Red Room Hours with John Tan

Butterflies

You woke up to the smell of coffee and you opened your eyes slowly, pain creeping into your body as you attempted to roll over. Wrestling John on the floor had apparently awoken muscles you'd not used in a while causing you to grimace.

"That good hmm?" John's deep morning voice teased from across the room. You finally opened your eyes to see him standing at your kitchen counter fully dressed.

"You have to stop working out! How am I supposed to throw you around when you're so much stronger than me? I'm dying over here." You pouted your full lips and glared at him until a tiny smile curled the edges of your mouth. John crossed the room quickly and swept you into his arms from beneath the covers, burying his lips into your neck kissing softly.

"Poor baby, I'm so sorry," he teased nipping at the mark he'd left there last night, "I promise to let you to win from now on." He laughed and kissed all the way to your mouth before setting you down. You grabbed the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around your naked body, being the only one without clothes made you blush suddenly.

"Let me? You think I couldn't win on my own?" You tried to keep a serious face and dragged your hands down his ribs knowing all that squeezing between your knees must have left at least a little soreness. The wince from John let you know you'd been right.

"Of course babygirl, you can win anytime you want." He kissed your forehead and you punched him softly in the abdomen. "I'm all torn up today, bruised, scratched, beaten. I know you're capable." He laughed, the sound of it making you dissolve into laughter too. Something in your stomach flipped, like tiny caged butterflies released all at once. You winced and swallowed hard.

"Did I smell coffee?" You turned away from him, a frown crossing your features and took a deep breath.

"I got up early and picked up coffee and breakfast. I thought with your aunt covering this morning we could do something cute, like a picnic? I got everything ready." You turned slightly to look at him, his wide boyish smile, white teeth showing, eyes bright. He looked comfortable, even happy and excited at what he'd planned. You noticed the colorful shopping bag with a blanket peeking out the top set by the door.

"Sounds perfect, give me a couple minutes to get ready?" You hoped your tone was appropriate to your words before you rushed into the bathroom and shut the door softly. "Oh no, no, no." You whispered the words to yourself over and over leaning against the sink eyes squeezed shut. You didn't want to feel this way about him. You really couldn't let yourself feel this way about him, Bree was barely out of the picture. There wasn't even a guarantee she was going to let herself be kept out of the picture.

You turned toward the door and wished you'd brought your phone into the bathroom. You would text Kasey, beg her to talk sense into you. Shaking your head you looked up into the mirror.

"Get it together Y/N, it's not like you're going to tell John you're in love with him." You watched as you saw the feeling cross your face, saying it out loud even barely audibly brought a panicked smile and glow to your reflection. "Fuck." You roughly twisted your hair into a bun and turned on the shower. You'd just have to process these thoughts later. You noticed the bites across your breasts as you turned to the shower, why did it feel like he'd left marks on your heart too?

Twenty minutes later John twisted his fingers through yours and led you across the green grass of a nearby park. Cool morning air still chilled the breeze and you were glad you'd worn the heavy hoodie over your T-shirt. You helped him shake the blanket over his selected spot and arrange the food between you.

"This kind of reminds me of our sushi date," he grinned at you popping a slice of apple into his mouth from the fruit salad. Why did that feel so long ago, when it had only been about three weeks?