Slightly Bruised and a Little Bit Used

I woke up feeling well-rested but still slothful.

I turned to see Riley lying next to me, face buried in her pillow and blankets at her waist.

I kissed her bare shoulder and smoothed down her hair before climbing out of bed and entering the bathroom for a long shower.

She wasn’t sleeping there when I was done.

I quickly got dressed and walked down the hall.

“Shit!” I heard her shout.

I smirked to myself, pausing in the doorway of the kitchen.

She was standing at the stove, looking flustered.

I came up behind her, winding my arms around her middle and getting a nose-full of the smell of burnt pancakes. I laughed, kissing the back of her neck softly.

She turned in my arms, frowning up at me with a pretty pout on her lips.

“I was trying to make you breakfast for once,” she explained, turning off the stove and dumping her failed attempt at breakfast into the trash.

“Cereal it is,” I joked, reaching past her to get two bowls out of the cabinets.

She buried her face in my chest before I could grab the bowls.

“Happy anniversary,” I said, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head.

“Happy anniversary,” she mumbled into my shirt in response.

I couldn’t believe it had been an entire year since the craziness that had been our messed up version of a relationship.

Not to say that our current relationship was perfect or completely normal, even.

But I knew I could spend the rest of my life with Riley.

I had to be careful about my bluntness of this fact sometimes.

She was so easily scared off, even though I knew she felt the same way about me.

We stood there for a while, comfortably silent.

The best part was the knowledge that I was hers.

And she was finally mine.