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12/18/16
"IS THERE MORE bacon?" Chase asks loudly with a mouth full of eggs and toast.
"Yes," Mr. Hasting calls out from behind the griddle in the kitchen. He's wearing an apron with some manly quote about men cooking.
"Don't talk with food in your mouth," his mother quickly chastises before setting down a fruit bowl at the center of the table.
Almost every morning the Hasting's go all out with their breakfast. Some days they have omelets, some pancakes, and today they are serving French toast. Fruit and bacon and sausage and toast always lining the table for sides. It's almost like a movie the way they sit around and enjoy this meal together. It's so family oriented; so simple and yet so filled with love it makes my heart ache in a way I haven't felt in a long time.
It aches because I miss my mother. I miss what we could've had if I hadn't given up on our relationship. If I hadn't blamed her, hadn't criticized how she moved on, how she handled a broken heart. Her broken heart.
Chase elbows me under the table to grab my attention. I turn my head just in time to see him stick his tongue out, a tongue covered in chewed up food.
"Gross," I cringe pulling away from him as he attempts to wrap his arm around my shoulder and pull me close. "What are you twelve?" I comment as I pull away from his disgusting face.
"Yes," he replies easily with a eager nod.
My lips pull into a flat line as I raise my eyebrows in a completely unimpressed look.
"Hey, you chose to love me," he throws at me with a wink.
"Oh, that wasn't a choice," I tease obviously alluding to our fake relationship prompted by him and him only.
His eyes narrow. "You're funny," he voices sarcastically.
"I know," I drawl with a hand placed over my heart letting myself take it a compliment.
"You two are just so cute together," Mrs. Hasting gushes as she takes in the state of our playful banter.
"The cutest," Chase replies breathing his stinky breath into my face as he pulls me in close once again.
I let my elbow back right into his ribs, hard, as I keep a smile on my face gazing lovingly at my boyfriend. Chase tries to cover the pain with a laugh, but I know I got him good and I flip my hair over my shoulder in success.
A voice clears and my eyes flicker up to meet honey colored eyes, the ones I can't seem to stop dreaming about. Thinking about. Wanting in every way I shouldn't.
"Clayton," his mother smiles. "So happy you're joining us," she tells him earnestly.
He doesn't join the family as much. It's an almost daily event, this family breakfast, more so then family dinners but he doesn't make it as often. I know his family tries to give him the space he needs, especially at this time of the year. But I know it makes his parents happier then ever to see him coming around, interacting with them. I know they miss him. The old him, whoever that use to be.
