An Endless Serenade

Chapter Five

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"Up and at 'em, Allie Cat!"

I groaned loudly as a pair of cold hands jostled my spaghetti strap clad shoulders in an attempt to rouse me. Swatting them away, I snuggled into my covers more, now covering my entire body. Somewhere in the background I heard my phone alarm going off, wailing Smoke on the Water. For a brief moment I wondered how long it had been going off for. "Go die," I grumbled when Paul commenced poking me in the side.

He faked a hurt gasp. "Allie!"

"I mean it. Go jump off a cliff. Hold your breath until you die."

"You're really not a morning person, are you?" he chuckled jovially. "And technically you can't kill yourself by holding your breath."

In the early morning, I didn't find his comment amusing in the least. "Why am I even alive?"

Heaving a quiet sigh, he patted me on the back. "I'll let you sleep in another half hour, but that means no shower. I don't know about you, but I like personal hygiene."

"I'm getting up," I grunted, throwing my covers to the floor. Luckily for me, Paul liked to keep his house at a constant, toasty seventy-five degrees. Sometimes at night it was a little too warm, but for the chilly mornings, it was perfect.

Respectably, Paul adverted his eyes away from me. It wasn't really necessarily, seeing as how I was wearing long cotton pajama bottoms and my tank, but it was still admirable. Now looking at him for the first time, I realized he was already dressed and ready to go. Like usual, he was striking in a pair of black slacks, a white dress shirt, and a cobalt colored tie that brought out his eyes.

"You'd think after two weeks, you'd be used to waking up early," he teased, a handsome smile growing on his masculine features.

"Whatever," I muttered crankily, dragging myself from the comfort of my soft mattress. Eerily resembling a zombie, I staggered across my room to the dresser in the far corner to collect a clean uniform. Paul watched me with an amused expression as I turned and stumbled to the door. "What?" I snapped as I brushed by him.

"Nothing. You're just funny."

I forced a smile. "Glad to be a source of amusement. Now get out of the way."

Laughing, he gestured for me to pass him with a wave of his arm. "Yes, your majesty. I kind of feel bad for Chris and Holly now..."

Opting to ignore his last comment about my parents, I headed straight for the shower. Yawning widely, I undressed myself, and twisted the faucet to a degree just below burning before stepping in. The water was freezing at first, giving me a nice wake up call. By the time I was finished scrubbing my body and lathering my hair, my hygiene as well as my mood increased tenfold. In fact, I was humming when I entered the kitchen twenty minutes after my grumpy awakening. Paul just smirked at me.

"Morning!" I chirped, making a beeline for the fridge.

"I see friendly Allie has finally emerged."

Nodding, I poked my head into the refrigerator, searching for the milk. Even after two weeks, I still had trouble figuring out where Paul placed it. Unlike normal people, he didn't buy gallons in the plastic bottles. No, he made it difficult and bought every single liquid he could in the cardboard, half-gallon boxes. Half-and-half, milk, orange juice, other types of juices, heavy cream... Literally everything. Finally locating the dairy product, I pulled it out and placed it on the counter. "Paul, can I have—"