Falling in Love

How Are You?

When I wake up the next morning I'm completely trapped. Greyson has his arms wrapped so tightly around me I can't move an inch. Our legs are also entwined. Great. I go to unwrap one of his arms and it's like a ratchet strap sinched one more notch tighter. My eyes widen.

"Mornin' Len." He says. I look behind me and he huffs a blonde strand of my hair out of his face. I smile.

"Good morning, Greyson. Can I get up?"

He closes his eyes again and groans, "One more minute."

I turn my head away from him and wait. He slowly releases me after a few beats. I throw my legs over the side of his bed and peak out the window. I think it's still pretty early. The sound of birds come through the glass. I look back at him and he's stretching his legs and rubbing his eyes. I stride over to the bathroom door.

Inside the bathroom I brush my teeth with my finger and wet my hands and attempt to brush my hair. When I exit the bathroom he's gone. I take a better look around his room while he's out. It's plain but cozy. The bed is pushed up against the one of two windows in the room. His other window is a bay window. I walk over to it and sit down. Staring out the window I'm not sure how much time passes before Grey walks back in with two mugs in hand. I smile and thank him. It's actually really good. He sits down next to me and stares out the window.

"Are you okay?" He glances over at me. I stop mid-sip.

"Uh- yeah I think so." I reply and finish my sip.

He nods his head and continues drinking. We sit like that for a while. When his coffee is half gone he stands and pulls me with him. I stumble before steadying. He laughs.

"Leg asleep?" I giggle and nod my head.

He leads the way to the kitchen and I sit at the table.

"What do you want to eat? I've got eggs, pancakes, hash browns, fruit.."

"I'll cook. You know how much I love it." He looks at me and smiles.

"If you insist." I laugh.

He sits down and I stand ready to make a nice breakfast for us. As I'm pulling out the pancake batter I notice a certain mug hanging on his mug rack. I walk over to it and grab it.

"You still have this?" It's the mug I made for him in the 7th grade. It says 'Murphy+Greyson forever' inside a heart.

He looks up from his phone, "Oh um- yeah. I would never get rid of it. It's too special. Means too much" he looks back down.

I smile and put it back. Resuming cooking I make the pancake batter and cut up some strawberries and blueberries. The hash browns are in the air fryer and the eggs and are the grittle along with some pancake batter circles. Once everything is done I grab 2 plates and organize everything really pretty on the table. When I plate the pancakes I put some of the fruit on top, just for the aesthetic. We eat in silence.

"You're such an amazing cook." He's almost moaning. It's comical.

"Thank you. I learned from the best." I smile at the memory of my daddy teaching me how to cook when I was 8.

"You sure did. He was an amazing man." My smile fades. 'Was'.

When I'm finished I wash my plate and all the dishes I used to cook.

"You didn't have to do that darlin'. You know cook doesn't have to clean."

"It's the least I could do after you helped me."

He smiles and washes his own dishes.

"I have to run over to Martins house really fast, do you wanna stay here or go home? I can drop you there first if you want." I contemplate my options.