CJA + ALC

Chapter 8

My mind is foggy and unfocused, the lull of the TV and CJ's breathing taking me closer and closer to sleeping. Ash sits in the arm chair, her knees tucked up against her body, CJs leaning his head against my shoulder. I close my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. I'm not sure what time it is, but that doesn't matter right now.

"Are you guys ready for ice cream?" CJ mumbles with an absent minded tone. "Because I am."

"Yeah, sure. Should we pause the movie?" I ask, I don't even know what we're watching. Ash mumbles an incoherent reply and pauses the movie. CJ stands up and grabs my hand, pulling me up from the couch. We all go to stand in the kitchen, none of us moving to grab the ice cream. I stare off in to space, my eyes wandering around with nothing to focus on.

"Well," Ash smacks her hands on the table and moves over to the freezer, "we have chocolate, strawberry, pecan, and coffee flavored ice cream," she grabs all the containers and places them on the island.

"I'd like strawberry," CJ says as he reaches for the ice cream.

"That's your favorite, right?" I ask, my memory seeming to fail me as my body runs out of energy.

CJ just nods, "and yours is Neapolitan."

"How do you guys remember this stuff? I can't even remember my own favorite type of ice cream."

"I think maybe when you have a friend or someone you love that lives far away, your mind just remembers this stuff because you want to be able to enjoy things like eating ice cream with them. Then again, it's three in the morning, and I'm feeling a little stupid, so what do I know?" CJ rambles, ending with a shrug.

"I think we should just finish our ice cream and go to bed, CJ's getting philosophical on us," Ash whispers to me.

"We could at least finish the movie," I say back, not bothering to whisper.

"You weren't even paying attention, you were staring into space," CJ points out.

"I was paying attention," I retort, hoping that they wouldn't question me. Of course, they did.

"What's the name of the movie?" CJ asks quickly.

"Uh... The Avengers?"

"Okay, lucky guess. What part were we at?"

"The... um. I think it was, uh... the battle in New York?"

"Nope, the scene in Germany, Loki just made all of the people in the area bow down to him."

"Fine, so I wasn't paying attention," I admit, holding my hands up in defeat.

"I want to go to bed," CJ mumbles, leaning on the island and rubbing his eyes.

"We should hold off on the ice cream until tomorrow," I say, looking at the tubs sitting untouched in the middle of the island. CJ and Ash both murmur in agreement, I shuffle around, gathering the tubs into my arms and walk them over to the freezer to put them away.

"Good night, don't wake me up for anything unless the house is on the fire or you win the lottery." Ash walks away from the kitchen up to her room, waving as she goes.

"Shall we?" I ask CJ, offering him my arm to him.

"Sure thing, ya dork," he links his arm with mine and we walk upstairs to go to bed, by then the sun had started peaking over the horizon.

X-X-X-X-X

I stand alone in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in my hands, I stare out the little window above the kitchen sink. My mind is still focused on ways that I could make the decision easier for CJ. I absentmindedly sip at the hot, bitter coffee in my mug, savoring the flavor that puts my mind at ease.