The Creature Inside

Breakfast?

"Oh! Right there, that's a good spot, park right over there," my roommate insisted eagerly, pointing his finger at an empty space reserved for the disabled.

"No, your legs still work last time I checked or is that the reason you don't drive?" It had been a while since we've  eaten out together, especially for breakfast, so his excitement made sense.

The cold air hits my face as I get out of the car. I feel tiny wet particles dampening my clothes. It's unpleasant, though it doesn't phase me. This weather was reminiscent of home and that made me feel a little warmer.

We enter a diner-esk restaurant that has been here for quite some time, though we'd always ended up passing it. It's apparently famous for it's breakfast menu, so I thought we could give it a shot.

There wasn't much to see upon entering, just some pictures of old or famous people displayed along the wall. The seats were red and upholstered with a surprisingly comfortable cushion.

We sit across each other. The offset between the two seats seemed too short as we kept accidentally kicking the other's feet.

I stare at my roommate who has his eyes fixed on an old photo of a man in a white suit.

"James, that's my name." my roommate casually mentions as he reads the man's signature on the bottom right of picture. 

"Yes, yes it is," I tease. He squints his eyes at me and I turn my head to catch the waitress' attention. She hands us the menu winking at James which only made him shift in his seat uncomfortably.

James examines the menu intently, bringing it up to his face and back down again. "I want this one," he says pointing and tapping at a picture of some waffle-pancake hybrid monstrosity.

"Are you sure, I mean there's other stuff here?" I say, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Yeah, but not like this one!"

His face makes the stupidest expression and I knew he wasn't going to change his mind. I shrug my shoulders.

"Okay, I guess." I smile and sigh, picking something more "normal" from the menu.

"What you ordered is for kids, you know," I taunted with a grin.

"No it fucking isn't, don't you fucking say that!" James' face became stern.

"Then what would you call that?" I contended, pointing at a poster on the wall of an overly excited fat kid eating what he ordered.

"That's not... That can't be." He looks at the fat kid in disgust and I could sense his self esteem go down as his eyes widen.

I can't help but feel a surge of laughter filling up inside my head ready to erupt at any moment. Placing a hand over my mouth in an attempt to hold it in was futile. My cheeks become prominent and the corners of my eyes wrinkle, but before I could even burst into a fit we were handed our orders.

"Come on, eat it," I urged James, starring at his untouched plate while scraping slivers off of mine.

"No I'm not eating this shit," he declared, crossing his arms. This only made him look more like a child having a hissy fit than anything.

"Alright, but you forced me to do this," I drawled. Picking up his fork slowly, I take a piece off of his plate and start to wave it around his face.

"Wh- what the fuck are you doing?!" He interjected, nervously turning away.

"You're acting like a child, so I'm treating you like one now open up!"

He refused to at first, but I was persistent. I knew that James would submit to me, he always did after all.

I don't know why he was always like this or why he antagonized me so much if he was just going to let me have my way in the end. My only guess was that he enjoyed it just as much as I did.

"Are you done?" James looks directly at me stern and with a serious expression that told me he was done.

"Not yet. You still have a little more to go." I was pushing his buttons.

He just looked at the fork I was holding out indifferently for a few moments and got up from his seat to the front door exit.

For some reason I decided not to keep him waiting on me. I could have let him stand in the midst of the cold air for acting like a little brat, but the thought of leaving him out there oddly enough gave me chills. 

I approached him with caution through the now harsh wind, he was looking away towards the distance, his arms crossed.  

"Hey Jam-"

"J-just open the car, Aleks." He cuts me off, trying hard not to shiver.

It takes a while for the car to warm up, though I remember that I had left a blanket under the backseats. Reaching out for it I notice James' hands shaking ever so slightly which prompted me to offer it to him, but he brushed me aside turning away toward the window without saying a word. I stare at him for a moment and I spread the blanket over him against his wishes. He groans, yet wraps himself with it, reluctantly accepting it. He turns to face me, his serious and scruffy appearance creates a juxtaposition with the soft pink blanket. With our eyes locked into each other, he opens his mouth like he's about to say something, yet doesn't know how to say it. 

"Uh, thank you." He murmured as he quickly flipped toward the window again. 

"Yeah, sure thing, James"  I say as I switch the shift to drive.

Even though James was looking away I could see through the faint reflection of the window that he was comfortably smiling.

Parked in the garage, we finally make it back home. I'm disgruntled by the amount of boxes we have lying around. 

"You need to put those out for recycling, James" 

He ignores me and scurries away in his blanket.

"James, get back here!"

"You'll have to catch me, MUTHA FUCKA!" He yells as he trips on his blanket, falling on his back.

I didn't realize he was on the ground and topple over him. Our faces directly against each other; our shocked, opened mouths against each other. My lips were on his, yet my reaction wasn't quick enough to realize what had just happened. 

I pull away, saliva strings from our parting lips and our faces burn bright red. 

"I'm sorry!" We both say, instinctively.