Alesso

Five

Diana

I propped myself up on my elbows as I laid on my stomach, bringing my hand across my face to wipe my sleepy eyes. I had a weird dream last night about a bunch of apples falling from a tree. I'm not sure what it was, but it was crazy. I rolled onto my back and looked up at the ceiling. What does today hold for me?

I got up and dragged myself to the bathroom where I did my morning routine; brushing my teeth, washing my face, and doing whatever I needed to do to my hair.

I then walked to my closet and pulled out something nice to wear. I settled on a nice dress. It was small, and only intended for when I was inside the house.

The loud commotion of dishes clanging against one another made me go downstairs and into the kitchen, seeing that my father was trying to prepare breakfast. I would do this sometimes, and so would our personal chef. I'm not sure why he's trying, but the kitchen looks a mess.

"Need any help, father?"

He quickly snapped his head to me and I think I may have scared him. Nodding, he has a defeated look on his face.

"It's okay. What were you trying to do?"

I walked closer to him as he stopped stirring the pot of food on the counter. The stove was up high, and I can already tell that this was problem one.

"I wanted to make grits, and maybe eggs and bacon"

I smiled as I looked over into the pot. The grits were brick hard and kind of burnt.

"Maybe turning the stove down would help a bit, and try to use a wooden spoon...something like this one" I said as I grabbed a wooden spoon from the drawer. "Grits cook really fast, so the stove needs to be on low, or else it will end up like this."

I grabbed the pot and sat it to the side, grabbing another and adding some water to it. Once I was done, I sat the pot back onto the stove and poured some grits in.

"You have to stir it as you go or else they'll cling to the bottom of the pot"

He nodded as he took the spoon from me, stirring as I poured the grits. "Like this?"

"Mhum. Now do you want to work on that while I get the bacon done?"

"It's already done. I followed the steps I knew, I hope it tastes good"

I looked to the side where he was looking and walked over to grab a small piece of bacon.

"Mmm. Really good. Did mother teach you?"

He shook his head and smiled, thinking about the woman he loved. He still wore his ring and didn't introduce himself as a widow. He always said that he was married and has a beautiful wife, never leaving her in the past because she's passed.

"You know you look like her, now. Your hair all slicked down, and this little dress you have on. Your mother had something similar and would wear it to bed every now and again when she couldn't find her usual pajamas"

I smiled at the thought of being anything like my mother. I adored her so much and wanted to be like her. She was the kindest, and the most loving.

"This old thing?" I said as I looked down at myself.

He continued to stir the grits as he smiled, looking at the pot. "you're so much like her, it makes me happy"

My lips parted but I dared to say anything. I could tell that he was hurt about me bringing her up, but wanted to make the best out of it. I always feel so sorry for missing her when I know my father misses her more than anyone on the planet. It just sucks that we never got to bury her, or even knew she was getting bad.

She never brought home any results or even looked as if she was sick. It was just one day, the day we all dreaded, that she passed. The lab said that they wanted to do testing on her body, so they did. My father never much explained how that went, but we never saw her after the day she kissed us good night. It still pains me that we've been through so much hurt, and only have memories left to think about her.

After getting breakfast done, my brother, my father and I sat at the breakfast table to eat. We all had grits, eggs, and bacon with a glass of orange juice.

"I wasn't up when you got back, how did it go with Alesso?"

My father looked at me as I picked up my glass, preparing to take a small swallow.

"Yeah, how did it go?"

"It went better than I expected. He was nice" I said before taking another swallow, soon sitting the glass down. "And I'm guessing he thought the same thing because he asked me out for a date".

My brother gasped and leaned closer in on the table.

"Another one?"

I nodded my head picked up my fork.

"So what was he like? I don't know him personally but everyone says that he's an asshole"

Benjamin picked up his glass of juice and downed half of it.

"He was gentle, and made sure to ask me if I was okay. The dinner was filled with many people who wore the same suit as him, and many woman who gave me dirty looks, but for the most part I felt fine"

My father scoffed. "That's because you're beautiful. They were jealous"

I nodded as I shrugged my shoulders. Of course they were. Everyone's head turned when we entered the building and they weren't looking at Alesso. They were looking at me.

"Even the men with wives look at me with a smirk, which surprised me how bold they were. It was as if they didn't care about their wives, or girlfriends" I shook my head and Ben nodded.

"Of course, because you were there"