Learn From Cigarette Burns

"Babe," I heard a soft voice mutter somewhere up above me, "come on, wake up." It whispered, shaking me gently.
 
"'s too early." I slurred, my vocal cords and lips not yet working at their full potential as the sleep continued to control a majority of my mind and body. "More sleep."
 
"Sweetheart, wake up, I have a surprise for you."
 
My mind slowly started working, and after a few seconds I was able to recognize the voice to belong to my fiancé. I muttered a few incoherent words under my breath, and then rolled over, burying my face in my pillow. I felt the mattress shift behind me, and soon felt some soft kisses trailing along the back of my neck.
 
"John," I mumbled into the pillow, "shouldn't you still be asleep?"
 
John shifted slightly and then bit the side of my neck gently. "I'm too excited to sleep." He replied, his soft words spoken right in my ear. "I told you I have a surprise for you."
 
Gathering all of my energy, I opened my eyes and rolled over to look at him. "What kind of surprise?" I asked.
 
My fiancé responded with a cute smile before he leaned over and kissed the tip of my nose. "You have to come with me and see." He said simply.
 
I frowned softly, not wanting to get up yet. "Can I wear my jammies?" I asked. "Or do I have to get dressed?"
 
"You can wear your jammies," he said, nodding his head, "if you dare to be seen in public in them." He added with a soft smirk.
 
"John," I growled lowly. "I don't want to get up and get dressed right now."
 
The playful smirk on John's face faded away, and was replaced by a sad look. "Please, babe?" He asked. "I really want you to see what I have lined up for today. If I were able to let you sleep in some more, I would, but we have to be there at a certain time." He mumbled.
 
Hating the look on his face, I sighed softly and asked, "what time do we have to be there?"
 
"In one hour." He replied.
 
Reaching up, I placed my hand gently on the side of his face, and caressed his cheek with my thumb. "I need to take a shower," I said, "and in the meantime my dad wants you to help him with a few things."
 
John nodded his head. "Alright, babe."
 
With that, he sat up and helped me up as well. Running his fingers through my hair once, he leaned over, pressing his lips to mine momentarily before he pulled away and stood up.
 
"Come find me when you're ready to go." He said simply before he walked out of my room, leaving me to get ready for the day.
 
Breathing in deeply, I kicked my blankets off and stood up as well. I wandered around my room, searching for my towel while trying to figure out what I was going to wear. Before long, I had found my towel, and then I exited my room, heading down the hallway to the bathroom.
 
On the way there, I ran into my brother, David, who was almost a year younger than me. Almost, as in eleven months younger than me. Wrinkling his nose, he stuck his tongue out at me, before he asked, "where are you and John off to today?" he asked.
 
"I honestly have no idea." I admitted. "But I was very fucking reluctant to get up this damn early."
 
"This early?" David questioned. "Dee, it's nearly two o'clock in the afternoon."
 
"Well ... I had to stay up and wait for John to get here." I said defensively. "We didn't get to sleep until early this morning."
 
My brother raised an eyebrow, and then made a weird face, causing me to roll my eyes at him.
 
"We didn't have sex." I said. "We just ate some left over spaghetti, talked, and then went to sleep."
 
"Yeah, sure." He sighed. "Anyway, what are you two doing tonight?"
 
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know." I said. "Why? Is there something going on tonight?"
 
David nodded his head. "Lance's birthday is tonight." He said, speaking of the neighbor boy, who had grown up with us.
 
"Oh, that's right." I recalled. "Did he decide on what he's going to do?"
 
"Yeah, he made dinner reservations tonight at 8 o'clock for ten people, but he wasn't sure whether or not you and John were going to make it." David explained. "So ... are you?"
 
"Umm, yeah, tell him we'll be there." I replied. "We can't miss Lance's birthday; he's like our brother."
 
"Alrighty," David said, making his way down the hallway, heading in the general direction of the living room. "I'll give him a call." He called to me before he disappeared around the corner.
 
As soon as his disappeared around the corner, John appeared at the other end of the hallway that led to the garage. Smirking at me as he passed, he reached over and smacked my butt hard, making it sting.
 
"You're times down to fifty minutes now, babe." He said simply before he too disappeared around the same corner that my brother had.
 
I growled lowly and then went into the bathroom to do my stuff. Some time later, after I had showered, dried, and dressed myself, I wandered through my house, searching for John. I found him in the backyard, along with my dad and David, moving around my dad's brand new grill my mom had bought him for his birthday.
 
"Hey babe," John said when he saw me standing there, "we're almost done."
 
"Okay."
 
With that, I took a seat on one of the lounge chairs, and watched as the three of them struggled to get the grill in the exact spot they wanted. Finally, a couple of minutes, and a handful of curse words later, the grill was set, and their task was done.
 
"I think I'm going to lose this fingernail." David pouted as he showed me his fingernail that had been smashed underneath the foot of the grill when it had slipped from my dad's grip.
 
I made a face at the already darkening nail, and then shook my head in disgust. "The sooner it falls off, the better it's gonna feel."
 
"Yeah." He agreed before he turned around, and went into the house, most likely to complain to our mom about what happened.
 
Laughing quietly at my brother, John took my hand in his and pulled me to my feet. "Ready?" He asked.
 
"Yup."
 
"Okay, come on." He mumbled, leading me into the house.
 
I barely had enough time to grab my purse from the coffee table as we passed through the living room, and then headed out the front door. At my car, John held his free hand out, "keys." Was all he said.
 
"Babe, I don't know how much gas I have left." I sighed as I pulled my keys out of my purse and handed them to him.
 
John leaned over and kissed my cheek softly before he pulled away, and released my hand. "We're not going to be driving all over the place." He replied.
 
"Fine." I sighed as I went around to the other side of my car, and climbed into the passenger seat.
 
After John had readjusted the seat and mirrors, he started up the car and backed it out of the driveway. Before long, we were on our way to our destination, which was still unknown to me. The windows were down, allowing for the warm summer air to blow around us. Sticking my hand out the window, I spread my fingers out, and let the wind caress my hand.
 
"Babe, where are we going?" I asked, turning to look at John.
 
"You'll see." He smiled softly.
 
With that, either of us fell silent, not saying anything else until we pulled into the parking lot of a nice apartment complex. It was fenced in, and gated, but because it was the middle of the day, the gate was open, welcoming everybody.
 
"John, what are we doing here?" I asked hesitantly.
 
"We have an appointment to look at an apartment." He said shyly. "I know that you've wanted to move out of your parents' house and stuff, so I've been looking around for something that we could afford."
 
As John turned the engine off, I looked around, eyeing the complex. "This place is really nice, John." I said. "Can we afford it?"
 
"I wouldn't have made an appointment unless I was sure that we could afford to stay here." He said softly.
 
Smiling, I turned back to face him. "What time's our appointment."
 
"It was for 3 o'clock, but I think that they'll see us a little bit earlier." He replied. "Come on, let's go check it out."
 
Nodding my head, we got out of the car, and then walked into the front office, where we were greeted by a friendly looking man.
 
"Hello." He smiled. "Can I help you two with anything today?"
 
"Yeah," John said, "we had an appointment to check out some apartments. We're a little bit early, but I didn't think that'd make much of a difference."
 
"Oh, you're Mr. O'Callaghan." The man said, nodding his head. "I'm Daniel Brady, but you can just call me Dan; I'll be showing you the apartments today."
 
"Nice to meet you," John replied, shaking Dan's hand. "And John is just fine." He added before he released Dan's hand, and placed his hand on the small of my back, nudging me forward ever so slightly. "This is my fiancé, Dee."
 
"Nice to meet you, Dee." Dan smiled, shaking my hand as well. "And did you say fiancé?"
 
Blushing softly, I nodded my head as I released his hand. "Yes."
 
"Well then, congratulations." Dan grinned.
 
"Thank you." I said softly.
 
I felt John slip his hand into mine before he squeezed it tightly.
 
"Well then, how about we go and check out some apartments?" Dan suggested, gathering some folders. "We have three different types." He said, handing the folders to us. "We have two bedrooms, three bedrooms, and studios. What kind were you two thinking of renting?"
 
Turning to John, I frowned softly, having never given any thought as to what kind of apartment we wanted to get.
 
"Um, a two bedroom I think would be best for us." John replied. "But ... we might also be interested in renting a studio," he paused momentarily, turning to look at me. "What do you think?"
 
"I honestly think that we'll do best with a two bedroom." I answered him. "I like studios, but I'm just thinking that if we have company over or something, and one of us wants to take a nap, or something rather, it'll probably just be easy to have something with bedrooms. That way, no one gets disturbed and you have a sense of privacy."
 
"Would you, by any chance, be interested in a three bedroom?" Dan asked. "They're a couple hundred bucks more than a two bedroom, with a little more living space."
 
"I don't think we have enough stuff for a three bedroom." John answered truthfully. "This is our first place we're getting together ... it's probably best to start small."
 
"Alright," Dan laughed quietly, "let's get going then.
 
Grabbing a few more papers, Dan shoved them into his own folder and then led us outside. He pointed out a few things as we passed, such as the gym, the pool, and the conference room, as he led us through the labyrinth of hallways. Finally, we came to a stop in front of a door, and waited as Dan unlocked it.
 
"This is just our model apartment." Dan said as he urged us inside. "The rest of the apartments aren't exactly the same as this, but the general set up are the same."
 
John led the way into the apartment, tugging me along behind him. Once inside the living room, he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, a small smile pulling at his lips, before he squeezed my hand tightly. Within a few minutes, we had finished looking at the rest of the apartment, and had settled back in the living room.
 
"So, what do you think babe?" John asked quietly.
 
Nodding my head in approval, I replied, "I like it a lot. It's nice." Turning my attention to Dan, I asked, "how much is rent?"
 
"$850 a month." He said.
 
"That's the same amount that Jared's paying for his place." John pointed out. "And this place is a hell of a lot nicer than his."
 
"True," I said, "do you like it?"
 
John nodded his head.
 
"Well, if you like it, let's go ahead and get it." I suggested.
 
John studied me for a few seconds before he turned to Dan. "What are our chances of you accepting our application?"
 
"If you have good credit, or if you have a co-signer with good credit, I can have you in an apartment within the week." He said with a small smile. "You two want to go back to the office and fill out the paperwork?"
 
"Yes." John said, squeezing my hand once more.
 
"Alright, it shouldn't take long at all." Dan replied, leading us toward the door.
 
As he led the way, John looked down at me, his small smile turning into a playful smirk. "This should be fun." He said simply.
 
Knowing exactly what he was hinting around at, I bit my lip and chose not to respond. I hoped that everything worked out for us; the sooner we got settled in the sooner we could start planning our wedding.