Edie | primeval

1.3

AN AUNT'S ADVICE

...

There hadn't been many times where Edie had been reckless, but that didn't mean she was incapable of being so. Her aunt had always disciplined her through consequence- if she ate all her sweets in one go then there would be none for the next day. Yet, this never stopped her from taking risks and having the pictures and T-shirts, bruises and scars to prove it.

Waking up the next morning, Edie became very aware that she did not know her surroundings. The walls were a creamy white; the curtains that restrained the sunlight flowed sweetly from their hangers; the decor of this room was calculated and meticulously placed. The bed was soft and welcoming- the bed she was not alone in.

What surprised Edie the most was that this had been so very different from other one-night stands that she had had. She was grateful that the drink from the night before hadn't washed her memory of it all even though there was a slight throbbing in her temple which meant she had lost track of how much she had drunk. Edie remembered the name of the man lying beside her and where he worked and she could definitely remember other things about him too. They had brought a tint to her cheeks.

Stephen's breathing had quickened from its slumbering pace and as he stretched he noticed Edie beside him, gazing around his bedroom. "Morning," he whispered not to be so sudden, but his voice was hoarse from sleep so still seemed loud.

"Hi," Edie smiled, looking down at him as she was now sitting up. She held the duvet to her chest with one hand and attempted to comb from her hair with her other.

Stephen also sat up. There was a delicate silence between the two that filtered in between them looking at one another.

"Did you want breakfast?" Stephen asked, slipping on his underwear as he stood up.

Edie nodded, "Yeah, I'll help," she looked around for her clothes. "Let me just-"

"There's a dressing gown hung up inside the bathroom," Stephen pointed towards a door as he walked through to the living areas of the apartment.

Sure enough, there was a navy blue dressing gown dangling from the en-suite door. Edie pulled it on and began gathering her discarded clothes from the night before and placing them in a pile on the bed. Picking up her top, she noticed a stain- red wine. She and Stephen decided to have a glass once they had gotten to his flat. It had been an accident of over-exaggerated clinking of glasses that caused the spill.

The smell of bacon seemed to fill the air as she made her way to where Stephen was. He stood facing a quad of counter-top hobs, busying himself with the sizzling of bacon, unaware of Edie's looming presence. He had gained a pair of jogging bottoms and a flannel shirt, yet when he turned, it was clearly undone. He smirked at Edie's eye-line tracing his abdomen and coughed lightly.

"Is a bacon sandwich okay?" He asked, "I haven't got much in."

"Would now be a good time to tell you I'm vegan?"

Stephen's face dropped. "You-"

Edie laughed, hands covering her face, "Oh, you should have seen your face!" She squealed, "I'm joking!"

"There's some bread in the cupboard," Stephen chuckled as he mimed in the direction of overhead cupboards while shaking his head, "and plates are in the one next to it."