Too Good To Be True?

Chapter 22 Ⅰ

"Alright you guys, you are never going to believe what I just found," I said as excitedly as I could into the camera. I tapped the W key, creeping my character forward like a sneaky ninja, getting ready to unveil my findings to the future audience of this video. "I was casually collecting some resources, minding my own business, when all of a sudden..."

Just as my character jumped forward into a pit of mobs, the door to the office swung open and I screamed, hacking and slashing haphazardly at the hoard and quickly becoming overwhelmed as my focus had been broken.

"Hey David, could you look at- oh..." Angel's voice, which had wandered into the room during my assault, quickly tapered off as she registered my over-the-top screaming and the equipment set out in front of me. "You're recording, aren't you..."

I sighed at the Game Over screen in front of me and slumped back into my chair. I was chuckling though as I replied, "Well, there goes the climax of the video."

"I'm sorry!" she squeaked, looking adorably guilty as I turned around to face her. "I thought you were just doing stuff off-camera today..."

I shrugged, beckoning her over and pulling her onto my lap. "That was originally the plan but then I found this and thought I might as well get a start on it."

Her lips stuck out in a pout and she wouldn't meet my gaze. I placed a light kiss on her cheek to let her know it was okay but it didn't seem to make her feel better. "Don't worry about it, Princess. What did you want to show me?"

She tucked her phone in her pocket, shaking her head. "Nevermind, it's not important. I'm really sorry, Charming, I should've knocked. I'm just used to having my own space."

I nodded, thinking about how we'd both had our own areas set up at her house to do our recording versus the one office we were now sharing. There were at least two other rooms in this house that could've easily been turned into another studio but for some reason whenever the idea came up we just skirted around it. I considered asking her about it but my mouth refused to form the words, my mind instead occupied with trying to see into her mind and figure out what she really thought about living here.

She kept insisting that everything was fine, that she was perfectly happy anywhere as long as it was with me, but something in her downcast eyes told me that things weren't perfect and I could feel that too. Don't get me wrong, I was happy here with her, but being surrounded by all my old things, going out into a neighborhood every day that held so many conflicting emotions... I thought all that stuff wouldn't bother me but I was beginning to wonder.

I smiled, lightly bumping her shoulder with mine. "Well, you know what you could do to make it up to me?" I obviously didn't think that she had anything to make up for, I really didn't care about the interruption, but the gears in my head were turning and I wanted to give her something to do so I could explore my thoughts further.

Her brilliant blue eyes lifted from her lap and met mine, melting my heart as I saw her quiet eagerness. "What did you have in mind?"

"Some nice warm cookies perhaps?"

She rolled her eyes at me, unable to hide her smile. "You and your cookies." Her gaze drifted up to the ceiling in thought but then she shook her head, concluding, "We used up the last of the flour and chocolate chips with the last batch."

I shrugged, gesturing out the window. "The supermarket is just down the road."

A sigh escaped her lips before she pressed them against my cheek, giving me a quick kiss. "Alright, we need some more cereal anyway." She stood and walked towards the door, asking over her shoulder, "You wanna come?"

I nodded my head at the computer. "I really should get this done tonight, sorry Princess."

"Oh, fine, I guess I'll go be all lonely then," she teased, beginning to wave goodbye but I cut her off.

"Angel? Have you ever made snickerdoodles?"

She considered it for a moment. "No, I haven't. Why, you in the mood?"

"Might be a fun experiment."

She grabbed her phone out of her pocket with a thoughtful hum, scrolling as she continued walking away. "Yeah, could be... Alright, I'll see you later. Love you."

"Love you too!" I called, making sure I could hear her in the entranceway before swiveling back to the computer. I figured tasking her with something new to try out would give me some extra time and I knew this wasn't going to be an easy process so I wanted to get started right away.

I began clicking away at the keyboard, frowning at the piles of boxes scattered around the room that we hadn't bothered to unpack yet. I had figured we'd get around to them eventually but after living here for almost a month I was starting to think that maybe it was a sign that neither of us felt like this was meant to be our home. After all, if we really cared about it, wouldn't we be dying to spruce it up a bit rather than leaving the walls and shelves barren?

So, while she busied herself with a new recipe, I went to work looking for something new myself, something I hoped she would be just as excited about if I was able to pull it off.