Au Revoir

Chapter 1

   My eyes flutter open slowly, partially sticking together before the salty tears recognise their freedom for what it is and flow down my cheeks, into the cotton of my pillowcase. Three seconds later, my alarm goes off.

Rather than silence it, I bury my face into my pillow and draw the blankets up around my head. The mattress shifts beside me and a low groan announces that the figure beside me is awake. A weight presses down over the top of me and the sound of my alarm is cut off.

The weight doesn't let up. He just shifts slightly and wraps his strong arms around me, sliding one of his warm hands in under the corner of the sheets to find refuge against the skin of my bare stomach. His fingers dance against my ribs, making me squirm.

"Kim, wake up," he murmurs into the back of my neck, nudging my hair out of the way and nuzzling in to leave a hickey. I moan into the material by my face and squirm again as he continues to torture me with his slender fingers.

"Felix," I mumble. He hums softly, waiting for more of a response as his teeth graze a tender spot. His hand slides down from my ribs to my waist, applying more ferocity to his tickles. "Fuck off," I whimper, now weakly trying to push him off me, rolling my shoulders and arching my back. His hands pull away and the weight disappears from above me, leaving my neck cold from the kiss of air against the remaining traces of his saliva. The mattress complains as he rolls to the other side to slide off the bed, disappointed at losing its most handsome companion.

Without any warning, the sheets vanish to the foot of the bed and I cry out against the bite of the cool morning air. My gaze snaps over to see Felix's smug expression and I glare angrily at him as he drops the sheets to the floor and walks up to me. He has the nerve to laugh softly as he sits on the edge of the bed and uses his thumbs to brush away the stray tears from upon my cheeks.

"Happy birthday, my beautiful angel," he beams. I push my face deeper into the pillow below and whimper softly to myself. "I have a present for you..."

Carefully, I turn my head back so that my eyes can dance sceptically over his honest smile.

"If it's a hickey, I've already got one," I complain. He laughs softly and shakes his head. I frown up at him. "You know I don't like sex before work." His expression mirrors mine.

"You insult me," he accuses, standing and leaving the room without so much as putting a pair of boxers on. I roll my eyes at his departing figure and laugh softly to myself, kicking my legs out over the side of the bed and lethargically sitting up. My tired limbs somehow manage to drag me over to the wardrobe and dress myself before leading me out to the kitchen to find my boyfriend.

He didn't make me a coffee, although he made one for himself. He's a sweetheart, that way.

After I put the kettle on to boil and check to make sure he'd put enough toast down for the both of us, I make my way over to the table where he sits, innocently sipping from his steaming mug. I steal the seat beside him, trying not to let my eyes linger on his bare lap for too long, knowing that such unthinkable acts before work will ensure an inability to focus for the remainder of the day.

"Where's my present?" I enquire, crossing my ankles beneath my stool. The kettle hisses and automatically clicks off as I wait for the answer. He shrugs, taking another sip of his drink. The toast jumps from the toaster. He stands and meanders over to it, pulling the cooked bread from its clutches and dropping the slices onto a plate. I take a breath to soothe my growing irritability of this morning's conduct before rising to my feet again and seeing to the kettle as he butters the toast.