Heavy Wears The Crown

Twenty Six

"Why am I so emotional? No, it's not a good look, gain some self-control and deep down I know this never works but you can lay with me so it doesn't hurt? Oh, won't you stay with me?"

-------- Stay With Me - A Story Told (Sam Smith Cover) --------        

        "You're still here...and you're making pancakes?" Nolan asked not bothering to hide his shock early into the morning.

I slapped a pancake onto a plate with a little more force than necessary.

"Carter?"

"What did you want me to do Nolan, jump off the bus? Would that have broken me enough for you?"

"I guess not..." He muttered slowly and sat down in front of it. He was shirtless, in only his boxers the way he often woke up with his hair a mess, the right side sticking up just a bit worse than the left. The cold stony ásshole features hadn't set in yet, it took a good hour before Satan woke up inside of Nolan in the mornings. He was groggy and slow when waking up, Satan slept in. "Look Carter, about last night-"

I slammed the frying pan back onto the stove and he quieted for a moment while I poured the batter. I had a plate with pancakes stacked so high the tower was wobbling but continued to cook.

"I'm sorry." He said again.

I didn't care. Not about his apology, his excused, his bet, his anything. It would all be falling on deaf ears.

"I didn't know what I was doing when I made that bet-" I snorted. He knew exactly what he was doing. "I was, I am, just an ásshole. It was a mistake. Please Carter-"

I turned around and slammed a bottle of syrup down in front of him. Fat free of course. "Honestly Nolan you would have better luck talking to your pancakes than me because I'm not interested."

I turned back to the stove.

"Okay pancake. I'm sorry. I was an ásshole. If you stay with me-" I looked over my shoulder, he'd picked his plate up and had raised it to have the pancake eye level with him. He looked into the pancake with a very serious expression, brows together, forehead creased with concentration, knuckles white from holding the plate so firmly.

"What are you doing?" I finally sighed.

He glanced up to me. "Sh, I'm trying to talk to this pancake." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not buying Nolan. This isn't funny, and I'm not buying it."

"If you stay with me, pancake, I will change my ways completely. I swear it, just give me one more week to show you I can be different. No more hooking up with other, erm, pancakes. No more taking blueberries or smoking whipped cream, I'm a changed man, pancake." I sighed heavily. "Give me a week, pancake."

"Oh, do I smell pancakes?" Gunner asked crawling out of his bunk as though he were a zombie digging its way from the grave. He looked the part.

I gave Gunner a warm smile. "You sure do!" I said as chipper as I could, the exact opposite of how I greeted Nolan.

"Do you mind, we're having a moment here." Nolan said harshly.

"No we aren't." I cut back in and he rolled his eyes.

"Not you. The pancake. I'm trying to apologize and win her, erm, friendship back here."

"That had to of been the most epic eye roll I have ever witnessed in my entire life." Gunner said in awe as he watched me.