OLIVIA WOKE UP TO THE SMELL OF BACONS and a strong whiff of brewed coffee. She slowly sat up and her groggy eyes roamed over the bed she was lying at, the familiarity of the room she easily recognized and the scent of the comforter that she used to love. She frowned at the dozens of pillows surrounding either side of her body, barricading he from the edges of the bed. Montgomery knew how Olivia had a habit of moving around so much when she sleeps and ends up all over the bed, taking too much space and sometimes, falling off the bed. He decided to put pillows around her to keep her from falling off the bed because he knew how she hated waking up in that kind of state.
"Monty?" Olivia called out, her voice croak and raspy from the sleep she had. She was greeted with no answer and she wandered around his room, her green eyes meandering across the desk and the hastily half-closed drawers, a few cable wires of his phone charger peeking out and a few others of his things. Surprisingly, his desk was much cleaner and organized than they used to; she was used to see discarded textbooks with homeworks he never got to finish, or even started for that matter, crumpled papers and unwrapped gum wrappers littering the table, a box of cigarettes or even a lighter he always had stashed at the farthest section of the table, small dust particles of ashes from the cigarettes he sometimes smoke inside his room. Olivia sat down on the chair, inhaling the unfamiliar aroma of cinnamon replacing the mixed scent of strong body cologne, smoke and a mint bubblegum. A small smile takes over her lips when her eyes roved on the polaroid photographs Montgomery had stacked up by the wall; one of him with his friends, one of him with his family grinning widely at the camera, one of him and Dawson. Olivia found herself staring at the last two photographs, her heart leaping for a millisecond as her fingers traced reminiscingly on the picture.
The photo was taken during the Winter Formal party at Liberty High and thus, the two teenagers were dressed up fancy for the school event. Olivia's gray velvet gown pools by her feet, the soft fabric fitting her nicely, accentuating the curves of her body. Montgomery's dressed up with an extravagant-looking black suit with a white dress shirt underneath. Their lips were locked in a kiss; open-mouthed, and sure and so much full of sincerity and love and although it has been two years since the photo was captured, Olivia could still remember the feeling she had at that moment. Next to it was a recently-captured photograph of him with Grayson on his lap, the toddler's mouth agape in a happy mid-shriek, both of the insanely similar features of the two boys in the picture scrunched up in pure happiness. Underneath it was his hasty and yet careful scribbled handwriting that says, 'One of the best things that ever happened to me'
The low sound of utensils clattering against porcelain plates and the familiar giggle of her son caught her attention and she decided to freshen up before going downstairs and to the source of the noise. Olivia stepped in the kitchen and her eyebrows dhot up in surprise when she was greeted with Montgomery's bare back, his taunt muscles tensing as he tried to balance Grayson by his hip while he cooked the bacons in the pan. The two boys had their very same brown hair disheveled and sticking into different kinds of direction, making them look more alike. Grayson bobbed up and down by his father's hip, his arms reaching up to tug Montgomery's hair. The sight of the two boys brought a warm feeling to surge over her chest, her heart catapulting just the slightest before she could stop it.
"Ouch, that hurts." Montgomery chuckled, wincing slightly as the young boy tugged relentlessly on the roots of his hair. He leans forward and pecked the boy's cheeks, a soft smile playing on his lips.
Grayson shrieked and looked over Olivia's direction, his eyes widening in immediate recognition, "Momma! Momma!"
Montgomery pivoted carefully, a mixed look of anticipation and shyness. He points at the mug placed on the bar, "Hey. I made you Milk Chocolate Swiss Miss with marshmallows."
Olivia chortled. "How come you didn't prepared a cup of coffee for me?"
"That, Olivia June, is because you hate coffee because you don't like how there's a tangy and bitter taste to it and how it gives you a hard time to sleep for the following several nights." Montgomery answered proudly in detail. It was funny how two years have passed and yet he still knew her so well.
Olivia shrugged, taking a greedy sip of the hot cocoa, "Well, what if I don't anymore? Coffee could really become a reliable weapon against procrastination in college. I mean, Liz says it is but nah, it never works for me."
"We all know that's complete bs. Nothing beats your procrastination." He lets out a laugh and Olivia glared at him. "Could you help me? I'm cooking and Grayson's starting to come out heavy."
Olivia got up from her chair and took Grayson from his arms, her hand grazing lightly on his skin and he tensed unnoticeably, slightly flustered with how a small thing Olivia does has a huge effect on him. She bounced the boy up and down by her hip while she spectated Montgomery's cooking action, "Are you cooking it until it's crispy or..?"
Montgomery shook his head, "I don't cook bacons to crisp because you don't like it when it's too crispy."
Olivia nodded, impressed. She pecked Grayson audibly on the cheeks. "Good morning, love." Then to Monty: "Have you fed him his breakfast already? I only realized now that I woke up later than usual."
Montgomery sent her a wink. "Relax, babe, I've got it under control. I woke up at 7 when he started trying to kick down the walls of his nursery bed. Mom supervised us both while I fed him his baby cereal."
Olivia sighed out in relief, smiling at Montgomery's efforts. "Thank you." She frowned, pointing out, "But you hate waking up from 7 up to 10 in the morning. You're not a morning person."
"Not when it comes to Grayson. He's much more special than sleep." He answered while turning off the stove, transferring the cooked bacon to a clean platter. He held the plate with one hand and the other placed lightly on her back to guide her to the dining table.
Olivia places a kiss on Grayson's forehead and cooed, "Did you miss Mommy?"
Grayson nodded, gnawing on his hand as a small trickle of drool escapes his mouth and dribbles down his chin. Montgomery fondly wiped the drool with a napkin and winked at Olivia, "He didn't. Gray and I had fun bonding over the backyard earlier this morning. He loves Daddy more, right?"
Olivia makes a face at Montgomery, rolling her eyes while the young man laughs freely, leaning back against his chair. "Of course he doesn't, he loves his Mommy more."
Montgomery glared at her playfully stuck his tongue out. He pulled out the baby chair for Grayson and they started to eat while the toddler mindlessly gnawed on his baby teether, watching curiously between his parents. Olivia asked awkwardly, "Did we... sleep together on the bed last night?"
Montgomery looked up with a hint of a smile. "No. I didn't think you'd want to wake up next to me anymore and I kinda didn't want to scare you away if you thought of me trying to take advantage of last night's events.. I slept by Grayson's nursery room. He kept on crying though but I didn't want to wake you up."
"You should've woken me up. Did you get much sleep?" Olivia insists with a worried frown.
"It's okay. That way, I learn more and more by myself. Don't worry, Mom helped me for awhile then a our maid, Dana, helped me how to calm him down. Everything was under our control." Montgomery assured.
They were silent for a while as they eat their breakfast in peace with Grayson's occasional mumbling of any sorts. A few minutes later, Montgomery broke the silence and spoke quietly. "Listen, Mom's leaving tomorrow night and she made a request to spend the day with Grayson today, only if it was okay with you. But we both know she won't take no for an answer."
"Of course. What time does she plan on taking Gray though?" Olivia says unsurely.
"I guess by lunchtime, she's by the groceries right now to come pick up some food. Are you sure it's okay with you?" He clarified and Olivia shot him a crescent smile, nodding.
Montgomery's took this as his chance to bring up his plan for the both of them. "Wanna.. go somewhere with me tonight?"
Olivia looked up in mild stun, narrowing her eyes in confusion. "To where exactly?"
"There's a party by the beach tonight. I'm not sure if Alex or the other are going but i'm pretty sure they would, all they do is party right after graduation." Montgomery chuckled. "We could go wherever you want. Tonight's about you and what you want, Liv. Consider this as a break from motherhood and to have time for yourself to have fun. I'm sure you miss parties thrown here around town."
Olivia contemplated for a moment, biting softly on her lower lip as she weighed her options. Being with Montgomery, this close, still felt strange and awkward for her, despite having push past the terrible history of what happened. It was something that she was so familiar with but also something she still needed time to get used to. But she was going back to LA in two weeks, might as well enjoy it while the remaining time of her being there lasted. Determinedly, she nodded with a grin.
"I'd love to."