The Morning After...
The young woman awoke in bed sitting partially up, extending her arms over her head. She felt the familiar hardwood headboard as well as the plastered wall against her knuckles, as she dug her delicate heels into the soft silky sheets, her smooth supple calves tracing it, trying to stretch every muscle in her finely toned body all the way to her toes. She still felt tired, but very relaxed and she knew her hair had to be a mess... she had a great night, which proceeded well into the early morning...
In her right hand was a medium-sized stuffed kitty; a white tiger with black stripes and piercing blue eyes. It was so cute and fluffy she had named it Fluffball Number 2... and hugged it lovingly to her chest, squeezing the fluffiness out of it. It was bought and given to her by the man she was with last night... he had shown her everything a Man was supposed to show her, which he had promised so long ago and gave her everything she needed and more. She shivered as she remembered it all... He had been so tender and loving; kissing, licking, nibbling and tasting every part of her a thousand times over...
She had gripped the sheets so much last night, arching her back again and again among other things... that she was afraid she had ruined the sheets... He had been the perfect gentleman, taking his time, putting her first in everything, making sure she had her fill and then some... In those few brief hours, he gave to her what all those other boys never could or were not willing to do... He had made her feel like the Princess he had always told her she was. He had pampered her and made her scream and moan his name quite a few times during the night into the early morning hours and she couldn't help but call him "Link"... She blushed and was afraid the neighbors might complain...
He was an old friend from out-of-state she had not spoken to in years and had lost contact with. Although to his credit it had not been due to anything on his part. He had tried everything to stay in touch, but she was just way too busy with college, life and other guys at the time... She felt a tinge of regret and rolled over to wrap her now loving arms around him, finally realizing he had been perfect for her all along, but all she found was empty space...
She shook her head, opening her eyes more, looking up and down the bed in disbelief, but only found the sheets strewn about. "Maybe he went to the bathroom...", she thought optimistically as she rolled all the way over onto his side, peering over to look at the barren floor, not even his socks or shoes were there... She rolled back over to her side and gripped the kitty in her hands. She was pouting at first, then began seething with anger. He had played her like a fool! All those sweet words last night, all the places they had went too; the diner, the mall, to the movies and finally for a long walk before it was decided he would spend the night...
She shook those thoughts from her mind and concentrated on the here and now. He had lied to her... he had done all those sweet things to regain her trust and get back at her... for all the times she had hurt him and ignored him... She grabbed both arms of the kitty and wanted nothing more than to rip it apart, to take all the anger out on this one poor little stuffed animal. Actually the second stuffed kitty from him, the first being from long ago... But she couldn't, it was so soft and cuddly, she had a weakness for them, rarely had she ever received them, not since she had been a child. Not even from the boyfriends that preceded him, they hardly ever cared enough to buy her sweet gifts like that, what she really wanted...
And her shelves were filled with the video games and books he had bought her way back when among other things. Nothing she ever received from him was only to borrow, it was all for her to actually keep... Her other boyfriends generally just used her till they had their fill of her or found some one better and then threw her away, just like she had done to him all those years ago and what he had just now done to her...
She was about to throw the kitty against the wall, when a knock was heard at the door. She paused. It took her a moment to realize that it was not coming from her front door, but her bedroom door. She gasped and froze in dead silence, her eyes going wide as she realized that idiot had left with out locking up! Now there was probably some stranger or bad men in her place ready to hurt her or worse...
She pulled the kitty deep into her bosom, bringing the covers mostly over her head. Nothing happened, but then there was another rapping at her door and she held her breath, trying not to scream as she began to shake she was so scared. Then the jiggling of the door knob could be heard and it creaked open slowly, painfully as it wailed, it seemed to know what was about to happen to her...
A hand emerged from the small opening and she saw it grasp the door side as it slowly opened more. She dug herself in deeper, knowing there was nowhere to go or hide at this point and there was nothing she could do. She only began to pray silently and hold the stuffed kitty that her old, but foolish friend had gotten for her last night even tighter, as if it's presence would protect her, like the giver had always promised he himself would do...
Then the door slowly creaked open more and a head looked in innocently... it was Him, her friend! He had a curious, but dumb look on his face along with a smile and opened the door the rest of the way. In his other hand was a serving tray filled with food. She could smell all sorts of sweet and savory smells wafting from the kitchen now that her bedroom door was open.
She peered over at him from her defensive position beneath the covers and his smile turned to one of concern. "Are you alright Princess?", he questioned. "What happened?"
She only looked back at him, her beautiful hazel eyes went from being frightened to being embarrassed. She shook her head and he sat down next to her, placing the tray on the night stand, lovingly caressing the side of her face as she sat partially up in bed again, still clutching her soft fluffy kitty.
"What's wrong?", he asked gently. "Did I scare you..."
She only shrugged as tears ran down the sides of her face. She just felt plain stupid, as she tucked her brown wavy hair behind her ears and then re-embraced the kitty. "I thought you left this morning...", she squeaked out.
"What did I tell you last night, before I even made love to you?", he asked a little hurt. "What had I reconfirmed, before you finally shut your eyes early this morning, as I held and caressed you wishing you sweet dreams?"
"That you promised you were not going to leave me like the others and be here when I awoke...", she managed to sniff out.
"That's right..." he said almost sternly, a little upset she would think any less of him.
"But when I woke up you were not next to me and I looked over and all your stuff was gone, even your shoes and socks...", she replied.
He only chuckled to himself and then had a regretful look on his face, his voice becoming soft again. "I am sorry I scared you, but it is a habit that I have something on my feet, even in my house I wear slippers. I had none here so I wore what I came with."
"And then I did not know who was knocking on my door and a thousand different scenarios ran through my head, all ending horribly...", her voice trailed off as he tried to hush her gently and then her eyes shot up with slight annoyance. "And who the hell sleeps with someone and then knocks on their bedroom door anyway!?" she exclaimed. "Or for that matter, shuts the bedroom door in the first place, no one else lives here but me!"
"I do those things." he said sheepishly, his dumb look returning to his face again. "I had shut the door because I did not want to disturb you and breakfast in bed was to be a surprise... Then I heard noises coming from the bedroom, so I figured you were up. I just wanted to make sure you were decent before I came in.", he rationalized.
"But you already know what I look like naked, we had sex!", she said out loud, then added more quietly, "I mean we made love...". She hugged the soft kitty even closer to her chest, she was already well on her way to losing the stuffing in the poor cute little creature...
"I thought you preferred gentleman and I did not simply want to come barging in and have you jump and scream if you were not dressed...", he said as he brushed the remaining of her hair down and touched the sides of her cheeks.
"I suppose..., but you scared me either way...", she almost cried, whispering.
"I'm sorry..." he said truthfully and she only nodded, then he asked, "You hungry Sweet Heart?" She gestured more enthusiastically, nodding her head. He asked her to sit up more, gently moving the kitty to the side and carefully placed the tray of food down on her waiting lap. In front of her was a smorgasbord of food! Bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, eggs, oatmeal, toast, pancakes, french toast and even a glass of milk and a glass of orange juice! Even the eggs were done just the way she liked them and she wondered how, after all these years, he had remembered...
When he released the tray and began to pull away, while she was grabbing for the silverware, she noticed something on his wrists as his long-sleeved shirt was slightly pulled up from the movement. "What happened to your wrists?", she asked curiously and innocently. She had not noticed anything in the light of the moon and stars or later the candle light last night...
Quickly he pulled away, bringing the cuffs of his sleeves back down to cover them. "Nothing...", was his only reply.
"Nothing!? That doesn't look like nothing to me. Let me see them." she pressed.
He chuckled to himself, trying to relieve the tension that had built up and simply said, "My cat and I got into a misunderstanding and she scratched me. You know how moody she is and doesn't like to be squeezed...".
She only shook her head, looking deeply into his brown eyes for the truth, "She got both of them...", she questioned softly. He only half nodded and smiled a fake smile. It had not gone unnoticed. "Let me see them." He only shook his head and brought both his hands to his lap to hide them from her when she reached for them. "Show me or I wont eat what you made and I am really hungry.", she said unfairly and stubbornly.
He swallowed hard and reached his right hand over to her, "I want to see both of them..." and he turned to his side to face her so she could see both. She flipped the wrists over so his palms were facing up. It was partially seen due to how his sleeves went back up slightly, but she gently moved the rest of the cloth up his arm to get a better look at them. In the light from the morning sun shown two scars of what looked like stars on the underside of his wrists. She traced the scarred tissue and felt the bumps of overlapping skin and the uncanny smoothness of the old wounds... something that looked like they had been done many times and healed over in the course of a few years...
Her eyes went wide as she realized what it meant and knew she should of taken him seriously when he had told her in the past that he was going to cut himself among other things... But what hurt the most was the knowledge that at the time, she really didn't care and had even wished him dead if he would just stop bothering her. She had loved another and was through with the man in front of her now and he just had to accept it. He was not her problem anymore. However, karma it self seemed to come around and she had been discarded so many times afterward... When she had seen him last night after all these years, her heart soared again from all the promises he had made and she had been lonely herself...
A fresh tear streaked her porcelain like pale face and she said very softly, "I'm sorry...". She looked up just in time as he drew his arms away and lowered his sleeves.
"No worries... I was just stupid...", he looked embarrassed. "Enough of that... just eat before it gets cold!" he said sniffing and trying to smile a real smile now.
She only nodded and then asked, "Did you already eat?" He only shook his head. She finally unwrapped the napkin, taking the silverware from it and took a bite of her eggs and bacon. Then she took some and fed it to him. He was reluctant at first, but she pointed out if the cook was not willing to eat it, it probably shouldn't be eaten. He actually laughed at that, a saying he had told her on more than one occasion in the past. He opened his mouth and took the food inside, chewing and swallowing it. She took turns feeding herself and him and it was a wonderful breakfast. Then they both saw the need in one another's eyes and he removed the tray from her, laying her back down gently and it was a very good morning after...