New Father (18+)

3

The air was stiff when I walked into the Kitchen the following day. It was around five o'clock in the evening and Aunt Becky and Gabriel were home from work. I wasn't sure what Gabriel did, but Aunt Becky was an accountant at some firm in town. I pictured Gabriel doing some sort of rehabilitative line of work. Maybe a doctor or a nurse?

The day was warm and I spent it outside walking Blue around the lake. I found a spot in the sun to read and I laid out in the grass and Blue would occasionally come lay down with me after he'd ran around. I read all day and when the breeze turned cold and the sun began to set I made my way home for dinner.

The tension in the room could be cut in half with a knife and I feared they were still fighting. I missed them this morning so I never got a chance to apologize so now would be as good as time as any, "Hello," I greated awkwardly as I walked into the kitchen and took a seat on a barstool. Gabriel was cutting vegetables and Aunt Becky was stirring something in a pot with a hand on her hip.

Gabriel's head shot up at the sound of my voice and he gave me a heart stopping smile that almost made the corners of my lips twitch up,"How's it goin', Eleanore?" Gabriel greated like it was a normal tuesday and I'd never said anything rude to him.

"I'm doing fine, I wanted to apologize...to both of you," I said and the sound of Aunt Becky sturing stopped and Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows.

"There's nothing for you to apologize for yo-" Gabriel began, but Aunt Becky cut him off.

"Jesus Gabriel let the girl speak," She said exasperated and I glanced at Gabrial to gage his reaction to her snapping. His lips were pursed and the hold he had on the knife tightened. He set down the knife and a forced smile presented on his face as he let me continue. Aunt Becky turned around and folded her arms over her chest and she looked to be waiting for me to speak.

"I wanted to apologize for being an inconvenience last night. You two brought me into your home and I'm sorry for being so rude and for messing up the flow of things in the house," I said calmly and my voice was shaky from not being used for so long. When I talked my eyes glanced around the room avoiding any eye contact from both of them.

Aunt Becky seemed pleased with me and a big smile filled her face as she uncrossed her arms. "Thank you, Eleanor for apologizing. We forgive you!" She cheered,"How about after dinner we all go sit on the couch for a movie, yeah?" She said and the excitement relieved me because she was no longer in her sour mood.

"That sounds like a great idea," I said with slight enthusiasm to make her happy and she cheered and announced she was going to go pick out what we are going to watch and she commanded me to continue stirring the pasta. I followed directions and I grabbed the wooden spoon and stirred the creamy sauce in the pot. I could feel eyes on me and I knew they belonged to Gabriel, but I didn't turn around.

"You had no right to be apologizing," He said and the sound of him cutting began again. "She should have been the one saying sorry," He said in a quiet voice so Aunt Becky wouldn't overhear. His cutting got a little louder as he put more pressure into his slices.

"I was mostly apologizing to you because I was rude last night," I muttered and the sound of cutting stopped for a moment of hesitation before it continued again.

"You don't need to apologize for that either, you're a good kid, Eleanor," He said and my lips twitched a little in a sad attempt of a smile, " I start each day fresh so what happened yesterday is long gone, if only your aunt could abide by that same philosophy," He muttered the last part and I bit my lip slightly. "Any way, it's over, she's happy, let's move on," He sighed and set down the knife and he was by my side with the cutting board in his hand. His side pushed into mine as he leaned past me to slide the cut vegetables into the pasta. There he goes with the personal space issue. I awkwardly stepped back and out of his way so he could fully stand in front of the food. I brushed my hand over my side that was warm from his touch. I bit my lip and shook my head before going over to the cabinet's and searching for plates. It took a few tries but I finally found them and I set them in a row so he could plate the meal when it was ready.

I leaned against the counter and I crossed my legs and smoothed out my yellow sundress. It was quiet and the only sound was the sizzling of the pan. I picked off random pieces of grass from my clothing and I threw them in the trash can. After a moment he spoke,"What did you do today?" he asked and my actions stilled and my tongue swiped over my lips before I spoke.

I told him briefly of my day reading and playing with Blue and I thought that would be the end of the Conversation, but he continued to talk, "What did you read?" He asked and I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth and a blush crept up my neck and on my cheeks. I was reading a romance novel all day and it was a tad bit steamy. It was an erotic novel and I didn't realize that until all the s*x scene hit me. It was such a good book though so I didn't put it down even though some of the chapter's get me a little hot and bothered.

"Oh just some silly little book," I brushed it off hopping the conversation would be dropped but that mouth of his kept talking.

"What's the name of it?" He asked and I sighed and quickly rattled off the title and then changed the subject.

"Fallen too Far- so how was your day?" I asked quickly and he picked up the pasta and put it onto the plates.

"It wasn't to bad," He said and I asked what he did for a living and he began to tell me how he went to veterinary school and was now working at a vet office in the city. He said that one day the animal control lady brought in a litter of abandoned puppies and all of them were malnourished and one of them had a broken leg. All the other puppies healed up fine but the one with the broken leg needed special attention and Gabriel made it his mission to get the puppy running around with its brothers and sisters. That dog was Blue and he usually took blue to work with him, but he wanted someone to be here to keep me company. "I'm sure Blue wasn't too mad about missing work because he got to spend the day with you," Gabriel said with a smile as he handed me my bowl. He carried two out to the living room leaving me alone in the kitchen and for the first time in a while I found my lips curling up into a smile. How could something so small as leaving his dog home to keep me company get me to smile?

I don't know why, but I was glad I was showing a positive emotion finally.

I grabbed my fork and I walked into the living room only to be greeted with Aunt Becky and Gabriel locking lips in what seemed to be a bit heated make-out. I grimaced and awkwardly looked down at bowl, "Um," I said and the sound of my voice made them pull apart immediately and Aunt Becky smirked at me.

"Oops," She said with a slight giggle and she leaned forward and grabbed her bowl and began to eat her pasta. I sat on the chair next to the couch they occupied. Gabriel sat with his arm around Aunt Becky and she snuggled into his side and I was glad they finally made up. I just wish my eyes didn't have to see them making out. I pulled a blanket over my lap as I curled my legs up and got comfortable in my chair. A movie was playing on the screen and I frowned at the subtitles and the foreign language. I knew a bit of German , but sadly this was some spanish movie and I had not a bit of clue as to what was going on. I tried to keep up with the subtitles, but after I read the words the screen was already changing so I missed what was going on. It was frustrating, but Becky seemed to like it because she would laughed after a character would speak. I got up with my half bowl of pasta and I picked up their empty bowls and I began to make my way to the kitchen, but Gabriel's voice stopped me,"Oh you don't need to get that, i'll do it," He said as he went to grab the bowls from me but Aunt Becky stopped him.

"It's the least she could do, babe," She said as she pulled him back to the couch,"Besides chores will do the kid some good," She said lightly, but since I knew Becky I knew the words were supposed to be a dig and I frowned and nodded. Gabriel didn't seem happy about me doing the dishes, but he bit his tongue and let his wife snuggle up to him. I carried the dishes into the kitchen and began to clean up the mess of the cooking. Gabriel was surprisingly an organized cook so the mess wasn't too horrific and it didn't take me long. Besides this was a lot better than suffering though that movie.

I scrubbed down the counters and managed to find the homes to all the dishes and I was finally done. I rubbed the top of Blue's head from his bed in the corner of the kitchen and this caused him to jump up and follow me out of the room and into the living room. He kept brushing his cold nose against my leg as I walked so it made me walk faster in an attempt to stop him, but that just made him walk even faster. Weird dog.

I entered the living room and saw that it was only Gabriel this time and his thumb was pressing buttons into the remote as he watched the screen in front of him. I saw him flip through movies and I almost cried out in relief of that movie being over.

"Becca went to bed," He stated and I nodded and I jumped slightly when Blue's cold wet nose hit my calf again and Gabriel chuckled lowly, "Did he get ya?" He asked and I looked over at him, "That's why he sleeps in the kitchen because he would always put his nose on my back and it would wake me up because it's so cold. That and he sleeps like a human. His head lays on the pillow, but his feet stick straight out and into my back," He smiled at the dog and tapped the couch cushion to command the dog to him, but the dog stayed put and looked up at me. I bit my lip and Gabriel scoffed," I've been betrayed!" He said dramatically and I let out a breathy laugh and the sudden noise surprised me. First he made me smile and now I'm sorta laughing? Hmm.

"We bonded over the lake I guess," I shrugged and I went and sat down on the other end of the couch so Blue would lay between us. Blue jumped up and circled a few times before settling with his head on my lap. Gabriel just shook his head and muttered,"Unbelievable,"

I pet Blue and glanced up at Gabriel and gave him an innocent look that made him chuckle and shake his head again. He began to look through movies again and he asked me what I wanted to watch. Instinctively I told him whatever he wanted to watch, but after bantering back and forth I finally told him a scary movie. I didn't feel like laughing nor did I feel like crying so a scary movie was better than a comedy and a romance. He picked out a poltergeist movie and it had me jump a few times when a loud noise echoed through the surround sound. This was an awful movie to watch when they had surround sound. I kept thinking the noise was behind me which made the movie even more scarier. During the movie I kept cuddling more and more into Blue so I could quickly hide my face in his fur. Gabriel thought this was funny and he decided to take away my only security and offer blue some dog food in the kitchen. When Gabriel returned he had a smug look on his face and when the movie was quiet I could hear Blue chomping away. I prayed nothing scary would happen while he was gone, but sadly there were a lot of jump scares.

I yelped and slapped my hands over my eyes, but the sound scarred me more so I slapped my hands over my ears and closed my eyes tight. Only pecking one eye open when the movie would go quiet again.

When the movie was over I finally uncurled from my ball and praied my hands off my ears. "That was pretty good," I said and Gabriel let out a loud laugh,"What?" I frowned.

He looked amused as he said, "You didn't even watch the damn movie, Eleanor" he teased and I gave him a sheepish look, "but I will give you props for toughing it out till the credits," He said and a proud smile formed on my lips.

You know how in the wizard of oz the tin man has to put oil on his joints to make them work better. That's how I feel with my smile. It feels rusted and tense from lack of use. It needs oil to make it work better.

"For your information I did watch it...most of it," I said as I got to my feet and I heard the jingle of Blue's collar as he trotted into the living room licking his lips.

"Good Luck sleeping tonight," Gabriel said and I assured him I would be fine. he began to shut all the lights and the tv off. As it got darker in the house I tensed up. I followed Gabriel up the stairs and I clenched my hands as I realized I was going to be alone in my room and I knew I was going to think about the movie.

When we got to the top of the steps and we were going to part ways I quickly spoke," I mean what's the harm in having Blue sleep in my bed tonight," I said hoping he would say it was fine. A knowing look emerged on his face and without saying a word he whistled and soon Blue was running up the steps to his owner.

"Sleep tight, Eleanor," He smiled at me and I watched him spin around and walk off to his bedroom where my aunt was fast asleep. When The sound if the door clicking shut echoed through the hallway I snapped out of my dazed state. I quickly rushed to the safety of my room and I ushered Blue in. His nails clicked against the hardwood floor as he walked over to my bed and jumped up on it. I followed him and quickly go under the covers. Making sure no limbs were exposed and I sighed. The sound of Blue breathing reassured me I wasn't alone and I slowly drifted off to sleep praying I wouldn't have any nightmares.