Thinking Of You: Chapter 1

    Light flooded the room suddenly with a following groan from the iron post bed in the corner. Joel smiled to himself as he soaked up the rays of light, stretching with a yawn, and finally faced the bed himself, where Bianca covered her face with the plushy, maroon pillows as to avoid the blinding light from the octagonal window. She wrapped herself up tight in the cream and maroon floral sheets, until it was amazing she could ever move at all. Her messy hair was all over the place, its strawberry blonde colour blending in with the color scheme of her sheets.
    "G'morning, beautiful." He laughed, taking a seat on the edge of her bed to rub her side soothingly as she turned over. "I thought I'd stop by to say hello before work. Should've known you'd be asleep, lazy." Bianca sat up, certainly not amused by his gesture to visit her, she blinked tiredly as if unaware of where she even was. Waking her up before her respectable time of nine-thirty was a terrible mistake, and she would remain groggy, until able to drink her full cup of black coffee. Its bitter flavor sent shock waves through her taste buds that just snapped it all into perspective.
    "I should really rethink about giving the the key to my apartment."
    Joel sighed, shaking is head. In the light, his black hair almost looked blue as the curls around his face lined such handsome features. His blue eyes were stunning, but Bianca made sure to avoid eye contact for too long, or it would provoke ideas in his head. "How else would I get to see my lovely lady before work?" He kissed her forehead softly, and she turned on her side as if ready to go back to sleep.
    "At least you have work." She mumbled to herself. Bianca had given up being a mercenary for Joel. He'd insisted it was for the best, and many affected by the C-Virus would suffer from traumatic injuries and memories for the rest of their lives. Those involved in fighting the BOWs would remain scarred for life from the horrors they had survived, and he'd claimed to have seen them all. Joel was a psycologist for a company that provided needed relief after the C-Virus incident, WWTR, or WorldWide Trauma Relief, which was sent to China immediately after the underwater facility had exploded, leaving she and Chris to wait for help from fellow BSAA agents.
    "Now, now, I'm sure there are plenty of places you could go off to for work." He assured, reaching to her bed table for a delicate white glass that sat on its pearly saucer. Steam wafted from its hot liquid as he handed it to me with gentle hands. "It's honey and lemon tea. It should perk you up quickly-in fact, after work, I thought we'd go out for dinner." His smile was perky, just like his abundance of personalities, which confused Bianca  the majority of the time. Joel Yates was a quirky guy that cared for just about anyone, and his interests were not suiting to him. He was a musician just as well as he was a psychologist; he played the piano, but he also had a strange fascination with steam punk that she couldn't explain.
    "Sounds great." She grumbled, as she swung her feet to the beige carpeting. Her legs felt numb from the tight ball she slept in, but once stretched, she felt as if all her energy was back, flowing through each vein. "Guess I'll see you at six." Joel patted her back with a wink as if knowing she was reluctant to agree to going out on his date. He assumed she was just nervous to be out in public after the C-Virus attack, but despite her efforts to deny that, he kept it so. Bianca rarely displayed too much affection to the twenty-nine year-old man, whom lacked common interests with her, but he gave her comfort.
    She stood, walking over to the window with her cup of lemon tea in hand. The handsome man followed her, remaining quiet this time. He watched her swish the brown liquid around the edges of the cup without taking a sip. It was then that he could clearly see the pale, irritation on her wrist, the wrist she always seemed to hide, and hold away from him when they embraced. The mark was long, its wrinkled patch red with agitation. "Babe, what happened there?" Joel asked calmly, embracing her from behind, and letting his hands extend over to her wrist gently. Bianca flinched from even such a light touch. "How the hell did you manage to get a scar like that? looks pretty nasty-"
    "It's nothing-an accident."
    Her arm was yanked away from his grasp, as she slurped the tea obnoxiously, one of his biggest pet peeves. With his suspicions raised, and the annoying sounds of her slurps, in his mind, Joel bent to his girlfriend's cheek, kissing it, not once, but three times before heading to the door. "Alright, see you later, sweetheart."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    "Maxine, knock that off." Bianca complained as her cat rubbed at her ankles for attention. The bushy-tailed cat mewed playfully, with her collar jingling noisily. "I'm busy." Busy, just a word that Bianca used to make herself feel as if she still had work to do. Hell, Joel offered to do everything for her: housework, cooking, working, paying bills, and even shopping. She felt..useless again, like her days as a hired unit for the BSAA, when she watched all those brave men die. Bianca shook it off, continuing to tip the small tea cup as the lemon flavored sludge poured down the drain. She had done this every time Joel made her a cup of tea, and never regretted it. She wanted a fresh brewed cup of coffee, and that was just what she had waiting for her on the dining room table.
    It was exactly ten O' clock when she looked at the digital clock on the counter, making her sigh in boredom as she impatiently waited for time to pass. Nothing was left of her personality it seemed. her video game console was disconnected from the tv, hidden away in the stand since Joel had confessed that he preferred watching romantic comedies rather than to play with her, and the time spent in her teen phase was gone.
    Maxine purred loudly at her legs, kneading the carpet with her paws as her las resort for attention before taking a bounding leap onto the counter. "I can't give you a rub down right now." Bianca walked away to her coffee cup that waited for her, steaming deliciously as she took that first, bitter sip.
    She made her way back to the computer room, where she opened the laptop lid quickly to begin her new daily routine of social networking, playing pointless games, and searching up random facts that she could use to strike up a conversation with Joel at dinner besides psychology. She had to admit that ever since she met Joel, she felt more lonely than ever, and had never stopped thinking of Piers, he was like a constant reminder of what she couldn't have. Maxine never gave up either, and it seemed she wasn't too fond of the new male in her territory. She would hiss at him when he passed, bite his hand whenever he pet her, and the occasional piss-in-your-tea trick. It was almost like she was telling him to man up and drink some coffee. It was obvious, she too missed Piers Nivans.
    As a cat, Maxine didn't know what happened in China to her beloved friend, but she sensed that Bianca was in pain, and that was enough. The cat meowed jumping up on her dresser, her tail swishing as Bianca turned to face her. "I know, I know." She growled.
    By the time Bianca had once again wheeled the desk chair around to the laptop, Maxine had already taken her eye on a glistening object by the mirror. It was cocked sideways, tucked away behind a glass photo frame, where Maxine was able to see the corner of black, glossy paper. She used her paw, batting at it, and pushing it lightly, until-
    CRASH! The object fell to the hard wood floor, shattering the clear glass frame with Bianca nearly jumping out of her skin. The girl clasped her her hand over her heart with her adrealine up from such fear. It was then that Maxine felt satisfied, jumping to the floor in a bound, and fishing the glossy paper out with her teeth. "Maxine-what the hell? Have you gone crazy?"
    The cat purred, ignoring the glass to rub her furry head over her prize with the curious wner reaching around to snag it.
    Bianca gasped, her hands quivering as she shakily held the slip of photo paper in her fingers. " I remember this." Tears welled up in her eyes as the photo was placed gently beside her on the bed. She hid her eyes in the pillow, wanting it all back.
    The photo displayed a poorly lit image with a young male wrapping an arm over the shoulder of a young female as she smiled brightly, her hair and makeup done beautifully as she hoped to woo him over, and by the smile on his handsome face, it was working. On the back, written in neat script was a note.
    "I made a copy for you, my favorite photo of us- Piers"