This = Love

Chapter 13

I woke up early the next day and was surprised I didn't feel hungover. Danny was still sleeping next to me and I watched him for a while. His face was so peaceful and relaxed and the corner of his mouth turned ever so slightly to a gentle smile, I was mesmerised. But then I thought 'this is a bit creepy' so I decided it was time to get up.

Walking out of the bedroom I was greeted by the mess from last night, why didn't we just clear this up before we went to bed?

I put on the kettle and the radio - the 2 things I would need to get this done - and after having a coffee I set to work cleaning up.

The apartment may have looked like a war zone when I woke up but after about an hour and a half of collecting rubbish, washing dishes, wiping down surfaces and mopping the floors it had more resemblance of a home.

Looking around and feeling very proud of my achievement I decided to reward myself with a long soak in the bath.

Danny had still not woken up so I left a glass of water and some painkillers on the bedside cabinet, just in case, before going to the bathroom and immersing myself in the relaxing bubble bath. I have no idea how long I lay there for, I may have even fallen asleep in there. The water was now more lukewarm than hot and the skin on my fingers had shrivelled like a prune. 'Time to get out' I thought to myself.

I could hear Danny moving around the apartment so I knew he was awake. The smell from breakfast was drifting through the apartment so I dressed quickly and followed my nose to the main room.

As I walked in, the first sight that greeted me was my sexy boyfriend in the kitchen. "Just in time, I made us breakfast" he said as he picked up the plates and carried them to the table.

The second sight was not so pleasing to my eyes. The kitchen that I had just cleaned was now a complete tip again. How does he manage to make so much mess anyway?
I decided not to comment on this, bless him, he has tried to do something nice for me, so I took the seat at the table with my back towards the kitchen and tried to ignore everything that I knew was there whilst focusing only on my gorgeous man. This plan worked and we sat eating our breakfast and laughing together, remembering a few things from last night.

When I had finished eating I moved from my chair and was now sitting on Danny's lap. I was blissfully happy as we kissed each other playfully and our hands played together with our fingers intertwining.

The moment was ruined when Danny said to me "Since I cooked, would you clear up while I have a shower?". Not even the cute puppy dog eyes could help him now, I lost it, it was like he hadn't even noticed how much I had done this morning but he knew now, after my rant he started to clear the dishes in an attempt to tidy up.

"Just go and have your shower" I snapped at him and he skulked off to the bathroom.

It only took 10 minutes for me to clear the place up, it really wasn't as bad as it looked. In fact the argument with Danny had probably taken longer. As I finished up I could feel silent tears trickling down my face. Why had I been so unreasonable?

Danny came back, very cautiously and not really looking at me. "I'm sorry" he whispered.

I looked up at him with a half hearted smile and forced out the words "You've nothing to be sorry for." while I had an internal battle with myself over why I had behaved the way I did. Danny still wasn't looking at me and I could feel my heart breaking.

Eventually his eyes dared to focus on me, noticing my tears, Danny came and wrapped his arms around me as I sobbed into his chest. He stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head while reassuring me that everything will be alright.

It took me a long time to calm down but when I eventually did, we both agreed that we needed to talk but I think that neither of us knew quite where to start.

"What did I do to upset you?" Danny eventually asked me.

I wasn't angry anymore and my whole outburst felt ridiculous, I was almost ashamed to be having this conversation but I knew it had to be done. I answered honestly.

"You didn't upset me, I upset myself. I was so angry that I had spent the morning cleaning the apartment and then I came out of the bath and you had messed it up again, like you hadn't even noticed what I had done but then you thought I should clear it up because you made breakfast?"

"I didn't make that much mess"

"I know that now, that's when I got upset, when I realised that I had practically bit your head off for no good reason. I don't ever react like that and I have no reason why I did this time."

"I did appreciate you cleaning up this morning you know, that's why I made us breakfast, I just wanted to do something nice for you."

I remained silent, there was nothing I could say.