audacity // kryoz

eighteen

I unlock the door and we heave ourselves through the door and drop the bags on the floor near the island.

I let out a huge sigh and slip of my sneakers as I make my way over to my couch. I let myself fall into the couch and seconds later I feel John do the same.

I roll my head over to the left to look over at John and sigh, "I'm tired. You wanna order pizza?"

He loudly laughs and I'm quick to join.

***

We eventually peeled ourselves off the couch and started taking things out of the plastic bags they were in.

Once things were in place, John turns to me, "Okay so where are we starting?"

I smile and open a cabinet to reach up to one of the higher shelves. With the help of my tippy-toes, I grab it and pull it down to my height.

"First things first, I have aprons," I have a white one that was normally for Joy and a yellow and white striped one for me. I hand the white apron to John and he gives me a long look. "Just humor me," I say with a slight smile. I quickly pull the apron over my head and tie it around my waist. I watch John fidget with the neck strap, attempting to loosen it. I step forward to help. I gently touch his hands with my fingertips and he loosens his grip on the cloth. I effectively loosen the strap and smile at him. He swiftly pulls the apron over his hair. I turn around to wash my hands and once I'm done, I saw John follow suit.

With my hips leaning slightly on the island, I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and started looking up a waffle and mimosa recipe. I heard the water turn off and felt John appear behind me. Looking out of the corner of my eye, I see John standing awfully close behind me. He suddenly put his chin on my shoulder. I glance at him and see his eyes watching me scroll through recipes. I felt my heart beating faster and I couldn't help the blush rising onto my cheeks. I tried to force it down while trying to not look bothered and not interrupt my scrolling. 

As I'm slowly scrolling on my phone, my mind begins to wander. I then suddenly start to giggle at the thought of tall John hunched over to put his chin of my shoulder. I couldn't get the hilarious image out of my head which made me laugh more, making my shoulders shake. I felt John's chin turn on my shoulder to give me what I assume is a weird look but I couldn't see it through the tears forming in my eyes. 

"What are you laughing about?" John asks but I can't answer through the giggles.

After a moment I begin to calm down and I set my phone down on the countertop to wipe my eyes. For a fleeting moment, I feel John's warm, ring cladded hand softly touch my lower back but as quick as it appeared it was gone. I feel John's head lift from my shoulder.

I take my hands away from my eyes to see John staring at me, waiting for me to answer his question.

"I was laughing because when you put your head on my shoulder I imagined you hunched over completely like almost folded in half and for some reason, it was really funny to me."

As I was talking a small amused smile appeared on his face, looking at it for a moment I decided that I wanted it to never leave.

***

After getting a little help from John and reading the directions 3 times on how to use the waffle iron I finally had the waffle iron on and was pouring in the waffle mix I made from scratch. John was behind me at the stove cooking bacon in one pan and scrambling eggs in another. I was fairly confident that he couldn't fuck it up too bad. The smell and sizzle of bacon and eggs filled the silence between us.

As I was waiting for the waffles to cook I fell into my thoughts, as I often do. It literally just sunk in that John is in my house. There is another person in my apartment that isn't Joy. A person that I met what, yesterday? This is crazy. I actually took a risk for once. I didn't let my fear of looking like an idiot hold me back for once. Holy shit. Is this what growth feels like? I think I'm falling in love with this feeling. I'm going to hold onto this as hard as I can.

I fall back into reality when the waffle iron beeps. I lift the tongs from the counter and begin to push the tons underneath the waffle and trying my best to not tear the waffle, I quickly placed it onto the plate. As fast as I placed it onto the plate was as fast as white fingernails snatched the hot waffle. I threw the tongs down onto the counter and yelled, "John!" as I turned around and looked up at him.

I wanted to laugh at him tossing the hot waffle between his hands as to not burn himself but I was too focused on getting it out of his hands. "Get your grubby hands off the waffle and put it back!" I yelled at him.

He started to smile and laugh. He started walking backwards as I was walking towards him. "I just wanted to taste it!" he said defending himself. 

"You can taste it when it's on your plate! And don't you have eggs and bacon to finish?" I tried reaching up to grab it but his taller stature gave him a much larger advantage and just lifted his hand above him.

"It's already finished cooking and on a plate, with the pans in the sink," he says answering my question while evading me jumping up to reach his hand.

I huffed knowing that I would never reach it from my height. "Can we at least split it? I want to taste it too,"

He shrugs slightly and drops his hands from above his hand. Noticing his loose grip on the now cold waffle, I snatch it out of his hands and run into the living room laughing hysterically. He was still standing in the kitchen and was looking at me standing across the apartment in the living room.

Looking at him from far away I noticed how good he looked in an apron. If he stayed in an apron I wouldn't be mad.

Not even a second later he was halfway over to me. Smiling and giggling, I turned my back to him and tore the waffle in half and pushed one half into my mouth and started chewing. Suddenly I felt his arms wrapped around my sides. Laughing with the half-waffle in my hands, I turn around and immediately regretted my decision.

A/N

see didn't i say that i'd be back soon? also thx sm for 7k reads. ik i say this like every time but i really mean it. despite my trash updating schedule, i'm happy u guys keep reading. if no one has told u this yet ur beautiful and deserve everything the world has to offer. i love u guys. until next time. love u.