Mark pulled the covers over his head, shielding his eyes from the sunlight that beamed down onto him. He groaned lazily and squirmed beneath the blanket, rolling onto his other side.
He was awake. He knew he wasn't going to go back to sleep; but he dreaded the thought of getting out of bed and actually putting effort into his day.
Daisy jumped up onto the twin-sized bed, her delicate paws padding across the blanket, only leaving gentle dents as footsteps.
She purred and whipped her tail slowly from side to side, circling her owner. MEOW… She yawned, stretching then rubbing her head against the lump where Mark's head rested beneath the covers.
"Daisy… not now…" He murmured, holding back a yawn that seemed too powerful to fight.
Daisy woke Mark up every morning, usually around the same time, unless it was a weekend, then she'd let him sleep in.
It was 10:20 AM and Mark, most of the time, slept until 9:30. Although today was an exception, due to Mark's hangover (a result from the party Mark had attended last night).
His head pounded, even the trill of Daisy's purring annoyed his sensitivities.
Mark mumbled something after five minutes of Daisy's morning routine and finally sat up, (slowly) trying to avoid anymore headache.
He smiled and pet Daisy from head to the end of her black tipped-tail and got to his feet. "I'm up." He said, stretching his arms straight into the air and bending backwards toward his bed.
If he straightened up too fast, his headache would become even worse, like snapping a stretched rubber band.
After the bathroom, his first pit stop in the morning, he made his way out into the kitchen. Aiming for the refrigerator first, of course.
A stale half-full carton of milk, sat on the shelf on the door. An empty box of eggs, and old Chinese food sat together on the middle shelf. The top, a stick of butter, a banana and a small stack of pre-wrapped Kraft cheese.
I need to go shopping… Mark thought to himself, slamming the fridge door and heading for the pantry.
Orville Redenbacher popcorn, a can of chicken noodle soup, tomato soup, a bag of Doritos…
Doritos. The perfect breakfast.
Mark snatched the bag of Doritos and carefully tried to open it without making too much noise. It crackled and snapped as he tried to open it. He didn't realize, the slower you open it, the louder it'll be.
Soon after, he just got a good grip on either side of the bad and pulled, ripping it open.
He took a handful and managed to stuff it all into his mouth. The crunch of the fresh Doritos being clamped between his upper and bottom teeth could be heard in the next room.
Daisy meowed as she turned the corner into the kitchen, savoring the edge of the wall to scratch an unreachable itch. Once finished, she waved her black and white tail past the cabinets under the counters, and hopped up onto the kitchen table.
MEOW.
She gazed up at her owner with big green eyes. Her pupils adjusted to the lighting in the room, shrinking and growing whilst she looked at him.
Suddenly the jingle of the telephone rang into Mark's ears.
RING… RING… RING… before he picked it up.
"Yallo." He answered, holding the cordless between his chin and shoulder.
"Hey Mark." Danielle's voice rattled through the phone.
"You're a voice for sore ears." Mark said as he chewed another handful of Doritos. He was relieved to hear Danielle on the other end of the phone instead of Jason Haldwell, his boss at Farm Fresh (a grocery store in Virginia. Not an international chain, mind you.)
Danielle laughed, pulling up to her house. Trusting Alex with the cake wasn't one her wise choices. Alex had snuck open the box and dug in, resulting in a mess of icing and crumbs.
He sat in the back, where his sister couldn't see. She wasn't paying attention anyway, she was preoccupied with talking to her boyfriend.
Mark poured a small amount of Doritos onto the table and poked at them with his finger. "I should be getting fired soon." He wrinkled his nose and huffed at the idea.
"Why?" Danielle frowned, glancing in the rearview mirror at Alex. All she could see was his head and shoulders. Not noticing the speck of icing on the corner of his mouth.
"I didn't show up for 4 days, for no reason at all. Do you really think Jason is gonna keep me?"
"Good point. If you hate him and that job so much, why not quit? Why push him to the point of firing you, Mark?" Danielle shook her head as she spoke, pressing her Motorola flip phone against her right ear.
"I don't know. I'm bored and need to be entertained." Mark smirked.
"You're such an ass."
"We've gone over this already, Dan. I'm an ass-hole." Mark laughed whilst pushing a couple more chips into his mouth before rolling up the half-empty bag and shoving it aside.
"Yeah you're right." Danielle giggled and hung up after a few minutes of chatter.
She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned around to take the cake from Alex. Her mouth dropped open to find Alex's hand covered in red velvet cake. He had devoured at least half of it, some still on his hands and face.
"Oh my God, Alex! I swear if you got anything in my car I will kill you!" She screamed, snatching the cake away from him and placing it in the front passenger seat.
Alex sat holding his hands up, licking his lips clean of icing and crumbs.
"Get out and clean up!" Danielle shrieked, shooing her little brother out of the SUV. Searching the seat for any stains.