CPOV:
I wake up in the middle of the night with Ana lying in my arms. Not much was said after we professed our love for each other last night. It was a comfortable silence. We didn't have sex yet, we just held each other, she let me cry, which I never let anyone see. I think this crying thing is becoming part of me now that I've decided to let go of all the crap that's been cluttering my mind all these years. I mean, I know Ana and I still have a major talk coming up, but just for now, we're happy to just be in the moment, enjoying the touch of our bodies together. She brings so much calm to my life. I watch her sleep peacefully, breathing in and out. It makes me drift off to sleep once again.
When I wake up, I notice that Ana is gone. I get out of bed and look in the bathroom, but she's not there. I look in the kitchen and she's not there either. Then I hear a giggle that only belongs to my Ana. I follow the sound and find her in Taylor's office playing cards with Sawyer and Taylor and Gail. She looks so cute wearing my boxers and my Kings of Leon t-shirt that I wore on our first date. I cleared my throat to announce I was in there. When they all turn their heads, I raise my eye brows.
"There you are sleepy head! We were just playing poker!" Ana gets up and walks over to me and kisses my cheek.
"Is that so?" I look over at Luke and Taylor and they look like they're ready to get yelled at by me. "Well let's not all sit here doing nothing, deal me up a hand Luke!" I smile and everyone visibly relaxes.
"Very good, Sir" Luke collects all the cards and deals a new hand for everyone.
I don't normal do much before eating breakfast, but I didn't want to be the one to break up the fun. Plus it's nice to sit down as friends and let myself have fun. Whenever Ana wins, it's so cute. She gets so excited. She does this little jump in her chair and squeaks. I smile every time. So this is what having friends feels like. Why the hell did I alienate myself from everyone?
After a couple hours of playing and most of the money being won by Ana, we all decided to go to eat some lunch. Ana said that since she won poker that she thinks that myself and Luke and Taylor should make Gail and herself lunch. We all look at each other. Normally I would have nixed that idea, but I can't help want to make Ana happy, so I will take a new road and just do what she says.
"Well you heard the lady, let's get to it!" I say rubbing my hands together. I don't know how to cook anything except mac-n-cheese, so we'll see what the other two can do. I tell Ana and Gail to leave the room and do something else so we can surprise them, when really it's because I don't want them to laugh at us trying to cook.
"Okay guys, what are we making?" I look to Luke and Taylor to lead this operation.
"Well we can make sandwiches. They're quick and easy!" Luke says while looking in the refrigerator.
"No, that's too simple, let's show the ladies that we can really make something good!" Taylor suggests. Luke and I look at each other and we realize this will probably end badly.
"I think anything but simple will 1; make the girls sick and/or 2; cause the fire department to be called because we'll probably burn the place down" Luke says while pulling peanut butter out of the pantry.
"Yeah, I'm with Sawyer on this, Taylor. Simple. Easy. That's what we do" I say standing with my arms crossed.
"With all due respect, Sir, I think they deserve a nice, tasty lunch. Not peanut butter and jelly!" Taylor argues.
"Very well then, you lead the way if you want gourmet" I say extending my hand to the stove.
APOV:
"What do you think they guys are going to make?" I ask Gail as we sit in the TV room watching General Hospital.
"Who knows with those guys, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a big mess to clean" Gail laughs. I really like Gail. She's really a sweet person and so much in love with Taylor.
"So you and Taylor, how long have you been together?" I ask out of pure curiosity.
"About three years now" She smiles really big.
"That's awesome, Gail! I hope I can have a long lasting relationship someday."
"You will, Ana, just give him some time" she winks at me. "You've already did something fantastic with him, he's never smiled or laughed or played games with his staff, so it was a miracle today."
"Really? Never?"
"Nope. I thought we were all going to get fired when he caught us earlier. But then again, he slept in until 11:30, so he must have finally gotten a good night's sleep, hence the nice demeanor today" She chuckles.
"Does he not usually sleep?"
"If he does sleep, it's no more than four hours at a time. He suffers from bad nightmares, so he just wakes up and never goes back to sleep. It's heartbreaking."
"He really does seem broken." I look down at my fingers. Poor Christian. To lighten the mood a bit, I decide I'm going to sneak a peek at the guys cooking. "I'll be right back, I'm gonna see what they're up to!"
I sneak down the hall way and peek around the corner. I see Taylor running the show, bossing Christian and Luke around. I have to bite my lip to stop from laughing.
"Gail! You have to see this!" I whisper and motion to Gail. We're both watching and snickering.
"No! Just mix the dressing with the salad. It's not rocket science Sir" Taylor says to Christian. You can tell Christian is getting frustrated.
"It's mixed but what am I supposed to put in there besides dressing?" Christian slams the bowl down.
"What normally goes into a salad? That's what you put in it" Luke says, getting plates out of the cupboard.
Gail and I couldn't help but start to laugh. All three guys look up and we take off running.
"Hey! You girls are gonna get it! Stay out of here!" Christian yells which makes us laugh even harder. "I hear you laughing! So help me if you come back out here again, it won't be pretty!"
"I wanna push my luck and see what happens, Gail" I whisper.
"No! I don't know if he's serious or not" She giggles.
"I'll find out"
I tip toe down the hall and peek again. The guys are setting the table. I scoot a little closer to look and I end up knocking a book off the shelf. Which causes the guys to look.
"Alright Miss Steele, I told you not to come back out here!" Christian sets the salad bowl down on the table and stalks over to me like a lion hunting his prey. I back up and bite my lip. He stands right in front of me with a stern look on his face. He grabs and lifts me over his shoulders and smacks my ass. I yelp and laugh. "You think it's funny?" He starts tickling the back on my legs. I'm laughing so hard that I'm crying.
"Let me down!" I yell and laugh. He takes me into the great room where the couch is and throws me on the couch.
"You stay there where I can see you!" I walks away laughing. "Mrs. Jones you may come out and join Ana on the couch since we cannot trust you do as you're told either!"
Gail comes out laughing and sticks her tongue out at the back of Christian's head.
"I saw that Mrs. Jones!" Christian snickers.
"Lunch is served ladies!" Taylor says, proud of himself.
We walk over to the table and surprisingly, everything looks edible. There is a garden salad with baby shrimp, tomato and parmesan cheese. Also there is baked teriyaki salmon made by Taylor and garlic mashed potatoes made by Luke.
"I made the salad!" Christian says like a proud child.
"Well it looks great guys! Let's dig in!" Gail said.
We sit there eating, talking, joking around and enjoying each other's company. I feel that Christian is really liking this new way of living. He looks relaxed and keeps winking at me and smiling. I bite my lip at him and he raises his eyebrow at me. I giggle. Everything seems right, for now. I'm hoping our talk later continues with this trend.
