Magnus woke up in Cassie's bed some time around six in the morning to her vigorously shaking him.
"Get up." She ordered.
"Good morning, Prinsesse. I see you are back to your cheerful self." He wisely remarked as he sat up and stretched.
"Get out."
He chuckled. She was still wearing his dress shirt. It hung loosely off of her body everywhere but around her breasts.
"Prinsesse, do you realize how irresistable you are?"
He reached out and groped one of her perky nipples. She recoiled in protest.
"I said out!" She repeated.
Her hair was a wild, wavy mane that shagged over her shoulders.
"I could lay back down..."
He trailed his fingers up her kneeling legs until they reached the bottom of his shirt.
"... and you could sit your lovely lille fisse on top of my face."
He then lifted the fabric, revealing her lack of underwear and felt his already stiff erection twitch.
"Let me worship your lucious body." He pleaded.
She slapped his hand away.
"Get. The fuck. Out." She commanded. "Take your pants, your phone and your morning wood; and get the fuck out of my apartment."
"What about my shirt and my..." He thought for a second.
"...booze?" He asked, his accent eccentuating the "s" sound of the word.
"You already bartered with the booze."
He smiled. "My shirt?"
Cassie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Take the rest of that goddamned pizza and fuck off."
He calmly got up, dressed himself from the waist down and did as he was told.
Magnus thought of Cassie in-between student interviews all morning. He had inhaled half of the pizza for breakfast, and now he sat the last three slices on a hot plate in the breakroom near the coffee maker.
"That smells incredible." Noted Annette on her way in with her lunch, as the scent of fresh basil and homemade marinara sauce began to fill the air.
"My grouchy little neighbor has given me another gift." He chipperly replied.
"Oh boy..." She giggled. "You know, you really shouldn't be encouraging her erratic behavior-
did she brush pesto over the crust?" She gawked, admiring Cassie's work.
"Would you like a piece? I've already eaten a few pieces, and I can tell you; it tastes even better than it looks. And I ate them cold. I can't wait to try it hot." He began sliding the pizza onto a paper plate.
"But, you're right about encouraging erratic behaviour... perhaps you shouldn't-"
Annette reached for a paper plate and pushed it in the direction of the pizza hastily.
The two laughed and sat down with their lunch.
"Good lord Magnus, this is incredible!" Said Annette as she hapily munched away.
"She never ceases to surprise me." He praised.
"Has she come to visit you often? I mean, you've only been there for four days."
Magnus grined to himself, realizing that he had spent the past three out of four days letting her fuck his brains out.
"It's been a good week, so far." He replied satisfactorily.
"I wish I had a stalker that could cook like this. All I get are dick pics on tinder." She stated inbetween bites.
They both laughed as they enjoyed their lunch.
"Things are really picking up with the student applicants. Now that the psych students know they can earn a credit for participating in this, they want in." Said Anette as she finished up half of her turkey sandwich.
" You want the other half? After that pizza, I'm stuffed."
"Sure. Thank you." He said, taking the plate.
"So the good news is, we should have the study underway by the end of next week."
"And the bad news?"
"We're going to be swamped with interviews, tomorrow through next week."
"So we put in a few extra hours to make sure we have perfect candidates; it will be well worth it." Magnus stated, matter-of-factly.
Annette smiled, happy they were on the same page. She had never worked with anyone so pleasant and agreeable as Magnus. And the fact that he was so incredibly easy on the eyes didn't hurt either. She smiled as he polished off the rest of her sandwich.
'That man can make eating a turkey sandich look sexy.'
She thought to herself, repressing the urge to giggle. But she couldn't help but think of his neighbor once again.
She hoped her concern was just a product of girlish jealousy. The girl
was
quite a looker.
Annette had never been known to be a petty person, and she wasn't going to start now. She decided then and there to forget about the curvy cook and focus on her intriguing coworker. After all; they would be spending quite a bit of time together in the coming weeks.
'It's a good time to be single.'
She thought as she watched Magnus stand and stretch his amazingly long, muscular body before he offered to throw her empty paper cup away for her.
It was 6:30 when Magnus finally left the campus. He waved to Annette as he rode out of the parking lot on his bike. When he got home, he stopped at Cassie's apartment before ringing for the elevator. He knocked a couple times and waited. He leaned his head against the door for a few moments, wondering if this was yet another game she was playing.
"She's out." Called a husky voice.
Magnus jumped slightly, and turned to find the man who's door he had knocked on the first night he moved in, standing next to the elevator. He could have sworn the man had an asiatic accent before, but he figured he must have heard wrong that night.
"Oh, thank you mister..."
"Lee."
"Mr. Lee" Magnus walked over and extended his hand.
"I'm Magnus Bjornssen."
"Mister Bjornssen." He addressed Magnus, as he shook his hand.
"You know Cassie?" Asked magnus in a friendly tone as both men waited for the elevator.
"She's lived here for almost eight years, of course I know her." He said.
Mr. Lee's tone wasn't rude at all, but it was short and to the point. And as they stepped into the elevator, Magnus couldn't shake the feeling that this man was incredibly familiar.
"I feel like I know you from somewhere."Said Magnus, trying to recal where he had seen the burly, copper-toned man.
"You knocked on my door Sunday."
"No, no. I mean... remember that, of course. I just feel like I know you from somewhere else."
"I've never seen you before Sunday." He responded, plainly.
"Going to visit a friend?"
"I do maintenence for this building. If you have a problem let me know."
The elevator stopped and opened at the 5
th
floor, causing Magnus to realize that in his intrigue, he had forgotten to press his floor.
"Any more questions?" Said Mr. Lee pausing at the elevator door.
"Um... no. Sorry." Magnus smiled embarrassingly at the realization that he may have come off a bit nosey. Mr. Lee politely waved at Magnus and exited the elevator.
The furniture store had delivered Magnus' sofa set, computer desk and kitchen table and he sat down on his couch and went over the New China Wok menu, looking for a dish that was reminiscent of the seafood curry Cassie had packed him that first night. He couldn't find anything similar so he settled on a seafood and vegetable stir fry. He took his bike down to pick up his order, hoping in vain that he would bump into Cassie coming in or out of the building. He returned, ate his food and watched a movie on his laptop. He found the takeout as flavorless as the movie, but tomorrow was another day... perhaps he'd see his prinsesse then.
Thursday went by before he knew it, with the workload picking up. Annette had offered to treat him to dinner but he was genuinely tired, as he had slept terribly the night before. Instead, he rode over to the drugstore and bought a bottle of sleeping pills just in case that night proved to be sleepless as well.
It did.
Magnus took Annette up on her offer to take him to the only Carribean resturaunt she knew of in the area. The food was good, but not quite as good as Cassie's. He of course didn't tell Annette though, as she seemed even more cheerful than her usual upbeat self.
"So you mentioned you were married before..." Said Annette as she began to dig into her rum cake.
"Yes, it was... quite a journey." Replied Magnus as he enjoyed his bread pudding.
"What was the former Mrs. Bjornssen like?" She inquired.
"She was nice."
"Oh come on!"
"What?" He asked, puzzled.
"Okay, I know you're a nice guy. I get that. But you expect me to believe you have absolutely nothing bad to say about your ex?" She asked incredulously.
Magnus laughed. "No, I really don't."
Annette smirked at Magnus in disbelief.
"She was kind. Intelligent. Beautiful in many ways."
"Sounds like you." Replied Annette.
"Well, thank you." He blushed. " The truth is, we had everything in common. We might as well have been the same person. And you know how that goes..."
"Oh yeah." She agreed, knowingly. "So who cheated first?"
"She did. In the end, I didn't need to confront her. She confessed."
"I'm sorry."
"I wasn't angry." He said lightheartedly. "It was a relief.
Finding someone else was the kindest thing she could have done for both of us.
I was too afraid of hurting her to admit what a boring disaster our marriage had become.
