pushing the plate away and resting his elbows on the table. Well aware he was tormenting me.
"How long you been out there?"
"All night, actually." I wasn't embarrassed anymore.
"All night? No kiddin'?"
"Yep...all night. Ormostof the night anyway. I got here at like 2AM."
“Why?”
“I was upset. Had a fight with someone.”
“Who?”
“An old friend. She wants to be with me.”
“Don’t they all,” he chuckled, the deep blue of his eyes glinting in the morning light.
“I dunno.”
"Get any sleep?"
"Yeah, a bit."
"Must've been mad uncomfortable though, yeah?"
"A little...but, uh, I was so beat I actually slept pretty well. Better than usual."
"Rafe, you're just like... as weird and as random as I can remember."
"That's a good thing, right?" I grinned.
"Yeah..." he laughed, full tilt. "I guess so."
"I just wanted to be around someone."
There was a long pause where he watched the table. "Yeah...well, me too."
