Afraid of Losing You {AcornTree}

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The sun was just beginning to fall below the horizon as she continued to work on the photos, Hope having to have gotten herself off the bed to turn on the lights before the little light in the room would be completely gone. She hated looking a a computer screen in the dark, the sight of it always giving her a headache as well as tiring her eyes out a little quicker than she would have liked to happen. Regardless, she worked diligently on her work, or at least as best as she could with the thought of what William had mentioned to her in the back of her mind, though she tried her best to push the thought aside so that she could concentrate on her work. It worked a bit, because as soon as she started delving into one of the pictures she focused her attention onto it to make it look right. While she didn't like to edit photos too badly so as to make them look fake, and while she didn't photoshop anything because that went against everything she wanted to do with her skills, there was things that she had to balance out with the pictures.

But as time ticked on and after a few yawns had escaped passed her lips, she would stretched and wiggle her toes every once in a while as she would stretched her legs out across the bed, the laptop becoming warm in her lap. She knew that it would probably have been best had she went to the kitchen to sit at the counter so that her posture would be a little better, but she pushed the thought aside and left the matter be. She didn't feel like moving now, and she wasn't going to. Or, at least not until she had heard William's voice ring through the apartment, announcing that he was back with Jazzy. She grinned at the prospect as she bit the inside of her cheek, waiting for him to come back into the room and once he had she gave him an upwards glance, telling herself in her mind that she would play hard to get with him since he had done a little of his own teasing before he left the apartment.

The plan, however, hadn't worked so well in when it actually came to her bringing it out into action. When he has stepped into the room she had rose her brows and opened her mouth to say something but stopped mid word as she found nothing able to come out. She thought about making a smart comment to him, but, in the end, she faltered and ended up following right behind him as they started going to the bathroom, herself closing the door behind them as her quiet giggles could be heard through the door. Though she had wanted to make it seem as if she wasn't as eager as she really was, she couldn't hide it from him. And the two of them had probably spent more time in the shower than they should have, not that Hope minded in the least bit nor was she complaining about it at all. With their playful banter and flirtatious words to one another she almost found herself not wanting to step out from under the warm water that had come from the shower head. But eventually they did step out once their needs were a bit sated and once they had been washed off, Hope having wrapped a towel around her body as she used another one to dry her dripping hair. "Sometimes you're just too much of a distraction for me, you know that?"

She turned her head and looked in his direction, smiling before she laughed. "You're too good at doing that to me, and I don't understand where you get all of that energy from either." After she dried off the rest of her body and dried her hair as best as she could in that moment with the towel, she headed back into the bedroom and looked through her side of the drawers and grabbed out a pair of night clothes for her to wear. She settled herself in the comfy clothes before she crawled herself back onto the bed, her eyes looking to her laptop as she sighed. She didn't feel like working on that right now, and instead of forcing herself to do it she saved everything and shut her laptop off before she set it aside and went back to the bed. She could work on it tomorrow since she didn't have much to do. Raising a brow to herself as a thought came to her mind, a sly smile came to her lips before she grabbed the camera and turned it back on before she pointed it in William's direction. "Hey, William~" And as soon as he looked at her she took the picture, grinning as she gave him a triumphed look. "But even if you distract oh so easily, I'm still able to catch you off guard."
 
William grinned when he saw that look on Hope's face. He knew she had been thinking about him just from that one look, and he gave her a look of his own like 'aren't you coming'. When she did he grinned. Their shower was wonderful. William undressed Hope because he couldn't help but to do so. It was one of his favorite things to do, whether it was sexual or not. The shower was hot in more ways than one, and once they were out William took a towel and started to dry off. He started with his hair and went down from there, putting the towel back on the rod afterwards. He was even happier now than before, and he'd been pretty happy before.

Coming back to the bedroom with her, he pulled on a pair of briefs and then some sleeping shorts. Sometimes he wore a tshirt to bed and sometimes not, but he decided not to that night. He turned when she called his name, the look on his face questioning until he saw her with the camera. A grin broke out onto his face just afterwards and he shook his head, grinning. "You're a little fox." he teased with a smile. She was very good at catching him off guard though. Deciding to abandon the papers he had to grade for now, William got into bed with Hope, sitting as close to her as possible. "Let me see the picture." he requested. It wasn't often that he deleted things from her drive so she didn't need to worry about that. If he did want it deleted he would ask, but it had only happened twice so far.

Before she could show him, however, he decided to try something different. As she moved the camera a little closer to him to see, he took it from her and then pointed it at her to take a picture of. Hope was always the one behind the lens unless she used a tripod, but more often than not there simply weren't a whole lot of pictures of her. "Haha!" He crowed triumphantly, moving to get on top of Hope in case she had thoughts about running away from the camera lens. He took another picture from that angle, grinning afterwards. "I can guarantee that these, are going to come out beautifully." He claimed with a grin, reaching out with one hand to brush back some hair from her face.

William had never touched her camera before, but he was being careful with it. Really all he was doing was pointing and clicking, despite that camera being a DSLR and not a point and shoot.
 
As she glanced down at the picture that she had just taken of him, Hope couldn't help but stare down fondly at it, grinning to herself as she titled her head a bit. In that moment she found herself glad this this was one of her personal cameras and not one of the ones that she had to use for work, though, most of the time, she used one of her own personal ones just because she knew how to use them better and so that she wouldn't have to pay anything back should anything happen to any of the other cameras. Of course, sometimes it couldn't be helped and she had to use a different camera, but, generally, she liked to keep her own on her, the one that she held in her hands now being a personal favorite of hers. Not for any particular reason was it a favorite, but she just loved the quality of the shots that came from it. But when William clamored onto the bed beside her, his body heat resonating against her as he leaned against her, she rose her brows and turned to look at him, giving him a skeptical look. "I don't know if I should trust you looking at this. I may just want this to be in my own personal collection where no one else can see it."

But of course she wanted to show him and she wouldn't hide it from him; there wasn't a picture of him that she had ever taken of him that she hid, if only because she felt like it was the least she could do by showing it to him since he was the main focal point. Even some of the most embarrassing photos she had taken of him she had showed to him, only to have two out of the many she had taken of him be deleted by his request. She leaned over a bit and tilted the camera so that he could get a better look at it, only to have the camera snatched from her hands, causing her to pinch her brows a bit as she opened her mouth in slight protest. When he started taking pictures she grinned but hid her face behind her arm and hands by shouting out a little 'no!' though the laughter continued to come from her mouth. While this was the first time he was handling her camera, and while she was certainly nervous about the fact, she trusted him to not do anything stupid with it.

"Oh come on, William, I do not look good enough to have my picture taken. My hair is a mess!" She tried to run in that moment, but apparently he had been a step ahead of her and climbed on top of her, essentially pinning to the bed. She peeked her eyes out to look at him before she grabbed onto one of his wrist, the other hand hovering over her eyes so that she could get a good look of him, nearly rolling her eyes as she threw her head back and laughed. "You're not even using the camera right, and I don't even have to look at the screen to tell you that." But, in that moment, she paused for a bit, herself tilting her head down as she got another look at him. These were moments in life that she loved; just being with him, in a playful moment that just included the two of them as they laughed and enjoyed each other's company. She loved this; she loved him and her heart pounded at the thought as another blush crossed her cheeks. This is why she loved this man, because she knew that she could be herself around him and she knew that he could be himself around her. She was happy to be able to see that, and she was happy to be able to enjoy moments like this. She lowered her hand from his wrist then and then set it against her stomach, as well as lowered the hand that hovered over her face and rested it above her head. And then, she smiled, genuinely, lovingly, as she looked up at him. Fine, if he wanted to get a picture of her, then she wouldn't fight against it.
 
William was laughing too as Hope tried to get him to stop. He just tried to get her hands away from her face, eager to at least get one good picture of her. Even if he knew nothing about how to take a picture except to click the button. It wouldn't matter, because the picture would be of her. Her in this moment, right after their shower and just playing around. It was times like those that made William truly happy. Messing around, laughing with her. Just the company they shared and the silent but ever present love between them.

"You, my dear, always look good enough to have your picture taken. Your hair is perfect, your face is perfect, your body is perfect. Everything about you is perfect." He insisted. "Which, obviously, will make for a perfect picture. Now come on." He laughed again, but finally she put both of her hands down and away from her face. He took three more pictures then, one right after the other since it was true that he had no idea what he was doing besides clicking the button. He could only hope that it was in focus, but at least he was certain he had her in the frame. As he lowered the camera then, his laughter died too and he just looked down at her, posing all prettily like that between his legs.

Carefully, he set the camera aside on the night stand and then bent forward to give her a loving kiss, his hands at the sides of her face gently. When he pulled away he seemed a little breathless, but he smiled at her. "I don't think I have ever loved you more." He whispered to her. "I didn't even know that it was possible, to love you more." He kissed her again and then got off of her, lying down next to her again instead. He put his arm around her. What more could he possibly want?
 
There were a lot of moments in her life when Hope wondered and thought back to how she had gotten to where she was in life at that point. Like when she remembered making her first photo album and then looking through those pictures, that moment being a defining moment for her future because that was the reason of why she really wanted to get into this; because she wanted to capture moments that may otherwise be forgotten if there wasn't anything to remember them by. Of course, she was always with the thought that if a moment was truly that special and memorable that even a picture wouldn't be able to do justice like the memory itself would, but she still believed that pictures helped with that. And that was why she did take so many pictures of William and of Jazzy and even with herself in those pictures; because she wanted to remember these two no matter what. It was always a fear of hers that stayed in the back of her mind, one that sent a bit of a fear of her growing older because what if she did start to lose her memory? What if she did forget moments like this with William, and what if she did forget moments with her family and other friends that she had? She didn't want to forget, and she wanted to preserve them.

But while she often thought back on her life to try and figure out how everything worked out for her, she often thought back to the day that she had met William and how things just seemed to naturally fall into place after that. How, she always asked herself, especially after hearing those compliments he gave her, especially after receiving those loving kisses that he gave her as he set the camera down and put it on the night stand, did she get so lucky as to find someone like him? She knew not everybody fell in love nor did everyone feel a love like this and she knew she was so lucky to be able to have these feelings that fluttered through her stomach at such a young age. It made her excited for the future, it made her excited to think of what would happen between the two of them because she felt as if it could only get better if that was even possible for them. Everything was... Perfect in her mind. While he considered her to be perfect in every way, she thought him to be the same way.

As he laid down on the bed beside her instead of hovering over her, Hope turned on her side to face him, sidling up against him as she snuggled into his chest to get his warmth, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath and then let it out, a soft smile coming to her lips before she opened her eyes back up and tilted her head to look back up at the love of her life she laughed breathlessly to him. "I love you too," she whispered back to him as she wrapped her arms around him. "More than anything else. You mean everything to me."

She wasn't sure how much longer they laid in the bed for in the comfortable silence before little conversations broke out here and there between one another, just short, simple and sweet little things being passed back and forth as short and soft laughs and smiles were brought into the mix. But eventually Hope could find herself drifting off to sleep, however before she shut her eyes to let the feeling overtake her, she turned around, her backside facing him, before she reached for one of his arms so that he could wrap it around her, them spooning. She smiled at the feeling, she loved how she felt safe in his arms. "Good night."
 
Hope was so wonderful. She just made him so happy, it was almost hard to explain. He pressed his face into her neck gently, breathing her in as she told him she loved him too. William dropped a kiss onto her neck and then pulled back so he could see her again. He could just lie there with her all the time. That would be okay with him. More than okay. There was comfortable silence for a while, and then those sweet, quiet conversations until Hope turned to go to sleep.

William moved a little closer to her, putting his arm around her body a little tighter. "Good night, love." He responded softly, kissing her ear and then her hair. He could not give her enough kisses sometimes. It was one of those nights. William watched Hope drift off to sleep, and once he was certain she was out he carefully reached out with one hand to grab the covers and pull them up over themselves. It wasn't long after before William fell asleep too.


The next morning, William woke up with a groan as his alarm clock went off. He reached behind him with one hand to slam into the 'off' button. In general, he was an early riser, but today he wanted to sleep in. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to do that since it was a school day. Untangling himself from Hope, he scrubbed at his face with the palms of his hands. He felt completely drained, and he wondered if he'd gone to bed at a weird hour last night. Still, he pushed past it and then sat up. If he didn't get up soon, Jazzy would be whining at the door.

Sighing, he glanced bleary eyed at Hope and then got up to shuffle over to the door, opening it just enough for Jazzy to come in. She received a good petting from William before he shuffled off to the closet to get ready for the day. The little dog sat by William's leg, looking up at the clothes on the hangers like she was going to try to help him pick out which shirt to wear that day. William yawned, putting a hand to his mouth and then pulling out a power blue button down and a dark blue and silver striped tie. He draped the tie around his neck and then put on the shirt, buttoning it up as Jazzy whined at him.

"Just a minute, Jazz, its dressed first, then feed you." he whispered. And then he'd have breakfast, brush his teeth, take the dog out for a quick potty break, and out the door he went. But for now he stepped into a pair of slacks, pulling them up and tucking his shirt into them. He tied his tie and then put on socks before he finally walked out with Jazzy to pour some dog food into her bowl.
 
The sound of the alarm going off on the other side of the bed caused Hope to jump a little, but otherwise she stayed in bed with her eyes still closed, though now she had become conscious of the little sighs that the man behind her would permit. Despite herself, she smiled at the sounds as she tried to snuggle herself a little more into the pillow that her head rested against, trying to get a little bit more sleep though failing in the department which, ultimately, led her to just laying there, conscious, with her eyes still closed. Unlike most mornings, this time she didn't have to get up early in order to head into the little business building that the people she worked for had, if only because the senior portraits weren't supposed to be done until one o'clock that afternoon, which meant that she was going to have to leave the house by eleven thirty, twelve o'clock at the latest, but she knew that she had time. While at times it did take her a little bit longer to get ready for the day, she knew that she would have time to lay around in bed for about an hour later than normal, even if she knew she wouldn't do such a thing. She had to get back to the rest of the pictures that morning before she left so that she could send them to her boss to let her know that she had finished it all and got it taken care of.

When she felt William's body completely leave the bed, the mattress shifting under her, she breathed out her own sigh as she stretched out her legs and started to open her eyes a little bit, only having them open to little slits as she watched him head over to the door and then over to the closet, smiling at the actions as she listened to him talk to Jazzy. After he left the room she got up and stretched her arms above her head as she ran a hand through her hair to smooth it out a bit, though shaking her head after the that and then getting off of the bed. Already she found herself to be in a good mood that morning, no doubt a product of how she had felt only last night with William, the memories causing her to smile widely and blush to herself. Quickly she headed over to the bathroom and took care of some morning routines, which consisted of her using the toilet, brushing her teeth, washing her face, and then looking at her frazzled hair before she turned away and figured that she would deal with that all later.

After the bathroom situation had been taken care of, she headed out of the room and walked down the hall until she ended up at the point where the walls widened out, opening up to the living room and then the kitchen that was right there as well, her eyes instantly catching onto the sight of William as he stood up from putting food in Jazzy's food bowl. Hope walked over to the man, trying to be as quiet as she could so as not to alert him of her presence there, and when she finally made it over to him she smiled, wrapped her arms around his mid section, and then rested her chin on his shoulder, herself pressing a kiss into his neck before she pulled back. "Good morning," she said to him as she tightened her hold around him a little more before she relaxed her hold and just leaned into him for a minute before she pulled back and let her arms fall at her sides. "Did you sleep well last night?"
 
William had been moving towards the fridge to get out a few eggs with which to make breakfast when Hope snuck up behind him like that. She didn't make a noise, but when he felt her grab him he nearly jumped out of his skin. "J-Jesus!" He attempted not to yell since he realized just as the word escaped his mouth that it was Hope who had scared him like that. He smiled and then shook his head, pushing his hair out of his face. "You scared me." He accused, but he wasn't angry or upset. He was smiling, and he shook his head again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for the alarm to wake you up." he apologized. He knew she didn't have to get up early today, for which she should count herself lucky. He turned to give her a quick kiss then too. "Good morning." He added, turning back towards the fridge and pulling out the eggs. "I did sleep well." He answered. "What about you? Do you want breakfast?" He was just making himself a fried egg and toast sandwich, nothing special. He already had two slices of break in the toaster and the pan was heating for his eggs. He liked two pieces of bread, avocado slices, and two fried eggs. He made sure the yolks were all runny and delicious, and he was already cutting open an avocado to add to his meal. He usually had to eat his breakfast on a plate so he didn't get the yolk all over himself though, which was a little troublesome if he was running late. So far he had the time though. Jazzy whined at him again while he was making the eggs and he frowned a little at the dog. He'd given her her food but she'd barely touched it. He'd have to keep an eye on that and take her to the vet if she kept that up.
 
As Hope snickered to herself as she walked over to the other side of the counter so that she could sit down in one of the seats, she smiled at the prospect of actually haven scared him with her little sneak attempt. So, it worked! Not that she had really been trying to scare him, only really trying to surprise him, but she figured that scaring him was well enough. "And you say I'm the one who scares easier." She rested her elbows against the counter top again as she looked over into the pan that had the sizzling eggs on it, their smell drifting over to her nose, causing a bit of a rumble to come to her stomach though the she pushed the feeling aside and just let it be. She could make herself something quick to eat once William left; no need in having him fix her something when he wasn't completely ready yet and when he was the one who had to leave early.

"It's fine. You know I normally wake up with your alarm clock anyway, so it's not an issue. I've got to finish with those pictures anyway since someone decided that they wanted take a shower with me to distract me from my work last night." But getting restless, she hopped off of the chair, passing by Jazzy who she bent down to scratch at the back of her ear before she stood straight again and headed over to the fridge. As she passed by William she playfully tapped his shoulder, as if to reprimand him for causing her to stop her work last night, though laughing off the matter shortly after. "Though I still think it's a bit of an odd schedule to have; you having to wake up early in the morning to go to school, high school no less, and you're not even a student anymore. I for one do not envy you for that." She pulled the door open and pulled the milk out, shutting the door back and then she headed over towards the cupboards where the cups were, herself having to stand on the tips of her toes in order to get a glass down. She remembered having to wake up in the morning in high school to just go to class, as well as when she was in college and had to take eight in the morning classes. Those weren't the best times in her life, but she made it through!

After pouring herself a class of milk she put the milk back into the fridge and walked back over to the counter. "You don't have to make me anything; I'll just make me something in a little bit. Thank you though." She smiled at the notion before she sat back down in the seat and took another sip of the dairy product. "And I'll clean up your dishes when you're done with them so that you can finish getting ready so that you don't end up getting to the school late. After all, you wouldn't want your students waiting on you, right? Even if I'm more than positive that they would love to hear that their teacher wasn't there in the morning because he slept in or was just late in general. I know I always hoped for that in high school, even if it never happened."
 
William took his toast once it popped out of the toaster, putting the bread and eggs back since Hope said she hadn't wanted any. He only liked his toast a little brown, more tan than anything else. "It was one tiiime." he fake complained about her teasing about who scared easier. All he had to do then was wait on his eggs.

He listened to Hope as she spoke, watching her and occasionally glancing down to check on his eggs. He smiled all teeth at her when she reprimanded him. "Completely worth it." He claimed with a laugh. William rubbed at one eye as she got her milk, shrugging. "You still have to wake up early most days. Its just you go to work instead of school." He chuckled. "Besides, school is completely different now that I'm on the other side of things. Way more enjoyable than it was when I was younger." William used the spatula to take his eggs out of the pan, sliding them onto one piece of toast and then salting the egg. He put the avocado on next, cracked some pepper onto it and then put the last piece of bread on top. Perfect. He put the pan in the sink and was about to wash it except that Hope was telling him she would do it. "Thank you." He said sincerely. He hated doing the dishes more than any other chore.

Taking his plate, he grabbed a fork and then sat down at the counter next to Hope. He started to eat. He laughed again as she admitted to wanting her high school teachers to come in late for once. He would be, he had to admit, pretty embarrassed if he had to tell his class he was late because he'd slept in. "Maybe I'll do that on the last day of class, just to see how they react." he mused. Being purposefully late would be interesting and a lot less embarrassing. Covering a yawn, he finished about three quarters of his sandwich before he decided he was full. Normally he'd eat it all, but he wasn't feeling like finishing the rest of it and he didn't force himself to either. Jazzy was whimpering at him again and he sighed. It was really weird to hear her so vocal when she had food and their attentions, but maybe she just needed to go to the bathroom. "I'll be right back in in a second." He promised Hope, getting up and opening the door so that he could accompany Jazzy outside. A few times he had contemplated letting her go by herself. She'd more than likely wait for him anyway though.

Jazzy did her business and the two of them came back inside. William hadn't touched his bag since yesterday so he knew the things he needed were all in there. All he had to do now was brush his teeth and go. He went to the bathroom to do just that, coming back out to kiss Hope goodbye.
 
"Yeah well, I guess I just have absolutely no want to go back to high school for any reason." Not that her high school experience had been bad per say, but Hope couldn't deny that that only thing she really cared about in high school was the photography club she had been apart of since she had been a freshman. To be fair, she figured that she could probably think and say the same thing about college, since, really, she had only cared about the classes that went directly to her degree and had something to do with photography. Of course she did all of her work regardless because she refused to have a terrible GPA, mostly because she knew that that was something else her parents' wouldn't have leave her alone about had it happened and just because of her own mind and want to show that she could do it. Regardless, though, she wondered how different it was being on the other side. She just wasn't curious enough to try her hand at it herself though. Teachers, Hope figured, were a special breed of people, or at least the good ones that actually cared, because she doubted if she could put up with half of the crap that kids put their teachers through most of the time. "And it's still different anyway; I may wake up at the same time as you, but I don't have to leave as early as you do."

By the time she was finished with her milk, she smiled at his notion of possibly doing something like that on the last day of class, though, if she was being honest, she had a doubt in her mind that he would actually do that. "You miss class on purpose? Not that I would love to see." She threw her head back with a little laugh before leaning forward again to look down at Jazzy, her brows furrowing when she noticed that she hadn't eaten much of her food. That wasn't normal, nor was the fact that William hadn't eaten all of his either. Perhaps it was just that morning, she figured, and with that thought she decided to leave things be. When William and Jazzy were out the door, she got up from the chair and grabbed her cup and William's plate to bring them over to the sink so that she could start washing them, blowing out a breath from her mouth.

It hadn't taken much longer, but her head looked back up when they came back into the apartment, herself looking back down as she finished off with the last thing, the pan that had the eggs on it previously, and then set it in the drying rack. After that she headed over to the dishwasher, figuring that she might as well take care of the dishes that had been put in there last night so that neither of them would have to worry about it later on. But when William came back into the kitchen and caught her in another kiss, she reached with her free hand and rested it against the side of his neck, pulling back shortly after so that she could look at him with the oft smile that she was giving him. "Have a good day today," she spoke to him before she turned and went back to the dishwasher. "Don't let those kids trample all over you either." Those were normal parting words from her, words that usually ended in some sort of joke about the kids trying to start a rebellion against him by refusing to play their instruments or by hitting him with their instruments. But she doubted if he had any of that to worry about. Now what all did she have to do today before she had to leave for work? Not much, she figured. Once she was finished with the dishes she would head back to the room to finish the photos, and after that she would probably just get dressed and ready and then, depending on the time, she'd probably get herself something to eat and then wait around until it was time for her to leave.
 
William chuckled as he picked up his bag after he'd kissed Hope. "Yes yes, and don't let them rebel." He finished for her with a grin. "See you after work." He said goodbye, giving Hope a final kiss before he left. His drive to work was the same as always, and when he arrived at school he set things up and taught as usual.

His day was pretty boring, even for teaching high school students. Usually someone was being a jerk or just being in general a typical teenager, but things were actually quiet for once. His students did as he asked, they worked through several songs, and it was just a very slow day in general. That was likely a good thing though, because all throughout the day William was very tired. He ate about half his lunch before he ended up feeling full, dumping the rest of it in the trash. The only thing that William really took note of was that about half way through his last class his nose had started bleeding.

A kid in the front row pointed out the blood to him just as it dripped over his mouth, the feeling of it alerting him about the same time. Bringing a hand up he made a motion for them to continue practicing their song as he went back to his desk to get a tissue. Some of it had dripped onto his shirt, which was annoying, but other than that William wasn't too concerned with it. He was thinking to himself he'd just need to eat more vitamin C foods. He'd just read an article the other day that eating more vitamin C could help with nose bleeding prevention. It didn't take too long to stop, and the rest of the day was uneventful besides pretty much everyone asking him after that why he had blood on his shirt.

William got to go home on time that day, and the traffic back home was ridiculous as always. He was always annoyed when there was traffic even if he was used to it because the motorbike under him just seemed like wasted energy in traffic. It eased up some the further he got away from the school until he could finally really ride it. He didn't have a car, preferring his motorcycle and not able to afford both on his teacher's salary. It wasn't even a fancy bike, a Kawasaki Ninja that was matte black, but when he'd bought it it was already a few years old so it would be cheaper. Pulling up to the apartment, he parked and took off his helmet. They lived in a pretty safe neighborhood, so he could usually leave his helmet on his bike. He left it there and went back to the apartment, turning the key in the lock. "I'm home!" He called. Jazzy was right in front of him again and he bent to pet her as she wiggled about.
 
Grinning as he finished up the end of her departing words, Hope nodded her head before she watched him go, waving to him before she sighed as the door closed behind him. Shaking her head and laughing lightly to herself, she looked down at the ground to see Jazzy sitting next to her with her head tilted up, almost as if she was asking what she was still doing there. "Yes, you'll be stuck with me for a couple of hours since I don't have to go to work yet." Sticking her tongue out at the dog, Hope soon turned her attention back to the rest of the dishes in the dishwasher, and after putting them away she closed it back up and headed back to the bedroom. She turned around to see if Jazzy had been following her, but after seeing that the dog wasn't she pushed the thought aside and went over to her laptop and camera, flipped everything on and then started on the work.

It had only taken her an hour and a half, maybe two hours since she hadn't really been paying too much attention to the time, to finish editing the rest of the photos and then sending them to her boss through a file, but once she was finished she decided to take a quick shower, since she liked to take both a morning and night shower, got changed into her clothes and then found herself right back in the kitchen. First she decided to put start something for dinner that they could eat tonight since it was her night, herself deciding to take out the crock pot to make something with that. And after looking at the things that they had, she decided to make crock pot beef stew, something they hadn't had in a while. It was easy to make, seeing as all she had to do was put the ingredients into the crock pot and let it cook for the day while she was away, and she found herself wanting it.

With her stomach rumbling again, after that was started, she simply made herself two pieces of toast and buttered them up after they were popped from the toaster before she smeared them over with strawberry jelly they that had, a smile creasing across her lips as she continued to eat the food, having to occasionally tell Jazzy no as the dog would just continue to stare at her. She knew that William didn't like feeding her people food, so Hope continued on with that rule so as not to teach Jazzy any bad habits. And after she cleaned her plate and put it back away, it was time for her to head to the location that she was supposed to end up at after going to the studio for a quick second just to check on a few things as well as grab a few things.

The twins had been fun to work with, and Hope could say that she honestly enjoyed her time even if taking photos like this wasn't what her dream really was. They laughed when she wanted to, they posed when she wanted them to, and they even did a few of their own things that Hope was able to capture. The parents were easy to work with as well, something that Hope loved in a client because she had heard more than a few stories of overbearing clients who seemed like they were never pleased and had even come across a few of them herself, and everything went smoothly. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to incorporate the idea that William had given her about the picture frame and letting the twins hold it as if it were a mirror, mostly because she didn't have the prop to do such with, but, overall, she figured that the shoot had been a success. It would be a little bit of editing with the package that the family had gotten, and with the fact that it would be twice as many pictures as usual, but Hope promised them that she would sent them a few proofs within the next day before she would work on the finished products.

She headed back to the studio and put back the things that she had used for the shoot, and she even talked with the three other people that worked there before she headed off for the day and headed back to the apartment, this time remembering the case for her camera, or at least for the one that she kept with her more often than not. She had about three other ones at the apartment that she kept in the closet to make sure that they didn't get messed up, those generally the more expensive cameras that she owned and ones that she didn't use too often. But after getting back into the apartment she decided to take Jazzy out so that she could use the bathroom before they headed back into the house. Hope relaxed herself against the couch as she sighed a bit and leaned her head back before she turned the tv on, something that she didn't normally do since nothing really captured her attention on the tv any longer unless there was some sort of movie that she liked on. But it wasn't long after that that William had announced that he was back home, Hope turning around on the couch to look at him with a wide smile.

Quickly she stood and walked over to him with her arms outstretched, herself pulling him into a hug before she pulled back and reached up to give him a light kiss. "Welcome home. How was your day? I hope you don't mind that I'm making beef stew in the crock pot for dinner tonight, but I figured that since we haven't had it for a while that it would be nice to have. And I just really didn't want to have to stand in front of the stove... Is that blood on your shirt?" She paused mid sentence as she caught the sight of the red marking on his shirt, a bit of concern coming to her as she furrowed her brows and raised a hand to run a thumb over the dried stain. Pulling the hand down, she tilted her head to look up at William. "What did you do? Are you okay?"
 
William smiled as he saw Hope, and he hugged and kissed her back. Before he could answer she had spotted the blood on his shirt. He looked down at it as Hope rubbed at the stain. "Oh, the kids rebelled today." He teased. "Trampled all over me and everything." He joked to put her mind at ease. He'd nearly forgotten about it himself, and he didn't want her worrying. He shook his head and then gave Hope another kiss. "Don't worry about it." He advised. "It was just a little nosebleed at work. Probably need to eat more vitamin C is all." He moved to put his bag down, taking out the papers to put them on the table so that he wouldn't shirk off his duties today like he had yesterday.

"Other than the rebellion, my day was fine. Pretty boring actually." He stifled a yawn as he took off his tie. He picked up the tie he had worn yesterday to put them away. He moved into the bedroom, still talking to her. "Also, beef stew sounds great." he still wasn't hungry from lunch, but he'd eat anyway. He took off his shirt while he was in the bedroom, spraying it with some stuff to hopefully get the blood out and then put on a t-shirt and, instead of running shorts, pajama pants. He wasn't feeling up to taking Jazzy on a run today.

Coming back out into the kitchen he hesitated, trying to decide if he wanted to sit on the couch or at the table to get a head start on those tests he had to grade. "How long do you think until dinner will be ready?" He asked. "I really hope I'm not starting to come down with something. I feel fine but I've just been tired all day." Which generally prefaced a cold or something similar.
 
Despite herself, Hope breathed out a little laugh before she stepped back and walked into the kitchen to look at the crock pot, herself opening the lid as the steam billowed out from it. She leaned over and looked in, grabbed the plastic spoon and then stirred it a bit before setting the spoon down and putting the lid back over the pot. She turned to look back at William as he started to explain what happened with the shirt, her eyes darting back to the spot of blood that sat on there, her brows furrowing before she relaxed them and looked back at his face. Well, it was only a little nose bleed, and even he said to not to worry about it. So, with that thought she pushed it aside and decided to go along with the earlier joke that he had before, saying back, "See, I told you not to let those kids rebel against you. Look at what they've done to you."

She stayed in the kitchen as he went back to the bedroom, blowing out a sigh before she watched as he came back to where she could see him, surprised to see that he was in his pajama pants instead of any running shorts. Now that was something that worried her. She thought about asking him about it, her lips twitching to do so but before she could get anything out he asked about dinner, herself leaning over to look back at the crock pot. "About an hour I would say, so not too long. Do you want any rolls to go with it? I think we have some in the fridge that I can pop in the oven real quick before the stew gets done cooking." She headed over to the fridge then and looked through one of the drawers, biting her lip before she smiled and pulled out the can of doe that they had for rolls. She pulled then out just in case he wanted them and set them on the counter before she listened to him speak about him thinking that he was getting sick. Well, that would explain why he decided to change into his pajama pants.

"I hope you're not either. It's not fun being sick, and I don't like seeing you like that either." She walked over to him then and gave him a soft smile. "Maybe you just need to take it easy for a little bit and get a little bit more rest. I can take Jazzy out tonight if you're not feeling up to it, and I'll clean the kitchen once we're done eating too."
 
When Hope estimated an hour she sat at the table and then spread the papers out in front of him. "Perfect. Just enough time to start in on these papers." He responded. "And I think rolls would be great." He agreed. The thought of sopping up the juice of the stew with a roll made him at least a little more hungry than he had been previously. He rummaged around in his bag for a red pen, but stopped half way through when Hope offered to take Jazzy out for her run. He turned to her.

"Oh no..." He just remembered the plans they had made yesterday. "Our date run..." He frowned, thinking about getting up to change into running shorts after all. "Maybe... I'll feel more up to it after dinner." He said quietly. William had been really looking forward to their date run last night, but had been distracted with how tired he was during most of the day to remember it until just now. Chewing his lower lip, he sighed. He really wasn't feeling up to it now, but he also really wanted to go.

"They do say that running helps stave off sickness." He decided to run after all. "We'll just take it easy, like you said." He'd change after dinner, but for now he had found his red pen and he started in to see what these kids had done with their music test. He'd rather not give them any tests at all, but it was required by the school to have so many paper tests a semester. So here was one. It wasn't easy questions, but not hard either. If the kids were paying attention they'd likely get most of the questions. He started marking, sighing quietly. Jazzy came over to sit under the table, putting her head down on his feet.
 
Nodding her head, Hope went over to one of the cabinets in the kitchen and reached down to pull out the pan that she would use for the rolls. She went over, then, to grab a little bit of tin foil that she could put over the pan as well, just so that it wouldn't make that much of a mess on the pan with the bread. But when he started talking about the run, it reminded her as well of what they had said last night about them going on a run together with Jazzy. Softly, Hope turned and gave William a smile before she gave a little bit of a sigh. "I don't want you to overwork yourself," she said, "especially if you're not feeling that good right now. But, if you're feeling up to it then I guess we can go. It won't be as long of a run as we usually do, but it'll be something at least." But, again, she figured that that was something that would be figured out after dinner.

There wasn't much to do over the time that it took for the stew to get finished cooking. Throughout the time that she waited, Hope would walk over to William to see what he was looking at, watching as he marked the paper with red as he checked to see whether or not the kids had answered the question right. Every once in a while she would throw in a quick joke to pass the time a little more, as well as to ease his mind, though she generally stayed quiet so that he could concentrate on the papers that he ended up grading. About ten minutes before the stew was to be done, she put the rolls in the oven and waited for them to get done, and by the time that was finished the stew had finished as well.

Pulling the plug and turning the crock pot off, she went over and grabbed each of them a bowl before she pored the bowls with their dinner. "Alright, time to put the test away!" She gave a shooing motion towards what he was doing, laughing lightly until the place was cleared. After that she placed the pan with the rolls to the side so that he could grab any that he wanted, placing his bowl in front of him as well with a spoon and his cup full of lemonade. "If you think you need more vitamin C, I'll pick up some orange juice tomorrow if you want me to. That'll be good, right?" She grabbed her bowl and walked over so that she could sit next to William.
 
William knew Hope was a little worried about him. He wasn't so much, just annoyed that he was so tired. He laughed at her jokes when she made them, and he was doing really good at grading the papers. By the time she shooed them away from the table he only had a couple more left. He cleaned up and put it at the end of the table. "Just a few more and I'll be done." He'd do it after they ran though. "I think orange juice would be a great idea." He agreed. "Vitamin C will help with the nose bleeding and with getting sick." So really he'd be killing two birds with one stone. "I can grab it if you want though. You did just go grocery shopping yesterday." He was thinking he'd get a big carton and a pack of little individual ones that he could bring to work for him and drink with his lunch.

He sipped at his lemonade for now though, happy with the tart beverage. Lemonade was actually his second favorite drink. His first favorite was raspberry lemonade with a shot of vodka. He could switch to orange juice for a while though. "Oh... I forgot to ask under the mountain of questions you asked me when I got home, but how was your day?" He felt bad for not asking, and it showed on his face. "Did the twins give you trouble? Twins always seem to give me trouble." He admitted with a shake of his head, but he was smiling again.

Trying the stew, it was really good. He dipped his roll into it just like he wanted to do when she first said it, sopping up all the flavor and then eating that. "This is really good." He complimented her cooking.
 
Taking a spoon full of her food, Hope nodded as she blew it to take a bit out of it, liking the taste of it. Again, she reminded herself that really she hadn't done much with the cooking, given how she left it in the crock pot all day while she went to work and did other various task. So, really, she hadn't done much of anything. Then again, that was what she liked about it. But she turned her eyes to look at William, shrugging her shoulders and then turning to look in her bowl. "Alright. If you want to get it sometime tomorrow then you can. Just let me know if you want me to though and I'll do it." Really, she didn't mind doing it, but she was happy regardless to be able to have this sort of communication with him. In all honesty that had been one of the things that she had been afraid of most when she first moved in with him; them just trying to deal with who was going to do what and when, but, as time proved, they worked through it well. More than well when she thought about it, but that was what she liked, no, loved about their relationship. They were open to help each other and they weren't afraid to ask the other if they could do something instead. Of course, she tried not to do that with him but sometimes, just like yesterday, plans changed.

When he asked the question about the twins she laughed lightly. "My day was good. The twins weren't bad at all; actually, they were pretty great. I love some of the pictures that I was able to take with them, and the parents, and the girls, seemed to like what I showed them too. I mean, yeah, it'll be a little bit more work for me to edit the pictures, but I'll be happy to do it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to use your idea with the picture frame, but maybe one day I'll be able to use it. I'll keep it in mind, and then I'll give you credit for the idea." Grinning, she gave him a small thanks as he complimented on the food. "It is, surprisingly enough. But then again, it's not like I really did anything but put it in the crock pot and let it sit there while I went to work." She pushed the thought off nonchalantly.

Soon after dinner had been finished and after the dishes had been cleaned and put away, Hope headed back into the room to change into a pair of running clothes, and after she was changed and had her hair pulled back in a pony tail, she looked over to Jazzy who she had fed just after putting the dishes away, and then looked to William with her hands on her hips. "Still feeling up for a run? I can understand if you're too tired or too out of it to want to do anything."
 
William smiled at Hope as she talked about her day. His smile quickly turned to a grin when she said she'd give him credit for the idea if she could do it one day. He laughed and then continued eating. "Thanks." He said, even if they both knew he didn't need any credit. "I'd like to see your pictures later. Maybe your favorites." He liked looking at the pictures Hope took. He could never dream of being as good as she was with a camera, but then that was why she had her degree in photography and he didn't. Still, he recognized the beauty in how she took pictures, and not just of the people in them. Hope caught moments, and she did it wonderfully.

He was also thinking he wanted to see the pictures he had taken of Hope last night. He hadn't looked at them after taking them, but he was really hoping that they had come out okay. He wanted more pictures of just her around. They talked of little things as dinner progressed, and William ate almost all of his stew before he stopped. He helped her do the dishes and clean the kitchen, and while she fed Jazzy he quickly marked off the last few tests.

Looking up at Hope when she came in with her running things on, he hesitated and then nodded. "Yeah, lets go together." He agreed. "Gimmie one second." He left to change out of his pajamas and into his running shorts. He probably wouldn't have gone at all except that this was a date. And William would have to be dying to miss one of those with Hope.

Coming back out in shorts and tennis shoes, he nodded, taking her hand and then opening the door. He didn't bother stretching today since they would be going slower and not so hard. Jazzy followed them out and William turned to lock the door.
 
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