Jack watched the alarm go off. He was laying on the bed next to her, the alarm on his side only inches away. He could have turned it off, but he just watched it, pretending to sleep. She groaned and flipped over, pulling the top sheet away with her. He lay still, letting it ring. She turned again, this time back towards him. She shoved him in the back. Hard. He didn’t budge. She shoved him a second time and then a third. After the fourth push, this one with both hands now, she simply gave up. She groaned again, reaching over him to grab his phone. She was naked and her body pushed against his. She clicked off the alarm and dropped it back on the bedside table with a clatter. She looked down and saw him staring up at her. She blinked groggily, groaned, and then settled herself back into a ball on the bed beside him.
Jack got up. He didn’t make any noise when he did it. He collected his phone off the side of the bed and headed towards the bathroom to shower. When he got out of the shower she was fast asleep again. He watched her for a brief moment, thinking. Then he went to his closet. He dressed in black slacks and a white shirt. He passed on the tie. It was a Monday and hardly dawn by now. He found the matching jacket and slipped it on over the shirt. he found black no-see-um socks and a black leather shoes, sliding them on one at a time as he stood. Then with a final glance at the young woman curled into a ball on the left side of his bed, he went downstairs.
From the outside Jack’s two story house looked like all the others on the dusty Arizona street. He had the approved xenoscaping with the two bushes and the one tree that hung too close to the front porch. His driveway was wide enough for two cars but there was only the one, his red Tesla, parked out front. Her car was parked on the street, like it always was.
Some Thoughts:
- About out of time. The above is just me experimenting. Trying to find my way back into the head of a character I’ve never met before. I’m wandering. Roaming. Rambling even. It is what I do (or used to) to get acquainted with characters. We’ll see more of Jack down the road.