Sour Patch

17

The arrival of food seemed to dispel the awkward tension in the air. The cabby brought in several bags filled with a little bit of everything from sushi to pizza. I sent another thank you to Trixie for being awesome. Reese helped set everything up in the front room so that we could relax after this hellish day. After giving the cabby a nice tip, I settled myself on the floor in front of the couch, Reese had sat on the couch itself and Bruce had fallen asleep on the loveseat. Shaking my head at the dog I turned my attention to Reese, I paused before asking him what he wanted to watch on t.v. he had his head tilted to the side resting on his fist with his elbow propped on the arm of the couch.

His eyes were closed and his face mostly relaxed for the first time since I've met him, the sunlight was peeking into the window from behind him and for some reason I couldn't bring myself to disturb the silence instead opting to examine the creature before me a little bit better. I moved my head until the sun was no longer bearing down on my eyes, being careful not to make too much noise. If you asked me what I was doing and why, I doubt I would have been able to answer. Narrowing my eyes, I peered at the man he had a light dusting of freckles across his nose and a few scars around his right eye, I traced the scars with my vision wondering what happened. He looked a little like a statue.

I pulled myself back from my musings after that revelation and began to dig into the food with gusto, tapping Reese's knee to get his attention I gestured to the food once his chocolate colored eyes made their appearance. We sat there in a comfortable silence while we ate as much as we could, the television long forgotten. Apparently Reese was exausted because after he filled his stomach while waiting on me to finish he slumped against the cushions fast asleep. I worked my way up off the floor and began to clean up the food. With everything put away I grabbed a throw blanket and covered Reese the best I could, nodding at Bruce who was watching me from the loveseat I made my way to my room.

Deciding not to even attempt to get undressed I layed down and pulled a blanket partially over myself. I was exhausted yet I couldn't fall asleep. There were too many thoughts running through my head and I just couldn't get comfortable. Rethinking the day I wondered why I studied Reese, he looked so calm and closed off. That bugged me, there was something that caused him to not trust anyone and I wanted to know what. Deciding I just didn't like having unhappy friends I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.

A few things woke me up, one the smell of breakfast, two Bruce's barking, and three my dream. I stayed  still as I replayed what I could remember of my dream, it wasn't a wet or dirty dream but it was odd. I was curled around a lanky pale body with strawberry blond hair. I had kissed their shoulder and wished them a good morning but when they went to roll over and face me I had woke up. Drawing my brows together in confusion I tried to recall any female I knew with that hair color, but I couldn't name a single one. Reese was the only person I knew with a head of that special blonde but he was a man so it couldn't have been him.

I got out of bed with a huff and tried not to cringe when the pain from my arm set in. Failing that I decided to see if Reese would help me out of my arm sling and try my best to take a shower. Meandering to the kitchen I heard Reese talking to Bruce softly.

"Do you think he will like this breakfast, boy?  Well I would hope so, we have a lot to apologize for. No Bruce thats not yours. No. Damnit Bruce listen to me. Fuck."

At that point I couldn't hold my laughter. I walked into the kitchen to see Bruce eating all of the breakfast that was on the table and Reese was trying his best to pull him away while cussing up a storm. It was ridiculous purely based on the fact that Bruce was just such a large dog. Reese had looked up at my outburst of laughter and relaxed his grip on the collar to which Bruce took the opportunity to lunge forward and demolish the rest of the food on the table. Huffing to himself Reese just let him go and looked over at me with an apologetic smile.

"Its ruined, but I made you breakfast."

Looking over at Bruce going to town on the eggs I tilted my head to the side. "Looks like it was delicious, thank you."

Reese looked at me like I was insane. "You're thanking me. But its ruined and you didn't eat any of it, I basically wasted your food."

Thinking on it I worded my next sentence carefully. "True, however its not wasted Bruce is now fed and he apparently thought it was the bees knees. Also isn't there a saying 'its the thought that counts' I believe its applicable in this situation. Oh and could you please help me out of my sling and maybe wrap my cast in plastic I would really appreciate a shower and I don't think I can do it myself."

Reese turned bright red as he stuttered out a yeah, and looked once more at the table.

" Lets clean up first shall we?" I said while picking up one of the plates from the table.