But, I love you...

Do Something

The next morning, I awoke to Meryl watching me sleep. My eyes fluttered open and I realized that she was still in my arms.

"Good morning." I yawned.

"Morning." She giggled.

"Were you watching me sleep?" I pulled her closer to my chest.

"No..." She was an awful liar. I closed my eyes for a moment.

"You're lying..." I whispered.

"Fine, you caught me." Meryl blushed.

"Why? Why would you want to watch me sleep?"

"Because you look so peaceful when you sleep. You don't have that little crease between your eyebrows." She placed her nail where the crease usually was.

"Stop it, that tickles." She laughed, wriggled out of my grasp, and uncovered us. I groaned as she pulled me out of bed by my arms.

"Come on! It's time for breakfast!" Meryl tickled my sides and I chased her downstairs into the kitchen.

As Meryl was making chocolate chip pancakes, I came up behind her and rested my chin on her shoulder. She shivered and sniffed, as if she was going to cry. Turning her around quickly, I pushed her up against the cabinet. Her eyes were red with tears and she looked away from me.

"Stop." She muttered quietly, turning back to her pancakes.

"No." I pushed her up against the counter again. "Why are you upset?" I wiped away a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Maks used to do that to me. It was kind of our thing. He'd watch me make breakfast, lunch, and dinner like that. I love him, Val. I love him more than anything in the world. He doesn't love me back though..." She trailed off as the tears started to stream down her face. Meryl buried her head in my shirt, as I flipped over her burning pancake.

"Meryl, look at me." I tilted her chin upwards. "Maks loves you. I know he does. Before I came to take care of you last night, he got really worried about you." Her tears stopped falling.

"Then why didn't he come? Instead of you?"

"Because he knew you were upset with him and he didn't want to upset you more. You wouldn't want to see him anyways, right?" Meryl nodded.

//

As I climbed into my car, I heard something in the backseat. There was a moving pile of coats in the floorboard. As I uncovered them, Maks' head popped up.

"What the hell!? Why are you in my car?" He struggled to sit up as I screamed.

"You wanna tell me why you spent the night at Meryl's?"

Does he really think that we slept together last night!?

"Bro, nothing happened. All we did was fall asleep and cook breakfast this morning. That's it! Just chill out!" I backed out of Meryl's driveway and headed to the hotel Maks and I were staying at.

"You don't just spend the night with a gorgeous woman, walk out all happy, and tell me that nothing happened." He was now sitting in the front seat.

"Dude, nothing happened, I swear. She was really upset last night and this morning." I finished that last sentence quietly.

"Is she still upset about me?" Maks buried his head in his hands.

"She's heartbroken. She loves you, bro. If you don't do something about it, you might lose her."

"I know. I just don't know how."

"Just do something you know she'll love. Make it count and you better do it fast."

"Yeah you're right..."