Split Sides

One-Shot - Waking Up From A Searing Dream

10 Years Later

Glasgow, Scotland

"Zack. Zack. Good morning, sleepyhead," she whispers to me in a sweet, childlike voice as she peeps out of the blankets.

"Ah, Jesus, Hayley, what time is it?" I grumble.

"Come on, it's Friday. Last day of the week. You still got work today."

"Gimme a break. Let me sleep some more." I quiet down back to slumber.

"Do you really want me to wake you up?"

"Wake me up how?"

She lands a soft, tender kiss as gentle as the cloudy light rising from the window. As much as I try to resist her attempt to awake me she's too smart and wonderful to let me be. She playfully teases me with her kisses on my lips once . . . twice . . . before settling on them, a steady touch of lips and her tongue brushing over mine as she skillfully drags her fingers along the side of my face. Despite her attempts to get me up from bed (or perhaps because of it) I just lay still and let myself enjoy her tantalising dance of kisses and touches, so mesmerised by them I couldn't bring myself to stop her. Such is my immeasurable ecstacy over her that I forget all sense of urgency and worry for punctuality, because I just want this to go on forever.

"I know you're enjoying this," she says between kisses.

"Mmmhmm, and so do you, it seems," I answer back.

She giggles in her tone so sweet and angelic it makes me melt. Then she laughs and laughs and then it becomes incessant and begins to resemble an annoying beep that just doesn't want to stop...

The alarm clock's wail punctures my slumber and set me up in the most ungodly of moments. I slam my hand on its top and look out the window. Threatening shears of light mist appear between the curtains, which is rather nice considering the frigid, lifeless air surrounding me. Another day of hard living lies ahead of me after waking from an emotionally searing dream.

Shortly after taking a bath and getting dressed, I set a pot half-filled of water and set it on the stove to boil, while I prepare some ingredients from two packs of instant dry noodles. Cutting the packs holding the soy sauce and the oil, and snipping the little sachet of flavoring powder on the noodle bowl, I think about the innumerable times I've cooked the same meal while discussing sweet nothings with Hayley, all those distant years ago. After adding in the boiled noodles and mixing them with the flavorings in the bowl, I set it on the table and watch the steam drift upwards and away from it. As I wait for the bowl of noodles to be cool enough to start eating, I am taken back to a night with a similar meal as this.

"Here you go Hayley, two bowls of freshly cooked noodles piping hot from the stove," I say as I set them on the table for our dinner.

She looks at the bowl quizzically before facing me. "Wow Zack, is this really all you can cook?"

"Hey, come on. At least I made an effort for tonight."

"Really? Do you know how to cook anything else?"

"Well, I can make sandwiches and omelets and corned beef and... That's really it, I'm afraid."

"Wow. So you can't make anything beyond eggs and canned food?"

"Pretty much. I tend to see myself as crap when it comes to cooking. Usually I cook things that are easy and quick to make."