Reason to Live

Sunlight crept through the curtains, shining on my face as I woke. I smiled in a way that I hadn't smiled in over a year. I love waking up in the arms of the person I love. It felt so good to be back where I belonged.
“Bruce,” I whispered, while he stirred in his sleep. It was cute. I placed my hand on his bare chest and kissed his nose. “Wake up.” He smiled before opening his eyes and surprising me by kissing my lips. He rolled me over on my back and playfully kissed me, making me giggle.

“You're adorable Audrey Leanne. You know that right?” he said.

“Hmmm. Yeah I know,” I laughed softly. Smiling I slid my hands up and down his arms. He watched me with a warm smile. “You’re pretty damn adorable yourself you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” he laughed. “It’s the dimple, isn’t it?” he joked. I placed my red-tipped fingers on his face, squeezing his cheeks together to make his chin dimple stand out even more.

“One of many things sweetheart...”

“I’m your sweetheart now?” he asked, kissing me.

“Mhm. You’re my boyfriend. You’re my man...you’re mine.”

“I love you,” he said before rolling over and pulling me on top of himself. We were kissing passionately, before something happened that shocked us both.

The bedroom door flew open, revealing Eric and Marie standing there speechless. They were quite surprised to say the least. I squealed pulling the sheet over my exposed body. They just stared at us, looking appalled.
Marie was the first to break the silence. “ Oh my fucking KISS! They’re fucking!” she gasped. “Eric! Eric! They’re fucking!” she said, shaking him. She sounded excited to see us back together.

“...In our bed Marie!” he yelled. Her expression dropped.

“Eww. Why’d you pick our bed?” Marie asked. I smiled awkwardly, then pressed my face against Bruce’s chest to hide. He hugged me tighter. “Now we have to burn those sheets.”

“We’re getting a whole new bedroom,” Eric said unimpressed. “That’s really fucking disgusting. You’re sick Bruce...c’mon guys you’re not animals,” he said, losing control of his seriousness and breaking out in laughter.

“Can you get out of here?” Bruce shouted.

“Dude, don’t worry we will,” Marie laughed, quickly leaving.

“...getting kicked outta my own bedroom. Can you believe it?” Eric said, shutting the door behind him.

“Oh my god,” I laughed, pulling the blankets over my head. Bruce pulled the blanket in his direction so that we were both sitting on the bed with the covers over our heads.

“You ok?” he asked, trying so hard not to laugh himself.

“Yeah. Embarrassed as hell, but yeah, I’m alright,” I said, wiping a couple of tears from the laughter.

“Aud, It’s only Marie and Eric...”

“At least we weren’t in the middle of anything,” I laughed. Bruce put his arms around me and pressed his forehead against mine.

“We could finish what we were about to start?” Bruce hinted, kissing me.

“Get out!” Eric yelled. He started banging on the door. “For the love of god get out of my bed!”
Bruce and I both laughed.

Once we got our clothes back on and were forced to discard of the linen, we joined Eric and Marie in their living room. Eric had a few demos to show Bruce, leaving Marie and myself to raid the kitchen.
“So how long are you here for?” I asked, making sure she didn’t try to reach into the top cupboard. It scared me seeing a heavily pregnant woman try to climb onto a chair, just to get some ketchup to put on her popcorn sandwich. I’m not sure what was freakier, her dangerous behaviour, or her cravings.

“We planned to stop by for half an hour or so, just to check up on the place. Certainly didn’t expect to see what I did,” Marie smiled, dripping sauce as she took a huge bite into her sandwich.

“That’s gross...”

“No, this tastes great. I tell you what’s gross, walking in on my friends having sex, alright? That’s gross.”

“We were kissing!” I yelled, laughing.

“Whatever, I’m sure you were both at it all night,” she winked.

“I’ll spare you the details...”

“Please do.”

“We were. And I’m sorry you had to find out like that. Also sorry it had to be in your bed,” I smiled, taking a huge gulp of water.

“Don’t be sorry. I think it’s epic that you’re over this stupid fight. You and Bruce are the cutest couple ever. Plus, now the four of us can hang out again without it being awkward. God I missed you Aud!” she said, hugging me tightly. “Wait. You are back together right? It’s not another one night thing that results in weeks of me having to listen to you both bitch about each other.”

“No, this time it’s for real,” I smiled, getting another of Marie’s hugs.

“Good. Because I was so fed up with you both, I was about to kick both your asses,” Marie told me, still trying to eat that sandwich.

A little later, Marie and Eric were off again, this time, locking their bedroom door.
Bruce sat on their couch when I walked into the quiet living room. “So beautiful. What are the plans for today?” Bruce asked, pulling me onto his lap.

“I have to say goodbye for now, unfortunately,” I sighed.

“What? No, you can’t go!” he said, staring at me with those big, brown puppy dog eyes.

“Aww, I'd love to stay, but I've really gotta do something,” I said. He pouted and I laughed.

“Where could you possibly be that's so important... more important that being here with me?”
“I need to go to Joe's,” I said, standing up, straightening out my damp t-shirt. He looked at me, disappointed.

“... to break up with him,” I clarified. He nodded, understandingly. “I'll be back in no more than a hour – I promise,” I said as I kissed him goodbye.

“Woah, woah... wait! I’ll go with you,” he said, following me. “I mean, I don’t have to. But if you want me to wait in the car or something...”

“I want you there,” I smiled. “But yeah, wait in the car. If I bring you inside with me when I tell him, might be a little bitchy,” I giggled.

“How are you going to tell him?” he asked, wrapping his arms around me.

“I have no idea. I guess I’ll just tell him the truth. What about you and...”

“Christina? I ended it with her a week ago. I just couldn’t stop thinking about you,” he said, looking deep into my eyes. I smiled my way into a kiss.

“God I love you,” I whispered. “Okay, I better have a shower before I do this...ah, so you’ll come home with me first?”

“I can’t believe you had to just ask me that,” Bruce laughed.

I held onto Bruce’s hand as I led him up the stair case that led to the apartment that I shared with Billie. “Sorry, some jackass broke the lift,” I said.

“That’s okay,” Bruce laughed. “What’s it like living with Billie?”

“Well, she’s cool enough. Lots of parties. Endless supply of makeup. Just hate my neighbour though. Oh crap here she is,” I said as Mrs Doringtino walked towards us, leading Charlty, her stupid cat on a leash.

“Hey, it’s Mrs Doritos,” Bruce said loudly. I nudged him in the ribs with my elbow, making him laugh. “Marie loves talking about this woman,” he added as she stood in front of us, looking bothered.

“Miss Moore. What do you think you’re up to?” she asked rudely.

“Mrs Doringtino, if it’s any of your business, I’m on my way home,” I replied.

“Oh yes, and I suppose you’ve been out all night frolicking around with this long-haired pretty boy,” she said, with her hands on her hips. Her cat hissed at me and I took a quick step back. Bruce knew from the visits we used to have to his parent’s house in Queens, how much I was afraid of cats.

“Please control your cat,” I said, holding onto Bruce’s hand tighter. He looked down at me and chuckled.

“Charlty happens to be a well behaved creature thank you. That’s more than I can say about you rowdy girls. You’ll be with child soon enough you realise?”

I looked at her, shocked. “C’mon Aud, let’s go have that shower,” Bruce said, trying to move me along. Mrs Doringtino scoffed at that comment.

“Okay,” I said, staring at her. “If by “out all night frolicking” you mean fucking, then yeah, the pretty boy and I were,” I snapped.

Bruce covered his face with his hands to hide his laughter. “Oh, Aud...”

“Oh! You’re a horrible woman!” she screeched.

“I could say the same about you,” I said, with a smart-arsed grin.

“Come along Charlty,” she said, leaving in a hurry.

“Well hey, you practically asked about it,” I yelled to her as she left. “Don’t stick your nose in other people business if you can’t handle it bitch!”

Bruce looked at me surprised. “What? That woman has been driving me insane for months! I’m so sick of that goddamn cat too,” I said, walking to the door. Bruce just laughed.

“You’re so down to earth that it’s scary,” Bruce laughed.

“Oh no,” I said turning the locked handle to the door. “I gave Holly my key and forgot to get it back.”

“Billie’s home though, right?”

“Yeah, she should be.” I knocked at the door, then rang the doorbell.
Bruce hugged me as I heard footsteps leading to the door. I looked up and kissed him, just as the door opened.

Joe stood there, shirtless.

“Um, what’s going on?” I asked, seeing Billie approach us wearing the shirt I saw Joe in the day before.

“I’d like to know the same thing,” Joe said, glaring at Bruce.

“Alright, we need to talk,” I said dragging Joe into the kitchen by the arm.
I pulled out a chair, motioning for him to sit with me, but he preferred to just stand. I admit it was hard talking to him, seeing his perfect body. “I’m sorry,” I said. “ I love Bruce, I can’t help it. I’m not going to lie to you Joe. I feel horrible that this has to happen, but we can’t be together.”

“I’m not going to lose any sleep over it,” he said calmly.

“Please don’t be angry,” I begged. He looked at me and shook his head.

“Audrey, I know you’d never mean to hurt me,” he said, sitting in the chair next to me.

“I just wish things were like they used to be. When you and I were friends, before any of this crap happened,” I said sadly.

“You’re one of the coolest chicks I know, okay? We will always be friends, don’t worry about that. You’re kind and sweet, and incredibly beautiful. And I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the times we’ve had together, but I appreciate you just as much as a fun-loving friend. You and I are too different anyway. We weren’t going to work,” Joe explained, somehow making me feel as I’ve been dumped instead. In a way it made me feel less stressed about the whole thing, but really made me feel stupid.

“You and Billie? Is there something going on there or was it a revenge based decision?”

“I like her, I really do,” he replied.

I stood up and hugged him. “Well, I hope you’re happy Joe.”

He smiled at me. “Thanks, we will be.”

Billie and Joe left fairly quickly, probably because things were still very awkward. I’ll admit I was slightly annoyed that they were sneaking around behind my back, mainly because Billie wouldn’t have been sure that I was back with Bruce until she saw us that day. But it was very hypocritical for me to think that after I cheated on Joe. I was just glad it all worked out so well.

“So, how’d it go?” Bruce asked me when I finished getting dressed. He was playing around with one of my guitars in my living room. He put it down when I sat next to him.

“Surprisingly, he took it well,” I replied, allowing him to pull me on top of him.

“Well he wouldn’t wanna be angry at you considering he’s been doing Billie on the side. I’m just glad that I’ve finally got you back,” he said, kissing me as I started to unbutton his shirt. It was all very romantic until he started to chuckle, causing our lips to separate.

“What?” I asked smiling, while sitting up.

“Marry me,” he said before instantly going back into a kiss. I pulled away and gave him a surprised look.

“What? You can’t be serious?” I asked, stunned. He laughed nervously.

“Why not? I mean, we've already been through so much together. The last year, without you, has been hell! I love you so much and I’m ready for this. There’s nobody else who I’d rather spend my life with than you Aud. I never want to let you go...” I interrupted him with a kiss. “So that's a yes?” he laughed.

“Absolutely!” I said with an excited, but loving smile. “Of course it’s a yes! I love you so much too Bruce. Nothing would make me happier than to be your wife.”

“Okay,” he said excitedly, as he picked up my hand. “I haven't got a ring or anything, but ....wait,” he laughed, as he pulled one of his own rings off his finger. “Here.”, he smiled as it slid on loosely. I laughed and kissed him with gratitude. “I know it's not very romantic, I certainly didn't picture it to happen this way exactly... but here you go anyway.”

He was right, the ring itself was anything but romantic. Firstly because it had a skull on it, and secondly because it was a guys ring and far too big. But the spontaneous gesture was the sweetest thing ever.

“I love it,” I smiled sweetly.

“I promise I'll get you a real ring, whichever that you desire... first thing tomorrow.”

“Oh, I love you,” I said hugging him tightly.

“This doesn’t have to be now, alright? I’m not pressuring you into anything. If you don’t want to get married for five or so years, I don’t mind. If you want this next month I don’t mind either. Whatever makes you happy, will make me happier,” he said and kissed my forehead.

“Just being with you makes me happy,” I said as he lifted me up from the lounge.

He held me in his arms, walking towards my bedroom. “I think I know something that will make you very happy,” he said with a cheeky grin.