The Six Month Contract

Meet The Parents

Waking up in the morning, I'm in the bed alone. Rocky is no where to be seen in the bedroom.

Last night was strange, and I'm not entirely sure I know what happened.

Heading downstairs, I make my way to the only place in the house where sounds echo. The whole house is quiet and eerie. Rocky's chef or butler is in the kitchen perhaps.

When I walk in, I'm surprised to see a shirtless Rocky whisking pancake batter. His head turns in my direction when he hears my footsteps and nods in my direction. "Did you sleep well?"

I swallow. I try hard not to look at his chest, it would send the wrong message. I nod. "Yes."

His kitchen is modern. White benches with black granite bench tops. The bench tops go around the whole kitchen in a square with a rather large bench island in the middle.

This is about ten times bigger than my kitchen and I always thought mine was rather big.

"Sit," he says indicating at one of the black stools under the island.

At first I want to protest and tell him that he cannot tell me what to do but I simply just obey. I've been very bad with him. I know I apologised last night but I don't think it was enough. This guy was someone I went to school with. He was a friend. Although what he's doing is quite bad too, it was a deal and I didn't have to accept.

He plates freshly made pancakes in front of me and pushes the maple syrup in my direction. He grabs the bowl of fresh berries and also places that in front of me.

Grabbing the plate, I drizzle maple syrup over the pancakes and a handful of berries.

"You okay?" I ask him because he's awfully quiet.

He nods and leans against the island bench. "Fine."

I don't know what else to say. It's already awkward and I don't want to make it any more weird between us.

"There's a party tonight," Rocky says. "For us, my parents have thrown it."

I frown. "For us?"

"Cause we got married."

I shake my head. "How are your parents so cool about this. I'm pretty sure mine want to rip my head off."

Rocky smirks as he leans forward. "You'd be surprised what they know and expect."

I blink as I cut a piece of pancake and stab it with my fork. When I bring the fork close to my mouth, Rocky leans forward and eats the pancake off my fork. I watch him in confusion.

"That tastes good," Rocky mutters before he heads to the sink to rinse the other plates.

I have no idea what just happened. He needs to put a shirt on because I'm getting rather distracted. I don't tell him that of course.

"Are my parents coming?" I ask.

Rocky stops the tap to face me. He leans back against the bench. "Do you want them to come?"

I shake my head. "Absolutely not."

"Then that's that," he says. "I guess they're not going."

"Can I say something?"

Rocky puts the clean plate down and pays me his full attention. "Yes, go on."

"My parents are not happy one bit. Can you just tell them that this is a six month contract in order to help them out," I mutter as fast as I can.

Rocky watches me for a moment. "That's between you and I. I'd rather no one know."

I frown. I don't know how to respond to that, and although I want to scream, I don't. I told myself that I would not behave like that.