Getting the Axe - Nikki Mays Page 0,49

described as overly healthy, but thankfully she’ll eat bacon. Ya know, as long as I use avocado mayo, wheat bread, and low sodium bacon. I swear that she’s actually trying to kill me some days instead of trying to make me healthier. The first time that I saw all of this healthy crap in my fridge and pantry, while all of my good tasting food “mysteriously” gone, I knew that I was screwed. But if it makes her happy, whatever, I’ll just sneak some Wendys when she isn’t around.

I like staying in shape just as much as the next guy. I especially like making sure that my abs look good seeing as how much Elle seems to enjoy staring at them. But I make sure to go to the gym and weight train so that I don’t have to compromise too much when it comes to food. Unfortunately, those days seem to be over for me.

I’m just about done assembling the sandwiches when Elle comes into the kitchen. She looks like a horse that’s spooked and one wrong move will send her running off, which is the last thing that I want to do. But we definitely need to have this conversation, whether she wants to or not. I’m not exactly excited by it either, but we have a lot of things that need to be discussed before our relationship can move forward the way that I would like it to.

I look over at her fresh from the shower and realize how much that I like her here like this. Fresh-faced and rosy from a warm shower, wearing sweatpants and a baggy shirt and her wet hair hanging down in chestnut tendrils. The smell of her strawberry soap permeating through the air, getting stronger and stronger every time that she moves. Her feet bare with bright pink painted toenails look perfect against my dark slate floor. Truthfully, she just looks perfect here no matter what.

I see her eye what I made for dinner and then walk towards the fridge. She opens the door and takes out Almond milk for herself, as well as regular whole milk for me. I’ve made a lot of compromises, but I refuse to drink that almond shit that she calls milk. It tastes like dirty ass water if you ask me. I can’t even watch her eat it without wanting to gag.

She sets the containers down on the table and goes to the cabinet and grabs two glasses before filling each of them up. We eat a lot and have this dance down. Well, except she does most of the cooking and I’m usually filling up the glasses, but the same difference.

I place the plates down on the table and wait to sit until she does. Some things my father ingrained into us when we were kids. He would never let us sit at the table until my mother had. It didn’t matter if we had to stand there for twenty minutes while ma fluttered around; we stood there waiting for her to take a seat. To this day, my brothers and I still can’t take our seats until everyone else is seated.

Elle digs into her sandwich with gusto, making me chuckle.

“Hungry?” I smirk.

Her cheeks turn pink, and she gives me a sheepish look. “I didn’t think that I was, but I could smell the bacon all the way in the bedroom. I was practically ravenous by the time I walked in here.” She says right before taking another hulking bite. At the rate she’s going, she might actually beat me.

“Hitting the bag burns a lot of calories,” I say after swallowing my bite. Even with the weird mayo, this shit is good. I make a badass BLT if I do say so myself.

She sighs and reaches for her almond water, before rolling her eyes when she sees my obvious look of disgust. “It tastes good. You would like it if you gave it a chance.” She mutters more to herself since she knows that hell will freeze over before I start drinking that shit.

I make a non-committal sound before finishing up my sandwich and the chips that I had added to each of our plates. You can’t just eat a sandwich without chips. I chug my milk and wipe my hands and face once I’m done. I sit and wait patiently for her to finish. I’m nice enough to pretend that I don’t know that she’s dragging it out as long as possible. No