MARIE ✔️

T H I R T Y - N I N E

K A D E N

I feel some sort of pain nagging at my chest. It's making it hard for me to breathe. Not physically, but mentally.

Jasmine is wrapped in my arms, with her head nuzzled into my neck. Her small hand is flat against my chest, rubbing it in soothing motions.

"Marie?" I whisper into her silent, dark bedroom.

"Hmm?" She slightly shifts, turning her body away so that her back is to me. But her hand grabs mine and wraps my arm around herself. I inhale her strawberry scent, soaking her into my senses.

Shit. It's on the tip of my tongue.

"I..." My mind tries to force me to spit it out, but I just won't budge. If there were two clones of me, let's just say no one's getting out of that room alive. "I don't want to lose you, Jasmine."

I can feel her body tense against me. Her breath slightly becomes uneven.

"Please don't say that." She breathes out. "If you say that, I'm going to imagine it... and I don't want to imagine living without you." She turns so that she's laying on her side. "Please." Her dark, green eyes hold so much fucking power over me. She could give me a certain look and I'd be done for.

"Okay." I whisper. "Okay." I lean down and kiss her jaw. She melts into my arms, closing her eyes and starting to drift off.

It's almost midnight. I seem to overthink things at night. It's like the world just doesn't want me getting any sleep.

Jasmine's finger traces over one of my chest tattoos, like she's redrawing it.

Redrawing.

***
J A S M I N E

I rub my eyes and yawn as I start to wake up. My head feels foggy and I'm sore between my legs.

My window blinds are open, and the bright, morning sun is beaming in. I squint my eyes, trying to block the sun out. Even stuffing my face in a pillow doesn't seem to help.

Groaning, I throw the covers off of me, and then come to the realization that a certain someone isn't in bed.

Hmm. That's suspicious.

I force myself out of bed, pulling on my fluffy, pink robe I got as a birthday present from Jayda a few years ago. My hair is a wreck, so I take a few minutes to brush it out. But now it's all frizzy and fluffy. So I tie it in a ponytail and move on with my day.

It's cold when I open my bedroom door and saunter out. Why is it so unbelievably cold?

When I enter the kitchen, the smell of food smacks me in the face. It smacks hard. My mouth starts to water, while I try to inhale every bit of the amazing scent.

"Kaden?" I walk further into the kitchen and see a shirtless Kaden with his back toward me. He's standing in front of the stove, holding a spatula.

He peers at me over his shoulder, and then that dazzling grin I love so much makes an appearance.

"Hey, ma."

I nervously laugh, ducking my head down to hide my burning cheeks. I can sense him smirking.

My arms wrap around his torso in a casual manner, hugging him from behind.

"You're cooking?" I ask, smiling against his skin as I press a kiss to his shoulder. Which I have to stand on my tippy toes to do, because he's so unreasonably tall it's not fair.

"You don't like my cooking?" He asks, sounding offended. My mouth gapes open, ready for apologies to spill from my mouth.

"No- wait." I laugh nervously. "Baby, you know I didn't-"

"Marie." Kaden says, before his chest starts shaking with laughter. The sound is a bliss, and I start to wonder if I'm still asleep and dreaming.

He flips a pancake- a blueberry pancake- still laughing, never missing a beat. It's really not fair how he can be that perfect.

"Do you have work today?" I ask, trying to change the subject, while also hiding my embarrassment.

Kaden's body stops shaking and freezes. He looks up as if he's thinking about it.

"Not right this minute. I do tonight, though." The tension in the room becomes thicker and thicker with each passing moment of silence.

Why is work such a touchy subject?

"Let's eat." He clears his throat and moves away from my grasp. He holds two plates filled with bacon, an omelet, and his famous pancakes I've effortlessly fallen in love with.

I didn't even know I had bacon in the fridge.

"Did you go to the store?" I ask with a mouthful of pancakes. I reach for the glass of orange juice sitting in front of me.

"Yea." He slowly eats his food, taking his time and savoring the moment. "Are you busy today?"

"I'm not sure. But if I was, I'd rather spend it with you anyway." I shyly smile and continue eating my food.

"As you fucking should." He mumbled to himself, taking a bite of bacon. I hold my laugh back.

We finish our food in comfortable silence. Kaden reaches under the table and grabs my foot, pulling it into his lap and stroking the skin near my ankle.

"I want you to draw something on my arm today. Or any part of my body." Kaden suddenly says. "Anything you want." He looks up at me, and there's a certain softness in his eyes I've never noticed before. "Okay?"

I shake my head to clear my thoughts. I look up at him and smile. "Yea. Whats the special occasion?" I joke, standing up and carrying out plates to the sink. I peek over my shoulder to see Kaden shrug.

He shakes his head and purses his lips. It looks like he's fighting back a smile.

"No reason."

I laugh. "O-Kay." I wash both our dishes, and a few other ones that were in the sink. The dish washer is all loaded up, so I throw a soap pod in there and press start.

"I'm gonna go brush my teeth and get dressed." I run upstairs and get ready. Brush my teeth, brush my hair, pick an outfit, look at myself so long in the mirror I get tired of my clothes so I change again, and then I go back downstairs to Kaden. I have a cup of pens in my hand, colorful ones.

I'm not sure what Kaden's playing at, but I like it. So I won't complain.
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