Before

Chapter ten

Riley

I wake up with my head pounding and mouth dry. I look at the clock and sit up, immediately regretting it when my head throbs. The time says it's past twelve and my classes start at eight today. Flashes of what happened last night that caused me to get black-out drunk run through my mind at a rapid rate. A sense of panic comes soon after when I notice Fallon isn't in the bed beside me, making me think I did something to her last night.

"Fallon?" I call out, worried she's already gone.

I stand up, slowly this time, and make my way to our bedroom door and open it. When I do, bacon and coffee fill my nostrils and I head in the direction it's coming from. Fallon is in the kitchen, running around with a smoking pan, and quickly puts it in the sink. I then notice the burnt smell. 

She's never been very good at cooking, so it's usually just takeout or me cooking. Most people like my cooking anyway and Fal tells me she thinks I should work as a chef, but I couldn't see it. 

Especially now since I lost my job. 

I still don't know how I'm going to tell Fal that.

"Baby, what are you doing? If you wanted breakfast, you could have let me do that for you."

She turns around to face me quickly and smiles, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, "Well, I wanted to make it for you. Before you woke up."

"This is why photography is your specialty. I do the cooking," I chuckle and walk over to the sink with the -I look down at the black stuff- burnt bacon in the pan. I love her but dang, she cannot cook to save her life. I turn back around to Fallon and see her picking at her nails and sniffling, why is she sniffling?

Is she crying?

"I'm sorry. I just thought it would be a nice surprise since I haven't cooked for you in a while."

I walk back over to her and pull her towards me, "I didn't mean it like that. Don't cry, okay?"

She looks over at the smoking pan and her lip quivers even more. Why is she crying over burnt bacon? My Fal wears her heart on her sleeve but not to this extent. The only time I ever see her this emotional is when we fight.

Wait...

Did I do something last night? I try to look for signs that something happened, but I don't think she would be trying to make me breakfast if so. Unless she's doing this so she can sweeten me up before she leaves me?

 No.

She wouldn't do that. Stop thinking things like that.

But how can I not when she won't stop crying over freaking bacon?

"Fallon, hey. Look at me."

She hesitantly looks up her eyes still filled with tears. 

"You can tell me what's wrong. Why are you crying?"

She opens her mouth to speak, but no words come out. Fallon does this a couple of times before she gives up and presses her forehead to my chest. Her body shakes with the force of her sobs as she wraps her arms around my waist, squeezing tightly. 

This is worse than I thought.

But why?

I pull her back slightly, but she's still clinging to me like a koala, so she doesn't go far. Just enough to see my face, "What's happening? Did I... did I do something last night?"

Her eyes go wide, and I immediately start apologizing, "I'm so sorry, Fal. I don't remember doing anything, you have to believe me. I wouldn't do this on purpose, not when we've been so good these past months. I love you, please tell me-"

Fallon covers my mouth with her hand, shaking her head, "No, no, no! You didn't do anything. I just..." She trails off.

"You just what?"

She searches my eyes as I stare at her red-rimmed ones before shaking her head and looking away for a few seconds. When she looks back up, she gives me a small smile, but I know it's forced. 

"Nothing. I've just been stressed with school, and I think I need to take a couple of days off. To help clear my head..."

I bring my hands towards her face to cup her cheeks, pressing a kiss to her forehead. She doesn't even flinch when I raise my hands anymore and I thank god we haven't fought. I hated it, each time I would touch her, push her, hit her, I thought for sure she would leave me. I knew it was wrong but when I get like that, there's no controlling me. The drinking isn't the only blame, it's the voice of my father in my head telling me to do it. But I'm stupid enough to believe he's there, that it's him when in reality I'm just messed up. I'll always be this way, there is nothing in this world that can change me but her.

 My Fal. 

She's the reason I'm trying to do better, to not let him win, but I'm also the one who hurts her the most. What a huge contradiction if I've ever seen one.

I break out of my thoughts and wipe her drying tears, "Take all the time you need, baby. Whatever you need."

"Maybe you can take a couple of days off too? It can just be me and you for a while, we can watch movies all day and eat junk food."

"Didn't the last time we did that, I don't know two days ago, you puked your guts out from too much of said snacks?" I joke.

I see her eyes flash with something, but it's gone before I can decipher it. Fallon laughs and lightly slaps my chest, being careful since what had happened the last time she did that, and I acted like a freaking child who just got in trouble. 

"Shut up, I'm being serious. Will you, please?"

I sigh like I'm having a hard time saying yes, "I guess I can take a few days off..."

She jumps into my arms, wrapping her legs and arms around me. I squeeze her and start spinning, laughing when she squeals, "Put me down!" I stop spinning but keep her in my arms. She leans in and kisses me on my nose softly, taking me aback because she never does that. She's full of surprises today.

Speaking of...

"I think we should do something with the food," I say, looking over to the stove and sink. 

I let her go when she begins to wiggle in my grip and she sprints to the stove even though it's two feet away, "Oh, my gosh!" She looks back at me with a shy smile, "Riley..."

"Bring me new eggs and bacon..." I say and walk to the stove, grabbing ingredients she didn't think to use.

I can hear her behind me whispering, "Yes!" and already knowing she's pumping her fist into the air. I smiled and pretended like I didn't know what she was doing.

Gosh, I love her.

I did not realize it's been like a week since I said I was going to publish this chapter. It's been sitting in my drafts for THAT long. Oops! Anyway, tell me what you think! It's a shorter chapter because It's kind of a filler but important for the plot, so I wanted it to be lighthearted before I upload the other chapters, which are going to be a little...intense. At least that's what I hope, but you never know with me, and I could end up doing another filler. My writing is all over the place and it'll stray from my original plan sometimes.

So let me know how you like it! Vote, like, and comment!

Xoxo 

Madalynne <3