The Other Woman

In the morning, the soft buzzing of some source of music awakens me from my slumber. I can't make out the lyrics, the beat, or the riffs because of my groggy, early morning condition. Shifting myself more comfortably, I double wrap the sheet around my legs when I realize that I'm on the plush maroon carpeted floor instead of my soft, comfortable bed.

"Sheet hogger"

I turn myself around so we're face to face. Grinning, I rub my foot against Tre's bare calf after stealing the sheet that was covering it. He's wearing a smug smirk on his face and his brown hair is pointing in every geometrical direction known to mankind. I also take notice of his ears, which are sporting white ear buds from my ipod, solving the mystery of where the music was coming from.

"Am not" I mumble. "My legs need more cushion since they're on the floor"
"You and your excuses" he sighs, ruffling my already medusa looking hair in the process. "But do you have any excuses for the garbage on your ipod?" he questions

I turn my body upright, my back against the mattress, and laugh towards the ceiling at his rude inquiry.
"You don't know what you're talking about. I have thee best taste in music" I say proudly, turning on my side so that we're facing each other again on the floor. He shakes his head in utter disappointment, causing me to giggle, and then he sits upright, heaving his bare back against the nightstand behind us.
"Baby, I nearly had to run to the bathroom to vomit when I saw some of the so called 'musicians' on your ipod"

Rolling my eyes I too decide to sit upright, but instead I wiggle myself into Tre's lap, leaning my back against his chiseled chest. I feel his lips kiss the back of my neck before patrolling down my shoulders. Suddenly, he pops my ipod in front of my face, fingers scrolling and clicking through the small white device.
"I mean, you have some good bands. I see The Clash, yours truly, Nirvana, Aerosmith, Bob Marely, AC/DC. I'll even accept Outkast"
"Continue" I mumble dismissively
"But then I gasped when Britney Spears appeared, choked when fucking Lifehouse came up. But of all people Serenity Reynolds" he glares at me, eyes narrowing in mortification, causing me to roll my eyes and laugh. "Of all people, Weird Al Yankovic, are you fucking kidding me?!" he says with a gagging noise. I snatch my music machine away from him and look at what he's listening to.
"Stabbing Westward" I mumble to myself with approval. "I thought of all people, you would like Weird Al, he's so funny" I convince

"Not really my pet" he retorts, pulling the ear buds from his ears. He then snatches my ipod from my hands and shoves the cased device underneath my bed. His muscular arms enclose around my bare waist from underneath the sheet as his kisses dust over the sides of my neck. I smile as he mumbles sweet gestures into my ear.

God, he made not falling in love difficult

"Did I hurt your back last night?" I ask suggestively, craning my neck around to look as he replies.
"Only a little, although that was a mighty long ride you took" he replies with a sexy grin.
With a snort of laughter, and a small shove to his chest I murmur
"You're the one who insisted on using the floor and dresser, serves you right"

And with that, I plop myself out of Tre's lap, brushing the sheet off my body. I stand up and stretch the tiredness from my limbs. Quickly scanning the room for my discarded clothing, I smile as I find Tre's oversized shirt and slip the garment on.
"What shall we do this fine day?" he asks in a classic British accent, still sitting on the floor looking fabulous.
"I dunno" I shrug while walking over to my dresser to begin brushing the bush on top of my head into place. "All's I's know's is that I's cookin you some dinna tonight" I continue in a dirty Southern accent.
Standing with a grin and only in a pair of purple-checkered boxers, he walks towards me and bends down picking up my fallen belongings that he threw off my dresser last night.

"Are you sure you can cook Serenity? I don't want to go through another food poisoning debacle" he says while sniffing a bottle of my Clinique: Happy Heart fragrance.
"Trust me, my food is finger licking good"
"You know what else is finger licking good? My di—"
"We have to go to the supermarket later on for a few things" I say as I finish placing my hair into a simple ponytail.

As I go behind Tre to retrieve a pair of boy shorts from my drawer behind him, I watch in horror as he picks up a bracelet from off the floor. And of course its not just ANY bracelet, it so happened to be the one that Billie Joe bought me, encrusted with diamond teddy bears and hearts.
"This is pretty cute" he murmurs and turns around to show me the item of sinful jewelry.

"Oh that. My, uh, ex bought me that a few years back"
"How come you never wear it?" he persists
"I don't know, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't" I mutter, shoving the underwear up my hips.

He nods while placing the bracelet back on the vanity tray, and continues sniffing and examining hair products and perfumes as he stacks them back up.

Close one

Walking through the cool aisles of Publix, I resist the urge to grab the hand of the soon to be 32-year-old man next to me, and slap his wrists as if he's a two year old.
"Can you please quit it?!" I beg in desperation as he continues twirling around the shopping cart and making obscene noises behind me.
"I haven't been grocery shopping in months" he tries reasoning, accidentally walking into the wrong aisle with the metallic cart squeaking with rubber wheels.
"Tre, I said the breads and pasta aisle, not feminine products"
"Oops" he cringes whilst making a sharp U-turn and clumsily knocking over an entire stack of economy sized tampon boxes with the handlebars of the cart. He was drawing so much unwanted attention to himself that I was surprised that only three people chirped with glee and asked for his autograph. I roll my eyes in embarrassment and annoyance while walking to the correct aisle, not bothering to check if Tre was following me or not.

Discerning between a package of bowtie pasta and a package of regular string pasta proved to be difficult.
"This is cheaper" I mumble to myself before pushing the regular box back onto its shelf. I tuck the bowtie pasta underneath my arm and mentally scratch that item off my mental grocery list. Up next was a bottle of wine. I walk out of the aisle and head towards the beverage aisle.
"There you are" sighs Tre as he speed walks towards me. Staying silent, I venture along the frozen foods section ignoring him as he stays only steps behind.

"What's wrong?" he asks appearing next to me as I turn into the beverage aisle.
"Nothing" I mutter, tossing the pasta rather roughly into the silver-shopping cart. I pick up two bottle of wine, a strawberry and peach Arbor Mist, and then a bottle of classic Legacy Red Wine. I'm surprised when Tre suddenly snatches both bottles from my grasp and places them into the cart with a bizarre expression on his face.
"Why are you mad at me?" he asks with a tinge of attitude
"I'm not mad at you, just annoyed at your inability to act like a grown adult in a grocery store"
"Well sorry I'm not a serious, stuck up coot. I didn't realize I was embarrassing you!" he angrily whispers.

"What? I never said you were embarrassing me" I retort
"Annoying, embarrassing, same shit" he mutters rocking the cart back and forth.
"I don't have time for this" I gesture with my hands as I stick them up in the air. I take hold of the end portion of the cart, trying to pull it out of his strong clutch. He doesn't respond, but instead pulls back on the cart, making it appear as if we were having a game of tug of war.

"Can you please let go of the fucking cart, so that I can take it to the fucking cashier" I mutter through clenched teeth.
"How do you do that?"
"What? Do what?"
"Look so sexy when you're upset. I feel like tossing you into that cart and ra—"
"You have issues" I interrupt while releasing my grip.
He smirks at me before murmuring a small "sorry" and kissing me sweetly on the lips. Sighing, I walk towards the cashier, with Tre carrying the cart smoothly alongside.

"Please Jennifer" I beg, cupping my hands together for emphasis.
"Where the hell am I supposed to take him?" she continues, taking a bite out of her green apple
"Anywhere" I beg. "You can even introduce him to Mark, just get him out of here"
Our congregation in the bathroom was quite suspicious, but Tre was outside in the living room talking on his cell with someone, not recognizing our sneaky dispositions. All I wanted was for Tre to get out of my apartment so I could make him a fabulous dinner without his nosy interruptions or any unwanted comments. To surprise him, in a way.

"So you're telling me that you want your boyfriend stoned just so you can cook him a lousy dinner?" she snippily inquires
"Well no, just introduce him to Mark, not Mark's drugs"
"Fine" she yields
"Yeah, thanks Jen" I kiss her cheek, scurrying out of the bathroom.

"There you are," I mutter walking into the kitchen to see Tre leaning against the stove. I press both palms on either side of his frame, eyeing him up and down like a predator.
"Here I am" he reiterates with a grin, allowing his rough fingers to trace over my hips.
"I need you to do me a favour"
"Which is... " He cocks his eyebrows
"Jen's going to take you out for a little while, while I stay here and make you dinner and become all romantic and stuff"
"But I wanted to help you" he pouts. "Well no, not really. But I sounded sweet saying it" he smirks.

Along with a slap upside his head, I reply "Have fun", before grabbing his hand and dragging him into the living, where Jen stood waiting with her car keys jingling in her hand.

The onions were the worst portions of the meal to prepare. My fingers were stained with their not so lovely scent, and my eyes flooded with unintentional tears from the scent of the vegetable.
"Shit" I mumble as the pot of boiling spaghetti begins to boil over, steaming water rushing over and underneath, making sizzling noises. I rush over to the stove, slipping on a pair of oven mitts before draining the boiling water inside into the sink. As the steam rose, I sigh, a relief that my dinner wasn't ruined.
An hour passed and table was set, candles, chilled wine, and all. And at precisely 8pm when I was just brushing on a thin layer of midnight blue eyeliner, the doorbell rang.

And rang...
And rang...

With a small mutter of "what the hell", I speed to the front door, looking through the peephole to observe none other than Tre's blue eye gazing back.

"Your friend is very boring" he complains as he thuds himself inside
"Where is she? Don't tell me you killed her and hid the body somewhere" I tease
"Actually, she said she didn't want to intrude on us tonight, so she went to some dude's house" he replies
"So did you meet my buddy Mark?" I ask with a smirk as he attaches his arms around my waist and drops his head to my shoulder.
"Oh yes, and we had a little chat about what he can offer for the guys and I while we're on tour" he grins. "By the way, whatever it is you cooked smells really good"

"Wait til' you eat it, its finger lickin' good" I insist. "And you better like it, because I burned a fucking finger" I pout. Slithering himself next to me, he lifts his propped head from my shoulder and lifts up my hand, kissing each finger as I turn to liquid mush.
"All better?"
"Mmhmm" I nod. "Now lets eat before the food gets cold" I say whilst walking towards the set and ready dining room table.

I frown at the bottle of wine, which is now stoic and empty, Tre draining the last of its sweet contents into our glasses.
"Hey you never told me when your birthday was" he chirps from underneath me
"Its all the way in April, the 26th"
"So on April 26th, your turning 26. Neat" he adds while taking a dainty sip of my wine. I shove my shoulder back gently, nudging him in the chest for stealing my drink. He smirks before putting my glass down on the nightstand next to my cell phone, and nuzzling his nose into my hair, relishing in the scent of my shampoo, and the scent of just being me. Serenity.

We lay on our sides on my bed; the small night-light in the corner of my bedroom is the only source of light as it glows throughout. It's shaped as the planet Neptune, casting a light blue shade amongst Tre and I and all other objects in my room. Craning, my neck around Tre's shoulder, I look at the digital clock and its neon green numbers. 12a.m.
We had finished eating dinner hours ago, and had decided on taking the wine into my bedroom so we could cuddle, talk, and do other activities.

"So are you a Democrat, Republican, or Green party? Or was that a stupid question?" I giggle, since the newly released American Idiot album rather told the answer.
"A liberal Democrat, you?"
"I'm democratic but I do agree with Republicans on quite a few issues"
"Like?" he urges on
"Like abortion and gay marriage, I don't agree with either"

He looks at me awkwardly for a brief second
"Well, the abortion subject is kind of touchy. But I'm all for gay marriage."
"Yeah" I sigh contently, not wanting to get into any arguments.

"Sources tell me that your birthday is approaching, December 9th" I pronounce
"And what source was this?" he asks wrapping one of his legs around my hip as we lay on my bed.
"A fan site. It had a weird name, like nerd breath.com or something"
"Geek stink breath?" he inquires
"Yeah. Geekstinkbreath.com" I nod. "You praise yourself on the web too?" I smirk
He chuckles "No, it's an old song of ours. From our Insomniac album"

"Are you close to your family?" he randomly asks me, his grip around my waist tightening
"Certain members. Like I'm pretty close with my brother and two sisters, but my parents... Well, that's another story" I mumble dismissively, not really want to talk about the reason why, or my rather dysfunctional family.
"I like stories" he grins

A sigh escapes my lips as I turn around so that we're facing each other. His eyes look intrigued as they sparkle into my own.
"Why do you want to hear about my family?" I ask while toying with his shirt collar
"Because I want to know where you got your sassy little attitude from" he sneers, letting his thumb brush over my cheek.

"Ok, I grew up in Miami, but originally born in New York City. I liked school, graduated with my best friends and pestered my teachers. I was engaged to a jerk, broke it off, yada yada yada. And, my parents are decent I guess. Its just that during all my life, they never trusted me. And I still don't know why"

He pouts and re-wraps a leg around my thigh, before nodding and beckoning me to continue.
"When I was small, I used to tell little lies here and there. But nothing BIG, I mean I was like 9 or 10, there was nothing juicy to lie about. Then during my teens, oh gosh, they didn't trust me at all! I remember one of my best friends and I lived a few blocks away from each other, and when she had a barbeque, I asked to go over her house. So I went, and only minutes later my mother came over to see if I was there or not. I was so pissed" I ramble while I'm unknowingly tugging onto Tre's collar just a bit too hard.

"Sorry" I laugh as I let go of the strangled material. He smiles and kisses my temple.
"That sucks. What about your dad?"
"Don't even get me started. He has serious social and communication problems. Moreover, he thinks he's the smartest and wisest human being EVER. And Tre, he actually said that before"

I roll my eyes as he lets out a hearty laugh, in turn causing me to laugh.
"Wow, I'd love to meet your father"
"Yea. Right." I remark sarcastically. "So what about your family? Where'd you grow up and all that other hub jub"
"I was actually born in Germany, but grew up in California, the Mendocino Mountains" he says proudly.
"I didn't know you were a mountain man" I giggle.

Hitting me on my forehead, he continues.
"So anyway, I lived with my father, brother and sister. Our house was on this huge chunk of land, so I used to dirt bike and play around a lot with friends and stuff"
"I can tell" I murmur
"Anyway... I met Billie Joe and Mike at this club in Berkley, Gilman Street. We jammed together and hung out until I joined the band, we were all around 16 and 17"

Tre lays his head down on the pillow above us, resulting in my own head thudding onto his chest. He kisses my temple, and I cringe when a loud belch escapes from his lips.
"I hope you know you're going to be my own personal chef from now on" he mumbles "Complete with a tiny French maid outfit and 6 inch stilettos" he adds.
"Keep Dreaming Tre" I mutter in response. "Also, have you noticed that we've been talking for over 3 hours" I giggle
"Are you serious?" he says in awe
"Uh huh. We finished eating dinner and watching T.V at 11, and its now past 3 in the morning"

He mutters something incomprehensible before crawling out from underneath me, smirking devilishly, and then positioning his body on top of mine, sending familiar sparks up my spine. He's kissing my forehead and then the tip of my nose, when my cell phone begins vibrating from the nightstand.
"Ignore it" he mutters while crashing his hands into mine, pinning me against the bed as he kisses my neck.
"Treeee" I whine, slowly surrendering into his cozy kisses.

But the device continues to vibrate and jump on the table. I give Tre an apologetic smile before slowly crawling out from underneath him to retrieve my phone.
"Someone's texting me" I mumble to no one in particular

As my eyes travel over the text and its correspondent, they widen, completely appalled yet somehow flattered:

A. Idiot: I want you bad
Complete me, Mistreat me.
I want you to be bad, bad.
I want you
I want you bad
Complicated
X Rated
I want you bad, bad, bad, bad

"The Offspring, lyrics to Want You Bad" I say to myself

"What's it say?" asks Tre as he lays sprawled out on my bed
"Uh, nothing important, just Jennifer and her stupid sexual references. She thought we were having sex and wanted to interrupt us." I mumble nervously, my hands shaking a bit. I place the phone down back on the nightstand, making sure to shut it off.

"That's evil," he pouts as I join him, pressing my body on top of his. "Maybe we should do what she says, and you can just turn your phone off so she doesn't interrupt us" he adds.
"Both of you are morons, trust me" I reply with a smirk. And with that, we snuggle under the covers. I snip off my shirt, leaving myself in only a green bra and a pair of baggy shorts, while Tre slips his shirt and jeans off, leaving himself in only a pair of boxer briefs. I smile as he spoons and we fall asleep.

Trust me.