Someone New

Chapter Fourteen

It's been two days. I was supposed to tell Misha about my decision to attend Dakota and Emily's wedding yesterday, but I chickened out. I should probably tell him today, but I'm not feeling courageous enough to fight with him right now.

I still feel like crap, but I've had enough of laying in bed. I'm sitting on my couch, working on a paper for one of my classes. Misha said he would drop by soon with lunch and I find myself glancing at the clock every minute or so. He's going to be able to tell that I'm jittery and nervous, but hopefully he'll just chalk it up to the flu. I've gone through an entire box of Kleenex already, and I've resorted to drinking Nyquil straight from the bottle.

Focusing on this damn paper is getting harder and harder as the morning wears on, and I decide to take a break. As soon as I prop my feet up on my coffee table and start scrolling through Facebook, the door clicks open.

Misha walks in, balancing two drinks and a carry out bag from El Mariachi. I am so glad to have a boyfriend who knows what I like. I begin to get up to help, but he narrows his eyes at me, silently telling me to stay seated. I stick my tongue out at him and take the Dr. Pepper he passes me.

"Traffic is getting crazy out there," he comments as he hands me a foil packet of tortillas. I collect the rest of my food, then dump some salsa on my chicken and rice and dig in.

"It's prolly 'cause Chrishmash ish sho shoon," I struggle to reply as I chew my food.

Misha rolls his eyes. "You know, there's a group of people in the world that have this weird way of eating. They call it chewing then swallowing."

"That's what she said."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"It does if you're a sadist."

He rolls his eyes again and smiles as he takes a bite of his burrito. After purposefully chewing for a solid minute, he swallows the food and smirks. "So how are you feeling?"

"Tired. Bored. Ready to re-enter society."

"I'm sorry baby. Want me to rent a movie tonight?"

I dramatically sigh. "If I must remain in confinement, I suppose that will be okay."

"You poor baby," he murmurs playfully. I toss a throw pillow at him and we continue our lunch in a comfortable silence.

After work, Misha comes back to my apartment with a handful of movies. "I was going to stop by Redbox, but then I remembered that you most likely haven't seen many of the movies I own."

He displays our options. The Patriot, Pearl Harbor, and Hacksaw Ridge.

"Really?" I groan. "Since when are you a history buff?"

"Since always," he laughs. "I take it you're not interested in any of these?"

"No offense, but no."

"Good thing I came prepared..." He reaches over to the entryway table and grabs another movie he had tucked behind a photo frame, hiding it as a last resort. "Pride and Prejudice to the rescue!"

"Dare I ask why you own Pride and Prejudice?" I ask with a grin.

"You dare not."

I sit back and watch as he puts the movie on. It's hard not to enjoy the view from behind - I'm definitely a lucky girl.

"Excuse me, but my eyes are up here," he teases as he turns around.

I blush. Even though he's my boyfriend and I've seen him in a lot less, I still feel embarrassed by being caught checking him out.