Thralldom

Chapter 6

On Sunday morning at about 9:30 am, I roll over to find Jonathan insipidly sleeping beside me, wearing his usual pajamas. I never heard him come in the night before. I must have been really tired or he was super quiet.

I flip my legs over the side of the bed, and put one foot in front of the other in order to pry myself out of the bed. I lean over and swiftly kiss my boyfriend on the lips before leaving the bedroom. In the kitchen, I make myself an extra large coffee by combining two cups in a hefty novelty mug.

I take a seat at the kitchen table to enjoy my coffee. My mind wanders to yesterday evening, and wondering what was so pressing for Jonathan last night. He's been acting pretty aloof lately and I am confused about his behavior in general. He has been so distant for probably a couple of months now. I always excuse it by allowing myself to think that he is just working really hard or needs time to hang out with his buddies. But, this is starting to become concerning. And, I did not care for his little inappropriate exchange with April yesterday.

I blow on the coffee to cool it off before taking the first sip. As I drink in the smooth, soul soothing liquid, I relax a little. Perhaps I just need to spend more time at home myself. Yesterday morning, I did sense that he was becoming annoyed or jealous over the time I have been devoting to Ethan. I might be the problem in this situation, and he is just doing his best to cope with the lack of attention. Maybe I need to be a better girlfriend.

I decide to make Jonathan a special breakfast and spend the whole day unwinding at home. And, even though I know Ethan and I will be spending plenty of time together soon, we will most likely be waiting a couple of weeks before we do any more big work on the website. Usually, when Jackie comes over, we'll shoot a lot of content, so that we have lots of girl-girl scenes to fill up the webpage.

I pull a saute pan out of the cabinet and place it on the stove top. I add a little coconut oil and turn on the heat. I proceed to find all of the ingredients for an omelet in the refrigerator lay them out on the parsimonious white tile countertop. I crack the eggs in a bowl and beat them well before transferring them to the heating pan. Once I have the eggs frying, I add the other ingredients and become thoroughly embroiled in the task at hand.

I am so focused on what I am doing, that I don't see or hear Jonathan enter the kitchen behind me. He sneaks up, wraps one arm around my waist, and pulls my hair back behind my left ear, before adoringly kissing me on the cheek. I can feel my cheeks redden at the touch of his lips. I want to turn around and grab him. But, I have to stay focused on making breakfast, so I don't burn the eggs in the pan. Or, burn down the kitchen.

Jonathan squeezes me before releasing his right arm from my core. He is still wearing the same white cotton t-shirt and blue striped pajama pants he wore to bed the night before. He goes over to the Keurig and works on his own life force. He is a little more rigid than me, preferring his coffee black, no fun stuff like sugar inside.

As Jonathan sits down at the kitchen table with his mug, I am just about finished with his omelet. I scoop it onto a plate and place it in front of him with a fork. I briefly wrap my arm around his neck and snuggle up to his shoulder, before returning to the stove. He nods in appreciation, and I get back to work on breakfast, making myself an omelet as well. When I am all done, I take a seat across from Jonathan and we eat our eggs together in tranquility.

Finally, Jonathan breaks the silence "What do you want to do today? Are you going to see Ethan?"

"What? No. Ethan and I have plans to get together in a couple of weeks when we work with Jackie again. She's staying the night, so we'll probably do a lot of videos." I reply. I wonder why he assumes I am going to meet up with Ethan instead of spend the day with him. That should be a warning flag that I am not being the best girlfriend, but I fail to capture it.