My eyes lazily opened the next morning expecting to see nothing but Velvet's beautiful face, but as I slowly took in my surroundings, I realized she wasn't in bed at all. I yawned and sat up as I looked around to see where she might've gone. The bathroom door was open and my bedroom door was shut, so she must've gotten up earlier than me to have breakfast with the rest of my family. That was my original thought until I looked at the clock and saw that it read 7:34. I knew my parents almost never got up until after eight and on their days off, Cass and Paul slept until ten.
After pulling on a fresh pair of socks and grabbing my scroll, I quietly opened my bedroom door and headed to the dining room/kitchen where I saw Velvet making breakfast in her pajamas and my hoodie.
Upon hearing me approach, she looked up from her work and shot me a bright smile. "Morning, handsome."
I grinned back. "Morning. What uh… what's this?" I asked, gesturing to the frying pan on the stove.
She shrugged and shuffled the skillet back and forth on the element. "Just my way of saying thanks for introducing me to your family." She then grabbed two mugs from the cupboard and looked back to me. "Hot chocolate or orange juice?"
"Hot chocolate please." Velvet nodded back and heated up a kettle of water and with my directions as to where everything was kept, poured two cups of the warm liquid for herself and me. I eyed her curiously as she gently set down the mug in front of me as to not spill a single drop. "Since when do you cook?"
She returned to the frying pan and scraped the fried eggs onto a plate before answering me. "Ever since I took lessons from Yatsuhashi." She replied. "The going was rough at first and I burnt more than my fair share of eggs, bacon, chicken, steaks and other assorted foods, but I finally got the hang of it after a couple months." The toaster then sprung up and she rushed to put the two pieces of perfectly toasted bread on the plate before placing it in front of me along with a fork and knife.
I gave her a smile and nod as I dug into the egg whites first as Velvet awaited my opinion and honestly; she did a damn good job. I'd be willing to wager my life on the fact that she could cook as well as my mom or hers. I gave her another approving smile while she sat in the empty seat next to me and attached herself to my arm. While certainly not unwelcome, the amount of attention she'd been giving me just this morning was undoubtedly unusual.
"You feeling all right?" I asked, slightly suspicious.
"Never better since I've got the greatest boyfriend a girl could ask for." She declared sweetly, giving my cheeks and ears a light pinkish tinge to them.
"What're you going to have for breakfast though?" I asked as I recovered from the blush.
"I think just some cereal will be fine."
"Okay. Mom keeps every cereal in the cupboard next to the fridge and bowls are a shelf above the cups." I said. Velvet kissed me on the cheek and then got her own breakfast together.
As we ate in a comfortable silence, Cass and Paul were the next to wake up with Cass wearing a Pumpkin Pete's black and orange hoodie, a green t-shirt and forest green plaid pants. Paul was close behind wearing his usual purple hoodie, navy blue t-shirt and denim jeans.
"I'm just saying, you shouldn't take so damn long to straighten out your freakin' hair!" Cass more or less hollered at his brother.
"I prefer the word 'kempt' to straighten." Paul stated. "And secondly, just because your head looks like a mop doesn't mean that mine has to."
I sighed at the sight and gave Velvet a look of apology before shouting at Cass. His head swivelled to me and I gestured to the kitchen. "Grab some coffee and Paul, lay off." I ordered. My uncles growled at each other one last time before Paul grabbed some leftover waffles in the fridge freezer while Cass poured himself a mug of caffeine, sugar and milk.
After both of their moods had mellowed out significantly, they apologized and we were discussing our plans for the day.
"Arcade?" Paul offered.
I shook my head as I dipped my toast into the yellow of the egg. "Naw, I think I've had my fill of arcades for the holidays."
"Same." Velvet piled on.
Cass took another swig of coffee and stole a piece of toast from his brother's plate. "How about skating?"
"Sure. How about you, Velv? Feel like going skating today?" I asked.
She gave me an almost blindingly bright smile and nodded. "So long as I'm with you, I don't care what we do."
Cass half-smiled as my scroll buzzed. While he spoke, I looked at the sender of the message and it was from Siv saying good morning. I replied with a g'morning of my own and returned my attention back to my huntsman uncle. "The pond is completely frozen over and just north of here, so we can either walk or drive." He stated.
"I think we should walk." Velvet interjected. "No harm in a little exercise, right?"
Paul nodded. "Okay then, I'll see if I can dig out the skates and I think we should also bring a thermos of hot chocolate just for the hell of it." Each of us agreed and finished the last of our breakfasts as Paul fished out a pair of skates for each of us. Thankfully, Velvet had the same size feet as my mom and managed to fit into a pair of her old skates she hadn't used in years.
After we donned our winter clothes, we began to trek across the snowy wasteland, the frozen air nipping at our ears and faces. Again, Velvet kept closer than usual to me as she resembled a magnet attached to a piece of metal with my right arm playing the part of steel.
As we continued on our short journey, my scroll once again went off in my jeans pocket and Siv had asked me what I was up to today. I gave her a 'nothing much' which apparently didn't satisfy her curiosity as she continued to interrogate me from a distance until I told her I was going skating. I stuffed the device back in my pocket and noticed that Velvet's grasp on my arm had now bordered on unpleasant due to the fact that she was cutting off the blood supply.
I said nothing to her, merely kept my pain internalized as we approached our destination. In a word, the place was serene. Trees formed a semi-circle on the west side as the other half of the area surrounding the icy pond was nothing but hills which could serve as a bench provided that someone dug out some snow.
"All right, you guys strap on your skates and I'll see what I can do about making a couple decent snow seats." Cass declared.
As my huntsman uncle went about digging out the snow in the hill and packed it down so that it formed a makeshift set of chairs, the rest of us laced up our skates and began to swiftly move around the pond. Unfortunately, it had been quite a while since I'd last put on a pair of the icy blades and ended up falling more than a few times but Velvet was there to pick me up every single time. Soon enough, I found myself able to skate properly again and Velvet soon reattached herself to my arm as we moved along the frozen pond.
After a few hot chocolate breaks and a few hours of gliding on the ice, we decided to call it a day and headed back home, my scroll going off every few minutes to alert me to Siv's constant messages. Once back at home, I let Velvet have the first hot shower and we spent the remainder of the day cuddling and watching more old movies in our pyjamas on the couch downstairs.
At about ten at night when we decided to head for bed. As I lay in my childhood home while Velvet was in the attached bathroom, I couldn't remove the smile from my face as I reminded myself just how incredibly lucky I was to have her as my girlfriend. The door to the bathroom opened and light flooded the rest of the bedroom. The light soon clicked off and with my back to her, I shuffled over to make more room for Velvet as she crawled in and wrapped her arms around my waist.
Something felt odd about her grip though and as I turned over to face her, I realized that Velvet was wearing only her underwear consisting of a brown bra and panties.
"Um… Velvet?" I started, feeling the heat rush to my cheeks.
"Yeah?" She replied casually.
"Aren't you just a little bit cold?"
In the darkness, I could still see her shake her head. "No, I'm fine." I didn't think anything more of it until five minutes later when I flipped back over and she began to leave a trail of light kisses down my neck.
"Velv?"
"Yes?"
"What uh… what're you doin'?"
She giggled quietly before moving her face close to my ear and whispering in a sultry voice: "Just showing my great boyfriend how much he means to me."
I was starting to get worried as I began to fear Velvet's true intentions that were confirmed when I felt her reach for the waistband of my pants. My brain and my heart were at war with each other as my brain wanted to give in and take my relationship with Velvet to the next step but my heart objected by stating that the whole situation wasn't right and that something was wrong. Thankfully, the muscle in my chest won the debate and I quickly turned back over and gave her a worried look. "Velvet, I'm not ready for this. Not yet." I declared.
She gave me a mischievous smile. "Don't worry Joe, I am." She then reached for my waistband again but I grabbed her hands firmly. Not enough to cause harm, but just enough to stop her in her tracks as she looked me in the eyes.
"Velvet. I know this isn't you. The you I know isn't this forward and I'm also getting the feeling that something else is going on here, so please I'm begging you, tell me what it is."
Her smile then began to fade as her lust passed and she turned her back to me. "Velvet, I can't help if I don't know what's bothering you." I said quietly. She whispered something under her breath. "I'm sorry?" I replied.
She mumbled it again and I could still barely hear anything but I did manage to make out the name 'Siv'
Realization hit me like a rock flying at a hundred miles an hour. I'd been spending all this time with Velvet and talking with Sylvia the whole time, making Velvet feel jealous.
For a solid five minutes of awkward silence, I couldn't think of anything to say until I decided to hand Velvet my scroll. With a look of confusion on her face, she took it and sat up. I mirrored her position and began to explain.
"Just send her a message saying whatever you want. I want you to know that you're the only one for me and that no old female friends are going to sway how I feel about you. Remember what I said back at your parent's house after I got drunk with your dad? Drunk, sober, dead-"
"Alive, there's no way you'd cheat on me." She finished for me. I smiled and gave her a nod.
"Text Siv whatever you want." Velvet then took a picture of me and sent it to my silver-themed friend with the caption; 'Sorry bitch, he's mine.' A few seconds later, Siv replied with: 'Who the hell is this?'
'His girlfriend' Velvet returned.
A flurry of messages was then sent to my scroll, ranging from 'How come that asshole didn't mention he had a girlfriend earlier?! I can't believe I wasted my time talking to him' to 'I hope that pathetic bastard gets dumped just so he can feel my pain.'
The messages went on and on, Velvet and myself breaking into chuckles as she continued to freak the fuck out. It got humorous until she called Velvet a bitch then I took the scroll from Velvet's hands, removed Siv from my contacts list and blocked her number. "Andrea always said she was bad news anyways." I declared with a shrug.
Still smiling, I turned to Velvet who held an ashamed look on her face. "Look, I'm sorry that…" That was as far as I let her go before I silenced her with a quick kiss.
"You're not the one who has to apologize." I stated. "I should've realized that Siv was flirting with me and that she was making you uncomfortable. So I'm sorry I'm so fucking thick-headed, Velvet. I'm sorry that I didn't realize Siv's intentions earlier and I'm sorry that she tried to come between us."
She giggled and gave me a warm hug. "It's alright Joe. Now I'm going to change into something warmer and we're going to put this all behind us, okay?" She asked sternly.
I nodded back quickly. "Yes ma'am." After sharing another quick kiss, Velvet pulled on her regular pyjamas along with my hoodie and we fell asleep, wrapped in each other's embrace with stupid grins plastered on both our faces.