FORTY-FIVE MINUTES TO FINISH

i. you love her
true (_) : false (_)

Her fingers curled around the soft fabric as the white sheets hid half of her face. Her eyes crinkled up and her nose scrunched as she turned to see him looking back at her. "Good morning, beautiful," he mumbled into his hands as he tried to awake himself. A laugh cooed from both of them as she replied, "since when were you one to talk so cheesy so early in the morning?"

"Ever since I met you," he answered, receiving a slight push from her hand. Silence took over the room as they both admired each other. The light struggled effortlessly as it seeped through the shades and overlapped her face perfectly. The gold projected itself into her eyes as she closed them, her arms wrapping themselves around his shoulders and tucking her head into his chest.

"I don't want to move," she whined into his skin, pressing a light kiss against his neck. He hummed back in reply, pulling her body closer to him before shutting his own eyes, "but you know, we'll have to eventually," she pulled her head away from his neck as she watched him close his eyes.

His chest heaved up and down slowly, his fingers relaxing against her body as he began to fall back into a soft slumber. "Can you sing for me?" she asked, poking his cheeks. A light grin was placed on her face as he reopened his eyes and met hers. "It's seven in the morning," his groggy morning voice was starting to wash from his throat, but it was still clearly there.

"And?" she laid her head back down on the pillow he was currently trying to sleep upon, "I can't, babe, I could hurt my voice," she squinted her eyes as she heard his answer. Moving her legs in between his, she replied, "but when you scream on a daily basis about something as small as food, that doesn't hurt your voice?" a sly smile reached his lips, "yeah," he answered before adjusting himself into the crook of her neck.

"Please," she pleaded as he left small kisses against her visible collarbone, "for me?" she pouted as she tapped her fingers against his bare back. The kisses stopped as a sigh left his worn lips, "I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah," he sang, his lips still close enough to brush her skin.

"Oh my," her words faded as she pushed against his chest, forcing him to look at her, "not that song," her lips were pulled into a goofy smile even though she was completely done with what he had just sang. Her eyes shimmered an autumn brown as he pulled himself back to where he was most comfortable; wrapped up in her warmth.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear any requests," he giggled while her hands tangled themselves in his hair of morning mess, "my favorite," she whispered back to him, her smile still stuck on her face.

"I promise that I'll hold you when it's cold out," his voice, even though it was still coated in roughness and was tired, sang softly into her ear. "When we lose our winter coats in the spring," her body pressed itself closer to his body, his fingers creating circles into her thighs, "cause lately I was thinking I never told you," her eyes began to feel heavy against his light voice and the art that was being created into her legs.

"That every time I see you my heart sings," his eyes close along with hers, their chests lightly colliding against each other as their hearts beat in sync. His hand slowly began to stop against her thigh as he hummed out some last notes. Silent snores started to echo through the room and the light still was being suffocated out of the dark.

Every time he read the word love on the messy notepad, he thought about all the mornings spent with her. He thought about how sweetly quiet the room was and how he knew even if he woke up with empty sheets, she was near. Most mornings he would wake up to her singing softly in the kitchen, the smell of their favorite pancakes being made. If she wasn't singing, she would always have him sing.

He laughed to himself as he remembered the way she would dance while she cleaned up the small apartment they lived in. Her arms would fly in different directions, her lips would move along to the beat, and that damn perfect smile would never leave her face. The amount of videos he had saved on his phone of her dancing was enough to make the both of them laugh until their stomachs hurt.

She wasn't the best at singing, but she wasn't the worst. She was always upset about how he was the one who sung better in the relationship, but she also loved his voice to the point where she didn't go a day without hearing him sing at least once. His favorite moments were the ones spent on the lazy days or travel days. A playlist would blast from an unknown speaker and their voices would belch as if they would lose the ability to speak in the next twenty-four hours.

"True or false," the paper read, "you love her," the blue ink screamed out at him. His eyes were still red and puffy from crying, but he could still feel the burning sensation of the tears trying to break down his dam.

A sloppy X was placed next to true and the tears broke through.

160805: if you ever wondered what
i listen to while writing this, it's nervous
by gavin james and i highly recommend