My Garden || Dreamwastaken

31

I woke up and immediately noticed the lack of body heat next to me. I opened my eyes and turned to my side. Clay wasn't there. While my brain was in its groggy state I started to panic. Was I not with him in Orlando? There was no way that was a dream.

I closed my eyes and gave myself a moment to wake up. I opened my eyes once more and knew I was in Clay's room. In my not yet fully functioning brain, the familiar cream colored walls meant I was in my room. That was extremely idiotic. Our walls were just a very similar color.

I took a moment to stretch before sitting up in bed. The door to the bathroom was left open, meaning he wasn't in the room at all. I groaned and willed my sleepy body to pull myself out of bed.

I trudged down the hallway and opened his office door a crack. He wasn't in there either. That left one more place that he was likely to be. I made my way down the stairs and spotted him right where I expected, the kitchen.

He was sitting on a stool at his counter, phone in one hand and half eaten Pop-Tart in the other. I snickered at him and he turned to look at the noise, smiling once he saw me. He took a second to swallow his food before speaking. "Morning!"

I smiled back and made my way to the seat next to him. "G'morning. What are you doing up earlier than me?"

"Earlier by like twenty minutes." He argued. "My mom called and I didn't wanna wake you up, so I came down here."

I broke a piece off of his Pop-Tart and he pouted as I ate it. I covered my mouth to speak, confused. "Are you insane? Not toasted?"

Clay shrugged. "I was in a rush. I was gonna make you something, but then I realized I'm completely incapable."

I chuckled. "Don't you have to make something for Thanksgiving?" I thought that was something that families did for Thanksgiving. Tyson and Riley had spoken about it.

He shook his head and looked back at his phone. "Not in my family. They know that if I tried to make something, it would end up thrown away."

"You can't be that incapable." I got up from my stool to check his fridge. "You've gotta be able to make mashed potatoes or even an apple pie. Maybe even yams. Those are easy enough. I don't even have to cook for family gatherings and I know those."

"I can make instant mashed potatoes." He offered. "Plus, my sister always brings pie. I couldn't bring pie."

I settled on taking a clementine from his fridge. "How are you still alive?"

"There's a reason my mom makes food for all of us weekly." He argued, seemingly a bit embarrassed.

I shook my head with a smile. "I knew you didn't cook, but this is a bit extreme. Do you even know how to use a toaster oven?" I teased him.

He rolled his eyes and held back a smile. "Yes I know how to use a toaster oven."

"Ty didn't until she was eighteen. I had to teach her." I giggled as I began to peel my clementine. "She was scared of them."

He chuckled. "Really?"

I nodded and kept my focus on the fruit in front of me. "Yeah. She was scared of ovens. Riley was so confused when they moved in together and she still didn't know much about cooking. The good news was that she loved to clean, so that was their even trade. I'll never understand how someone can like cleaning."

"Yeah, I don't get that." He agreed.

I looked over at him with a smile tugging at my lips. "Can't cook or clean? We have a real winner right here."