Paint Over my Scars

Chapter 10

Monika's limbs shook while she stood outside of the bakery. She could smell the sweet pastries and the nice baked rolls of bread from the inside, yet her stomach turned and flipped at the scolding her father would give her. 

This morning, she woke on one of Gilbert's couch and him on the other, the smell of the still smoldering logs still remained in the air and the crisp white snow with the sun shining off it blinded her. The heavy blanket that they were both draped with the night before was wrapped around her and her head was stiff from laying on the hard couch arms. 

She glanced over at Gilbert who lightly snored while he laid on his stomach with one arm touching the wood on the ground and one leg resting on the top of the couch. She remembered the night before when they sat in front of the fireplace, both their eyelids drooping and their mouth were dry, and they both sat in the stillness with the fireplace flickering. 

She'll never attempt it out loud, but she found Gilbert's breathtaking with the fire bouncing off his pale face, his red eyes glaring in the dim lighting, and his soft and warming smiles that he showed to Monika only then. He stole her breath with every word he spoke. 

Monika cooked some breakfast for both of them- she couldn't go on with her day if she didn't have a good breakfast. She searched through his cabinets, feeling a bit guilty doing so, and realized that all she could make was artificial pancakes and eggs, so she made scrambled eggs. Once the smell of eggs filled the room, Gilbert snapped his eyes open, starving. 

"Eggs?" He made Monika jumped. 

"Is that alright?" Monika shut down the stove and showed him the big plate of scrambled eggs, "Sorry I searched through your cabinets." 

Gilbert stretched and rolled from the couch, "That's awesome and I really don't care, I usually just eat cereal in the morning."  

Monika sat the plate on the table that was nicely set with matching plates instead of Gilbert's usual paper and silverware was placed on napkins. 

"Seems pretty fancy," Gilbert sat at his chair, rolling the silverware out of the folded napkin. He stabbed some eggs with his fork and placed them on his plate. 

"Really?" Monika joined him, scooping some eggs on her plate. "My parents and I usual do this in the morning when we aren't working." 

"My parents and I use to until they divorced when I was 10 and after that, we all just ate in our separate rooms," Gilbert ate a spoonful of eggs. "I live alone so I just eat easy stuff, sometimes my friend comes over and cooks delicious food," 

"Once I moved here and my dad remarried an owner of a bakery, I had to cook things to help out at the bakery, so I normally make meals to enhance the skill,"  

Gilbert smiled at her, eating another bite. "Would you like to shop for Blackie after this?" He offered. 

"My dad is going to kill me," Monika mumbled an excuse, "I can, but I'll probably walk home from there afterward. My dad doesn't really like me hanging out with...you," 

Gilbert laughed fully, "I figured, I saw the old man trying to kill me with his eyes," 

Monika looked back at him, her eyes watching him drink water, "I'm sorry, he really doesn't like anybody like...you," 

"Like me?" Gilbert snickered, "How could somebody not like me?" 

"Well," Monika took a bite of eggs, "He doesn't like your tattoos, or hair, or piercings, or your job,"   

Despite the hurt that Monika's dad hated him, Gilbert continued to laugh, "He can suck it," 

After breakfast, Monika made sure to brush through her messy hair and pt back on her old clothes that were washed last night. He dad would kill Gilbert and her if she walked back with Gilbert's clothes on and messy hair.