I groaned and refused to open my eyes for a moment, the faint sound of something sizzling and the smell of something pleasant and edible wafting through the air. I rolled over and reached for my lover, only to find her usual place in my bed bare and the area she usually laid in cold, signaling that she had been out of my bed for some time. I opened my eyes and sat up some, glancing down to the first floor and seeing her blond head moving about in the kitchen.
I collapsed back into the large bed, unwilling acknowledging that without the woman down stairs in it that it wasn't as inviting as it used to be. I slowly turned my head towards the bedside clock that read eight-thirty. I groaned again, eyes cutting over to the large open windows, the sun blocked out by them due to the blinds I had recently installed. I had never used a clock, but in the last couple months I had started. Seeing as how my girlfriend was paranoid about someone in the surrounding buildings peeping in on her, she had flat refused to make love to me in my loft until the blinds had been installed. And I was having a hard time adjusting considering I usually got up when the sun crept into my apartment.
But it was worth it I suppose. Not that I had a problem with Claire's apartment, but given her overly friendly maintenance man and her neighbor, I had just figured it best for us to use my loft for such things. Of course over the last two months when I had to go on business trips I would go directly to Claire's apartment when I returned to town, even if it was only to slide into bed next to her and hold her while she slept. I hated being away from the woman and had grown quite accustomed to her being beside me at night, and as such had a lot of difficulty sleeping when out of town.
I warily stood, feeling my legs pop in protest when I put my weight on them . I lazily tossed the blankets back up the bed and stretched. I blinked tiredly down at the clothes littering the floor, the events from last night flashing through my mind. I had been gone for three agonizingly long days, and had returned to the office late afternoon, thankfully before Claire went home.
Despite Kai's jesting on the plane ride home that I would just take her home and keep her in bed without thinking of anything else, I had tried damn hard to do so. I figured she deserved it, and she would enjoy a nice dinner at an expensive restaurant. And I hadn't minded taking her shopping for a nice dress to wear, nor did I have any qualms about paying for it.
I had decided I could lay out four hundred dollars without batting an eyelash on a chiffon gown, because in all honesty it wasn't that much to me. My mother had purchased dresses in the five figure range after all, so I felt it was nothing. Especially considering how it looked on her, and better yet how it looked on the floor of my room after dinner. I saw the gown draped over the edge of the bed, knowing full well that I had pulled it off her several feet away. I shook my head and began to gather the clothes on the floor, knowing that Claire would do it when she came up. She didn't seem to think that…this was what I paid the maid for. But as long as she was happy…
I dropped the clothes in the hamper before descending down stairs, wondering where my shirt had disappeared to during the night. I didn't have to ponder over it long because once on the first floor of the loft and rounding the island in the kitchen I discovered that my girlfriend had chosen to wear my shirt while she mad breakfast. And only my shirt.
I sat on the bar stool, propping my elbows on the countertop and holding my head up as my eyes followed her every movement. It was nice, having someone here with me, cooking breakfast. Claire…was always doing something here. Making something or cleaning. It was hard to get her to stay still. Unless of course she was pinned to my bed. She didn't often make attempts to escape that.
I would have offered to help her, but she always refused it when I offered. She was content in the kitchen alone, and I honestly wasn't in the mood to fight off an angry blond wielding a plastic spatula. I could sit here and just wait quietly for my pancakes.
"Good morning," Claire hummed out happily and sat the plate down in front of me.
"Morning," I muttered out, gaze still following her movements. She made her way to the cabinet and grabbed some glasses. I kept them on the top shelf, and watching her stand on tip toe and stretch upwards to grab them, my shirt rising up her lithe form to reveal her panties, I decided being a spectator in the kitchen was not so incredibly terrible.
I stood up, seeing as how I kept my syrup on top of the fridge, and figured that she would never be able to reach it. I walked up behind her as she pulled the milk out of the fridge, towering over her as I grabbed the bottle. I sat in on the table in the middle of the two plates, just as she placed the glasses and milk down.
"You know," I began with a sigh, sitting down and grabbing my fork, stabbing the pancakes so it stood up in them. "Not that I'm complaining about this…but…it would be nice to wake up with you in the bed on the weekends," I mumbled, sulking slightly.
"Gray," she chided, shaking her head and grabbing the syrup bottle, pouring some on her own breakfast. "If you're going to pout about it I guess I can try to sleep in with you tomorrow," she said, her nose wrinkling up as she spoke.
"You act like its punishment," I muttered, snatching the syrup from the table and drowning my own pancakes as the giggled.
"It's hard for me to stay in bed here. I like for it to be dark in my room when I sleep. There is a reason that I have the apartment that I do you know. There are no windows in my bedroom," she explained, beginning to eat. I swallowed my own mouth full of food before replying.
"If I have to start tying you to the bed I will," I said sternly, causing the woman to blush. She tried to hide it by sipping on her milk, but I smirked regardless, knowing I had embarrassed her.
"You're incorrigible," she finally muttered, pushing her hair back exasperatedly and returning her attention to her breakfast. I chuckled and we continued to eat in a for the most part comfortable silence. Once I was done and finished my milk, I was admittedly more awake and functional. And I remembered something I had been intending to discuss over dinner last night, but had failed to do so seeing as how I had been to immersed in Claire and her every reaction on our outing.
"I want to take you to meet my Grandfather," I said quietly, eyes meeting hers and giving her an encouraging smile.
"Your…grandfather?" she said questioningly, her expression becoming rather curious. I nodded my head and continued on.
"There is a family gathering coming up, and I think that it would be a good opportunity for me to introduce you to him," I began to explain, drumming my fingers somewhat nervously on the table. At the mention of family she paled somewhat, biting her lower lip nervously.
"Don't worry about my mother. She won't be there," I assured her, reaching over the table and brushing my fingers over her small hand. "You can meet my step mother, and I promise she'll adore you," I began to explain, my eyes shutting comfortably at the thought. "My sister will be there, and my brother-in-law. Kai will be there I'm sure," I began to ramble, trying to pass off the nervousness that was growing inside of me at the moment.
"Is…is your Grandfather an important person?" she murmured, interrupting me. I chewing on the corner of my cheek, nodding my head firmly and then trying to give her an encouraging smile.
"He's the head of the family," I began, somewhat hesitantly. "His approval…means a lot to me." Claire didn't say anything after that, and because of her silence I began to go over the possibilities in my head.
I believed my grandfather would like her, but then again he hadn't approved of Mary. He hadn't felt that we were meant for each other, whatever that meant. I just think it was because my mother had handpicked the poor girl for me, and it was no family secret that my mother and grandfather loathed each other. Granted I had cared for Mary, but those feelings weren't the same as the ones I had now. I had done it simply because my father had asked me to give it a chance, to make my mother quit her nagging.
But even though I felt good about this idea, this trip, I still had a sinking feeling in my gut. Because when ever my grandfather disproved of a relationship it always failed. He was like a damn fortune teller when it came to these things. He had disproved of Mary, my mother, Kai's mother, and yet he had approved Manna. Dad and Manna were still together, and he had approved of Cliff when Ann brought him home from college. They were on their third child now. So I was praying that he would approve of this relationship.
And even if he didn't, I wouldn't be able to end it. I would under no circumstances be the one to leave Claire. Even if I hadn't been as open about it, I knew that I loved her, and I think she knew it too. It wasn't something I damn well went around saying all the time, and I hadn't felt it the right moment to tell her that yet. Women always wanted those words to be said at special moments, and I just hadn't felt a moment had been special enough.
"We'll be leaving on Wednesday night after work. It's about a ten hour flight, and from the airport in Scotland a two hour drive to my grandfather's."
"Wednesday! Oh but… but that is only four days!" she exclaimed, clearly not happy with the little amount of time I'd given her notice. "I've no idea what to pack, " she began, gathering the dishes and placing them in the sink. I watched her bemusedly and shook my head.
"Pack warmly. And we'll need to buy you another dress," I said casually, standing up and trying my best to bite back a chuckle when Claire spun around, her eyes wide.
"But…But you just bought me a dress last night. Why can't I wear that one?" she mumbled, her hand coming up under her chin, my overly large sleeve sliding down to reveal her hand.
"Well for one it isn't formal enough, and two it's damn sure not warm enough," I began, shrugging my shoulders and closing my eyes while I thought it over. "Do you not like it?" I asked skeptically, looking down at the young woman and turning my head to the side. She shook her head vigorously and stepped closer to me, her small hands resting flat against my bare chest.
"No I love it. I just…don't see why you should spend so much money on a dress that I'll probably only wear once," she murmured, stepping closer to me and slipping her small arms around me. "If you think its best I get a different one, I trust your judgment." I smirked some at this, happy to know that she had so much faith in me. My hands rested on her waist and I bent down, nipping playfully at her ear.
"Why don't we get a shower, hmm?" I said teasingly, already knowing the answer. Claire refused to consider the intimate act in my bathroom. The blinds for in there had not been installed, and she had a hard enough time going in there by herself to shower. But no one could look into this building, and it didn't matter if the shower was glass and see through. It's not like anyone would be standing outside the window on the twentieth floor. But she was still paranoid about it.
"N-no I think I'll manage just fine by myself," she stammered out, her hands coming up to hide her flustered face. After the two months we had been together I was beginning to think that this was a part of Claire's personality that would never go away. Not that I minded. I personally found it endearing that she became so flustered with me, perhaps because I was so easy to fluster myself that is was nice to do it to someone else for once.
I watched as Claire made her way to the bathroom, trying her best to hide her flushed face with her hair, and I couldn't help but to shake my head when the sound of the bathroom door lock latching reached my ears. Evidently the woman didn't trust me not to sneak in there after her. I walked over to my coffee pot and poured me a fresh cup, musing over the events coming up.
"Four days," I said firmly, grinning some before taking a sip of the bitter liquid that I had come to need to keep me awake.