December 27th, 1991 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time
The bright sunlight streaming in from the window burns my blurry gaze. The loft is never this well lit- so it takes me a moment to remember where we are. I fumble for my glasses. When everything comes back into focus, I roll over and see that I am alone in the bed. Alarmed (after dating Maureen for years) I look around the room, frantically. But Maddie is merely sitting in the corner, scribbling away as she occasionally glances out of the open window. She hasn't noticed yet that I am awake. I silently sit up and retrieve my camera- even when I have sex, I don't like to keep it far from me.
As the camera whirs to life, Maddie turns and sees me. She beams. "Good morning, Mark."
"Hey. You sleep well?" She grins even more.
"You would know." Laughing, I toss a pillow at her. She catches it and sticks out her tongue at me.
"You're so mature."
"So, we survived this vacation," Maddie changes the subject.
"Oy, don't remind me. I'd almost forgotten how crazy yesterday was."
"Do you want to go back there one more time, before we go back to the City?"
"Honestly, no. But I feel like we should, just once. I'd like to see him sober once. Before the wedding."
"When do we want to have the wedding?" Maddie's eyes light up- she's so thrilled about us. "I mean, ideally we should wait until I graduate, but that's a whole year and a half away…" Maddie doesn't complete the thought, but I know well enough what she's thinking.
"Don't worry," I whisper. She beams again and flutters toward me, and as she sits beside me I kiss her naked forehead.
"I can never worry when I'm with you," she murmurs, looking up into my eyes. She kisses me on the lips.
"Mmmm."
"Speaking of which," Maddie says, "shall we order breakfast?"
"Yeah. Who do you have to screw to get some Cap'n Crunch?" Maddie bats her eyelashes demurely. "Oh, really? I might have to take you up on that…"
Out of politeness, I shut the camera off.