Dear Agony: Chapter Three Tension

Walking into the house I expected to see Stephen up and waiting for me. Instead I was greeted with loud nasally snoring. He was dead to the world passed out on the couch. He was in a position I swear didn’t look all that comfortable and he even developed a bit of a drool spot. Smiling slightly I debated if I should wake him up or not. Though I took into consideration that I couldn’t just leave him asleep on the couch thinking I never made it home. Shaking him lightly I whispered his name till he raised his head and looked at me through heavy eyelids.

“Izzy is that you?” His voice was thick with sleep.
“Yes hun it’s me. Now get up an off that couch you’re making me sore just looking at you.” He stumbled to his feet and I lead him to the bedroom, I helped him out of his clothes before he climbed into bed. Heading back out of the room I went to check and make sure all the doors were locked and everything was shut off for the night. Satisfied I peeled off my clothes and curled up next to Stephen in bed. I awake the next morning with a pang of guilt riddling my body. My dreams were filled with Sam and me kissing and dancing the night away while Stephen was forced to watch.  I push the thoughts away when I smell coffee and bacon coming from the kitchen and realize he’s not in bed with me. Climbing out of bed I yank on an oversized T-Shirt to investigate. My stomach grumbles with hunger when I take a whiff of the yummy smells when I enter the kitchen.

“Mmm Stephen the food smells yummy.”  He turns abruptly obviously not expecting me to be up yet. “Hey you’re awake.” He smiles as I plop down at the table.

 “What’s all this for?” I ask trying to sound as curious as possible, but I don’t really care because all I really want to do is shovel food in my face.

“Can a guy not cook every once in a while for the woman he loves?” Placing a plate in front of me I eyeball it greedily but trying to be patient till he sits down.

“I’m not complaining one little bit. Just seems weird you hardly cook.” I take a huge bite of bacon the moment he sits down.  “So I guess you found a ride him last night? I feel like crap for not being awake when I got your text last night.” He looks down at his food. “So I figured I’d cook you a nice breakfast as an apology.”  He looks hopeful as I take his hand.  “Stephen I’m not mad at you one little bit. It’s not your fault my friends up and ditched me. It should be you anyways that’s mad at me for not being home or at least calling you to tell you I was going to be late. ” He gives my hand a squeeze. “You kidding me I can’t stay mad at you no matter what you do.”  More guilt floods over me and I debate telling him about Sam.  But I decide against it changing the subject quickly before I end up spacing and thinking of him again. “So uh how was your night?” He let’s go of my hand and begins to munch away on his food. “Eh, it wasn’t too bad. We went to that new bar in town. And Rob well was being Rob; he got up onto the stage and sang Karaoke, very badly might I add.” We both laugh, “Well Sounds like you at least had some entertainment.” He finishes up his food and looks up at me, “Yeah it was pretty entertaining,” than looks down at his watch. “Crap it’s time for me to head into work. I’ll give you a call on my lunch break. Love you.” He gets up and kisses me before heading out the door. “Love you too hun.”

After cleaning I decide to get ready and head to the park. I was hoping to run into my friends but instead I ran into Sam.”Well well well lookie who we have here. What brings you to the park today Izzy? Was it me, I knew you couldn’t stay away from me.”  For one thing that’s pretty much what I wanted was to see him again, but I couldn’t let him know that. “Fresh air brought me here smart one.” He smirks, “You Sure it wasn’t me?”  He walks toward me and wraps an arm around my shoulder. “Yeah I’m pretty sure.” and I can’t help but return the smirk.  “Sure.” He pulls me closer, “Hey look I’m starved you wanna go and get something to eat with me.” I sit and contemplate my options. “Well I just ate, but I suppose I could go with you and keep you company.” Even though I didn’t feel overly comfortable being alone with him, I desired to do so. To me it was like playing with fire fun but dangerous at the same time. “Good enough for me.” Pulling me toward his motorbike.

As he ate I got to hear his whole life story. He is twenty-four, moved here from someplace called Chesapeake Falls. He actually owns his motorcycle, and some rusty beat up Dodge Charger that doesn’t run. Both of his parents died in some tragic car accident when he was fourteen.  When Stephen called I was caught off guard but relieved at the same time. Hearing all about him was getting massively annoying. He was nice to look at, but he’s really full of himself. So I was happy for the excuse to get away from him. He was bad news hanging around even if he annoyed me. He had this charm about him that just seemed to pull me in. And well I liked it and I didn’t at the same time. I knew from that point on that if I gave into that charm I know I wouldn’t be able to stop myself.

Lunch with Stephen was great for the most part. Up and till he told me that there was this temporary job up in Sunset Valley that he and a few others were selected to do. I could tell he was thrilled, but he hadn’t received all the details about it yet. He wouldn’t find out about it till after lunch. I was anxious when we parted ways again. Sighing as I walked up the driveway I say a shadowy figure standing by the door. I hesitated and Sam stepped out of the shadows. Which was just great more things to confuse my brain. “Sam what are you doing here?” as I try to step around him. “I wanted to see you again.” Smirking his amazingly well known smirk. “Well, how long have you been waiting?” I say as I try to inch my way past him some more. “Not long.” He takes a step closer to me. “And uh why did you want to see me again?” I was so close to the door I could almost touch it. “Isn’t that a simple question to answer?” He steps closer and our lips are almost touching, I open my mouth to say something but he cuts me off by placing a finger to my lips. He leans in and whispers into my ear “It’s because I want you to be mine Izzy.” I gasp shoving him back a little so I can look into his eyes. “Sam that’s never going to happen you know I love…” my words are cut off by him shoving me against the wall and pressing his lips and body against mine. At first I fought him, but the feel of him against me was too much and I cave into the temptation. My kisses become more urgent and my arms wrap around his neck. Than reality decides to kick in and I pull away from him breathing hard from the excitement and thrill of the kissing we just did. “We can’t do this here in plain sight. Someone might see us.” I begin to scan the streets making sure no one was watching. “Well than let’s go in shall we?” My hands begin to shake as I unlock the door and let him in. I lock it just as an extra precaution; I wouldn’t want someone I know just barging in. Than we pick up where we left off outside, things got so wild and so out of control I barely had enough sense to stop it before we took it to the next level. I hadn’t even done that with Stephen yet, and I sure as hell didn’t want to do that with Sam first. So I shoved him off of me. “What’s wrong?” He looks annoyed and hurt. “Sam you know what’s wrong. I can’t do this to Stephen.” He shifts his weight, “Well what if he was out of the picture? Like you two broke up or.” He trails off and I see the wheels turning in his head, “Something?” I bite my lip, “Sam I don’t know maybe things would change but I really don’t have a clue.” His face goes stern and it kind of scares me. “See you soon.” He was grabbing his jacket and out the door before I had a chance to say anything. With my mind still reeling everything that just happened I get up and re-lock the door and head to the kitchen to start dinner.  It startled me when Stephen wrapped his arms around me and planted a kiss on my cheek.

“Jeez I didn’t mean to scare you Izzy.” He let’s go and helps set the table. “Sorry I was just thinking.” I scoop up his food for him and hand it to him as he sits down. “About what?” He looks down at his food and smiles “HEY you didn’t burn it! And it smells awesome.” I blush and smack him in the back of the head playfully as I move to sit across from him. “Yeah I didn’t burn it. I was quite proud of myself actually.  Anyways I was thinking about quitting my job. I want to become a sculptor or a writer.” I push my food around my plate and look up at him. He takes a big bite of food and swallows. “Well babe if that’s what you really want to do than I say go for it.” He takes another bite of food “Mmmmm.” I can’t help but laugh “You really think so, I can quit tomorrow.” I look at him questioningly, “Yes I support you in whatever you choose to do.” He smiles at me and takes another huge bite. “So when are you supposed to go to Sunset Valley?” I go back to pushing my food around my plate and have flashbacks of me and Sam. “Tomorrow.” His smile has vanished and he’s frowning now. “What! For how long?” I was finally able to focus at the presented problem. “A month, but the pay is awesome.” He looks down and joins me in pushing food across the plate. “A month.” I pause and let it hang in the air. “What am I going to do without you?” Tears spring into my eyes but I force them down I don’t want him to see me cry. He takes my hand from across the table, “You’ll be fine babe.” And the only thing I can think of is he doesn’t have someone like Sam trying to come between us. And someone else who always seems to be on the mind while the other one disappears. So that night after we clean up I take his hand and lead him to the bedroom. He looks at me with questioning eyes. Pulling him onto the bed we let things go to that next level in our relationship.  We shared such love and passion that I knew I could never ever loose him no matter what. Curling up next to him and falling asleep in his arms was the best feeling ever. A few hours later I was startled by a sound outside. Rolling over I look at the clock and see it’s three in the morning.  Blinking the sleep from my eyes I pull the sheets off me and pull on one of Stephen’s shirts, I move to look out the window. I catch a fleeting glimpse of someone running from the back door. And when the light catches his face I could swear that the person looked a lot like Sam. Nervous that we might of forgot to lock the doors I move as quickly and quietly as possible down the stairs to check the back door. My heart sank and my hands began to shale when sure enough I discover the back door was unlocked. With my heart racing I lock it up and turn around afraid I would see Sam behind me. When I was satisfied he wasn’t hiding downstairs I went to check the front door and was relieved to see it was locked. I head back to the bedroom and curl up next to Stephen dreading the long month ahead without him, and the fear of not only losing him but cheating on him.