Can't Live If Living Is Without You

My queasy stomach woke me up from my nap and I shot up. I ran to the bathroom and let the food I consumed earlier come back up. Every time my stomach was about to settle it would go the opposite way and more food came out. I finally finished and flushed the toilet.

“Babe?” Zack called from the bedroom.

“Yeah?”

I turned on the faucet and rinsed my mouth. I brushed my teeth and ignored Zack’s calls for me. I finished brushing my teeth and shut off the water.

“Natalia?”

“What Zack?” I sighed and walked out of the dark bathroom.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,”

I wanted to go back to bed, but my hunger was getting the best of me. Without another word to Zack I left the room and went down the stairs to the kitchen. I didn’t know what I wanted to eat but I needed to find something quick. There was nothing in the cupboards or the fridge so I decided to make something.

I grabbed two eggs and a frying pan so I could make myself an omelet. Two arms wrapped themselves around my stomach and I rolled my eyes. The mood swings were about to kick in and I didn’t want to take it out on Zack.

“Zack, let go,” I sighed as I cracked the eggs and put them in the pan.

He sighed but let go of me anyway. He announced that he was going back to bed and went back upstairs. I closed my eyes and rubbed my face in frustration.

It was two days before Zack’s birthday and we still weren’t on that good of a speaking term. Yeah, we talked but my mood swings still came and went.

“Natalia?” Zack called out.

“Yeah?”

“Come down here for a minute,”

I rolled off the bed and walked downstairs. Zack had his back turned but when he heard me come in he turned around. I sat on top the kitchen counter across from Zack who was standing by the table and waited for him to say something. He walked between my legs and placed his hands on my hips. I raised an eyebrow at him and he started to kiss my collarbone.

“Babe, what are you doing?” I asked.

“Showing you how much I love you,” he said and pulled away. He grabbed the shopping bag from the table and pulled out a bouquet of white roses.

“These are for you,” he said.

“Thanks so much Zack. I love them,” I said and kissed him.

He looked at me with puppy dog eyes and I finally realized what this was about.

“No Zack, I’m not going to tell you what’s happening on your birthday,”

“Come on babe,” he whined.

“Nope,” I answered and hopped off the counter. I put the flowers in some water in a vase and went back upstairs with Zack behind me.

He spun me around and he pouted. He left butterfly kisses on my neck and ran his hands over my stomach.

“Are you trying to seduce me Mr. Baker?”

“Is it working?” he asked.

“Somewhat,”

“Than I guess I am,” he said.

My ringtone woke me up from my sleep and I grabbed it off my side table.

“Hello?”

“Hello is this Mrs. Baker?” the person asked.

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“I’m Lucy Montilla and I was interested in buying your condo,” the woman said.

I perked up and lifted Zack’s arm off my naked body so I could sit up.

“Oh really? Well when would you like to purchase the condo?”

“As soon as possible,”

“Okay, well I’ll fly out there tomorrow morning and we’ll meet up to discuss everything,” I said.

The woman gave me her number and we hung up.

“Who was that?” Zack mumbled.

“A buyer,”

“A buyer?”

“Yeah, someone wants to buy my condo back in New York,” I said.

I pulled on my underwear and bra and got up. I put on my short silk robe and got up from the bed. I grabbed my laptop from the small desk in the corner of the room and got back into bed. I started it up and the bright light blinded me as I waited for it to finish loading. While it was loading, I started running my fingers through Zack’s head that was now resting on my lap.

“I love you,” he mumbled while looking at the screen and enjoying the feeling of my fingers going through his hair.

“I love you too,” I answered and started looking for flights to New York.

We both sat in a comfortable silence and I kept searching for flights.

“What are you doing?” Zack asked me after a while.

“Looking for a flight to New York for tomorrow morning,” I answered.

I saw one listed for seven in the morning tomorrow and I clicked on it.

“Why would you leave tomorrow?” he asked.

“So I can get rid of my condo and get it over with,”

“But you’re leaving the day before my birthday and there’s no guaranteed that you’re going to be back in time for it,” he explained.

“I understand that, but I’ve been waiting for months to get rid of the condo so my credit can get better,” I said and kept looking at the flight information. I bought the ticket and the information was sent to the airport. All I had to do now was print out the information and show it at the airport tomorrow.

“Fine, fucking go to New York than,” Zack huffed and turned his back to me.

“I was going to anyway,” I shot back.

I got off the bed and grabbed my suitcase from the closet. I started throwing clothes in the suitcase and that’s when Zack turned around to see what I was doing.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Packing,” I answered and kept putting clothes that I’d need to protect me from the cold.

“Whatever, hope you have fun,”

“I will,” I answered and grabbed all my make up and hair products. I put them in different sections of my suitcase and I zipped up the pockets. I placed my boots and black high heeled boots in the last remaining space and zipped everything up. I hauled my bag down stairs and went back up to the room.

I took off my robe and pulled on a pair of basketball shorts with a tank top. I pulled on some socks and put on a pair of white sneakers. I brushed my hair back and grabbed my phone off the side table along with my hand bag.

“Where are you going?” Zack asked me.

“Out of this house and away from you,” I answered and ran down the stairs.

I snatched my keys off the counter and my suitcase from the floor and went out the house before Zack could call me back.