#vegasbaby

After I had drifted off to sleep again, I woke up around noon. I turned over so that I could wrap my arms around Zak again, but all I found was a warm spot in the covers where he was laying before I fell asleep. Before I started to look around frantically for him, I heard shuffling in the kitchen and didn't really worry much. Well, it wasn't like I was going to die if he hadn't been here, but was that him or Berkely? Either he was here or he was gone, and him being gone was something I worried about; I didn't want to lose Zak without at least a goodbye.

Anyway, back to the shuffling in the kitchen. When I got a hold of myself, I sat up groggily and rubbed my eyes. The sun was brightly shining through the balcony door, and I squinted into the light until I could see. Gosh, had I slept late; the last time I slept this late was...before I could remember. Naturally I was an avid morning person and could wake up at the crack of dawn with barely any sleep and still get through the day (on coffee and Monster, of course).

I pushed my legs over the edge of the bed and hung my feet a few inches above the ground, swinging them for a few seconds before setting them down on the cold wooden floorboards and standing up. I almost fell over because my head was reeling, but I caught my balance on the nightstand. My hand rested on something slender and rough, though, and I looked over to find a rose plainly sitting beside my Stephen King novel. I picked it up and put it close to my nose so that I could smell it; I loved the smell of roses, and it really woke me up to smell it for the first time in years. Who did this? Oh yeah, maybe Zak. That would make sense. I smiled to myself and kept the rose in my hand while I walked out of the bedroom and into the living room.

The scene that I walked into was probably one of the strangest things, and something I would never have suspected to walk into. Berkely and Nick were sitting on the couch together, cuddling and making cute little comments or whatever. That was strange because I had never seen Berkely so comfortable with someone like that before; not to say it wasn't precious, and that I wasn't happy, but it was something I wasn't used to. For a second I was a bit lonely, wondering why I never got anything like that, before I remembered the flower in my hand. Then I heard something metal hit the kitchen floor and rushed in to see what was going on.

"Shit!" Zak said, almost yelling as the pan rolled around for a second. I almost fell over laughing because it was funny watching him practically chase the pan around the floor because he couldn't get a hold on it. He had oven mittens on, and had obviously been trying to grab the pan out of a cabinet with them on. Apparently he hadn't noticed me there yet, even though I was laughing like a hyena at what was playing out in front of me. When he finally got hold of the pan, even though it was still slipping in his mitten-hands, he slammed it down on the stove and made a loud groan in exasperation. He then ripped the mittens off and threw them down on the counter too; I just giggled a little bit and leaned against the archway to the little kitchen. I noticed he was still shirtless and almost fussed at him because he could get burned but then realized I really didn't mind him walking around without a shirt on. Plus, at this rate, I would have to finish breakfast anyway.

Right after he ran his hands through the hair on the side of his head, he turned to see me standing there int he doorway, grinning like an idiot. His eyes widened as he realized that I had been standing there for quite a while.

"Uh. Morning..." he muttered, and then smiled sheepishly as if he knew he ruined pretty much everything. I just laughed and walked toward him, placed the rose on the counter, and hugged him.

"Nice to know you were trying to make breakfast. It's the thought that counts." Zak wrapped his arms around me as I said this, and put his chin on the top of my head. We sat there for a moment before he spoke up. I could feel his head moving on top of mine while he talked, which made me smile.

"I did try. You can't blame me for that." He pulled away and held me at arm's length. "Like your flower?" he said, turning his head toward it. I just nodded and smiled before hugging him again. I pulled out of his hold for the second time and leaned against the counter.

"What were you trying to make?" It looked a little bit like biscuits, eggs, and bacon...but it had gone way wrong. There was a shriveled up black...something on a pan sitting on the stove already, and there were raw biscuits that were practically pulled to shreds on a baking sheet. Might I say the biscuits were also rolled up into little balls of dough, which I thought was cute. He had tried.

"Uh...Let's go the free buffet downstairs?" He looked at me hopefully and smiled. I shook my head in response. Normally in our apartment back at home, I would make breakfast for Berkely and myself, and it had been a few weeks since I had gotten over my laziness to make breakfast for anyone. Work sounded like a nice break (which sounds strange, but I had been on summer vacation for weeks and hadn't done anything for myself as of yet).

"Nah, I'll just make something out of whatever you have here. If I can." I looked up and winked at him before crossing the small space to the stove. "You can help, if you'd like." And he did, when he could; I taught him how to get the biscuits out of the can without ruining them (also effectively telling him not to roll them up), how to make scrambled eggs without burning them (turns out he had turned the stovetop on high and just left them sitting there), and how to microwave bacon instead of burning himself with the grease popping out of the pan. As I stirred a second batch of eggs for Berkely and Nick, Zak stood behind me and rested his chin on my shoulder. I turned to kiss his cheek.

"What are you two lovebirds doing?" I turned to see Berkely standing in the door way and smiling. Dang, she was never this happy in the morning! I prayed a silent "thank you" for Nick before sticking my tongue out at her.

"We are making your breakfast," Zak told her, not turning to face her fully (which I appreciated; I didn't want anyone looking at my man, even though it is just Berkely). "Could you grab some milk out of the fridge and pour a couple of glasses? I guess we'll just eat on the couches." Zak kissed the top of my head before leaving the room in the direction of the bedroom; going to grab a shirt, I hoped.

Berkely went to grab four glasses before she walked over beside me and hopped up on the counter next to the stove. She knew I hated that, but I ignored it because I was in a good mood this morning, and so was she. She grabbed the rose off the counter and smelled it before backing away because she hated the smell of roses. Just another difference between the two of us, I guess. "Now why would Zaky get me a rose if he knows I hate them?" she said in her joking voice, and I laughed. We started to throw little jokes at each other, and right when I started to wonder where Zak had gone, a cabinet door across the kitchen flew open and then slammed shut immediately. Berkely and I both looked at each other with "What the hell?" written all over our faces, and Zak rushed in (fully clothed) asking if we were okay. We both nodded yes, and Nick ran in behind Zak, pushing him out of the way to get closer to Berkely and ask her if she was alright. I just stood still and stared at the cabinet, wondering how it had done that; what could have possibly opened those cabinets? Before I could say anything else, Zak was blocking my view of the cabinets and putting his hand on my cheek.

"Wh--What?" was all I could get out, because I was super confused. I could hear Nick talking to Berkely saying something, but I couldn't place it. My head was buzzing really loudly, and Zak was starting to freak me out, the way his eyes were going left and right like he was trying to see if anything was wrong with me. Okay, it might seem a little weird for us to have reacted so strangely to a cabinet flying open, but it was completely quiet in the room when that had happened, and when I had actually gotten to thinking about it, Zak may have brought something in here. After all, they were ghost hunters...right?

I wasn't completely stupid about the paranormal. I had taken one parapsychology class in college, and had learned a few things. Yes, things could follow you home, or so that's what the professor said. I didn't know if Zak believed that, but whatever it was that had opened those cabinets, it was not human.

There was so much conflict in Zak's eyes that I felt like turning things around and comforting him. Maybe this was something coming back to haunt him. Did it want to hurt him? I didn't know, but I was sure Zak wasn't about to tell me.



There were so many things I could have done in that moment. For a second, I just wanted to pick Brielle up and run as far away from here as possible, but I knew that staying with me would be the worst thing for her. For a long time, I just wanted to scream and find this thing so that I could kick his ass, but again I knew that that option was impossible. Finally I just pulled her into a tight hug and willed myself not to walk out of that door and never talk to her again, never turn around if she came running after me, and never let her know that that would hurt me more than anything.