Screaming on the Inside

I didn't sleep that night. I wasn't sure if it was creepy or not, but I stayed up all night and just watched Marley sleep, playing with her hair. I didn't feel like I was being weird, but she might have thought so, so I wasn't going to tell her that that's what I was doing.
When she started to stir, I smiled a little, knowing I'd get to see her pretty eyes. "You're up already?" She asked in her tired, groggy voice.
"Yeah." I said, not lying. I was up, I just never slept.
"Why? What time did you get to sleep?" She smiled. Damn.
I had a hard time trying to come up with a lie that wasn't actually a lie, but I couldn't this time. "Uh, I didn't.." I said, avoiding eye contact.
"Why not?" She said, her smile forming into a frown. "Are you sick from being outside in the rain?" She turned my face to her and pushed back my hair and felt my forehead. Her worrying made me laugh a little.
"No. I'm not sick. Just, not tired." I explained. That wasn't a lie, I wasn't tired. That just wasn't the reason I didn't sleep.
"Okay." She said, and put her hands back down on my chest where they were when she woke up.
"Don't worry about that right now anyway. You should worry about food." I said, referring to her growling stomach.
"Maybe." She giggled. I placed a small kiss on her forehead and stood up, holding out my hand to help her up.
She happily took it and we headed upstairs where, surprisingly enough, Carly wasn't awake yet. It was only 8, and Marley had to be at work by 10, so it didn't make sense that she was still sleeping.
"Where's Carly?" I asked.
"I don't know." Marley seemed a little worried, so she wen to Carly's room to see what she was doing. I heard muffled talking then Marley yelled "Carly!! Why? We have to work today!" She seemed to be really pissed off. To be honest, I was a little happy that she was mad, because this way, I could make her feel better.
She came back out looking annoyed. "What's the matter?" I asked, grabbing her arms so she'd stop in front of me.
"Carly got wasted last night and now she can't go to work, meaning I'm going to have to work by myself today and probably get stuck with closing." She was venting a little, but I had no problem letting her.
"Well, I can't do anything about that, but I can make you breakfast." I offered. The tiny hint of a smile came across her face, and I knew she was already feeling better. That was easy.
"You want to cook for me, band boy?" She mocked.
"I'm so offended!" I cried, pretending to actually be offended. "How could you think so little of me?"
"Oh so you mean to tell me you can actually cook something?" She teased.She was a little on the vicious side, but I figured it was just because she was annoyed with Carly, and if being a little vicious to me made her feel better, then so be it. "Cereal and toast do not count." She added.
"Yes. I am actually." She went and got ready for work while I cooked for her. I wasn't the best cook in the world, but I knew I could impress her.
I made her the classic breakfast, including a stack of 3 pancakes with syrup dripping from the top, bacon, 2 eggs, and a small plate of a mixture of cut up fruit with a small mount of sugar coating the top. I thought I did pretty good.
Marley came back just in time for me to set the plate down in front of her when she sat down.The look on her face, when I gave her the food was priceless, she was pretty shocked. Even though she was just teasing earlier, I knew she didn't expect what I gave her. Mission complete.
"You asshole!" She said, laughing.
"What?" I asked, knowing exactly what she was going to say.
"You proved me wrong." She pouted, then perked up again. "But I did get good food out of it!"
I sat down a glass of orange juice in front of her, then took a seat on her right side. "You aren't eating?" She asked, almost surprised.
"No. I'm not hungry. I'll eat later." I said, honestly.
"You can't tell me you aren't hungry." She tried to convince me I was hungry, I thought it was funny.
"Yes I can." I answered. "Are you feeling any less annoyed?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Kind of." She didn't seem to enthused.
"What will make you feel better?" I really wanted her to have a good day, and I was willing to do about anything to accomplish that.
"Depends, are you busy today?" She asked, seeming to already have a plan.
"No actually. We're done recording for a while." I answered.
"Okay then. I want you to make me a promise." I was a little suspicious at what she was trying to get me to promise.
"Alright.. What is it?"
"I want you to be here when I get home, okay?" Was that all she wanted?
"Why's that?" I asked, before promising.
"Because.. Just.. Please?" She almost begged.
"Alright then. I'll be here when you get back." I promised.
A big smile crossed her face, she looked at the time and realized she should get to work. "Aw shit." She said.
"What?" I asked for what seemed to be the millionth time.
"I shouldn't take the car, in case Carly needs to go somewhere.I hate to ask you.." She really did seem to not want to ask, but I didn't mind. "I'll have Carly come get me after, I just need a ride there."
"No need to convince me. I'll do it." I stood up and grabbed my keys as she took care of her dishes.
"Nick, you're still shirtless." She reminded me.
"My shirt is still wet, there's no way I'm going to put it back on. That'd be freezing."
"You didn't put it over the vent did you?" She said, almost cooing.
"No." I tried not to smile, but I did anyway. I hadn't smiled and laughed that much in a long time, something about her just made me feel happy again.
"Well let's go then." She rolled her eyes as if she were annoyed, but her smile betrayed her.
We got in my car and and I drove her to work, but she should have known that I wouldn't let her go so easily. Before she could open the door, I decided to get her off guard. I unbuckled myself and leaned over to her, pulling on her him so her body would turn to me. And the giggle fit started. She knew. She knew and I loved it.
"Niiiick! We can't do that right here! What if my boss is watching?" She tried to convince me not to kiss her, but I wanted to. Even though we weren't dating, I kissed her like we were. Could you imagine if we were?
"So what?" I said, knowing she still wouldn't go with it. I also knew she loved it when I cooed at her, she may have not known that I knew, but boy did I.
"I could get in trouble." She muttered, as I started leaving little kissed down her neck. This was new, something I never tried before with her.
"You won't." I cooed. I'm sure at that point, she was sold.
Marley finally gave in and let me kiss her, but that couldn't last long, or we never would've parted.
"Bye Nick." She giggled, leaving me in the car to skip off to her waitress job.
I pulled out of the parking lot and decided to head back home for some dry clothes.