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Chapter 20: All Apologies

"Good morning, sunshine." J says as he leans propped up on an elbow.

I roll over and cover my eyes with my arm.  "It's too early for this."

"Too early for what?"

"Being awake, being alive, leaving dreamland, take your pick."

J laughs and sits up.  "Come on, my mom made waffles."

"Waffles?" I perk up.  "I guess I could get up... if I must."

He sits up and grabs my arm in an attempt to pull me from the bed.  I roll until I hit the floor and then stand up.  J looks at me questioningly before shrugging and grabbing some clothes from his dresser.

"Should I just go downstairs in this?" I ask.

"It's up to you.  My mom won't care, she says boy clothes are comfier than girl clothes."

"Well they are.  Is she going to think we slept together if I go downstairs in this?"

"We did sleep together."

"I mean the other way that people sleep together."

"Uhhh, probably not.  Mainly because these walls are paper thin and she'd have heard if anything aside from sleeping had happened." He says.

"Right.  Well your choice.  Downstairs in this or my clothes from yesterday?"

"I like the way you look in my clothes.  Just go like that." He smiles.

"Okay."  I walk over and peck his lips.

"We could just stay up here, food is overrated."

I smirk.  "Food is amazing, now put a shirt on."

He shakes his head with a grin and pulls a shirt on, along with a pair of jeans, then grabs my hand and leads me down the stairs. 

"Good morning kids!"

A woman peeks her head out from behind a door and smiles.  "Come take a seat!"

We walk into the kitchen and J pulls out a chair for me at the dining room table.

"Morning, mom." He says before pecking her cheek.

"Morning dear.  Can you grab the orange juice and the glasses off the counter?  Thanks."

"Would you like a hand with the food?" I offer.

"No thank you dear, we've got it all under control.  You just take a seat and get comfy."

I sit in the chair that J had pulled out for me and watch her cook.  She had her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail and an apron wrapped loosely around her.  She had music playing in the background and whirled through the kitchen in time with the beat.

"Orange juice for the lady." J says as he appears beside me, now wearing an apron around his  waist.  He sets a glass of juice on the table in front of me before taking a seat beside me.

"It's so... lively in here.  Is it like this every morning?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"It's amazing.  My house has never been this interesting, not in a long time."

"What's it like at your house then?" He asks.

I try not to break down, just to remember the good times, because I can't tell him, not here, not with his mom making us breakfast, not where there's happiness.  I can't ruin anything for them, no matter how badly it hurts.

"My house?  Well it used to be nice, my mom and I would make breakfast together, then we'd sit down in front of the t.v and watch talk shows.  When commercials would come on, we'd try to think of the most bizarre use of that product, and whoever came up with the better idea would get to sit on the couch while the other person would go do the dishes.  And then I'd go to school, and when I came back there would always be a snack waiting on the table for me, and my mom would probably be outside, planting or watering something, or just sitting on a lawn chair reading a magazine.  Then I'd go outside and join her, and we'd count the tomatoes growing on each plant.  Sometimes we would go out to the mall or to see a movie together as soon as I got home, before all the couples went, because my mom hated to have to sit through a movie with the knowledge that 3 seats away, there were people making out.  Dinner was pretty much the same as breakfast, except instead of playing games to figure out who would do the dishes, we had a rule.  Whoever cooked dinner got to relax while the other would clean up afterwards.  And then I'd go upstairs and do my homework and go to sleep, and it would start over again the next day."