With Me Tonight

The sound of my phone buzzing caused me to stir in my sleep. I opened my eyes, but quickly shut them and buried my head in my pillow as the blinding sunlight shone right in my face. I blindly searched my hand around on my bedside table for my phone and peeked at it out of the corner of my eye, it was Gus calling. I hit the answer button and held it up to my ear. "Whaaat?" I groaned groggily into the phone.

"Belle! Get your lazy ass up!" He yelled jokingly into the phone.

"Gus it's 7 in the morning on a Sunday, I'm not being lazy." I whined.

"It's not just any Sunday.. It's super cleaning Sunday! Now hurry up and get ready, we're stopping at Starbucks before we get started! I'll be there in an hour!" He hung up the phone before I could protest, causing me to let out an agitated groan even though today was super cleaning Sunday.

Once a month Gus and I would head to the store and clean and organize every speck of it. The store was closed on Sunday's so normally everyone had the day off, but not Gus and I today. I threw the covers off of me, getting goosebumps as the warmth was taken away and then rolled off the bed with a grunt. I stretched my arms above my head and let out a long yawn as I stumbled my way into the bathroom.

I grabbed a towel and threw it onto the bathroom counter before I turned the shower on, making sure the water was hot so it would warm me up. I stripped off the clothes I slept in and tossed them into the hamper, then stepped into the shower, instantly being warmed. I closed the glass door and stood under the shower head for a while, embracing the way the water made my skin warm up.

I deciding against shaving my legs since I wasn't planning on wearing shorts anytime soon and just started to wash my hair and body. After I was squeaky clean and awake I turned off the water and hopped out of the shower.

I grabbed the towel and dried myself off before wrapping it around me and walking back into my bedroom. I got goosebumps again as I dropped the towel and put on my underwear and a random t-shirt. I checked my phone and saw it was 7:36 leaving me with enough time to eat breakfast.

Not worrying about getting all the way dressed right now, I made my way into the kitchen and pulled out lucky charms. It was my favorite cereal and I absolutely loved the little Irish leprechaun on the box. Pouring some into a bowl along with milk I flopped onto my couch and turned on the TV, flipping through channels as I ate. Not finding anything on worth watching I left it on whatever random channel it was flipped to and quickly finished my cereal while some commercials played.

I looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was 5 minutes until 8, shit time flies. I quickly got up, set my bowl on the counter and then ran into my room. I threw on a pair of yoga pants and a large sweatshirt right before I heard knocks on my door, Gus was always right on time.

I grabbed my phone and turned off the lights of my room and bathroom before I ran to the door. I undid the locks and swung open the door, revealing Gus with a goofy smile. "Morning, Belle." He chirped and I rolled my eyes as I turned and walked to the kitchen.

Gus let him self in and onto the couch as I washed my bowl and spoon and put away the cereal box. "That's my deer! All gnawed on by this stupid, disease barin, motherless, poxy, bastard!" I heard a voice on the TV yell and then Gus laughing. "Is this what you watch for your early morning TV?" He asked.

"I just flipped it to a random channel and got distracted." I shrugged as I made my way over to my shoes that were by the couch. "It's actually a pretty good show." Gus mumbled as he watched the screen. I looked over and all I saw was what looked to be a decapitated zombie head. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the remote, turning off the TV.

Gus shot up off the couch and looked at me with that same goofy smile. "Ready?"

I nodded and quickly grabbed my bag off the counter along with my phone and keys before we left my apartment and I locked it behind us. Gus lived in the same apartment complex as me so we both had the liberty of living 20 minutes away from the store and 10 away from Starbucks on foot.

I let out yawn as we walked out onto the streets of New York, being greeted by the cool air. Gus was scrolling away on his phone as we walked, occasionally glancing up to make sure he wasn't going to run into anyone. I never knew what he did all the time on that phone because I had the same one and barely even used it besides calls and pictures. He told me that if I "had" to get an IPhone because it made life so much easier, but in all honesty it didn't do anything that great for me.
When we reached the coffee shop, Gus pocketed his phone and held the door open for me. Luckily the Starbucks had turned their heater on, making the shop nice and cozy. The place was pretty packed, but I quickly hurried over to the last open table and sat down in one of the seats. "The usual?" Gus asked me. I nodded and watched him walk over and wait in line, letting out yet another yawn.

After waiting a good 20 minutes and the whole time struggling to keep my eyes open, Gus finally returned with 2 coffees in his hand. I don't know how he had the patience to wait in line that long and still have a goofy smile on his face. I had to admit though, his good mood could be contagious. I let out a sigh as I took the coffee from him and jumped off the chair.

We walked back outside, leaving the cozy air of the coffee shop and walking towards the store, sipping on our hot coffee. I dug the keys out of my bag when we made it to the store and unlocked it, flipping on the lights.

I threw my bag and keys onto the check out desk and kept the sign flipped so it read 'CLOSED'. "Are you ready to get crackin' on this bitch?" Gus joked and set all his stuff down on the table next to mine. He quickly ran into the back of the store and plugged his phone into the over head speaker, causing his music to start playing out around the store.

I loved spending the day with Gus (and Xavier and Tippy of course), basically just dancing barefoot and running around the store. He had made the dreaded super cleaning Sunday fun every time, but still made sure everything got done.

The day went by pretty fast, consisting of us dancing, singing, cleaning, organizing, feeding everything, taking a lunch break, more cleaning, more organizing, and finally us lying on the floor with Xavier listening to music. "Hows Veronica?" I asked as I put my hands behind my head and Xavier slithered up onto my stomach.

"She's good... Stressed." He laughed at the last part.

"Shouldn't you be helping her with the planning?" I asked, looking over to him. Veronica was Gus's girlfriend of 4 years and now fiancee.

He let out another laugh. "I do! I got to all these cake testing places and try to give my opinion on stuff, but she just decides against me and goes to her sister for more womanly advice."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Whens the wedding again?"

"2 months." He stated easily.

"Wow. 2 months until you are a married man." I stated looking up at the ceiling.

"Yeah, crazy right?" He had a slight smile on his face. We both sat in silence for a while until I heard his stomach start to grumble. I let out a chuckle as he sat up, holding his stomach. "I'm starving. I'm ordering take out, Chinese okay?" He asked as he crawled to his phone.

"Chinese actually sounds amazing right now." I giggled a little and sat up, too. I listened as Gus called in and placed our order, giving them the address to the store and then hanging up and looking to me. "15 minutes more of starvation." He pouted, making me laugh.

"We can survive this, Gus." I joked, causing him to playful shove my shoulder. "You will able to survive, but I might just have to eat Xavier for an appetizer." He teased.

I gasped and held onto Xavier. "You wouldn't dare!"

As if on cue his stomach grumbled again, causing us both to crack up in laughter. Once we calmed down we ended up playing a game of slaps until our food got here. Gus let out a joyful screech when he heard someone knock on the door and he ran over to them. He quickly took the food from him and I grabbed my bag, fishing for my wallet. I paid the delivery guy since Gus paid for Starbucks and quickly said goodbye to him as he walked off, then I shut the door and ran to my food.

I sat pretzel style on the floor next to Gus as he opened up all the cartons of food. We both grabbed the ones we wanted and a pair of chop sticks, then started eating right out of the cartons. Gus let out a satisfied groan as we stuffed our faces with the delicious food. "So Belle, anything new happening in your love life?"

I let out a sigh, I hadn't dated anyone since my boyfriend Eric almost a year ago. Our relationship ended on a terrible note when I walked in on him having sex with one of my employees. "I thought I told you... You, Xavier, and Tippy are the only men I will ever need in my life."

I saw him roll his eyes. "Come on, Belle, you can't just not trust the whole male population for the rest of your life."

"I trust you and you are a male." I stated. It wasn't that I didn't trust the male population, because not all of them are assholes, it's just loving someone means that you will eventually have to lose them.

Thankfully Gus left the conversation at that with the rolling of his eyes and we ate the rest of our dinner in peace. Once finished and threw away all of our trash I put Xavier back in his little habitat and started to close up the store.

I slid my shoes back on and put my bag over my shoulder as I waited for Gus to get all of his shit together. As we walked out of the store, locking it up, I heard a phone buzz and then Gus answer his. I heard him speaking to Veronica, but tried my best not to eavesdrop.

When he hung up he turned to me with that same goofy smile. "Veronica want's us to meet her at the bar by our apartment building, you in?"

I sighed, in all honesty I wanted to go home and sleep forever, but I knew if I said no Gus would tell me I needed to stop being so unsocial and mingle. "Sure, I've got nothing better to do." Was all I said, causing Gus to smile encouragingly and throw his arm around my shoulders as we walked.

"What's Veronica doing getting hammered on a Sunday night anyways?" I asked him as we arrived at the bar.

"Oh ya know, wedding stress and what not." He said as he held the door open for me. He instantly spotted Veronica and went over to her, giving her a tight hug and kiss. "Belle!" She called to me then ran over, embracing me in a hug. Veronica and I weren't that close, but we were still on pretty good terms as friends.

I spent a while hanging out with Gus, Veronica, and a few of her friends, but the whole time I couldn't help but feel out of place. I tried my best to talk with the people here, but they just weren't my type of friends.

I excused myself and went outside, putting a cigarette in between my lips to signal what I was doing. I had never been much of a heavy smoker, but it was a good relaxation technique to have once and a while, plus, it's a great excuse to get out of crappy situations like I just did. I leaned against the brick wall outside of the building and started to dig through my bag for a lighter. "Fuck." I mumbled when I realized I left it in my apartment.

"Need a hand?" I heard a rough, but at the same time very smooth voice come from next to me. I looked up and saw a very handsome man with short-ish hair and very bright blue eyes in a gray zip up hoodie walking out of the bar and holding a lighter out to me.