Jessica
I could hear the sound of the shower turning off over the sound of bacon sizzling on the stove. After finishing the eggs, I put them on the plate along with freshly buttered toast and began to cut up slices of avocado and cherry tomatoes.
Two hands found themselves on my hips and a hard body pressed against my back still damp from just having showered. I leaned back into him, feeling the muscled chest soften against me as lips pressed against my bare shoulder.
I turned my head to look up at Chris. His dark hair ruffled and wet allowing droplets of water to run down his shoulders. With a smile, I leaned up to kiss him softly, placing a hand over one of his.
“I’m counting the days until you’re done filming and you won’t be so far from me.” He said, tone husky with his lips pressed against the side of my neck.
“Hopefully we can finish before winter. The last thing I want to do is go through that up here.” I replied, stepping out of his embrace to distribute the bacon onto our plates, sprinkling the food with grounded sea salt and pepper. “Now go get dry, breakfast is ready.”
He laughed as his large hand came down to smack my ass playfully before he disappeared down the hallway again.
I couldn’t help but feel a guilt in my chest. It felt like I was cheating on Charlie just as much as it felt like I was cheating on Chris. The only difference was, I didn’t think about anything else when I was with Charlie. I didn’t think about Chris. I didn’t think about my problems. I was just happy. It was a feeling I wasn’t all too familiar with and that scared me.
Tightening my silk robe around my waist, I poured orange juice in two glasses and set them out on the balcony along with our plates. Chris came back down with a pair of basketball shorts on and threw an arm over my shoulder as he took in the view of the city, a smile playing on his lips.
“Y’know, I wouldn’t mind living here. It’s like a calmer New York.”
“Yeah.” I replied, leaning into him. “It’s not so bad.”
“It’s something we can look into.” He said, coming around me to sit at the table.
Something we can look into?
“Huh?” I asked, confused as I took a seat next to him, grabbing a piece of bacon off the table.
“I mean, we’re not just going to live in different states forever, Jess. Someday I want to move in together so we’ll have to pick a place that works for us.”
Ugh. He was talking about settling down. It’d been a little over a year now, of course that was on his mind. It just wasn’t on mine.
At least not with him …
Charlie
During the short break from filming, it had been hard to talk to Jess. From what I understood, Chris had also taken that time off so he could spend some time with her. The thought of it made my blood boil more than it should, especially when I was hanging out with Morgana. Still, every time I turned on the TV, they’d be all over it.
“Babe, you ready?” Morgana called out from the bedroom.
Giving my hair one more brush, I nodded and made my way to her.
It had been decided that she wanted a new rug. Not just any rug. She needed a Persian rug in her office to “inspire” her most recent line. Of course that kind of shit was hard to find and of the three stores she had in mind, two were in California and one was in New York.
“I can’t wait until you’re done filming.” She said while we drove. “It’s so nice having you home to do this kind of stuff with.”
Her fingers slid over the center console to lace with mine as she laid her head on my shoulder. Giving her a soft kiss, I kept my eyes on the road and nodded.
“Yeah, it’s nice getting a few days to just be normal.” I replied.
“You don’t have anything immediately after this right?”
“No, not as of yet.”
“Well good, this’ll give of a chance to finally get married. Every since Sons’ of Anarchy you’ve been filming non-stop. I think you can take a few months off and we can actually focus on our relationship for a change.”
“Married…?” I asked, though I knew it’s what she wanted, having it put into an actually time frame made my stomach drop.
“Well yeah.” She lifted her head to look at me. “We are going to get married, aren’t we, Charlie?”
“I – uh – one day.” Was the best I could come up with. “When the time’s right.”
“When the time is right? Charlie we’ve talked about this forever. We’ve talked about kids and everything. When do you want that to happen? In our fifties?” She asked, noticeably upset.
I looked at her, eyes red with tears and disappointment, then returned my eyes to the road, unsure of whether or not there was anything I could say to rectify the situation. I knew she wanted a wedding – kids – the whole shebang, and I thought that was what I wanted with her, until recently…
Jessica
“Charlie?” I answered, still half asleep. Looking at the clock it was still the middle of the night.
“Hey,” He whispered on his end, “You got a few minutes to talk?”
“Sure.” i replied, looking behind me where Chris was sleeping. “What’s going on?”
Making my way out of the room as quietly as possible, I walked out onto the balcony, taking in a view of the city.
“I just needed to talk to you.” He replied. “I missed you.”
It was clear from his hushed tone that he was near his own girlfriend.
“I miss you to. Just one more week.”
“I don’t want to wait another week” He replied. “Let’s meet somewhere. Maybe just for a night. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere – like Texas or Colorado or something.”
“You… you want to meet up?” I asked, knowing what he said but still not believing the risk he wanted to take.
“Yeah. Us to. A cabin in some deep woods. What do you say?”
I knew I shouldn’t be doing this. Whatever Charlie and I shared, whatever we were doing, it wasn’t bound to last. It wasn’t even bound to be kept a secret but…
“Yes.” I replied. “When?”
“Tomorrow night. I’ll take care of everything. Tell him you have to scout a location or something with Hugh.”
“Okay.” I whispered, suddenly breathless at the thought of being next to him again.
“Check your email in the morning. I’ll see you tomorrow darlin’.”
“Sweet dreams, babe.”
I hung up, looking down at my phone and deleting the call record. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I’d only been on break from filming for two weeks and it had felt like a goddamn year without Charlie being around.
Now to make up a lie for Chris…