Bite Me

Chapter 3

A feeble shaking and a soft tone coaxed Roxanne from her deep slumber. Still she was unwilling to wake up fully, so scrunched her eyes tighter, hoping the shaking would stop and she could continue sleeping peacefully for a change. It didn't stop. In fact it got more forceful, not violent, simply persistent as the voice grew more impatient and less gentle. She soon realised the voice belonged to Zach and she whined in protest, clutching at the covers, determined to stay in bed.

"Rox, come on, get up. Breakfast's downstairs." Zach pleaded, knowing Roxanne couldn't refuse his cooking. He was right too, as at that moment she shot up to a sitting position, stretching and yawning and folding her arms across her body then pouting at Zach as he chuckled at her. "Knew that would work." He smirked, muttering under his breath so Roxanne wouldn't hear. "I'll go and wait for you downstairs, no one's in so you can wear one of my t-shirts like normal." His smirk changed into a genuine smile as he left the room, leaving Roxanne to get changed. She complained to herself quietly all of the time it took her to get out of bed and go into Zach's walk-in-wardrobe, finally opening a draw and taking out a t-shirt at random. It was his Avenged Sevenfold shirt that he'd gotten when they'd been to see them. Zach was a fair few inches taller than Roxanne and so his shirts were like dresses on her, this was one of the longer ones, just reaching her knees. She wouldn't wear them around the house if his parents or Evan were home, even if they were like her own parents she still felt the need to look presentable, she didn't mind if Zoe was in though, after all they were like sisters anyway.

Roxanne was ready to go downstairs, or so she thought. She caught a glimpse of herself as she passed the mirror on Zach's wall, making her stop and stare at her reflection, appalled at what stared back at her. Her hair was all over the place, sticking up everywhere as if she'd received an electric shock; her skin was slightly pink on one side where she'd buried her face in the pillow and, because she hadn't taken her make-up off the night before, a few streaks of mascara were running from her eyes, down her cheeks and almost reaching her jaw. After a few moments of gazing in panic, she began her work. It only took her around five minutes to make herself decent but she felt far more comfortable now her hair was straight; her skin was one tone and her mascara was back where it should be. Roxanne had always been like this, not self-conscious but aware of her image and the way she would be perceived. She wouldn't make a huge effort to make herself look like a model but she knew how to dress to flatter her figure and apply make-up appropriately. She despised the sight of girls who had lines around their necks, like nooses, from badly applied foundation or who could barely keep their eyes open because they were weighed down by false lashes. Zach had mentioned before how he liked the natural look, he'd said it was one of the many things he loved about Roxanne.

Zach turned around as he heard the kitchen door open seeing Roxanne walking over to the breakfast bar and sitting down. He smiled at her as he placed a breakfast of pancakes and syrup in front of her, almost able to see her mouth-watering making him chuckle lightly. Roxanne tore her eyes away from the stack of pancakes and looked at him confused before he shook his head still laughing slightly. That was Roxanne's cue, and she began to eat, suddenly aware of how hungry she really was.

"Slow down Rox, you'll make yourself sick." Zach frowned, momentarily concerned, but Roxanne did as she was told slowing her pace. "I remember when we went to see them." Zach said motioning to the Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt. "That was what, our third or fourth proper date? I can't believe it was your first concert. Oh I was meant to tell you, I got a phone call earlier." At this point Roxanne looked over at the clock, it was 10 am, and she'd wondered how early earlier was, not who it was or what they had said. "It was Blaine. He wanted to know where you were, when you'd be home and why you hadn't called." Zach continued as Roxanne sighed, irritated by her older brother's overprotective nature.