Ace of Hearts - All We Are Series [NaNoWriMo 2014] [#JustWriteIt]

Chapter Thirty One

"Well, that's the last of the stuff," Jack said as he walked outside.

"It's time to go, isn't it," Shelly responded, trying to smile at him, but it looked more like a grimace than the sweet smile that she normally had.

"Lia, we need to say goodbye," Jack gently reminded her as he brushed a tear away from her face. "We will see them again soon."

"I know," she whispered, turning back towards me and Margaret.

"I'm going to miss you," Margaret wailed, running at Shelly and wrapping her in a bear hug. I bit my lip, trying to hold back tears.

"I can't believe you won't be just right around the corner," I said softly. "After a decade together, what am I going to do without you?"

"You are going to be amazing. And we are going to skype every day," Shelly promised.

I hugged her, carefully as to not whack Margaret in the face, who was still clinging to Shelly. I knew we wouldn't call every day. I knew it wouldn't even be close to every day, even though in the beginning it might be.

I knew things would change. I knew I didn't like it. I knew I couldn't do anything about it.

So I just gave her a few more hugs before she got into her car with Jack and drove away.

The next Monday I skipped work. It was so uncharacteristic for me, but I wanted to be alone. I couldn't deal with being in the office like this. I sat on the couch watching cop show reruns and debating calling Shelly to see how the road trip was going. They were probably in their new home now. Did they like it? Would they send pictures? I wanted to call Shelly and have her give me a virtual video tour of the house, but maybe they were busy with setting up everything. I didn't want to be a bother.

I heard a quiet knock on the door, making me pause my cop show and walk towards the front entrance to my apartment.

"Hello?" I asked as I opened the door, standing face to face with Daniel.

"Hey, Naya, are you okay? I know you said Shelly left yesterday.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah! Of course!" I said, opening the door wider and blushing slightly as I let him in. "You're always welcome here."

"Have you eaten yet?" Daniel asked softly as he looked into my eyes. I winced.

"A bit?"

"It's almost two. Let's make some lunch?" Daniel suggested.

"Yeah, sure," I said, going to turn off the television. As I looked down at myself, I winced, realizing I was still in my pajamas. No wonder Daniel was so worried about me.

"Let me go change," I said, not looking him in the eye. As I quickly walked to the mirror in the bathroom, I internally cringed. I was wearing sweatpants and a ratty t-shirt. I hadn't done my hair, and I'm sure I had a really bad case of bed head because of it. I did brush my teeth, but I hadn't showered.

I was a mess.

I quickly grabbed a change of clothes and took a shower, spending less time enjoying the warm water and more time in front of the mirror, pinching my cheeks and wishing I wore makeup to cover up the dark circles under my eyes.

Sighing, I resigned myself to looking like absolute crap in front of my boyfriend.

I mean, if we got married someday, I'm sure he'd see me like this all the time anyways, right?

That's what I told myself, anyways.

I walked back into the kitchen to find Daniel at the stove. He had music playing, though I wasn't sure from where. He was frying something, and it smelled delicious.

"What's cooking?" I asked him as hopped onto a kitchen chair.

"Stir fry! I'm keeping it simple. I used some of your leftover rice and veggies, and I chopped up a head of broccoli and some carrots. I hope you don't mind," Daniel said, but confidently. He knew I didn't care what he used in my kitchen.

"Smells delicious," I declared. "When will it be done? Can I do anything to help?"

"I'm still cooking the veggies right now. You could cut up some meat or something to go in it."

"Hmm, meat will take too long to thaw. Tofu?" I suggested.

"Oh, I didn't think of that," Daniel said, smiling and blushing a little. "My bad."

"Not a big deal. Tofu tastes great with stir fry, anyways," I smiled warmly at him.

I reached across Daniel and grabbed the cutting board, chopping up a package of tofu from the fridge. As Daniel finished up cooking the vegetables, I took over the stove, letting my fancy cooking skills loose.

Well, let's just pretend I had fancy cooking skills.

We sat at the kitchen table, eating together. It was nice and peaceful, almost like a married couple sitting and having breakfast before work. More and more I found myself thinking about the future, and it all included Daniel. I thought about us living together and spending evenings together. I thought about getting married and having kids.

What would our kids look like? Would they have Daniel's sparkling eyes? Would they have my hair? Or would we adopt and have a whole range of kids? How many would we have? What would we name them?

"What do you think of Veronica?" I voiced my thoughts, adding a sassy twist to the name.

"I'm sorry, who's Veronica?" Daniel looked confused.

"For a girl. Maybe Felix for a boy," I added.

"Those are nice names," Daniel commented, smiling at me.

"This seems like such a cliché thing," I sighed. "We're talking about baby names."

"Cliché doesn't necessarily mean bad," Daniel argued with a small shrug.

"That's true. Well, we have time to figure that out."

Daniel nodded. "What are you planning on doing today?"

"I want to call Shelly, but I don't want to bug her," I said as I bit my lip nervously.

"I'm sure she'd love to hear from you. Why don't you text her and ask her to call her once she's free?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea. What are your plans?"

"Not much today. Andrew and José and I were thinking of watching the game on Sunday," he commented as he took another bite of tofu. "Do you want to come?"

"Nah, that's not really my thing," I declined with a smile.

Daniel laughed. "I kind of figured, but it never hurts to ask."

We both finished up our meals and I grabbed the plates, placing them in the sink and turning on the water to rinse them off.

"Daniel," I asked hesitantly as I stared at the faucet. "What are you doing next weekend?"

"Not much. Why?"

"Let's hang out on Saturday?"

"Sure. What's the occasion?" Daniel asked, a bit confused.

"Oh, nothing special," I said, trying to ask casually.

"If you say so," he responded, amused.