Inner

Chapter 3

I woke up to the smell of smoke. I wasn't sure at first what I was smelling. I rubbed my eyes and sat up looking at the wall in front of my bed. How did I end up in my room when I fell asleep on the couch? The smoke alarm went off. What the fuck? ...Shoeless! I flung the covers away from under me. I ran out my room into the kitchen. There was nothing on the stove but it was on. I turned to Shoeless, who was sitting at the dining table with a breakfast plate. I shut the stove off. He looked at me head to toe. I was confused and not entirely pissed. I guess that showed as my facial expression.

"Good morning. I forgot to turn the stove off." He kept eating his food and staring at me.

"You had to wait til I smelled smoke and heard the alarm?" I noticed I still had a little sleep in my eye.

"I'm sorry, Pheonix." His mouth was full with eggs. The alarm was still going off so I grabbed a chair, a magazine and began to fan it at the detector. A few moments after doing so it shut off. I got down from the chair and leaned on it. What time is it? I glanced over my shoulder to read the wall clock. 7:34. I don't leave to go to the work until eight o nine.

I looked back at Shoeless, then the plate of food. Eggs, bacon, waffles, a sausage and hash browns.

"Where did you get that? There's nothing on the stove, and all my pots and pans— I looked over at the sink— are not dirty or in the sink." I started to think if I had left any type of money out in the open that he could've took to buy himself some breakfast, he might have ordered.

He took a drink of orange juice. "I made it."

"You did what?" I strained my neck towards him making sure I heard what he just said.

"I didn't mean to get to comfortable, Pheonix. I'm leaving when you go to work right?" His face seemed upset to face the truth.

"It's fine. I don't mind it. You haven't been like this in a long time right..." It was ended up as a statement instead of question as I hoped it to be but we both knew the answer. It was quiet after a while than he broke the silence with "I made you some too."

"Really? That was very kind of you Shoeless." He pointed at the other side of the dining table. I walked over, pulled out the chair, and sat. I looked at it. Mines had a few strawberry's and grapes on the side of the plate. I looked at his plate, even though he was mid-way being done with it there were no fruits on his plate accept a banana sitting beside his orange juice. He looked up from his plate towards at me.

"Oh, you look like you like fruits with your breakfast. You look like a strawberry and grapes type of girl. I mean... They were in your fridge." He looked at the plate and at me again. "If you don't want it I understand. I can eat it."

I thought about it. No man has ever made me breakfast, only my father when I was around four. It was a thoughtful act of kindness.

"Nah. I'll eat it. It looks good anyways." He smiled at that but not showing his teeth trying to hide them. We ate in silence. He would've been done a long time ago but he ate slowly so he could still sit at the table with me. The food was good I had to admit. I hope he didn't poison this shit though and take my house. People would know something would have happened to me if I didn't show up to work and didn't pick up my phone after three calls. When I finished eating I pushed the empty plate foward so I could put my head in my arms on the table. I heard the clink, clack, of plates and cups being held closely together. I looked over to see Shoeless, in the kitchen sink washing dishes.

"How'd I end up in my bedroom?" I sat up straight.

"I carried you into bed after you fell asleep on the couch." He wiped his hands after he finished washing the dishes. "You're a very deep sleeper."