Bonnie managed to keep busy by reading all night. She figured a little escapism wouldn't hurt. Judging by the types of books she found, this was home to a very sophisticated family. She jumped between novels such as The Catcher in the Rye, Pride and Prejudice and The Canterbury Tales. To her pleasant yet shocking surprise, Kai had been quiet most of the night. Too quiet. Quiet enough to raise suspension from Bonnie. She couldn't hear the TV from the master bedroom, nor make out any other sounds. She wondered briefly what he was doing or if he was asleep. A part of her wanted to go downstairs to check but she thought it would be best to stay put. She knew she would be forced to speak to him if he was awake.
She threw the book she was reading down to the end of the bed and slammed down backwards onto the massive pillows with her arms outstretched. She huffed out a sigh. She wasn't particularly tired due to her nap earlier, she just wanted to make sure she was awake before him. She had to have the upper hand somehow. She rolled onto her side and forced her eyes shut.
Her body jerked awake and she inhaled a mouthful of chilling air. Her eyes shot open and she squinted at the sunlight. It was very early in the morning. She slowly sat up and threw a hand up to her forehead, which was covered in sweat. She could feel her heart pounding against her chest. The feeling of anxiety was overwhelming. She could barely sleep. She hated living like this. She hated him. She still couldn't detect what was taking place downstairs. She threw the covers off of her, grabbed her housecoat off the door and charged downstairs.
She reached the bottom of the steps and her eyes automatically darted towards the couch. He wasn't there. The TV was on and the blankets were folded on one end of the couch. The gaming console and it's controls were placed neatly in front of the fireplace. She folded her housecoat across her chest and stepped forward into the kitchen.
"Morning, roomie!" Kai said cheerfully. "You woke up just in time for breakfast. How do you feel able french toast?"
Bonnie didn't respond as she came to a stop at the island. She knew she was doomed to repeat the same day, but did she have to repeat the day Kai almost killed her? Her head was whirling and she grabbed onto the counter.
"Hey now, I know my cooking can't be that bad. You haven't even tasted it yet. You alright?"
"I'm fine." She rested her head in her hands. "How long have you been up?" She began to rub her temple.
"Not long. Which is good news for you since I just started cooking."
Does he wake up this early everyday? Geez, how am I supposed to keep an eye on him if he's up before the birds?
He turned towards the stove, his back was facing her. "Sleep well?"
"I've had better nights."
"That's unfortunate." He turned back around towards the island and placed two slices of french toast onto two plates. "It wasn't because of me was it?"
"No." She sat on a stool. "The volume was at a reasonable level, surprisingly."
"So what was it? A bad dream?"
"Yeah. It was a nightmare."
"About?"
"About being trapped with a lunatic in a prison world."
"Having dreams about me already?" He shrugged and turned back around to face the stove. "Well, I tend to have that effect on women."
"Not this one." She said vehemently.
He turned back around to set a delicious looking omelette on one plate. "I figured I owed you that omelette you never got to eat."
Bonnie eyed it suspiciously. "Thanks." She said dryly. Why would he have remembered that?
He added another omelette to the second plate and proceeded to throw the dirty dishes into the sink. He slid on his socks over to the fridge, grabbed cups out of the cabinet and poured them each a glass of milk. He then picked up the two plates. "C'mon." And made his way to the dining table. Bonnie grabbed the two glasses and followed. They could see the sun was rising over the mountains outside of the glass door. "God that's a beautiful sight. You really outdid yourself with this place, Bon." He put the plates adjacent to each other.
"What made you pick it?" He asked taking a bite of his omelette.
"Well it was the first place I came across when I was running away from you."
"Maybe I should chase you more often."
"That won't be necessary." She took a bite of her food and had to hide her gut reaction. God, this is good. The bastard. She ate without making eye contact.
That didn't stop him from staring at her.
"You like?"
Bonnie scoffed. "It's ok."
"She said as she takes another bite. And what do you mean, 'Ok'? My cooking's marvelous. I've had years of practice, literally."
"Doesn't mean it's the best there is." She teased. "I've had better."
"From who?"
"Myself."
"Yeah right."
"Hey, don't test me, ok. I know my way around the kitchen. I can make a mean chicken parmesan."
"Well we'll have to see about that sometime then won't we?"
"I don't see why not. What did you do all night anyway?"
"Mainly played video games. Watched a little TV, read a bit, played board games, solved some puzzles-"
"You did all of that within a few of hours?"
"I have a restless mind. I like to keep myself entertained as much as possible."
"I see."
"So what did you do last night Bon Bon?" He put his elbows on the table. "You couldn't have been too tired since you took a nap in the middle of the day."
"Ok, first off, stop with the nicknames. Nicknames are reserved for friends, something you and I will never be. And I read, if you must know."
He stopped eating to give her a mock hurt expression. "I'm genuinely hurt by that, Bon. You think that by the end of all this we won't at least be friends? Maybe even something more?"
"Absolutely not."
"To which scenario?"
"Both."
"Oh c'mon. We're the only two people on earth. We're bound to grow closer." He smirked at her and leaned in. "More intimate. You said so yourself."
Bonnie recoiled away in her seat. "No, I was justifying the reason behind your clinginess. Not mine. "
"So you admit that you're clingy?
"I'll admit that you're annoying."
"Oh but that's how it always starts. Love stories I mean. At least the majority of the one's I've read. Boy likes girl. Girl hates boy. Boy slowly but surely begins to grow on girl. Girl falls in love. They live happily ever after."
"You read love stories?"
"A plethora, actually. For intellectual purposes of course."
"Oh of course. What does someone like you know about love anyway?"
Kai paused mid chew to think about his response. "Based on what I've read and witnessed, I know that love consumes the people that feel it. It overwhelms them and drives them to do things that they normally wouldn't do under it's influence. It clouds their judgement and reduces them to mere idiots. It is for that reason that I'm glad that I'm not burdened by it."
Bonnie simply stared at him.
"What? Not the response you were expecting?"
"Love does not 'reduce people to idiots.' In fact, it does the opposite. It brings out the best in people. Wouldn't expect you to know much about that since you have no good qualities to bring out."
"Aww, you've been in love before haven't you, Bon?"
"That's none of your business." She snapped back despite the warmth in her cheeks beginning to rise.
"No need to get touchy, that's just what I've observed. And I have plenty of good qualities. I'm sophisticated, somewhat, charming, hilarious, witty, cunning-"
"I get it. You're a perfect ten!"
"Glad you think so."
She shook her head and looked down at her plate which was half empty. She hadn't noticed that she had stopped eating.
"Finished?"
She nodded and Kai stood up with his plate in hand she held up her own for him to take.
Uh oh. It was happening again. How was Kai able to get her to talk so easily? If anyone had the gift of gab, he did and it was at full force. More importantly, she didn't like it. He came back into the living room and sat on the arm of on the couch. He pulled a Rubik's Cube out of his pocket and began to tinker with it.
"So, what's on the agenda for today, roomie?"
Bonnie rose from the table. "Well for starters, you're going to stop calling me 'roomie'. And I don't know about you, but I'm about to go for a run."
"Ooo, good idea! I'll go change."
"Alone." She said and hurried up the stairs before he could protest.
When Bonnie got back she ran straight upstairs to shower. She dusted the master bedroom and the two children's rooms. She also vacuumed even though there was no real dirt that accumulated. She began to do anything to refrain from going downstairs. She even went as far as to rearrange items in the bathroom. She stood in the middle of the hallway to examine her work. She peeped into the kids' rooms for a second to see if Kai had tampered with anything. There was no sign of his bags or the ascendant for that matter.
What else can I do? She knew the honest answer to that was nothing. The second floor was spotless, which didn't really matter as the day would reset and everything would be back in it's original place on that date regardless of what she did. She knew her tactic to keep busy in order to avoid him was futile. She couldn't stay upstairs forever. She paused to listen for any movement downstairs. Again she heard nothing. She sighed and hung her head, knowing she would have to eventually do the unavoidable, and went down the steps.
To her surprise, Kai was reading. He was pacing between the fairplace and the coffee table with a book in one hand and the Rubik's Cube in the other. Bonnie wondered what sort of books intrigued him.
"Finally come down to join me?" He asked not looking up from the pages.
"I actually came down to do some cleaning." She made a beeline for the restroom.
"Well pardon me."
She dipped below the counter and pulled out gloves and cleaning supplies and started on the counter top.
"You know there's no need for that, right?" She looked up into the mirror and could see him leaning on the door frame, book and Rubik's Cube still in hand.
"Everything will just reset."
"I know." She said still scrubbing. "I just wanted something to do."
"Well you could spend some quality time with your lovely house guest." He opened his arms to indicate himself. "Besides, haven't you heard that it's rude to ignore your company? You're not being a very good host, Bon Bon."
"What did I say about nicknames?" She glared at him through the mirror and scrubbed harder for emphasis. "And I'm not obligated to host and entertain a house guest that forced himself into the house to begin with."
Kai hung his head. "Look, you and I are gonna be stuck here for, who knows how long. All we have is each other. I just wanna make the best of it."
Bonnie didn't know what to make of his statement. His tone sounded somber but she kept in mind who it was coming from.
"Plus, you can't avoid me forever. Only two people here and all." His usual flippant tone had returned. "C'mon, I'm sure we can find something to do."
Her arms gradually began to slow down the pace of her scrubbing until they finally came to a complete stop. She irritably gawked at her reflection and slunk her shoulders. He was right. There was only so much she could do to keep busy in the house and she was all out of ideas. She stubbornly continued to lightly clean the restroom despite it not being that dirty to begin with.
Once she emerged, she saw him reaching for the box of video games.
"What is it with guys and video games?"
"They keep my mind occupied. Plus they're just fun. Wanna play?" He asked waving a controler around. "I've gone through just about every single-player game."
She thought for a moment. Honestly, what else did she have to do? She couldn't avoid him forever. She sat on one end of the couch and Kai handed her a controller.
"First place, called it."
"It's all yours."
He placed the console on the coffee table and grabbed the end of her controller and inserted it. He then took his place on the couch and set the box in between them. He began rummaging through it.
"Hmm, they don't have anything too gripping. Granted, the kids look as if they were about ten. Oh, what about this one?" He turned to hand her a cartridge.
Bonnie examined it. "Jurassic Park?"
"Yeah?"
"I liked the movie, don't know how I'd feel about it as a game."
"Fine. What about this?" He handed her another one.
"DinoCity? I'm sensing a theme here."
"I had a thing for dinosaurs as a kid. And apparently so did the kid who lived here." He pulled out another one. "Oh Final Fantasy! Doesn't seem like it'd be your thing but you gotta play it at least once."
He delved deeper into the box before pulling out a game and exclaiming, "Perfect! I'm sure this one's two player."
He got up and inserted the cartridge into the console. Mario Kart appeared on the screen and Bonnie hated to admit it but she got somewhat excited. The nostalgia hit her harder than she anticipated.
"I haven't played this in years!"
"I know, it's a classic. Tag team or versus.?"
"Versus."
"Whoa, wait," he interjected theatrically, "who said you could be Mario?"
"Uh, I did. He's the best character, why would I want to be anyone else?"
"Exactly. And I'm player numero uno, so be Princess Peach or something."
"Why? Because I'm a girl?"
"Precisely."
"Tough luck. Be Luigi."
"Luigi, seriously?! You want me to be the off-brand Mario? I'll pass."
Ok, that was pretty funny. She couldn't help but giggle. "He is not the off-brand Mario. What about Bowser?"
Kai shook his head. "Too slow. I guess Toad will have to do for now."
"You know the character you choose doesn't actually matter. It's all about the skill of the player."
"True. I have no shortage of skill so, this should be easy." He sat resting his elbows on his knees.
"Don't get too cocky."
"Oh but I have every reason to be." He gave her a winning smile which earned him an eye roll.
"Stop running me off the road!" She laughed.
"Wouldn't have to if you didn't keep bumping into me!"
The round ended and Bonnie's character illuminated the screen.
"Ha! That's the seventh round I've won."
"He grinned. Not bad, Bennett." He waved his hand dismissively. "But I'm only one round behind and I've got all night to catch up. Don't get too comfortable."
It hadn't occurred to her that it was nighttime. "What time is it?"
Kai flicked his wrist and checked his watch. "8:15."
"Oh my god." She said under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just," How the hell did it get so late without me noticing? "Are you hungry? I'm hungry. I should make dinner." She hastily got up from the couch and power walked to the kitchen, leaving Kai on the couch bewildered.
She began pulling out random ingredients, having no clue as to what she wanted to eat. She fumbled with a package of dried pasta. Damn, him. She turned the stove on and filled a giant silver pot with water and placed it on the heating eye.
"Whatcha making?" She heard from behind her. He had some into the kitchen.
She didn't turn around. "Shrimp pasta."
"Sounds good. That sense of hunger came on rather abruptly."
"Yeah well, gotta eat sometime." She poured the box of pasta into the boiling water.
"Need some help?"
"No!" She almost shouted. She finally turned around to face him. "I'll get it done quicker alone. Just, go back to playing the game. I'll be done soon."
"Okay." He said skeptically. He hopped off the stool and went back to the living room.
She reached into the freezer and pulled out a bag of shrimp. What has Kai done with the ascendent? He doesn't keep his bags in the living room anymore. They aren't even in the kids' rooms. She boiled the shrimp, seasoned them and drained the pot of pasta. I have to keep looking. I can't keep getting sidetracked like this. I have to think of something.
She added the shrimp to the pasta and sprinkled basil on top. She made herself a plate and headed upstairs.
"Dinners ready." She chimed as she entered the living room.
Kai stood up. "You're not gonna have dinner with me?" His asked, arms outstretched with a controller in hand.
"Not tonight." She ascended the stairs.
"Or any other night, apparently."