Too Personal Trainer

Eleven

It was the first time since Marlow had been at her brothers that she was not woken by her alarm, or Jax banging heavily on the door telling her to hurry up so they could leave for the gym. Marlow found it nice, to wake naturally and see the room lit by the sun and her eyes no longer heavy with desperate need for more sleep, and it felt even nicer to throw on her dressing gown and stroll, following the scent of freshly grilled toast, into the kitchen.

"I'll have some," Marlow croaked, her voice not yet awake. She took a seat at the breakfast table and watched Ty butter his toast.

"You can wait until I've finished mine. It will go cold otherwise," Ty told her.

"Or," Marlow yawned, "you can give me yours and make more for yourself."

Ty cut his toast in half and let out a long sigh. "Here," he handed her the plate. "Don't say I never do things for you."

She gave him a cheesey smile. "Thank you. Ooh, I'll have a cuppa, too, whilst you're at it."

As Ty grabbed his mug from the glass cupboard, he turned to narrow his eyes at her. "Is there anything else you would like, dear Marlow?"

Licking her lips free of the crumbs, Marlow pulled a thinking face. "Nope, I think that's it."

Ty rolled his eyes and grabbed another mug from the cupboard. "Sleep well?" he asked her. "I know the spare room isn't much, but Kira and I are not finished with the decorating yet."

"It's fine," she said. "I told you on the phone, as long as I have a bed and some privacy, that'll do me perfectly."

"I know what you're like with your television, though. I figured you'd have withdrawals without that stupid show of yours."

Marlow tried not to roll her eyes as she added some jam to her toast. "First of all, it's not stupid. And secondly, I was doing perfectly well with not thinking about it until you just mentiioned it. I'll have to use your laptop tonight in order to catch up on the episodes I've missed."

Ty poured the kettle water into the mugs and stirred them. "I need my laptop to plan tomorrow's lesson. I'm sure you can go a few more days without knowing if the beast has yet fallen in love with the beauty."

Marlow couldn't help her laughter. "You should give it a chance. I reckon you'd find it interesting."

"A tv show called Beauty and the Beast, interesting? I couldn't stand the film, let alone a spin off series."

"You loved the film when we were kids. It was the only one I could ever persuade you to watch twice in a row."

Ty joined her at the breakfast table with his tea and toast. "Yeah, well, let's not talk about that."

She laughed and finished off the rest of her breakfast.

"Where's Jax?" Ty asked Marlow with a mouth full.

"Say that again," Marlow grunted, "this time not with food in your mouth."

Ty swallowed his food. "Where's Jax?"

"I don't know, still in bed?" she frowned. "What makes you think I know any more than you do?"

"Woah," Ty raised his eyebrows, amused. "It was just a question. You were up late with him last night, that's all."

"9pm isn't all that late, really," Marlow defended. "And we were just in the living room."

"For several hours?" Ty was intruiged. "What did you do?"

"Talk," Marlow said. "You know, like most people do."

"Yeah, but for several hours? You must have had one hell of a talk. Did you ask him to be your plus one to my engagement party?"