Thalia's whole day was a complete mess if she didn't complete her ritual. Every morning, she would wake up and drag herself out to her kitchen where she would then brew a cup of strong black coffee. She would cut up a bowl of fresh fruit and then eat it on her porch. Everyday, she did this. If it was raining or snowing or simply too cold, she would eat in her window seat. It was a tradition and Thalia had no intention of giving it up anytime soon. Of course, then he had to come into the picture.
Carter Markeson was a dick. Plain and simple. Thalia wasn't even sure that he wasn't a convicted serial killer someplace. He blew into sleepy Harisford, Maine and disrupted everyday life. He was cocky, got people to do what he wanted with a charming smile, was completely manipulative and didn't give a damn about what anyone thought. That was until he met Thalia. He immediately focused all of his attention on her, never relenting in his endless goal of getting her to go on a date with him. Initially, she strongly disliked him. However, no matter what he did, she couldn't persuade herself to hate him. There was something about his cocky smirk and arrogant ways that drew her to him, no matter how much her friends warned her against falling for him.
One day, she eventually gave up trying to reject his advances and started encouraging them. Thalia's still not sure how it happened. Of course, Carter was overjoyed. He treated her like she was on a golden pedestal and always attempted to make her happy. He went a little overboard occasionally, but Thalia indulged him.
He had committed some pretty unforgivable acts however. He had started interrupting her morning ritual. This morning, he had barged into her small house, a bag on one arm and a bright smile on his face. He had set the bag down on her small table, and started pulling croissants out of it and setting them on her slightly chipped plates, before noticing the way that Thalia was blearily staring at him, a cup of steaming coffee cradled in her hands. "What the hell?" she had exclaimed, giving him possibly the dirtiest glare that she could muster. "Get out," she said ushering him out of her house and locking him out. That had been the first incident of many more to come.
Today, he was currently attempting to get her to eat an omelet instead of fruit and he had the audacity to suggest that she add sugar and creamer to her normally black coffee. With a dark glare, Thalia stopped Carter in his tracks. "I will not be putting any of those toxic chemicals into my body. You realize how bad fake sugar is for you?" Carter simply rolled his eyes and continued with his bustling around the kitchen.
"Lia, it's not a matter of health or death, its a matter of actually tasting something good versus the taste that something died in your mouth. I'm simply looking out for you," he explained. He was now at the countertop, chopping up some mushrooms and cooked bacon. He gave her a sidelong glance, a small smile curving his lips. Carter put the ingredients into the eggs that were cooking on the stove and spun around to her dock that was sitting on the island. "Toss me your phone," he ordered her. Giving a roll of her eyes, she wiggled her phone out of her tight pocket and lightly threw it to him.
Humming quietly under his breath, Carter unlocked her phone and started browsing through her music. Giving a small laugh, he glanced at Thalia with light blue eyes. Plugging her phone on, the instrumentals started to play. Thalia's mouth dropped open with shock. "The Monster Mash?" She exclaimed, a wide smile growing on her face. This was one of her all time favorite songs and she hadn't remembered that she purchased it about five years ago. "I love this song! I haven't listened to it since before I moved to Maine." A nostalgic look crept up, before she was startled out of her reverie by Carter's ridiculous singing and dancing along to the song.
Sitting at her small table, Thalia speared a small piece of mango with her fork, giving Carter a wary look as he approached the table with two omelets. He gave her a sly grin before cutting into his food. Placing it on his tongue, Carter gave an over-exaggerated moan. "This is so good, you have no idea." Rolling her eyes, Thalia ignored him once more and ate a strawberry. Taking a sip from her coffee, she let out a shrill shriek of indignation as Carter snatched her cup away from her. He dumped a small packet of sweetener and a little bit of milk into her drink, before setting it back down in front of her. "Enjoy, sweetheart."
Her jaw dropped and she groaned. "Absolutely not, Carter. Are you an idiot? I told you no!" She burst out, getting to her feet and pushing him slowly but surely to the door. "Leave. I can't tolerate people who don't respect my breakfast decisions." She had successfully managed to get him out her faded red front door, but he stood immobile in the doorway. "Ugh. Leave!" She half shouted, glaring at him. He just laughed and sauntered away, giving her a small salute. Thalia slammed her door shut and sunk down it, her back resting against the firm wood. Dragging a hand down her pale face, she sighed heavily. She knew that he would be back tomorrow.
~
Thalia and Carter had been dating for about six months and he was still persisting on his mission to get her to switch up her breakfast routine. As she was extremely stubborn, she hadn't given in to his arguments, but had given him a key to her small rustic house. His influence was starting to creep into the decor and small things that were scattered about the house. Currently, Thalia was perched on a kitchen stool, wearing one of his sweatshirts and drinking her coffee. On her table, her notes were spread out as she revised for a test early in the morning. It was a little past midnight and Thalia could feel the lure of sleep creeping up on her. Her phone went off, the Monster Mash was playing loudly. She had set it as Carter's ringtone after that morning months ago. It never failed to put a smile on her face.
She answered the phone tiredly. "Hello?" she asked, not really in a mood to talk at that exact moment. She rubbed her eyes exhaustedly with her free hand, before taking a large sip of her black coffee. Carter's voice filtered in from the other side of the phone as he questioned about her well being. "Carter, I'm fine, I swear." Thalia could practically hear him roll his eyes. Without anything else, the line went dead. Sighing, she causally tossed her phone on the table as the doorbell rang. Dragging herself to the door, Thalia looked through the peephole to see Carter's back. Sighing heavily, she threw the door open and angrily snapped, "What?"
He spun around quickly, his eyes widening. "To be honest, I thought you were just going to ignore me." As Thalia opened her mouth to respond harshly, Carter quickly stepped inside of her house. "But I'm very glad that you didn't." He leaned down to kiss her quickly, before continuing on his way to her kitchen. Pulling two plates out of her peeling yellow painted cabinet, he set a small paper bag on the countertop. "I thought you might need a refresher," he said when Thalia gave him a confused gaze.
From the bag he pulled a small container of yogurt, a bag of granola, and a package of freshly cut fruit. "Parfaits?" Thalia inquired, slightly suspiciously. Carter was now in the process of finding spoons in her extremely cluttered kitchen drawers.
"Why? Is there something wrong that? It has fruit in it right?" Thalia laughed just laughed and nodded, slightly touched by his thoughtfulness. She didn't want to let Carter know that, however. It would just inflate his already enormous ego. Picking up a spoon, she mixed the ingredients together in a bowl and started eating, not caring that it was almost one in the morning. At this point, she probably wasn't going to get any sleep.
Sliding back onto the stool, she sighed, rubbing at her temples before taking another bite of the food in front of her. Carter slid into the stool across from her, glancing curiously at the papers that were scattered across the table. "What's going on? Can I help in any way?
Thalia shrugged, feeling a surge of overwhelming helplessness. Burying her face in her hands, she shrugged minutely. "I have a huge test tomorrow and I feel like everything is collapsing in on me and I don't know what to do," she managed to get out, feeling the anxiety consume her. Thalia heard rather then saw Carter get up out of his chair.
She felt his hands on her back, pulling her towards him. He tilted her head towards him, smiling gently at her. "Why don't you try sleeping?" He asked quietly, searching her face. When she opened her mouth to protest, he shook his head firmly. "No, no arguments. Go to bed. Get some sleep; the test will still be here in the morning. I'll clean up." Giving in, Thalia stumbled off to her room, the exhaustion finally catching up to her.
"Carter," she called out softly when she was cocooned in her comforter. He appeared in her doorway, leaning against the frame, regarding her with a fond smile and a cocked head.
"What's up?" He asked, hands tucked into his pockets.
"Stay, please," Thalia all but pleaded. "It's cold and you're always infernally warm." Carter laughed and kicked off his shoes while entering the room, shutting the door behind him. He pulled of his shirt and jeans, tossing them carelessly into the laundry basket in the corner of her room.
Sliding into the bed beside her, Carter reached over her body to turn off the bedside lamp. "G'night, Lia."
