Break (Falling Apart #1)

Chapter One

 ~~~~~Chapter One~~~~~

I turned the knob on the stove, turning the burner off. I tucked my hand under my arm, as if that would take away the pain of the burn. I ran the water in the sink, the stuck my hand under. The burn was small, but it still hurt a good deal. I made sure to stay silent, so that my boyfriend wouldn't realize what I did.

"So, Thea, when is your mom getting home?" Colton asked from the other room. I was glad that the stove was right beside the sink, in the corner of the kitchen. He couldn't see what happened from the dining room.

"I don't know, baby," I said, grabbing a towel. Drying my hands, I walked into the dining room to check on him. We had our books spread across over the table, several of them open with papers haphazardly serving as bookmarks. I watched him struggle over an algebra problem, and walked over to see what he was doing. "X equals five."

"How did you know that?" he asked. "I've been working on this problem for ten minutes, and I didn't figure that out."

"I'm just that fucking sexy awesome," I laughed. "That's why."

"Fucking? Well, fuckable. Sexy? Hell yes. Awesome? Baby, that's an understatement," Colton said, closing his algebra book and walking over to me, taking the towel out of my hands. I winced as his fingers brushed my burn, but I didn't say anything.

"I.. Have to finish making dinner..." I whispered, looking up into his eyes. "But I wish I could stay in here and help you..." He raised his hand and I flinched, he laughed and brushed his fingers across my cheek.

"You know I won't hurt you," he muttered, leaning down to kiss me. I turned my head away, slapping him playfully before turning back to the kitchen. I pressed the 'on' button on the coffee maker to heat up water for tea. I grabbed the honey jar from the cupboard and  the lemon juice from the fridge. Two green tea bags went into two mugs.

While I waited for the water to get hot, I turned back to the stove. I had breakfast cooking, we were going to have 'brinner' tonight. I flipped the knob to turn the stove back on, then took the bacon out of the grease. I usually had my mom do this part, because I got sick of burning myself on the bacon grease. Since she wasn't here, I had to do it myself. I couldn't bring myself to ask Colton to do it. What kind of person was I if I was afraid of bacon?

I cracked six eggs, two eggs per pan. To make sure everyone got what they wanted, I'd asked what they wanted this morning. Mom wanted scrambled, Colton wanted whatever I was having. Typical, he didn't ask for much.

I splashed milk into the pan farthest from me, then got coffee cream and put a few drops of that in as well. I added coffee cream to the other two pans, but not the milk. I put both cartons away, then got a spatula.

As I stirred the eggs, I heard the coffee maker beep. I abandoned the eggs while I poured the hot water, burning myself again. "Oh, shit," I muttered, spilling water onto the counter.

"Everything okay?" Colton called.

"Yep, babe, everything's fine," I said. I put the pot back and added the lemon juice and honey, then put the jars back. I carried the mugs out and set them on the table. "Lemon honey green tea. I'll make Mom's when she gets here."

I went back to the kitchen and pulled out a Lipton original tea bag and put that into a black coffee mug. I stirred the eggs again, then grabbed three glasses out of the cupboard and put them on the table. "Orange juice is in the fridge," I said to Colton. "I don't have enough hands."

I started gathering books together, piling the open ones on top of the other and closed ones on top of the open ones. I set the tilting stack in the one empty place at the table - across from me. That spot was reserved for whatever man Mom brought home. It was hardly ever the same man, so we couldn't say it was his spot.