Scars

Part 4

Alexis' POV:

It was early the next morning.  I had woken up early before Nikki had even gotten up.  I glanced over at her, still sound asleep, laying next to me, looking so incredibly beautiful.  Her olive skin was perfectly flawless.  Her full, pouty lips so kissable.  Her dark hair, a complete mess, but yet she looked so irresistibly sexy.  Her face was completely devoid of makeup, but yet none was needed.  Because she was a natural beauty.  So yes, it goes without saying, she was indeed a gorgeous woman.  There was absolutely no denying that.  And not to say that physical beauty was all that mattered in life, because it wasn't.  It wasn't at all.  

But goddamn, she was sexy... I'm not gonna lie.   

And I felt so happy that we had begun to work on our marriage.  In fact, ever since last night, our conversation had breathed new life into me.  And, in fact, I would even go so far as to say... that I was beginning to feel like my old self again.

I untangled myself from my beautiful wife's warm embrace, careful as not to disturb her, because she was still in a deep sleep and looked so incredibly peaceful.

I freshened up in the bathroom.  Then quickly threw on a white tank top and a pair of comfortable shorts. Then, lastly, I grabbed my glasses.

And without disturbing her, I made my way to the kitchen and brewed some fresh coffee.  Because honestly, until I got my morning coffee, I basically couldn't function.  Don't even ask.

I got my coffee and then headed downstairs to our finished basement.  And it was easily, without question, my favorite part of the house.  Because, in short, it was set up for pure entertainment, leisure, and recreational activities.   So, everything about it was fun.  And it was definitely a place to go whenever you needed to get away from it all.  And to just relax.  And this morning... that's exactly what I felt like doing.

In the far corner, there was a recording studio.  Nikki and I both dabbled in music.  We messed around with musical instruments and Nichole liked to sing.  And she was actually very good.  So it was a fun thing to do, to record ourselves and to attempt, even though neither one of us was very good at it, to mix our own music.  

There was also an exercise room that we used constantly.  Nichole and I both were into physical fitness, and we worked out a lot.  We both took pride in our  bodies and liked to be fit.  No pain, no gain.  But it was a fun thing to do, and something we both enjoyed.

Nikki also had a photography room, that was basically her baby.  She liked to develop her own photos.  It was a long time hobby of hers. In fact, anything dealing with photography she enjoyed.  She always said that developing her own photos was relaxing to her, and a way for her to decompress.  But I don't know.  I never really understood why she liked it so much.  But she did.  And I honestly had no idea what even all the stuff was that she had in that room, or what the hell she was doing with it all.   But she enjoyed it.  And I liked to watch. 

But my favorite part of the downstairs was my art room.  When I first moved in with Nikki, she knew I liked art, so she had an art room designed for me.  It was my own little space.  And where I kept all of my supplies - my canvases, easels, palettes, and paints and paintbrushes.  And to me, just like developing photos was relaxing to Nikki, painting was relaxing to me.  And in fact, once I started painting, I could easily get lost in my art, for hours on end.

But the fact was, I hadn't painted in long, long time.  Because even though painting was something that relaxed me and made me happy, I just hadn't been able to do it because I had been so stressed out and overwhelmed by all of my problems with Nikki.  It had been all consuming.  And in order to paint, I needed to be relaxed and focused.  But for so long now, I had been feeling like I was just trying to survive.  Survive life.  Survive a failing marriage.  And that's about all I could do - was survive.  So up until now, I honestly felt like I couldn't afford the luxury of just simply enjoying myself.