'Til Sun Beams Find You [COMPLETE]

Nineteen (Part 2)

Carter woke to the smell of breakfast.

He opened his eyes and stared at the bright ceiling above him, feeling out of place for a moment.

He wasn't used to this much light in the morning.

It took a while for him to regain consciousness of his whereabouts and that he had fallen asleep in his living room, and he only realized it when he turned his head to see Nala by her spot at the corner drinking from her bowl of water.

A loud yawn escaped him as he stretched his body out and he sat up to find a small frame with brown curly hair peeking from above the counter.

Violet smiled when she saw him. "Morning," she said softly as she pushed the bowl of berries and oatmeal across the counter.

"Morning," Carter muttered as he rubbed his eyes.

"I helped myself to breakfast, I hope you don't mind," she said as she rounded the corner, wearing only an old, large high school gym shirt he found beneath a pile of clothes last night and a pair of panties. She hopped onto the bar stool and opened up her laptop. "Well, I made myself oatmeal but I know you don't like oatmeal so I made you an omelet. And coffee. And I gave Nala her food but she finished it quick... hungry little kitty."

"What time is it?" He asked himself as he searched the couch and sheets for his phone.

"It's almost 7:30," Violet answered and Carter gave up on finding the phone and just fell back onto the couch.

"Why are you up so early?"

"I have some readings to get done.. I always wake up early," she reminded him.

He stared at the ceiling and wondered if he needed to get blackout curtains for the living room as well, as this much sunlight in the morning should have been a crime.

"What time you leaving?"

"I'll leave when you're leaving, if you'd just drop me at Kyla's."

"You're not going back to school?"

"No, all my lectures are recorded anyways. And I've been needing some time away."

"What are you gonna tell your dad?"

Violet laughed and turned over her shoulder. "What's with the interrogation?"

He paused, realizing he was way too invested.

"Just wondering.." He sat up and threw the blanket off his body. "I can take you to Ky's, it's no problem."

She nodded her head as she adjusted the glasses on her face, jotting things down in her little notebook next to her.

When he stood up, he groaned softly at the pain shooting all over his back.

"Fuck man.."

He picked the blanket up off the floor and found his phone tangled in the sheets.

Carter scrolled through all the messages he hadn't replied to yesterday, stopping to type out a few responses as he made his way to the kitchen.

"How'd you sleep?" She asked and he looked away from his phone to give her a blank stare.

"How you think I slept?"

Violet smiled. "I don't know, but that couch doesn't look like it stays comfy for too long," she said, eyeing the tattoos on his bare chest and the way the muscles moved beneath them as he walked.

A long time ago, she'd be able to tell the story and significance of every single one, as she'd spent hours and hours tracing them with her fingers.

Nowadays, she felt she didn't know what was significant to him anymore.