When She Cries

As the sun peeked over the horizon and into Mary-Beth's window, she awoke and slowly pulled the covers off of herself. Her feet hit the cold, hard wood floor and she stood, walking down the stairs and into the kitchen. She saw Nick still sleeping soundly in the other room and pressed her lips together, letting out a sigh. She washed her hands in warm water and hand soap before pulling several utensils and pans from the cabinets overhead.

The house was soon filled with a wonderful smell of biscuits in the oven and bacon on the stove. She normally made herself some homemade muffins or something of the sort and felt to be in the mood for biscuits, so here she was in the hot kitchen.

Laying a few sizzling pieces of bacon on their uncooked side on a greased pan, she moved to crack a few eggs open over another pan on the stove. The butter sizzled again and a another wonderful scent filled the kitchen as she fried eggs and bacon.

She felt a presence and glanced behind her to see that Nick had awoken as was standing squinty-eyed and yawning in the kitchen behind her.

She sighed and said a soft 'good morning' to him before setting an egg on a plate next to the bacon and biscuits.

"Good morning." he replied. She smiled softly at him and poured some coffee into a cup, offering him a cup. He accepted and she placed a plate a food before him and then one on the table for herself.

He took a bite of the food and moaned. "You are an amazing cook."

Mary-Beth blushed slightly and shook her head. "No one's as good as my mother. She showed me how." He smiled and stuffed a forkful into his mouth.

After they finished, she picked up the two plates and placed them in the sink.

"no, no, no." Nick tutted. "I shall wash the dishes. You prepared a delicious meal and now it is time for me to do my part."

"Oh, no. It's alright, really. I'll do it."

"No, I insist. It's the least I could do." he said.

"No, I insist. It's my house and no where everything goes and how it all works. Go on and get your clothes out of the dryer. Laundry room is next to the bathroom. You remember, right?" With that she turned and began to scrub the plates clean.

Nick furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head before following directions and changing back into his clothes.

When he came back out, the dishes were in the dish washer and Mary-Beth was on the phone.

"Yes, that'll be great.... Thank you... Of course... Good-bye." she hung up the phone and looked up at Nick. "We can take your car in this afternoon. I asked for this morning, but they're all booked up until then."

"Thanks for doing this. You know, you didn't have to." Nick said.

She smiled a little. "It's no problem."

"I uhh.. I was wondering if maybe you'd want to do something today. Like maybe I could take you out to lunch?" he asked.

She shuffled her feet uncomfortably and shook her head. "Umm, I can't. I've got to w- work. Um, but thanks anyway." she said before running off upstairs.

Nick looked after her and sighed. He was confused at her behavior. Never had any girl acted so.. so... normal around him.

She cam down the stairs a little later, dressed in her choice outfit skinny jeans and a cute shirt, along with her scuffed up converse.

"Where are you off to?" Nick asked.

"I'm going to the park, you can come if you want. I'm just taking pictures." she said simply.

"No, that's okay. I'll just stay here." he said.

She shrugged. "Okay, well there are some movies under the Television and the remote is over there." she said pointing to the arm of the couch. He nodded and said good-bye as she walked out the door. He heard her car start and sighed as he watched it pull out of the driveway.