Raphael /BoyxBoy/

||Two||

I woke up to an empty bed, quietly groaning as I rolled onto my back and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling.  

I could hear the sound of the shower running in the bathroom connected to Scarlet's room, and slowly sat up in bed.

Scarlet showed up just as I tugged on yesterday's clothes and slipped on my shoes, in a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt, and her long hair in glistening waves.

She stood, rubbing a towel through her hair, and smiled. "Do you want to stay for breakfast?"

I froze.

She gave out an amused laugh. "It's okay. I'll just make us some toast and eggs. Do you like coffee with your breakfast?"

"Tea," I responded slowly.

She dropped her towel in a basket and I watched as she brushed a comb through her hair before braiding it back.

"Wanna help out?"

"You're really good at cooking."

I cleared my throat. "Sure."

She led the way and I followed her to her large kitchen, with counters aligned against the walls and a table for four near the center.

I stood awkwardly at one side and watched as she grabbed a small remote before music flowed out of the speakers around her apartment, a gentle melody I couldn't recognize.

She grabbed a pan and started with the eggs, then instructed me to pop in a few slices of bread into the toaster.

I leaned against the counter and listened to her converse about the most random things, like music, animals, food.

I scanned the apartment while she busied herself in the kitchen.

It reminded me of Nate's back home, modern, clean, organized. She had a similar looking desk as Nate's, with a computer perched on top just like his.

Except I remembered his had a pin board over it, with pictures of him and Devin even after what happened. He had a family picture pinned on it, too. And one of the two of us while we were still together.

I always envied that about him, how he could just move on like that while he'd left me in a puddle of my own self-pity.

Scarlet's apartment didn't smell like tea though, not until she brewed it. Then it was all I could think of. Tea. Nate. Nate and tea. Nate tasting like tea, smelling like tea, warm just like tea.

"You okay?"

I dragged myself out of my thoughts. "Fine."

"Sure?"

"A hundred precent." I flashed her a smile just in case.

Still looking unconvinced, she waited a few seconds before speaking again. "What do you do?"

"Still in college," I said.

She asked me a few more questions, and when she was done cooking and stirring sugar in our cups of tea (on cubes for me and two for her) we ate at the kitchen table and conversed there.

I could see why I'd been so entranced by her the previous night. She looked absolutely beautiful, even with all her makeup scrubbed away. Under the natural morning light that bled through her ceiling high windows, her skin practically glowed. Her hair shined a perfect shade of chestnut, her dark, brown eyes glittering below her full eyebrows.